Because We Are Here: 9stories and Novellas

by Chuck Wachtel

"Anything is possible," Eugene tells Ralphie. Seconds later Ralphie is struck by lightning. And what about the woman at a bank standing in a line that never seems to move? Turns out she's actually in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 067083887X
• ISBN13: 9780670838875
• Release Date: May 1996
• Publisher: Viking Books
• Length: 231 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Wonderfully Different

In some ways, it might feel like you are reading a bunch of writing exercises, but man, this is some good stuff. Wachtel seems to find stories in the plainest things - things and events you'd never think had the potential or the capacity to hold anything interesting. But they do, and reading them gave me a sensational jolt of hope - that stories are indeed everywhere. You just have to look a little, put a little effort into it.My two favorite parts were the short story "Wednesday" and the novella "A Joke." Both offer some real solid writing. "Wednesday" takes place in the World Trade Center, which is kinda weird, a part of past history now, like somebody writing about the Peloponnesian War. It's strange. I could see "A Joke" as a challenge undertaken by Wachtel in some bet; whatever the circumstances, the end product is spectacular. Another excellent bit: "News." I can almost see Wachtel reading a newspaper clipping of this story or the bit on the nightly news, then churning out the story. It's told in reverse, like Betrayal and that Oates story "The Wheel of Love."

Good, but the novels are better

I'm waiting to read Wachtel's new work. These stories and novellas are good, and worth the time reading them, but his novels (JOE THE ENGINEER, THE GATES) are larger in scope while maintaining a compassionate, focused lens. It's important for new readers to read the novels first, since some characters are also featured in BECAUSE WE ARE HERE.