- Paperback: 176 pages
- Publisher: Scribner Book Company; Reprint edition (Jun 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0743246853
- ISBN-13: 978-0743246859
- Product Dimensions: 21.2 x 12.6 x 1 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,170,611 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Myla Goldberg
Maile Meloy's stories will make writers jealous and readers jubilant. Her knack for characters and situations as diverse as they are genuine is uncanny, unerring and hugely exciting.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
New York Times
'A sparkling debut collection of tight, watchful stories... by the end the power of storytelling has made itself felt'
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.co.uk.
5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
23 reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Passion and poetry in so few words
20 Aug 2002
Format:Hardcover
I worry that most young writers today rely on too many words and a sort of pseudo-intellectual babble to make themselves appear competent. That is not the case with Maile Meloy. She simply tells it like it is. While her stories go deep, she does not need to force feed us. We get it. We get it because her characters, her words, and her emotions speak to us directly. If this is what Ms. Meloy can do for the short story, I will hold my breath for her first novel.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Best Short Story Collection Debut Since George Saunders
23 July 2002
Format:Hardcover
Maile Meloy writes with clarity, economy and honesty of emotion. Such precision in fiction reminded me of some of Carver's stuff, and if Meloy's writing is to represent some kind of resurgence in minimalism, neo-minimalism or whatever, I'm all for it. (Especially having read some horrible, maximalist 'post-post-modern' fiction of some young American novelists.)
Meloy has an interesting way of unfolding a story. At first, there is an unusual and complex external situation that informs the readers of the characters and setting of the story. And just when the reader expects the story to be about that external situation, Meloy subverts that expectation by telling a story that is more private and introspective. It's a narrative technique that is subtle - one that offers an intelligent and realistic epiphany.
There are some stories when Meloy overreaches and the mechanisms of the story are too transparent. "Ice Harvester", although poetic, reads somewhat like a fiction workshop story that goes through the expositional work only to serve a bland insight. "Paint" also has its effective virtues, but the story of a man dying on his own porch as his wife goes to sleep unaware is too clunky a mechanism to tell a story of a couple who fail to communicate.
Aside from these minor gripes, though, I found these stories profoundly well-written and perfectly judged. And fun to read, as well! "The Last White Slave" is a narrative tour de force, a narrative within a narrative, that tells its tale of morality and character of human love with a propulsive power.
The stories dealing with life in Montana are beautiful as are other stories that take elsewhere, in another time. Meloy writes about big, everyday things - contemplation of mortality, strains of love, and efforts and failures to do good - but writes about these big themes in a colloquial that we can all understand and sympathize with. Her most admirable virtue is the ability to write with a penetrating insight and empathy for her characters - a heartbreaking earnestness for people in general that I haven't encountered in short fiction since George Saunders. This is a work of a major writer.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
For those who love short stories
25 July 2002
Format:Hardcover
This is a wonderful book. The stories are all great; beautifully observed without being self-consciously literary. How nice to read a new writer who doesn't rely on gimmicks, self-promotion, or trendy topics; just solid and sincere storytelling. The book's flawed characters already feel like old friends. Definitely buy this one now; you may be looking at a classic.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
