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ivalimaki's review
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
bookerage's review
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
This book was just not my cup of tea. I usually don't read short stories to begin with, as by the time I'm invested, the story ends. I wanted to give it a try because i was looking for an easy read between "heavier" books. I found specifically the dialogs to be to silly and sometimes unnatural, even for the time this book was published. The stories felt messy and disjointed. It was difficult to determine what the narrative of each story was.
charlietatum's review
challenging
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
At times inscrutable, this collection of short stories gives a glance into the way stories are told—to ourselves, to each other, behind each other’s backs.
I read one collection of Paley’s stories years ago, and this one had been sitting on the shelf. At its best, it’s easy to fall into the back and forth between two or more characters (many of whom pop up again throughout the book) navigating politics, personal lives, aging, love, and loneliness. The imperfect perspectives of these characters—and the ways they navigate these imperfections—is what feels most human and exciting to read. For me, some stories got caught up in difficult to parse dialogue, and I wasn’t able to find a rhythm within the characters’ exchanges.
This is such a New York book.
Favorites:
“In the Garden”: A tight-knit community on a Caribbean island reckon with each other and a stranger.
“Somewhere Else”: A group of American Communists visit China as tourists.
“Friends”: Four women grapple with death, aging, and loss.
“Anxiety”: An onlooker warns two families about the future.
“Ruthy and Edie”: Two friends grow up together.
“Zagrowsky Tells”: An old man deals with his place in a changing world.
I read one collection of Paley’s stories years ago, and this one had been sitting on the shelf. At its best, it’s easy to fall into the back and forth between two or more characters (many of whom pop up again throughout the book) navigating politics, personal lives, aging, love, and loneliness. The imperfect perspectives of these characters—and the ways they navigate these imperfections—is what feels most human and exciting to read. For me, some stories got caught up in difficult to parse dialogue, and I wasn’t able to find a rhythm within the characters’ exchanges.
This is such a New York book.
Favorites:
“In the Garden”: A tight-knit community on a Caribbean island reckon with each other and a stranger.
“Somewhere Else”: A group of American Communists visit China as tourists.
“Friends”: Four women grapple with death, aging, and loss.
“Anxiety”: An onlooker warns two families about the future.
“Ruthy and Edie”: Two friends grow up together.
“Zagrowsky Tells”: An old man deals with his place in a changing world.
jrl6809's review
challenging
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Here, as in Enormous Changes at the Last Minute, Grace Paley crafts characters that are painfully real and painfully complicated. You can simultaneously despise and sympathize with them. Paley is sharp, insightful, and subtle in her approach to capturing human motivation. Her sarcastic and witty voice is fun to read, but the profundity of her stories never escapes the reader.
al3xa's review
adventurous
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism, Xenophobia, Ableism, and Mental illness
jimmylorunning's review
4.0
Enigmatic stories, not light but containing lightness. Very funny. A sympathetic humor. The short ones are very strange. Off-kilter occurences following their own logic, sometimes reminds me of Jane Bowle's stories, but with broader concerns. Politics is in there a lot, the stories are more about the ways people deal with politics in their own lives, rather than trying to make any political points. I like her voice a lot, and she has recurring characters. Faith and her friends Ruth and Ann and Susan. She doesn't use quotation marks to set off dialogue and it can be really confusing when a lot of people start talking, but she does dialogue well, and her stories are sometimes hard to follow but they go in these weird directions without any kind of explanation. I like that. I also like, in her shorter stories, where she doesn't try for any kind of realism. Like in "At That Time, or The History of a Joke".
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