This is my first time reading stories written by David Means and I have been missing out! These stories are imaginative and his ability to write from different perspectives (my favorite being the dog in the first story) is incredible. These stories are intense - about relationships breaking up, mental illness, addiction, death, grief and loss but also there are glimmers of hope found in human connection. I appreciated his use of descriptive language to really pull me into these stories. I look forward to reading more stories by him. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux on an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5stars. Most of these stories are about grief or loss and the small special moments in life. I found it very readable and enjoyed the writing style, with the standout story for me being the title story about two damaged people building a relationship over conversations during their breaks.

Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux on September 13, 2022

The stories collected in Two Nurses, Smoking depict the rawness of life, a savagery of experience that is occasionally tempered by love. Many of the stories involve characters who respond to circumstances beyond their control. Some make choices they will regret, but the future holds open the hope for better choices as the characters isolate what has gone wrong in their lives. The stories can be hard to read but a spark of hope or redemption or love softens most of them.

What do “Two Nurses, Smoking” talk about on a smoke break? A nurse who serially kills patients. Patients they expect to die. Medical equipment and the pain of kidney stones. Patients who are junkies. The scar a nurse earned in Iraq. Lonely roads and lonely people. Eventually, they talk about each other. All those topics, the reader realizes, are connected. Perhaps the smoking nurses aren’t all that different from the serial killer or junkies or doomed patients. Perhaps they can connect in ways that go beyond stories, beyond their common pain, to set their lives on a different path.

Grief and coping with loss, often manifesting in bitterness and incivility, are the subjects of “Stopping Distance.” The reader might wonder how support groups that encourage parents to be stuck in a loop of loss, telling the same stories again and again, help anyone, yet a bereavement group allows two people to make a connection through mirrored pain. The story’s value lies in its insight about living with loss.

“The Red Dot” is a kayak in the distance that, as it nears shore, resolves into a kayak paddled by a Karl’s former wife, Debbie, who before she became an ex was afraid of the water. Karl talks about the argument they had when he saw her in the kayak. A character who knows Debbie wonders if the story is true because Debbie is an excellent swimmer. Did Karl make up the kayaking story or did Debbie tell Karl, for reasons of her own, that she was afraid of water? The narrator tries to unpack the truth as he considers the mystery of Karl’s life while attending his funeral and again years later. The story explores the concepts of trustworthiness and image as they apply to people we don’t really know.

“First Encounter” A man whose daughter saw him kissing another woman in a hospital parking lot is saved from exposure by the side effects of his daughter’s medication. The reprieve does not last because the truth never really goes away.

“Are You Experienced?” While cleaning their dope on the cover of a Hendrix album, Billy explains to Meg why he is justified stealing money from his uncle. Keeping money in the family isn’t really a crime and the money itself came from many years of farming, honest “money that came from sunlight and air and dirt, nothing else.” As they discuss the crime, Meg sees parallels between Billy and his uncle in their tendency to ramble about the past, traits that will one day make Billy just as vulnerable as his uncle. David Means illustrates the “what goes around, comes around” principle in a way that suggests the inevitability of karma.

“I am Andrew Wyeth!” is narrated by an artist who tries to become Andrew Wyeth. He requests a nondisclosure agreement from an assistant whose duty is to watch him work, record her observations in her head, and never tell anyone what she saw, all to create “the implicit secretiveness” of the artist’s endeavor. The agreement creates a sense of glamor and the impression that something interesting has been kept at bay, but it also shields the artist against his impulse to confess and the rumors that impulse might inspire.

The narrator of “Vows” looks back on his life and marriage and the lives and marriages of his friends through conversations and observations preserved in memory, “singular moments of astonishingly framed light.” “Lightning Speaks” is written as a series of fragmented paragraphs. The fragmentation might reflect the mental illness of characters who form connections and share memories or visions in an institution.

Nearly every paragraph of “Depletion Prompts” begins with the phrase “Write about,” followed a scenario — a kid confronted by a bully; wandering the woods to escape family drama; a baby born in a closet to a teenage girl afraid to disclose her pregnancy; your mother sneaking into a mental hospital to visit your sister — or a topic: toxic masculinity; the rage of feeling isolated during the pandemic. The paragraphs include notes about how the scene should be written, suggestions for happy and sad endings, how to connect the scene to others or “Use just the whispers, fragments of tense language, to build the fuzzy narrative that you carried.” The scenarios have whatever literary value a writer’s notebook might have, but the story works as a window into a writer’s mind.

My favorite story addresses the sadness of human existence through the eyes of a dog. Norman goes into the woods with a gun after his wife dies. He lets his dachshund off her leash and the dachshund gets lost chasing a rabbit. After a long adventure that includes a new family, we learn how losing his dog changed Norman’s life. The point of view is amazing and the story is heartening. “Clementine, Carmelita, Dog” is one of the coolest dog stories I’ve ever read. It’s worth the price of the volume.

RECOMMENDED

David Means is truly one of the most original short story writers I have ever read. The first story in this collection, for example, is narrated by a dog. A very entertaining dog. I found these stories enchanting, provocative, moving and soul affirming. Bravo.

My first dive into David Means. In the last couple years I have been trying to catch up with the best contemporary short story writers after so many years of letting my reading be prejudiced in favor of novels. This truly is a lovely collection and Means' reputation is well deserved. Meditative, soulful and enchanting, there is so much pain and feeling pulsating through its pages. A number of the stories focus on loss and grief and I thought they were very insightful and moving. This is literature at its finest and a perfect exemplification of what short stories can do.

For fans of short stories, “Two Nurses, Smoking” by David Means is a must-add to your list. Each of the 10 stories in this collection is depicted through the relationship between trauma and catharsis, isolation and communion, and the tendrils of grief that wrap around us when we’re least expecting it.

This one wasn’t for me! I’m sure it would be right up many others’ alley though! I truly wish NetGalley had an option to sneak peek at the book before commuting to a request! Enjoy readers!

Two Nurses, Smoking is a collection of short stories all heavily encompassed in grief and melancholic themes. There are some beautifully descriptive and thoughtful moments scattered throughout these stories but overall I could not get into it. Thank you to NetGalley and FSG for the e-ARC.

An intriguing collection of 1o stories that are as much about language as they are about characters. There's no link here, except that the stories are all a bit melancholy. Two Nurses is very much series of anecdotes while Clementine etc. is the story of a dog's life, told by the dog. There's homelessness and grief. Some of it is overwritten yet others are spare. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Read these one at a time. For fans of literary fiction.

The stories weren't very interesting, the writing style was not particularly remarkable or brilliant - I'd read some of Means' stories a while back and thought they were ok but, reading the news ones in a collection like this, I found them abstract, slow and quite boring. Describing a series of moments, however well-written, just wasn't enough for me.

I really enjoyed this short story collection. David Means approaches his stories with humor but also intelligence. Well-written.

There are some absolute gems in this short story collection I look forward to the day when David Means releases a novel.

David Means is a new author for me. After reading these masterful stories, I'l be sure to read his backlist title and I look forward to reading his next. It's no wonder that he has been honored with O'Henry award and Pushcart.

Thanks to the NetGalley, FS&G and the author for the ARC. Much appreciated.

I was looking forward to reading this but this book simply wasn't for me. Some stories I enjoyed but the majority I just didn't connect with. I'll keep an eye out for more work from the author. Thank you NetGalley & the publisher for the ARC!

An inventive, gratifying collection. The titular story, in particular, I found fun and somewhat experimental (the first story, too, which essentially follows a dog's POV). Though I struggled to find unifying themes throughout the collection, there was still some sense of cohesiveness to the stories. Thanks to the publisher for the e-galley. I look forward to what David Means writes next.

I discovered David Means through a story published in the New Yorker, which was included in this collection. I really enjoyed a few of the other stories, while some left me cold. All in all a good read; I'll look for this author's work again in the future.

The premise was promising but I lost interest after the first couple of stories. I couldn’t finish the book.

Stir stories don’t get enough love, so I was more than happy to have the chance to read and review David Means’ Two Nurses, Smoking.
A great collection of short stories from David Means. I particularly enjoyed the first story, “Clementine, Carmelita, Dog” about a sweet dog and those she finds and loves, and the last story, “The Depletion Prompts”. Means work aha beautiful imagery and a unique voice.

Two Nurses, Smoking
Stories
by David Means
Thanks to Netgalley and FSG for the ebook. The short stories were pretty good. Some more than others.

Thanks to Netgalley and FSG for the ebook. This is a rich collection by one of our best short story writers. It’s amazing to be equally moved by seeing the world through a dachshund’s eyes (and nose) as he gets lost in the woods, as by a couple that meets in a basement bereavement group and decides to face life together. There’s also a Vietnam in one story and an Iraqi vet in another. And also two nurses smoking and trying to find comfort in quiet moments. A varied group of stories, shot through with intelligence and wit.