Showing results by author "Denis Johnson" in All Categories

Recently adapted for the screen, this now-classic collection of 10 stories from the author of Resuscitation of a Hanged Man and Angels is narrated by a young man, a recovering alcoholic and heroin addict whose dependencies have led him to petty crime, cruelty, betrayal, and various kinds of loss.

This is the story of William "Skip" Sands, CIA, engaged in Psychological Operations against the Vietcong, and the disasters that befall him. This is also the story of the Houston brothers, Bill and James, young men who drift out of the Arizona desert and into a war in which the line between disinformation and delusion has blurred away. In its vision of human folly, this is a story like nothing in our literature.

Here are two complete audiobooks by Denis Johnson, narrated by Will Patton. Listen to both Train Dreams and Jesus’ Son, as well as an excerpt from Denis Johnson’s National Book Award-winning Tree of Smoke.... In Train Dreams, Robert Grainer is a day laborer in the American West at the start of the 20th century—an ordinary man in extraordinary times. Buffeted by the loss of his family, Grainer struggles to make sense of this strange new world.

Touched by echoes of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, Nobody Move is at once an homage to and a variation on literary form. It salutes one of our most enduring and popular genres - the American crime novel - but does so with a grisly humor and outrageousness that are Denis Johnson's own. Sexy, suspenseful, and above all entertaining, Nobody Move shows one of our greatest novelists at his versatile best.

Robert Grainer is a day laborer in the American West at the start of the 20th century—an ordinary man in extraordinary times. Buffeted by the loss of his family, Grainer struggles to make sense of this strange new world. As his story unfolds, we witness both his shocking personal defeats and the radical changes that transform America in his lifetime.

The Largesse of the Sea Maiden is the long-awaited new story collection from Denis Johnson. Written in the luminous prose that made him one of the most beloved and important writers of his generation, this collection finds Johnson in new territory, contemplating the ghosts of the past and the elusive and unexpected ways the mysteries of the universe assert themselves.

Roland Nair calls himself Scandinavian, but travels on a U.S. passport. After 10 years' absence, he returns to Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, to reunite with his friend Michael Adriko. They once made a lot of money here during the country's civil war, and, curious to see whether good luck will strike twice in the same place, Nair allows himself to be drawn back to a region he considers hopeless.

Authors Chuck Palahniuk ( Fight Club), Victor LaValle ( The Devil in Silver), Michael Cunningham ( The Hours), and Jenny Offill ( Dept. of Speculation) celebrate the 25th anniversary of Denis Johnson's contemporary classic short story collection. Jesus' Son chronicles the grief and transcendence of dreamers, addicts, and lost souls; and inspired the film starring Billy Crudup, Holly Hunter, Denis Leary, and Jack Black.

Authors Chuck Palahniuk ( Fight Club), Victor LaValle ( The Devil in Silver), Michael Cunningham ( The Hours), and Jenny Offill ( Dept. of Speculation) celebrate the 25th anniversary of Denis Johnson's contemporary classic short story collection. Jesus' Son chronicles the grief and transcendence of dreamers, addicts, and lost souls, and inspired the film starring Billy Crudup, Holly Hunter, Denis Leary, and Jack Black.