Goodnight, Nobody

This is an unusual and deeply beautiful collection. The language is fantastic, and all the stories are rollicking and resonant. The story "Ellen's book is a lesson in how to write a perfect, poignant short story. "Goodnight, Nobody" was my book club's favorite last year--don't miss it!

I loved Birdland in the New Yorker and the New Stories From the South, and when I saw that Knight had published a collection with Birdland included, I was thrilled. The rest of the stories were just as good. Unlike some of the up and coming male Southern writers, Knight doesn't simply resort to what reviewers call "muscular prose" with gleeful enthusiasm, an excitement I do not share. Knight's writing goes beyond whores and guns and dogs. It's insightful, aware, poetic, and the stories never fail to move me. I think this author has been overlooked, and I hope this collection gets him the recognition he deserves.

Every story in this collection is fantastic. "Killing Stonewall Jackson" is just freakishly great, and "Ellen's Book" is a study in how to write an inventive, poignant, short story. (Read it and learn how to regard the epiphany in fiction.) This is the best collection of the year.

Knight combines wonderful characters and incredibly tight plotting in these compelling tales. The stories are sprinkled with moments of sadness, hope, and grace. This is an author to be enjoyed and studied.

I loved Knight's previous collection, Dogfight, and I'd run across a couple of these stories in Esquire and GQ, but reading all his new stories together made it clear that he's one of the masters of the form. "Birdland" blows me away everytime I read it and "Killing Stonewall Jackson" rises to the level of myth that only Barry Hannah can reach. I don't know how Knight pulls them off, but he does--with heart, humor and fire. If short stories are your thing, this book is a must have.