Hot on the heels of Fiere and Red Dust Road, a generous new collection from a storyteller in a class of her own.
Reality, Reality
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Review
'Jackie Kay s third collection of short stories ranks among the best of the genre.... Her writing has always been infused with warm, playful humour, and it runs through this collection... wit and vividness.' --Guardian
'By turns invigorating and witty... Kay is fast becoming the arch-chronicler of menopausal middle age, and few women of that age or beyond won t smile in recognition as she skewers the pitfalls and dissatisfactions of this most tricky and poignant of stages. Yet while Kay s default voice, in each of these first-person tales, is spirited and droll, with only one exception these stories are sad, and even tragic... The scenarios drawn in this collection are mostly the stuff of everyday domestic and emotional life, and worthy of comment only for an observer whose eye for human frailty and courage is that of a portraitist who wants to show rather than tell.' --Sunday Herald
'What s most pleasing in this story collection by one of Scotland s most celebrated writers is the quality of exuberance. There are stories here that focus upon and articulate sheer joy, without souring or undercutting it an undertaking that feels bold and uplifting in the context of a medium that tends to be dogged by maudlin introspection. Kay writes lovingly, warmly, inclusively; ever in her sadder tales, her protagonists are sustained by their bolshy wit and their openness to the ludicrousness of things... The pleasure that Kay takes in observation, in dipping her imagination into the secrets of the secretive and the songs of the unsung, is infectious... Her work is always borne along by a current of sheer generous interest in and empathy for people' --Scotland on Sunday
'Brim with sadness as well as humour... This collection certainly doesn t disappoint, each story a character study of admirable immediacy and authenticity. Great stuff'. --Diva
'By turns invigorating and witty... Kay is fast becoming the arch-chronicler of menopausal middle age, and few women of that age or beyond won t smile in recognition as she skewers the pitfalls and dissatisfactions of this most tricky and poignant of stages. Yet while Kay s default voice, in each of these first-person tales, is spirited and droll, with only one exception these stories are sad, and even tragic... The scenarios drawn in this collection are mostly the stuff of everyday domestic and emotional life, and worthy of comment only for an observer whose eye for human frailty and courage is that of a portraitist who wants to show rather than tell.' --Sunday Herald
'What s most pleasing in this story collection by one of Scotland s most celebrated writers is the quality of exuberance. There are stories here that focus upon and articulate sheer joy, without souring or undercutting it an undertaking that feels bold and uplifting in the context of a medium that tends to be dogged by maudlin introspection. Kay writes lovingly, warmly, inclusively; ever in her sadder tales, her protagonists are sustained by their bolshy wit and their openness to the ludicrousness of things... The pleasure that Kay takes in observation, in dipping her imagination into the secrets of the secretive and the songs of the unsung, is infectious... Her work is always borne along by a current of sheer generous interest in and empathy for people' --Scotland on Sunday
'Brim with sadness as well as humour... This collection certainly doesn t disappoint, each story a character study of admirable immediacy and authenticity. Great stuff'. --Diva
Book Description
This is a book about memories, love, sex and the power of the imagination to see us through the most difficult times. The women of Reality, Reality are mesmerizing, whether in love or in solitude. Grace and Rose, glowing with pride, are the first to marry on Shetland; Hadassah, named for the Morning Star, burns as brightly. Margaret, alone in her care home, places her hope in a cherry red cardigan; Elina Makropulos, whose voice is the toast of generations, is desperate to be allowed to grow old. Stef cooks for made-up judges on the TV show in her head. Pat diets for one hundred and forty-three days to find her ‘Mini-me’. Dionne longs for a child; Mrs Vadnie Marlene Sevlon for her husband. And Elizabeth Ellen carries her new baby into a future she didn’t know could be hers. Jackie Kay’s newest and most luminous of collections is full of compassion, generosity, sorrow and joy. In fifteen extraordinary stories, she celebrates the richness and power of dream-life to inspire, to repair, and to make real.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Linda Mayhew
Format:Kindle Edition
Reality, Reality I know this is probably early to review this book, but I download a lot of samples to my Kindle and was getting a little depressed at some of the dross recommended by radio, TV and newspapers, then suddenly there shone this diamond. So easy to read, really draws you in, has laugh out load moments and transfers those vaguely formed ideas to valid beliefs. A treasure that I intend to read a lot more of and I thoroughly recommend both this book and Jackie Kay.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By TeamGB
Format:Kindle Edition
Having read these short stories a while ago they have remained in my thoughts, clever and interesting psychology. Especially related to the two set in the nursing home.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Scriptorian
Format:Hardcover
I often struggle with short stories. I really want to like them. I buy a book or read a review and get all excited, and then, somehow, they are just too easy to put down. I was fed up with having story collections clogging up my bedside table, making me feel guilty, so I'd not bought any in a while. Then I heard Jackie Kay on Radio 4's 'Teenage Diaries' programme and thought 'I must read something by this warm, funny, wonderful woman. Immediately.'
I'm not cured entirely, 'Reality' sat on my shelf for a few weeks, dipped into occasionally, but basically unloved. Then slowly, slowly, it started to pull me in. The voices are wonderful. With (I think) only one exception, these are intimate, first person accounts of women going about their lives, whether fantastical or mundane. Each character is noticably different, somehow very well-drawn, even although I feel the characterisation must happen when I'm looking the other way. Despite the differences, the warmth shines through in every story.
As well as warmth there is sadness and disappointment. Difficult issues such as dementia and people trafficking are dealt with just as powerfully (and perhaps more digestibly) as they would be in a novel. To paraphrase a review quote from the back cover, Kay does sentiment without sentimentality, and it's powerful stuff. There is also humour - flashes abound in even the darkest tales and 'Mini Me' is a comic delight. There is also a sprinkling of magic realism here. I found those stories slightly less engaging than the others, although that's probably just personal preference.
I know already that this writing will stay with me, which is always the hallmark of a good novel. How much more skillful to achieve that within twenty pages?
I'm not cured entirely, 'Reality' sat on my shelf for a few weeks, dipped into occasionally, but basically unloved. Then slowly, slowly, it started to pull me in. The voices are wonderful. With (I think) only one exception, these are intimate, first person accounts of women going about their lives, whether fantastical or mundane. Each character is noticably different, somehow very well-drawn, even although I feel the characterisation must happen when I'm looking the other way. Despite the differences, the warmth shines through in every story.
As well as warmth there is sadness and disappointment. Difficult issues such as dementia and people trafficking are dealt with just as powerfully (and perhaps more digestibly) as they would be in a novel. To paraphrase a review quote from the back cover, Kay does sentiment without sentimentality, and it's powerful stuff. There is also humour - flashes abound in even the darkest tales and 'Mini Me' is a comic delight. There is also a sprinkling of magic realism here. I found those stories slightly less engaging than the others, although that's probably just personal preference.
I know already that this writing will stay with me, which is always the hallmark of a good novel. How much more skillful to achieve that within twenty pages?
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