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The Kind I'm Likely To Get: A Collection
In her New Yorker review of The KGB Bar Reader, Daphne Merkin called attention to Ken Foster's introduction: "His last sentence ... caught me up short, because it seemed both so obvious and so original: 'And that the best writers reveal something about themselves that a smarter person would choose to hide.'" In this collection, Foster does exactly that, as he explores the limits of what we can expect from others, and from ourselves. From New Orleans to Portland to Manhattan and Paris, Foster's characters circle each other as well as their own fates in fourteen stories that evoke Mary Gaitskill, Lorrie Moore, and Denis Johnson. The heart of what we're looking for in life provides the backbone to these surprising and poetic pieces -- in which Foster ultimately reveals the gap between what we hope for and the kind we're likely to get.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
193 pages, Paperback
First published July 7, 1999
About the author
Ken Foster
33 books96 followersKen Foster is the author of a memoir, The Dogs Who Found Me, which was a national bestseller. His collection of short stories, The Kind I'm Likely to Get, was a New York Times Notable Book. He is also the author of Dogs I Have Met, a collection of essays, and the editor of two anthologies, The KGB Bar Reader and Dog Culture. His work has been translated into German, Turkish and Arabic, and has appeared in The New York Times, Bark, Fence, The Village Voice, Newsday, Salon, and other publications. He lives in New Orleans.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 9, 2020
With characters as varied as the footwear on the cover, the stories in this collection shine a light on disillusioned urbanites, shiftless slackers, lonely hearts, and frustrated job seekers.
The first story, keep it from the flame, is the most powerful. Here a mother tells her two young children, "You gotta learn you can't depend on me to always take care of things." She then forces them from her car, and onto the side of a quiet nighttime country road before driving away.
Good stuff, and I was definitely left wanting more.
The first story, keep it from the flame, is the most powerful. Here a mother tells her two young children, "You gotta learn you can't depend on me to always take care of things." She then forces them from her car, and onto the side of a quiet nighttime country road before driving away.
Good stuff, and I was definitely left wanting more.
October 11, 2007
one those times when buying the book because of it's really cool cover/title worked out!
December 14, 2007
I thought I hadn't read it, then I recognized the first story right off so I have read it and I am not going to read it again.
March 26, 2022
"That's when I knew I wanted him as a friend, because I knew he couldn't be trusted. And as long as I couldn't trust him, he would never disappoint me."
September 20, 2015
The Kind I'm Likely to Get is a series of short stories, some of which follow recurring characters and all of which include characters in the same universe with similar emotional voices. Although the settings change, the urban centers through which the characters orbit is nearly interchangeable.
Foster paints some really intriguing scenes, although I found myself struggling to hang it all together. It wasn't until I finished the stories and discovered the notes section in the back that it started to click for me. I have trouble investing in stories when I don't like the characters or when I can't understand the motivations of their actions. In the notes, Foster explains that he doesn't expect--or even want--the reader to like some of the characters. Some of them really are toxic and horrible. He's simply painting a scene in which these characters exist.
And he paints those scenes brilliantly. So much so, in fact, that I forgot for a while where I'd heard some of the stories. Some image from “Keep it From the Flame” lingered with me, and I tried to remember if it was a news story or something someone told me or where I'd heard the story. Also, one character's trademark doodle, a cockroach turning into a locomotive, is described in one of the first stories and then mentioned again in a much later story. In the interim, I forgot that the doodle wasn't a real-life graffito or logo and thought Foster must be referencing the non-fictional world.
That may indicate that I'm an inattentive reader. Or it may show just how vivid Foster's scenes and characters are, how they come to life and worm their way into your memories.
Foster paints some really intriguing scenes, although I found myself struggling to hang it all together. It wasn't until I finished the stories and discovered the notes section in the back that it started to click for me. I have trouble investing in stories when I don't like the characters or when I can't understand the motivations of their actions. In the notes, Foster explains that he doesn't expect--or even want--the reader to like some of the characters. Some of them really are toxic and horrible. He's simply painting a scene in which these characters exist.
And he paints those scenes brilliantly. So much so, in fact, that I forgot for a while where I'd heard some of the stories. Some image from “Keep it From the Flame” lingered with me, and I tried to remember if it was a news story or something someone told me or where I'd heard the story. Also, one character's trademark doodle, a cockroach turning into a locomotive, is described in one of the first stories and then mentioned again in a much later story. In the interim, I forgot that the doodle wasn't a real-life graffito or logo and thought Foster must be referencing the non-fictional world.
That may indicate that I'm an inattentive reader. Or it may show just how vivid Foster's scenes and characters are, how they come to life and worm their way into your memories.
April 6, 2008
I think this is a collection of stories that I might like more on a second read. Several of the stories seemed like journal entries crafted into a narrative: I took trips to Portland and New Orleans and this what happened to me there. Although the narrators do come equipped with some acute observations. The first story in the collection, “Keep it from the Flame” is a great story about a mother abandoning her children—among the best stories I’ve read this year. “Things You Can Make Something Out of” is a story about what happens when a co-worker dies unexpectedly and it really draws out the we-shouldn’t-have’s and the we-should-have’s of relationships. “Like Incest” is another one of those stories that seems to be turning up a lot lately with numbered sections, twenty-five in this case, some of which have only one sentence, Still, it is a powerful story about a relationship that moved on different planes for each of the participant’s. The numbered sections seem to imply that other snippets could have just as easily been written down. Almost like, here are the things I thought of, in numerical order; except that it winds up so neatly, complete with punch line, so that you know it must have been planned this way.
October 22, 2008
mmm, short work well for me in grad school because i can read them in chunks.
i really liked this collection, although i liked them more when i started to see the possible ways they were connected. most of them have a haunting melancholy to them that i liked.
i really liked this collection, although i liked them more when i started to see the possible ways they were connected. most of them have a haunting melancholy to them that i liked.
November 22, 2016
Incredibly unusual writing style, had me enthralled within the first few words and I read it almost non-stop. A short, breathable read, but full of interesting ideas and experiences I couldn't have imagined.
February 23, 2009
Melancholy, romantic, lonely, funny, and very real.
October 13, 2010
Liked it a lot, but needs two reads for maximum enjoyment.
May 16, 2012
I enjoyed the first story "Keep It From The Flame" but think I need to reread the rest of them to enjoy them. Found it a bit dull. The cover is really cool though.
Read
December 7, 2008Lovely. Perfectly lovely.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews