Sweet and Low

Stories

By: Nick White

Narrated by: Michael Crouch

Named one of the most anticipated books of summer 2018 by O Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, New York Post, The Millions, Southern Living, Popsugar, The Wall Street Journal, and Chicago Review of Books

Praised by the Washington Post as "Tennessee Williams...transposed to the twenty-first-century South", Nick White returns with a stunning short-story collection that tackles issues of masculinity, identity, and place, with a sharp eye for social commentary and a singular handling of character.

At first glance, the stories in Sweet and Low seem grounded in the everyday: They paint pictures of idyllic Southern landscapes, characters fulfilling their roles as students, wives, boyfriends, sons. But they are not what they seem. In these stories, Nick White deconstructs the core qualities of Southern fiction, exposing deeply flawed and fascinating characters - promiscuous academics, aging podcasters, woodpecker assassins, and lawnmower enthusiasts, among others - all on wildly compelling quests. From finding an elusive bear to locating a prized timepiece to making love on the grave of an iconic writer, each story is a thrilling adventure with unexpected turns. White's honest and provocative prose will jolt listeners awake with its urgency.

©2018 Nick White (P)2018 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Nick White's Sweet and Low made me work. It subverted this reader's expectations again and again, leading me down improbable Southern roads, down novel, half-hidden paths that were strange and familiar all at once. At each story's end, I found myself in a surprising moment, his characters springing wholly from the page, achingly real. I wanted to separate myself from his people, to qualify his southerners, his lovers, his fighters, his abusers, his outcasts and victims. I wanted to judge them, but in the end, I found myself immersed in the narrative with them, all of us gasping, frustratingly flawed and human, achingly real. Read this collection, and let Nick introduce you to all the people you never were and still could be. Read this collection, and let him break your heart.” (Jesmyn Ward, author of National Book Award winners Salvage the Bones and Sing, Unburied, Sing)

“The Wild Turkey-soaked stories in White’s collection are as sumptuous and darkly shimmering as the Mississippi, along which many of them are set….the expansiveness here astounds.” (Michelle Hart, O Magazine)

“White’s brilliant first story collection peels back the curtain on masculinity and identity in the Deep South. [His] stirring stories probe the inextricable ways people’s identities are bound to and shaped by their environments, and what happens when they attempt to rise above. This is an atmospheric and expertly crafted collection.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

An Amazing Collection

If I could give this more than five stars, I would. This book is, hands down, the best collection of stories I’ve ever read (or listened to). Nick White’s writing is beautiful. He crafts heartbreakingly real characters in stories that you think about well after they are done. (“Gatlinburg” and “Break” May be two of the best stories I’ve ever read.) Crouch’s narration is perfection. His cadence is intoxicating, and his emotive performance will have you crying on the city bus.

a struggle to finish reading

The story I enjoyed most was the one about the Cade sisters. The rest seemed to circle around in meaningless spirals, with no motivation or drive. This would be fine if the characters were compelling, but they aren't. The characters' voices are barely differentiated. Characters recur from story to story, but I couldn't be bothered to care about their fates, and they blended together. Bland metaphors abound. I don't recommend this book to anyone who expects verve or power in a short story.