by Steve Almond
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Product Description
Steve Almond, the man whose candy jones fueled the bestseller Candyfreak, returns with a collection of stories that both seals his reputation as a master of the modern form and risks getting him arrested. The cast of characters in The Evil B.B. Chow and Other Stories includes a wealthy family certain they have been abducted by space aliens, a sexy magazine editor who falls for a worldclass cad, and a beleaguered dentist who refuses to read his best friend’s novel. Michael Jackson and Abraham Lincoln make cameos, as do a variety of desperate and beautiful loonies, all of whom are laid bare, often literally. In these twelve stories, Almond refuses to let his characters off the hook, or to abandon them, until we have seen the full measure of ourselves within their struggle.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Good book for a long flight or a weekend getaway, 2008-07-26
The collection of short stories are snappy enough to keep you turning the pages. Starting from the front of the book, the quality wanes as you go deeper. The other reviews go into greater detail about each story, so I won't repeat that here.
I picked up my copy for less than $3, so I'm not going to judge the book harshly. At that price, it was better entertainment than an in-flight movie or a magazine from the airport gift shop.
0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Stories for a Select Audience., 2006-08-23
This writer is a teacher of creative writing at Boston College. He appears to have led a colorful personal life and is willing to share with readers everywhere. In his latest, a collaboration with a woman author from Florida, a strange pairing. When boys grow into men, their boyishness is still apparent each time they abandon themselves a little. After a romp in the hay, actually a coat room, the duo decide to part ways physically but not emotionally; they write letters revealing their lives to each other over a period of years. The beginning of their "friendship" was typical for yuppies, talking about their favorite singer, Ted Nugent, and movie starring Myrna Loy and Cary Grant (title escapes me). In the "getting to know you" phase of their correspondence they actually expose too much of their inner feelings and too much description of their sexual activities with others. Letters may indeed be more private than email, but this is the twenty-first century and it's hip to use the internet for any of your needs. Perhaps they don't know how to use a computer. Emails are not private despite the use of passwords, they are public and can be read by others and not just the person intended. Why is it I have to use passwords to get into all of my very own accounts, and others can read my feelings and personal thoughts without my knowing it. Guess they knew a good thing was in private correspondence.
I would never act at Jane and John, never in a coatroom, how very uncivilized. It must be the only plafce for hanky panky in a big city. Now, about you. I trusted you. When I told you of my personal longings and childhood doings as a "singer" I had no idea that the whole world had access to the email and you allowed others to read them. There I was telling everybody and creating a soap opera with a humble man, I thought. How dull and escapism if my confessions were used in an actual "story" as SOs are called in the South. I hurt your ego and I'm sorry.
What about that twenty-nine year old virgin offering to "date" strangers until she finds Mr. Right? I have news for this modern way to become a woman, there is no Mr. Right. Love, true love, gives the illusion that he could be perfect, but no one ever achieves that state if he is human. There will be blowups, as the relationship matures, to test the faithfulness of the one you love. After being apart, not even talking on the phone, they may learn to like and admire something about each other. They might, just might, end up liking and actually knowing the person involved. How can I survive without you? That's the eternal question of being apart. What we had evolved slowly, not like John and Jane. You can't compare him with the other John Mark who idislikes women but like little ones he can handle. Could it be repressed desires or confused imaginative wishing. To give one's life for such is not proper.
I found this romp through the life of two strangers to be brittle and boring with too much descriptions of delusions and too much intimate details which are better left unsaid. They're not the only twosome to have an affair of the heart, only in this situation, the heart was not involved.
1 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
 Horrible - This guy is a clown not a writer, 2006-05-16
This is one of the worst books ever. I can't believe that it actually got published. I will use it in my cat's litter box.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
 A Recent Convert, 2005-08-19
I'm normally not a big fan of short stories. I buy anthologies and feel lucky to find one story that doesn't bore me to tears.
So I guess I wasn't too disappointed when I attended a writing conference in New York to find that "The Evil B.B. Chow and Other Stories" had sold out and all that was left was "Candyfreak." It's hard to be bored by candy.
But I enjoyed reading "Candyfreak," so I tracked down a few of Steve Almond's stories online. Well, OK, several stories. None of which bored me, and a few of which I liked. I felt I owed it to him to buy his book(s).
My personal favorites here were "The Problem of Human Consumption" and "Summer, As In Love." Almond is at his best when writing about star-crossed and otherwise failed love affairs. These stories struck me as more romantic than the ones in his first collection, "My Life In Heavy Metal," which I suspect would have a greater appeal for young men (although I liked "Valentino").
On the lighter side, "The Soul Molecule" was also weirdly enchanting.
I have only a few niggling criticisms. The ending of the title story seemed too dramatic for the story. The main character in "I Am As I Am" seemed too adult in his viewpoint (which may have been intentional). And I won't even go into stallions versus soldering guns.
These were all petty in the scheme of things.
What I really didn't get was "Larsen's Novel." I mean, I (apparently) lead a more sheltered life than Larsen, but from the excerpts I guess his book was about as inspired as my own first endeavor. Is Almond hinting at something here? Like maybe this is why I can't sell my first novel? This is more truth than I'm prepared to handle in my current fragile state.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
No Candy, Still a Treat, 2005-06-17
A book of short stories is like a box of chocolates. No, no, just kidding. But Steve Almond's second collection of short fiction, "The Evil BB Chow and Other Stories" certainly is a delicious treat.
Almond most recently garnered critical acclaim for his non-fiction book, "Candy Freak," a tale of one man's quest to record (and consume) the last independent candy bars in the U.S. While not fiction, the book showcased Almond's gift to mix serious and bust-your-gut funny scenes into one narrative. A talent that has blossomed since his first collection of stories, "My Life in Heavy Metal.," which was more autobiographical, full of self-depreciating humor and well worth a read.
In "The Evil BB Chow," he now uses humor to even better effect, catching the reader off guard with hilarious phrases and insights, making the sum of his scenes equal to more than their parts. He has upped the ante for his characters as well, creating intimate portrayals of everyday life that delve into very difficult situations, with dire consequences.
In the title story, we learn how a smart, savvy woman falls for a schlub, only to regret it. "Appropriate Sex" is the story of a college teacher's flirt with disaster, in the form of a student who isn't "interested in appropriate sex." In my favorite story, "The Soul Molecule," the narrator, Jim, finds himself being initiated into a family of "abductees" over brunch. At the point when the family has laid it all out, and Jim realizes they are not kidding and are waiting for him to accept their truth, he stops and notes, "It was that look you get from any kind of true believer, this mountain of pity sort of wobbling on a pea of doubt."
There are disturbing stories here as well: "I Am As I Am" is about a teenager who accidentally smashes a catcher's head with a bat in pick-up ball game; "The Problem of Human Consumption," in which a widower and his daughter trying to move on, and "Skull," which offers much more than we ever wanted to know about a girl with one eye.
The only sour note for me was the lengthy "Lincoln, Arisen," not so much because it was hard to follow, but more because it didn't seem to fit with the collection. A period piece, albeit with a fantasy slant, and a pattern of surreal dream sequences just knocked me out of "The Evil BB Chow"'s enjoyable universe.
Overall, this is definitely a blue-ribbon book. Almond's style is incredibly pleasing, flowing from the page in a stream of clarity and carrying the reader through both the heartbreakingly sad and the uproariously funny. Almond is the kind of writer who you wish was your friend, so that, maybe over drinks at a bar, he might continue to tell you the stories that wouldn't fit in the book.
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