From Publishers Weekly
The characters in this imaginative and penetrating story collection—a man hounded by lightning strikes, a driver blown off the Mackinac bridge, a pianist whose fingers stop working, a woman who slaughters her boyfriend after ambiguous consultations with Jesus and the devil, a bog man roused from his shallow grave—are beset by bolts from the blue. Sometimes the victims and sometimes the perpetrators of calamity, they struggle to extract meaning—and the occasional glimpses of grace and beauty—from the chaos and brutality that disrupt their lives. Means, author of the acclaimed story collection Assorted Fire Events, probes a broad range of social registers, from junkies and criminals festering in the postindustrial decay of northern Michigan's iron range to the chilly adulteries of the artsy New York haute bourgeoisie, linking them into a bleak, sometimes apocalyptic panorama of the precariousness of life in a country that "could eat anything, absolutely anything, up." His uncompromising vision rarely indulges anything more comforting than harsh poetic epiphanies, inexplicable moments of clarity gleaned from random encounters with destruction; the story "Michigan Death Trip," a litany of demise from nonnatural causes, is emblematic of the book's sensibility. But every so often, as with the titular goldfish who endures, and even prevails, when his tank is neglected by a family in the throes of divorce, a happy ending slips through. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist
Means' new collection of stories reveals a mature vision in its explorations of violence, boredom, and death in a restrained, cautionary tone. In "Lightning Man," the protagonist suffers a series of lightning strikes that disrupt his life and eventually send him drifting to another part of the rural Midwest, among glue-sniffing, disillusioned farm boys, to tell of his eight fantastic recurrences, vaguely prophetic. In "A Visit from Jesus," salvation and revelation are tragic and ironic, exposing a man's dark secret, leading his girlfriend to kill him and eventually leading to her own murder. "Michigan Death Trip" also has multiple fatalities--ski accident, car accident, drug overdose, murder--that result mostly from a desire for excitement or escape. The title story moves us into domestic suburbia as a fish's owner, whose family life is disintegrating, wonders if the fish is "aware of his eternal hell, caught in the tank's glass grip." Escaping that glass grip, these stories suggest, though much wished for, does not hold much promise. James O'Laughlin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Donald Antrim
"Means is a courageous writer, intelligent and funny and humane...the pleasure in reading THE SECRET GOLDFISH is tremendous."


New York Times
Achingly intelligent....[David Means] stands among our most gifted younger writers."


Esquire
"With stunning simplicity, Means offers 15 stirring portraits of tragedy, loss, and love."


New York Times Book Review
"Vivid…Means’s last collection was a finalist for the National Book Award…the stories here are just as unsentimental and tightly wound."


Los Angeles Times
"Aims toward a mythology of the modern heartland…so lovely I want to quote the whole thing."


New York Times Book Review on Assorted Fire Events
"Lean, agile…There’s not a cheap emotion or a predictable conclusion to be found...humane [and] unaccountably lovely."


Jeffrey Eugenides, author of The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex
"Riveting...it is Means’ signature talent to view the lives of his characters, and life itself, from somewhere just beyond..."


New York Times
Achingly intelligent....[David Means] stands among our most gifted younger writers."


Elle
"A darkly comic cache of stories…impressively inventive."


Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"An imaginative and penetrating collection."


Book Description

It is a less and less well-kept secret that David Means is one of our best fiction writers. In the past few years he has won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and received critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. Readers familiar with Means's electrifying work will recognize the vision at play in The Secret Goldfish -- a trio of erotically charged kids go on a crime spree in Michigan; a goldfish bears witness to the demise of a Connecticut marriage; an extremely unlucky man is stalked by lightning -- but this new work is funnier, more generous, and bigger in its reach.

Each story stands on its own, and yet linked together they produce a quintessentially American experience -- not the stars-and-stripes-on-the-bumper-sticker kind, but the stoned-and-bored-and-looking-for-trouble kind. Means's writing is shot through with emotion and beauty. A subversive humor -- and an almost religious fervor -- drives these stories, and Means's miraculously precise observations bring them to life.

Eileen Battersby of the Irish Times wrote, "The roll-call of honor, from Eudora Welty to John Cheever, John Updike, William Maxwell, to Richard Ford, Tobias Wolff, and Annie Proulx is long and rich. Just when it seems that things could get no better, along comes David Means." This is a brilliant lineage, and yet David Means writes like no one but himself.


About the Author
David Means's previous book, Assorted Fire Events, won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's magazine, Esquire, McSweeney's, and numerous other publications. His work was included in The Best American Mystery Stories 2001. Born and raised in Michigan, he lives in Nyack, New York.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

It is a less and less well-kept secret that David Means is one of our best fiction writers. In the past few years he has won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and received critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. Readers familiar with Means's electrifying work will recognize the vision at play in The Secret Goldfish-a trio of erotically charged kids go on a crime spree in Michigan; a goldfish bears witness to the demise of a Connecticut marriage; an extremely unlucky man is stalked by lightning-but this new work is funnier, more generous, and bigger in its reach. Each story stands on its own, and yet linked together they produce a quintessentially American experience-not the stars-and-stripes-on-the-bumper-sticker kind, but the stoned-and-bored-and-looking-for-trouble kind. Means's writing is shot through with emotion and beauty. A subversive humor-and an almost religious fervor-drives these stories, and Means's miraculously precise observations bring them to life. Eileen Battersby of the Irish Times wrote, "The roll-call of honor, from Eudora Welty to John Cheever, John Updike, William Maxwell, to Richard Ford, Tobias Wolff, and Annie Proulx is long and rich. Just when it seems that things could get no better, along comes David Means." This is a brilliant lineage, and yet David Means writes like no one but himself.

FROM THE CRITICS

Richard Eder - The New York Times

… achingly intelligent … The settings in The Secret Goldfish, mostly the Great Lakes shores of northern Michigan, have more substance than the characters do. The high winter sky arcing Arctic-wards toward Canada, the steely lake waters, the black silhouettes of ore boats gliding distantly by, the immense span of the Mackinac Bridge (one young woman plunges her car off it in a snowstorm): these seem to offer ￯﾿ﾽ and at the same time withhold ￯﾿ﾽ the reality that eludes them.

Publishers Weekly

The characters in this imaginative and penetrating story collection-a man hounded by lightning strikes, a driver blown off the Mackinac bridge, a pianist whose fingers stop working, a woman who slaughters her boyfriend after ambiguous consultations with Jesus and the devil, a bog man roused from his shallow grave-are beset by bolts from the blue. Sometimes the victims and sometimes the perpetrators of calamity, they struggle to extract meaning-and the occasional glimpses of grace and beauty-from the chaos and brutality that disrupt their lives. Means, author of the acclaimed story collection Assorted Fire Events, probes a broad range of social registers, from junkies and criminals festering in the postindustrial decay of northern Michigan's iron range to the chilly adulteries of the artsy New York haute bourgeoisie, linking them into a bleak, sometimes apocalyptic panorama of the precariousness of life in a country that "could eat anything, absolutely anything, up." His uncompromising vision rarely indulges anything more comforting than harsh poetic epiphanies, inexplicable moments of clarity gleaned from random encounters with destruction; the story "Michigan Death Trip," a litany of demise from nonnatural causes, is emblematic of the book's sensibility. But every so often, as with the titular goldfish who endures, and even prevails, when his tank is neglected by a family in the throes of divorce, a happy ending slips through. Agent, Andrew Wylie. 5-city author tour. (Sept.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

More brilliant stories from the author of Assorted Fire Events, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize winner. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews