The Coast of Chicago by Stuart Dybek
One Book One ChicagoThis is a collection of stories. The stories have in common that they take place in chicago, that the narrator is male, and that they all seem to be reminisces. Although the reader may reasonably wonder if the narrator is meant to be the author, the answer appears to be no, simply because of the differences in the characters of the narrators. Also, the narrators are addressed by different names in the different stories. Although on first thought, one may think that is because the author does not like to use his own name, and the stories were originally published in different magazines, had he wanted to create the impression that the stories were about the same character, he could have changed the names for this publication.
Anyhow, the stories are well written, thoughtful, and interesting. I wonder about the appropriateness of this novel for the One Book, One Chicago program, because the characters use illegal drugs in these narratives, and I do not think that Mayor Daley is trying to condone drug use. Although the stories are all set in Chicago, they can be appreciated by people who are not familiar with Chicago, as the only references to Chicago that might not easily translate to another city are the references to the difference in street names on the North Side and the South Side (the North Side uses descriptive names for most of the streets, and the South Side uses mostly numbers for its street names) and the reference to black neighborhoods, which do not exist in all cities.
Happy reading.
