A review by lilyana
The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel by Amy Hempel

4.25

It’s really hard to rate this book, partially because it’s hard to rate any short story collection, but also because I feel like it’s not the kind of book you just read once. For the first couple of stories I felt kind of disappointed, because it felt like they ended before coming to a point, there weren’t any quotes to underline, or concrete meaning to be had. After getting used to her style though, I came to appreciate it. The stories read more like poetry, and there is a lot of room for interpretation. I feel like she writes the way I write, where with the context of her life, the stories would make perfect sense to her and convey that point, but to an outsider who doesn’t share her past experiences, they lack that nuance. After getting about halfway through this book, that didn’t bother me anymore and I actually really enjoyed it. There aren’t too many quotes to highlight, or generalized lessons, but the stories, like poetry, allow you to reflect yourself onto them and take away what you need from them through interpretation. The 4 star rating is not a reflection of the book, which I do believe is a 5 star book, but more a reflection of my first reading of it. This is definitely a book I’ll have to read again, and I think revisiting it will allow me to take a lot more away from it and give a higher rating.