Tooth and Claw

Starred review from June 27, 2005
The threat of imminent demise—whether self-inflicted or from an ungentle Mother Nature—hovers in Boyle's seventh collection (after the novel The Inner Circle
). Ravenous alligators make a memorable cameo in "Jubilation," in which a divorced man seeking community and stability moves into a "model" town erected in a Florida theme park (think Disney's Celebration), only to find that benign surfaces conceal dangerous depths. This theme of civilization versus wilderness also underpins the weird and wonderful "Dogology," in which a young woman's frustration with the accoutrements of the human world compels her to run—on all fours—with a pack of neighborhood dogs. "Here Comes"—one of the collection's more realistic pieces—describes the anxious circumstances of a suddenly homeless alcoholic poised to slip through the cracks for good in a Southern California town. Substance abuse figures again in "Up Against the Wall," about a young man seduced by a dissolute new crowd, while his parents' marital discord and the Vietnam War tug at the edges of his drugged-out awareness. The wired rhythm of Boyle's prose and the enormity of his imagination make this collection irresistible; with it he continues to shore up his place as one of the most distinctive, funniest—and finest—writers around.

July 15, 2005
Published on the heels of his novel "The Inner Circle", Boyle's seventh collection continues the move away from the high-concept narrative hooks and surprise endings that characterized his earlier stories. The title comes from Tennyson's "In Memoriam" and refers to nature's cruelty and indifference to suffering. In some of these tales, the predators are animals; in others, human. In the title story, a man adopts a vicious African cat in order to impress a sexy cocktail waitress. Substance abuse is an underlying theme throughout. In the frightening "Here Comes," for instance, a man tries to adjust to his new life as a homeless drunk, while in "Up Against the Wall" -clearly an autobiographical tale, catching Boyle in an unusual confessional mode -a young teacher stranded in rural New York is recruited into the heroin lifestyle. This strong collection will delight Boyle's longtime fans and win him converts. For public and academic libraries. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ "5/15/05.] -Edward B. St. John, Loyola Law Sch. Lib., Los Angeles

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2005
Boyle's imagination is protean, and his prose transporting. The author of 10 potent novels and counting, Boyle is also a virtuoso short story writer, and he has never been more enrapturing than in his seventh collection of shrewd and comic tales. He orchestrates suspenseful, ludicrous, and wrenching predicaments, and his evocation of visceral detail, great gift for supple social commentary, and ability to occupy the psyches of his perplexed male characters are extraordinary. As the title suggests, Boyle focuses on nature, long the central concern in his work, specifically the conflict between civilization and wildness. Even as humankind forces other species into extinction, we remain at the mercy of nature. So how does this struggle for survival play out in Boyle's hectic cosmos? In the title story, a hapless guy wins a serval, a wildcat from Africa, in a bar bet, and it's hard to tell who is more miserable cooped up in a crummy apartment, man or beast. In "Dogology," a woman literally goes to the dogs in Connecticut, while in India a reverend attempts to reclaim two young girls raised by a wolf. In other tales, a couple is stranded in a blizzard, nature wreaks havoc on a planned community in Florida, and the threat of earth-smashing meteors pales in comparison to the dangers teenagers court. Boyle's visions of our perverse attempts to defy and deny nature are darkly humorous and wisely trenchant, brilliantly highlighting our unlikely, yet, so far, effective survival instincts: hubris and obliviousness.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)