Drivers

by Nathan Leslie

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0971487359
• ISBN13: 9780971487352
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Hamilton Stone Editions
• Length: 244 Pages
• Weight: 0.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A masterful storyteller....

Critics have described Leslie as "gifted" and of writing with a "powerful resonance" with words "original, inventive and rich..." The stories in Drivers are all that plus, in turn nostalgic and unsettling, poignant and revelatory. Driving a motorized vehicle is the most dangerous activity humans undertake each day. In urban areas we encounter traffic jams and road rage. Rural highways present the danger of slow moving farm equipment and long, lonely stretches that are often poorly maintained. In each short story, Nathan Leslie shows these dangers clearly and draws us into the lives of individual drivers. The fictional characters are sharply defined and represent jaded cynics, hard-line realists, traffic gurus, doomed drivers, insecure dreamers, panicked or fearful fumblers, male and female. In testimony to Leslie's skill as wordsmith, he writes in a different, distinct personality and voice in every story. This technique, which is not easy, adds depth and power to his words. Drivers is an impressive study of human nature and our stunning, frightening obsession with cars, pickups, SUVs and speed. What one character calls "the messiness of human behavior" takes on a life of its own in each story. Due to space constraints, I deliberately avoided listing the 23 individual stories in this book. But if I had to choose a sentimental favorite, it would be "Canyonlands." This longer story features a troubled man driving across country, hoping to regroup and regain control of his life. In this brief excerpt, the city born and raised traveler experiences the Great Sand Dunes of Colorado: "It was an incredible thing to see and I had to sit down. I couldn't hear nothing except the wind blowing the sand down the dunes, shaping the dunes, and also there were these little green reeds that the wind blew in circles. But that was it. It was like you search all your life for a place as quiet as this place, and then you find it you want to let it sink into your brain so you won't forget what it's like. All that silence. The sun was slanting onto the sand and the sand was cold. I took a picture, you know." Since the first Model T rolled off the assembly line, driving has created a new, skewed reality. Nathan Leslie does a masterful job of examining these odd paradigms and the humans who experience them each day.

Fascinating

I discovered this writer recently. Nathan Leslie is, in my view, currently one of the prolific and insightful short story writers. His A Cold Glass of Milk was a well constructed sampling of first person voice--this is his specialty. In Drivers the author has allowed the reader a glimpse into the world we all know--the world of commuters and road rage. This makes the collection important, I think. Leslie's stories are fascinating in that they don't pull punches. My favorite stories in the collection are "Flyboys Down the Big End" (about race car drivers in the 50's and 60's), "Cog" (about a car mechanic), "Shape" (about a car salesman--intricate portrayal), and "Oh, Duesenberg" (about a love for cars that goes beyond the boundaries of normal). He is a master of characterization--all the characters in the collection really come to life. But all of the stories in the collection are interesting in their own way really. Leslie sandwiches very short stories between his longer stories. He is an author who hasn't yet received his due. In my humble opinion, it is only a matter of time.