About People Tell Me Things: Stories by David Finkle
- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Nthposition Press (October 4, 2011)
Authors, publishers, reporters, musicians, actors, and artists make up the fabric of the “scene” that is New York City. David Finkle has been a part of this world for years as a critic and writer for newspapers and magazines—a line of work that requires active listening and a keenly, observant eye. In his literary debut PEOPLE TELL ME THINGS —a collection of first-person narratives—Finkle draws on his own experiences to impart his characters’ mundane to outrageous escapades with a knowing wink, and a sharp comedic wit.
In PEOPLE TELL ME THINGS all of the stories feature the narrator who is the friend, lover, confidante, good listener, etc. In his position he is often asked to lunch where he learns about the exploits of friends like Peter in the title story PEOPLE TELL ME THINGS. Peter has been cheating on his wife and has been caught because a woman (he was not sleeping with) lost her earring in his pants. And Bonnie, Peter’s wife, who discovered the earring, knew the real story of how it happened, but took the opportunity to leave him anyway.
When people aren’t availing themselves of their confidante’s empathy and discretion, he talks about some of his desires. He wants to be represented as a character in a novel in HEY, THAT’S ME UP THERE ON THE PRINTED PAGE!. An affair with a married man ironically is the action that gets him there. In MEMORIAL he reads about Noah Goodman’s death in the obituaries. He and Goodman were lovers for a considerable period of time. The nature of their relationship, how they parted, and the memorial service at his passing is a bitter-sweet ending to the collection.
Finkle’s characters and their relationships are at once messy and glorious. And the magic of Manhattan shines through–where everyday people mix with the famous and the infamous, sometimes for just a moment, with an impact that lasts a lifetime.
“Finkle is that rare writer who achieves great effects without seeming to
try.” –Roger Ebert
“Lovely writing, smart and insightful. David Finkle’s stories have a wonderful sense of how media types talk and think, and the often unintended consequences of how they behave.” —Avery Corman, author of Kramer vs. Kramer
“In David Finkle’s exhilarating first-person stories, you hear the bittersweet hubbub of Manhattan: the clash of hilarity and envy, ambition and confusion, energy and terror, grandiosity and exhaustion, gay and straight, chatter and solitude. In his deft hands, `the isle of joy’ becomes the isle of irony. Finkle’s droll and knowing prose snaps, crackles, and pops with the high and low brow.” —John Lahr, senior drama critic, The New Yorker
“What a great pleasure it is to read Finkle’s candid stories. In a period when cynicism seems to have literature in a stranglehold, Finkle’s modest and pure voice soars.” —Daniel Klein, coauthor of Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar… Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes
About David Finkle
David Finkle has covered the arts for The New York Times, The New York Post, The Village Voice, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Nation, The New Yorker, New York, Time Out New York, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and The Huffington Post.
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David Finkle’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:
Monday, November 7th: Books Distilled
Wednesday, November 9th: The Broke and the Bookish
Monday, November 14th: Sara’s Organized Chaos
Tuesday, November 15th: Life in Review
Friday, November 18th: A Bookish Affair
Monday, November 21st: Dolce Bellezza
Wednesday, November 23rd: Take Me Away
Monday, November 28th: Literature and a Lens
Wednesday, November 30th: Unabridged Chick
Thursday, Dec. 1st: Sarah Reads Too Much