Letting Loose the Hounds
February 9th, 2003by Brady Udall
ISBN: 0671017020
I wanted to read this short story collection because I loved The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint so much that I wanted to get my hands on whatever else Udall has published.
This collection was published before the novel, and I could see how the voice behind these stories could grow into the novel I enjoyed so much. Not that these stories are immature or unfinished; it is that short stories are different animals than novels, and someone who writes one kind of animal well doesn’t always write the other kind well. Udall writes both kinds well.
The eleven stories in this book (nine of which had been previously published) all have what I think good short stories should have in them: moments of painful recognition for the reader. His characters’ problems can be darkly funny, and most of them don’t get fixed, but the endings all feel right somehow. Udall isn’t afraid to have his characters own up to their mistakes, or make new ones. That is probably what makes for the honesty in these stories that seems so refreshing.
Udall crafts wonderful stories, and I will continue to read whatever he gets published. He’s a good writer; smart but not too fancy, unafraid of emotion but not wallowing in it either. Definitely recommended.
