Goodnight, Nobody

by Michael Knight and Michael Knight

Book Overview

This new collection from Michael Knight--PEN/Hemingway citation recipient and B&N Discover Award finalist whom Esquire praises as "a writer of the first rank"--thrills and pierces with stories of men and women of breathtaking conviction, pathos, and humor. The stories in Goodnight, Nobody demonstrate Michael Knights' exquisite and "rare power to make a setting breathe, to invest it with a vitality that seems as authentic and intense as the pulsebeats...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802140556
• ISBN13: 9780802140555
• Release Date: December 2003
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Lovely and Amazing

This is an unusual and deeply beautiful collection. The language is fantastic, and all the stories are rollicking and resonant. The story "Ellen's book is a lesson in how to write a perfect, poignant short story. "Goodnight, Nobody" was my book club's favorite last year--don't miss it!

Exquisite Writing, Insight

I loved Birdland in the New Yorker and the New Stories From the South, and when I saw that Knight had published a collection with Birdland included, I was thrilled. The rest of the stories were just as good. Unlike some of the up and coming male Southern writers, Knight doesn't simply resort to what reviewers call "muscular prose" with gleeful enthusiasm, an excitement I do not share. Knight's writing goes beyond whores and guns and dogs. It's insightful, aware, poetic, and the stories never fail to move me. I think this author has been overlooked, and I hope this collection gets him the recognition he deserves.

Beautiful, inventive collection

Every story in this collection is fantastic. "Killing Stonewall Jackson" is just freakishly great, and "Ellen's Book" is a study in how to write an inventive, poignant, short story. (Read it and learn how to regard the epiphany in fiction.) This is the best collection of the year.

A Collection of Gems

Knight combines wonderful characters and incredibly tight plotting in these compelling tales. The stories are sprinkled with moments of sadness, hope, and grace. This is an author to be enjoyed and studied.

Knight Dazzles Again.

I loved Knight's previous collection, Dogfight, and I'd run across a couple of these stories in Esquire and GQ, but reading all his new stories together made it clear that he's one of the masters of the form. "Birdland" blows me away everytime I read it and "Killing Stonewall Jackson" rises to the level of myth that only Barry Hannah can reach. I don't know how Knight pulls them off, but he does--with heart, humor and fire. If short stories are your thing, this book is a must have.