Chicago Stories: 40 Dramatic Fictions

3.4/5 ( ratings)

Chicago Stories, 40 dramatic fictions by Michael Czyzniejewski, acclaimed author and Wrigley Field beer vendor, each told in the persona of a famous Chicagoan, from Mrs. O'Leary to Barack Obama.

For everyone who's always wondered what would happen if Roger Ebert had taken Oprah Winfrey to a critics' screening of REVENGE OF THE NERDS for their second date...

"An absurdist Chi-town Spoon River Anthology on crack, Mike Czyzniejewski's Chicago Stories is an explosion of imagination, a relentless churn of intellect and wit. In true Chicago style, this book tells it straight to your face and pulls no punches. Chicago Stories is easily the most fun I've had reading in quite some time."

- Alan Heathcock, author of VOLT

"Mike Czyzniejewski's Chicago Stories reads at once as scatting celebration of the moral landscape that stretches across the country's midsection, and as a travelogue. Czyzniejewski's sharp wit and peering eye trek along that crooked road between the dead president & crony highways and the murky river, crossing tracks where trains haven't run in two score - before boring down past the jukejoints sidled against public houses, and corner hustlers hawking whores to blue pickpockets and last migrants on the run, down where they all keep score in shadow votes. The author brings it home early and often here as, along with so much more, he is a sojourner."

- Bayo Ojikutu, author of Free Burning

"In Chicago Stories, Michael Czyzniejewski channels Studs Terkel's Division Street, the voices so singular and complete that in the end you feel as though you've listened to each story rather than read them. Rob Funderburk's illustrations are a snapshot of movement; in their messy, deliberate lines each voice comes alive. Chicago buffs: if you like architecture, that is, if you like outsides, the riverboat tour will do. But if you're looking to go inside for a deeper look, Czyzniejewski's book will take you there."

- Lindsay Hunter, author of Daddy's

"In 'Chicago Stories,' Michael Czyzniejewski summons all of Chicago — its ghosts, living and dead, its heroes and fools, sinners and saints, its people and places and all of its occasions — and in these pages they have gathered, strange and unlikely bedfellows, to sing a new song for Chicago. It will twist your arm behind your back, this song. It will break your fingers."

—Billy Lombardo, author of The Man With Two Arms and The Logic of a Rose: Chicago Stories

"Michael Czyzniejewski encapsulates all of Chicago’s past, present and future with his big-shouldered prose, channeling Cub hall-of-famer Ron Santo, former mayor Jane Byrne and even the venerable Watertower herself in voices both wise and funny. Chicago Stories will make even non-natives nostalgic for the Windy City—go Cubs!"

—Allison Amend, author of Stations West

"Michael Czyzniejewski’s stories are funny and edgy and fantastical. But what sets them apart from every other book with the word ‘fantastical’ on the cover—what makes these stories original and real—is the for-real, beating heart behind each and every word. These stories might include octogenarian parrots, elephants looming in the corners of bedrooms, a thing called sleepmurder, but at heart they deal with the hopes and dreams and fears of everyday lives."

—Dave Housley, author of Ryan Seacrest is Famous

"Carl Sandburg wrote of Chicago, “Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.