Wingtips: Stories by Avery Chenoweth

By Avery Chenoweth and Mr. Avery Chenoweth MFA

Book Overview

Each of the tales in Wingtips, the first collection of short stories by bright new talent Avery Chenoweth, focuses on members of the Goodpasture family and their search for love, a sense of belonging, and, ultimately, spiritual transformation. From the rarified atmosphere of Martha's Vineyard and the near-tropical lushness of the Tennessee mountains to the streets of Washington, D.C., the debutante balls of Jacksonville, and the stark emptiness of Oklahoma, Chenoweth chronicles the dreams and ambitions of characters fumbling their way toward the responsibilities of maturity. Chenoweth has created a colorful cast of characters from across the social and geographic spectrum: Yankee blue bloods summering at the Vineyard, a faith healer who lays hands on fast food restaurants as well as people, a man willing to sacrifice his children's inheritance so that Jesus will lead them to oil, a young adult who discovers his true love only to learn that she is his half-sister, a boy whose game of espionage puts an end to his innocence, and a man who pretends to be his own double at a college reunion. These stories also skirt the fantastic, with scenes of a child hiding in a grave, people attacking their guest at the dinner table, and a party of ghosts arriving for lunch. Comic and yet poignant, Wingtips explores the human heart in conflict with itself.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801860237
• ISBN13: 9780801860232
• Release Date: December 1998
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Length: 154 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

An engrossing collection of tales of family life...

I really enjoy the way Chenowth writes. He has a distinctive voice which carries his stories along. All nine revolve around various members of the Goodpasture family, starting in the mid sixties, and moving along through to present-day. Each story focuses on a different member, although some are more represented than others. Most of the stories have a different location, ranging from Cape Cod to Jacksonville, FL. In each we read of the inner hopes and fears of a character, and explore their lives as they live these out.If you enjoy books with wit and humor, depth and exploration of the relationships between family members, you'll be pleased with this collection.

Humorous tales of an American family.

The main character in this collection is believable and bold in revealing himself, even when his behavior and motives are less than admirable. The style reminded me of Peter Taylor. The stories are humorous ones, about a dysfunctional and divided family, with love and pain which show through the humour.

I'd like to meet this guy for a beer

Old fashioned story telling. A heart about it and a narrative that you just don't see a lot of these days. But about that beer. He pays. right?

A vacation from winter.

I have one more story to read, but I keep putting it off because I don't want this book to end--it is simply delicious. It is so refreshing not to be wading through another pile of modern angst--I just hope that Chenoweth is back at his computer writing another one. This is truly a gem

Ow

This book is so good that it made my teeth hurt. Wow