We Live in Water: Stories Paperback – February 12, 2013

I've read two of Walter's novels - The Financial Lives of the Poets: A Novel (P.S.) and Beautiful Ruins: A Novel (P.S.) - and thoroughly enjoyed both. I know he gets lots of credit because his body of work covers multiple genres, and this collection offers more proof of his rather amazing versatility. There are of a lot of stories here about druggies and criminals and people who've lived on the edges of criminal lives, but none of the pieces read like true-crime or hard-boiled genre stories. They all offer great insights into the mindsets of people leading these seedy or down and out lives. You'll be surprised just how sympathetic you'll feel for a homeless man who can't get his act together enough to raise his son or a crystal meth addict who cluelessly tries to transport an antiquated TV to a pawn shop. This collection simply offers more proof to readers that as long as Walter's name is on the book jacket, regardless of the genre or form he's writing in, he'll deliver the goods and make the time you invest with him well worth your while.The 13 stories, mostly set on the West Coast, and Northwest in particular, are:1. Anything Helps - 16 pp - A great portrait of a homeless man who lost his wife and son and is trying, not very successfully, to get his act back together to get his son back. Some great funny and poignant scenes about the lies he has to tell the victims of his panhandling efforts in order to fulfill their stereotypes of him, and the exchange that takes place between his son's Christian foster mother who objects to the Harry Potter book he wants to give his son.2. We Live in Water - 24 pp - In late 1950s Ohio, a man gets in trouble with a bookie/pimp because he slept with the man's wife and stole a little money from his safe. The story is split between the time the man crosses the powerful criminal, and has to give up his son, and a period 34 years later, when the son revisits the town and tries to learn what happened to his father.3. Thief - 12 pp - A great portrait of a singular obsession. A father suspects one of his three children is stealing from the jar of coins he keeps in his bedroom closet to save for a family vacation.4. Can a Corn - 3 pp - An old man I a prison with furloughs for dialysis treatment would rather spend his time going fishing, regardless of the health consequences.5. Virgo - 11 pp - - A newspaper editor gets his revenge against an ex-girlfriend when she leaves him for an old boyfriend by changing her daily horoscope, and then his obsession with her takes an even more sinister turn.6. Helpless Little Things - 14 pp - The title has an ironic meaning as a con man who uses homeless teenagers to do fake charity fund-raising on street corners meets his match from an unlikely source.7. Please - 2 pp - Another short-short about a divorced father who worries about leaving his son with his druggie ex-wife and her boyfriend.8. Don't Eat Cat - 21 pp - In a futuristic world, a man discovers he has cancer but can't get government approval to treat it, so he goes looking for the great love of his life, an ex-girlfriend who became addicted to a drug that turned her into a zombie.9. The New Frontier - 19 pp - A man heads with an old high buddy to Las Vegas to find the friend's sister, who they suspect has turned to a life of prostitution. The city of sin has more than a few surprises in store for them.10. The Brakes - 5 pp - A father take his son to the garage where he works and tries to protect a racist, senile woman from getting conned by the other mechanics at the garage.11. The Wolf and The Wild - 14 pp - A convicted embezzler, who still has millions in the bank, does community outreach by reading to kids at an inner-city school. He discovers, much to his disappointment, that his efforts have little impact.12. Wheelbarrow Kings - 15 pp - Very funny story about two bumbling crystal meth addicts who have a day of adventure before their score, as they try to move an old TV someone gives them to a pawn shop.13. Statistical Abstract for My Hometown of Spokane, Washington - 15 pp - Not sure if this a story or an actual essay about why Walter still lives in his downtrodden and crime-ridden hometown or Spokane, filled with sad but funny points of trivia about the city.

I'd rate this collection 4.5 stars.Jess Walter's Beautiful Ruins was one of my favorite books from last year. I loved the dreamy, magical way it captivated a struggling seaside town in Italy, and a young hotel owner, riled up by the arrival of a Hollywood actress.Walter's new story collection, We Live in Water, is more gritty than dreamy, but his amazing storytelling ability shines through any setting. The main characters in each of these stories are men who are struggling with one thing or another--addiction, relationships gone wrong, professional failure, etc., and many of the stories have left me thinking about them even after I finished.I had a number of favorites in this collection, including: Anything Helps, which follows a homeless man vacillating between wanting to pull his life together so he can be with his son and falling back into the morass of addiction and panhandling; Thief, in which a man tries to figure out which one of his children is stealing from the family's vacation fund; The New Frontier, which follows an unlikely pair of former high school friends on a mission to rescue one of their sisters from a life of prostitution in Las Vegas; Don't Eat Cat, a futuristic story which is, in essence, about the self-destructive impulses we all have; and the title story, which follows a lawyer who returns to a town in Idaho to try and find out what happened to his father, who abandoned him 30 years earlier. The collection ends with Walter's skewered look at his hometown of Spokane, Washington (the setting for a number of the stories), from which you can see where he found inspiration for some of the stories in the collection. A few of the other stories are a little too short, and seem to end before they really get going.As I've said a number of times when reviewing short story collections, I used to steer clear of short stories because I felt cheated not to have had enough time with characters or a storyline I really enjoyed. But now, I realize that short story collections actually afford us a window into so many different characters and situations, more than we'd normally get in a novel. And the stories in Walter's collection, thanks to his amazing talent, are so memorable that I would love almost any one of them to be expanded into a full-length novel, just so I could find out what happened next.This is a terrific collection of stories about people we might not notice, or want to associate with, in real life, but the lives they live are tremendously intriguing and compelling.

These stories are often tough, but very good and the writing is excellent. You are really there with the characters. Short stories are perfect for someone who loves to read, but doesn't have much time for reading. If you find yourself sometimes not being able to come back to your book for a week or more and by then you've forgotten the thread, this book is for you. Jess' writing is truly outstanding. I wish there were one hundred more short stories in this book!

Jess Walter is an incredible story teller and his characters are so unique. He's funny, intelligent and keeps you wanting more. I couldn't put down this book and will keep it my collection.

Discovered this author through reading a review by another reader who was kind of defending short story compilations. Made me think twice as I usually opt for a novel, so I ordered it. If ever proof was needed of why it's worth picking up short story collections, this is it - an absolute delight, jammed with characters that come alive.

A good book but the type of book that mostly dwells on the dark side of human nature. As a writer myself, I write about the good and bad of human nature because that is more reflected of what people really are.

Interesting stories about people on the margins of life, people isolated or struggling. I run a reading group for people who have their own problems. There is lots for us to discuss here and people can relate to the lives depicted.

Short stories with a dark sense of humour and a twist. I really enjoyed this book and especially „Don’t eat cat“ and also „We live in Water“