A Bit on the Side: Stories

Unabridged
Author: William Trevor
Narrator: Simon Vance , Josephine Bailey
Genres: Fiction
Publisher: Tantor Media
Date: October 2004
Length: 6 hours
Ratings:
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  • CD

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Overview

William Trevor is truly a Chekhov for our age, and a new collection of stories from him is always a cause for celebration. In these twelve stories, a waiter divulges his shocking life of crime to his ex-wife; a woman repeats the story of her parents? unstable marriage after a horrible tragedy; a schoolgirl regrets gossiping about the cuckolded man who tutors her; and, in the volume's title story, a middle-aged accountant offers his reasons for ending a love affair. At the heart of this stunning collection is Trevor's characteristic tenderness and unflinching eye for both the humanizing and dehumanizing aspects of modern urban and rural life.

Selected Reviews

Beautifully written

by Sarah T.
  • Book Rating: 4/5

I prefer reading short stories, I think

by Sarah
  • Book Rating: 2/5

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Reviews (2)

Beautifully written

Written by Sarah T. on June 12th, 2007

  • Book Rating: 4/5

William Trevor's writing is direct and evocative, like a collision of a young James Joyce and V.S. Naipaul. Many of the stories are more like vignettes, portraits of a moment that are full of character and mood rather than plot movement, so the collection is not light going, but is well worthwhile.

I prefer reading short stories, I think

Written by Sarah from San Jose, CA on November 1st, 2005

  • Book Rating: 2/5

I kept waiting for something to indicate why these stories were in the same book. They didn't flow from one to another in any way. Also there isn't enough indication that one story has ended and another is about to start, so if you weren't paying close attention, you miss both the conclusion of the last stoy and the opening of the current one. Also, I got confused as to why the current story doesn't seem to meld with the story in I had been following. I think that perhaps short stories work better for me on the page rather than on audio book.

Selected Reviews

Beautifully written

by Sarah T.
  • Book Rating: 4/5

I prefer reading short stories, I think

by Sarah
  • Book Rating: 2/5

More...

Read All 2