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chiyeungreads's review against another edition
4.0
Nothing will be as amazing as Reasons To Live but this is still a nice collection and “The most girl part of you” is one of my favorite short stories.
werdyezmik's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely her best collection prior to her collected works.
erinray82's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this. As before, I appreciate Amy Hempel's minimalist style. I liked the animal aspect of this book for the most part. It was endearing and warm, but it felt less personal in the human sense. Some stories stood out over others, while her first book captured me more completely. As always, she has some truly great lines. I enjoyed it, just not as much as the last.
kmt75's review against another edition
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
Reads like it was written by someone who runs a creative writing MFA program. Sixteen overwrought short stories about cliched, manic pixie dreamgirls/women. Honestly, only a couple even qualify as short stories. Mostly just random collections of thoughts that barely hang together.
The title story is the best of the bunch by miles. Not really good, but quirky and, unlike the rest, coherent.
The title story is the best of the bunch by miles. Not really good, but quirky and, unlike the rest, coherent.
missnicelady's review against another edition
5.0
Beautiful stuff. Hempel came to my college in 1991 or 92 and read "The Most Girl Part of You," and since then I've been hooked on her wry, exquisite prose.
georgeklts's review against another edition
4.0
The boy's mother prayed for drunk drivers.
I prayed for men who were not discriminating.
Aren't we all, I thought, somebody's harvest?
I prayed for men who were not discriminating.
Aren't we all, I thought, somebody's harvest?
podcast_buecherreich's review against another edition
5.0
Wird Zeit, dass DIE mal in Deutschland entdeckt wird!
Amy Hempel schreibt sooo gut!!
Hört mich darüber sprechen in der 2a-Ausgabe von unserem Podcast "bücherreich":
http://buecherreich.tumblr.com/post/73426435999/willkommen-bei-unserer-sonderausgabe-von
Meine geschriebene Rezension des Titels findet ihr hier:
http://www.literaturtipps.de/buch/detail/erzaehlungen-kurzgeschichten/hempel/die_ernte_stories_erzaehlungen.html
Und den langen Autorentext hier (total faszinierende Frau):
http://www.literaturtipps.de/autor/kurzbeschreibung/hempel.html
Amy Hempel schreibt sooo gut!!
Hört mich darüber sprechen in der 2a-Ausgabe von unserem Podcast "bücherreich":
http://buecherreich.tumblr.com/post/73426435999/willkommen-bei-unserer-sonderausgabe-von
Meine geschriebene Rezension des Titels findet ihr hier:
http://www.literaturtipps.de/buch/detail/erzaehlungen-kurzgeschichten/hempel/die_ernte_stories_erzaehlungen.html
Und den langen Autorentext hier (total faszinierende Frau):
http://www.literaturtipps.de/autor/kurzbeschreibung/hempel.html
twan's review against another edition
5.0
5 (Random) Thoughts
-I've been reading some poetry this year. It's almost fitting that return to read some Amy Hempel in the midst of that. Her minimalist style of prose has much in common with poetry. I can't think of a fancy way to say it: she is a beast. One of my favorite authors. I read her writing slow, like I'm savoring every bite. Each line has the potential for hilarity, or it could be the one that destroys you. Sometimes they do both.
-Hempel is most underrated as a comedic talent. She is as constantly funny as any comedic author I have read. If the cliche'd line is that "comedy equals tragedy plus time," then she truly lives within that relation of the comedic and tragic. "Jean was trying to describe what she felt it would be like to be married to Larry; she said it would be like staying in a bad hotel and being forced to send postcards of it to your friends with arrows pointing to 'my room.'" Her use of humor are not cheap tricks or easy laughs, however. She uses them as an economy of language which jumps the fence of exposition and sneaks the observations into the backyard. We learn about characters through simple, one liners. In "The Harvest" she could tell us her date was superficial but instead after he injures our protagonist in a serious accident he tells her as she bleeds on his clothing: "You'll be okay, but this sweater is ruined."
-"The Harvest" may be Hempel's greatest story. It is certainly on the short list. The opening line is a shot across the bow: "The year I began to say vahz, instead of vase, a man I barely knew nearly accidentally killed me." She proceeds to give her protagonist, ex-boyfriend and lawyer traits in simple one liners: . That the story eventually flips on it's head as a means of showing the way we play with the truth as we tell stories makes you consider the relationship between fiction and non-fiction. Perhaps non-fiction gives more room for honesty? It also talks about how we use and dispose of each other, but mentioning the themes of the stories in a vacuum ignores the humanity and vulnerability within them. Without it her stories would simply be baroque and dark, and well... Chuck Palahniuk (which is cool if that's your thing. it's not mine, but right on, power to his people, don't come at me... seriously, you people scare me)
-I'm resisting the urge to just list each of my favorites stories, but "Rapture of the Deep" and "The rest of God" are clear highlights along with the collections namesake: "At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom." The title story is fitting because so many of the stories in the collection have to deal with our relation to animals, how lonely people ironically find humanity through connections with animals, and how our rationality often is subordinate to more base instinctual behaviors.
-My tendency is to use violent descriptors when discussing her work because it feels violent the way she can shift the mood in a new paragraph. In the monstrous "The Rest of God," she closes with a powerful meditation on marriage and nature. In one moment a wife storms off at the recollection of her accident where she kills a deer. The description of the scene on the side of the row shows the cruelty of her husband in that moment. The mood of the campfire, and the trauma that it caused her. Moments later they are swept up in a revelation on the beach. It is a beautiful close to another great collection of stories by a master-craftswoman. I still believe "Reasons to Live" is her best collection of stories, but what do I know?
-I've been reading some poetry this year. It's almost fitting that return to read some Amy Hempel in the midst of that. Her minimalist style of prose has much in common with poetry. I can't think of a fancy way to say it: she is a beast. One of my favorite authors. I read her writing slow, like I'm savoring every bite. Each line has the potential for hilarity, or it could be the one that destroys you. Sometimes they do both.
-Hempel is most underrated as a comedic talent. She is as constantly funny as any comedic author I have read. If the cliche'd line is that "comedy equals tragedy plus time," then she truly lives within that relation of the comedic and tragic. "Jean was trying to describe what she felt it would be like to be married to Larry; she said it would be like staying in a bad hotel and being forced to send postcards of it to your friends with arrows pointing to 'my room.'" Her use of humor are not cheap tricks or easy laughs, however. She uses them as an economy of language which jumps the fence of exposition and sneaks the observations into the backyard. We learn about characters through simple, one liners. In "The Harvest" she could tell us her date was superficial but instead after he injures our protagonist in a serious accident he tells her as she bleeds on his clothing: "You'll be okay, but this sweater is ruined."
-"The Harvest" may be Hempel's greatest story. It is certainly on the short list. The opening line is a shot across the bow: "The year I began to say vahz, instead of vase, a man I barely knew nearly accidentally killed me." She proceeds to give her protagonist, ex-boyfriend and lawyer traits in simple one liners: . That the story eventually flips on it's head as a means of showing the way we play with the truth as we tell stories makes you consider the relationship between fiction and non-fiction. Perhaps non-fiction gives more room for honesty? It also talks about how we use and dispose of each other, but mentioning the themes of the stories in a vacuum ignores the humanity and vulnerability within them. Without it her stories would simply be baroque and dark, and well... Chuck Palahniuk (which is cool if that's your thing. it's not mine, but right on, power to his people, don't come at me... seriously, you people scare me)
-I'm resisting the urge to just list each of my favorites stories, but "Rapture of the Deep" and "The rest of God" are clear highlights along with the collections namesake: "At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom." The title story is fitting because so many of the stories in the collection have to deal with our relation to animals, how lonely people ironically find humanity through connections with animals, and how our rationality often is subordinate to more base instinctual behaviors.
-My tendency is to use violent descriptors when discussing her work because it feels violent the way she can shift the mood in a new paragraph. In the monstrous "The Rest of God," she closes with a powerful meditation on marriage and nature. In one moment a wife storms off at the recollection of her accident where she kills a deer. The description of the scene on the side of the row shows the cruelty of her husband in that moment. The mood of the campfire, and the trauma that it caused her. Moments later they are swept up in a revelation on the beach. It is a beautiful close to another great collection of stories by a master-craftswoman. I still believe "Reasons to Live" is her best collection of stories, but what do I know?
emmastia's review against another edition
3.0
Very good short stories. Emphasis on short for a lot of them. I liked them as I was reading them but do not think they will be so memorable. I would definitely try some of her other works to get a clearer opinion on this author.
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