junemoon's review against another edition
5.0
Listen. I am telling you to read this. You need to read this. Buy it. Savor it. Read and reread it.
mt_everett's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
ruthie_the_librarian's review against another edition
1.0
I found this very hard to read - the style was difficult to get into, and had it not been short stories I might not have made my way through the whole book. There were occasional moments that were good, but mostly I didn't enjoy this at all!
frankie_s's review against another edition
3.0
I love Fleur Jaeggy and I loved this too but it was definitely uneven. Love the atmospheres she creates.
wrystake's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
2.0
jrl6809's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I'm not sure if I necessarily "got" every story in this collection, or even how much the audience is SUPPOSED to get. It seems to me that these stories are much more about conveying a feeling than anything else. These kind of super-short form, surreal pieces of fiction that are all about vibes tend to not be my thing, perhaps because I have a hard time investing in the atmosphere of a story that has no real meat behind it. This collection, however, was different. There was something here that was almost hypnotic. Much has been written about Fluer Jaeggy's unique writing style, but I will just echo the sentiment that she is able to use nothing but language to dredge up some very authentic feelings of dread from her reader. These stories got under my skin in a way I haven't experienced since I first read "The Lottery". I will definitely check out more by her as I feel her longer form novels likely have the potential to be phenomenal.
libermonstrorum's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
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
nghia's review against another edition
3.0
Once when I was eight years old my grandmother asked me, what will you do when you grow up? And I answered, I want to die. I want to die when I grow up. I want to die soon.
I liked the prose in this collection of short stories but didn't really find any of the stories especially impactful or memorable. I read this just a week or two ago and struggle to remember even one of the stories. Wait, there was the one about the ex-Nazi mother and her son?
Jaeggy's prose is short and staccato. It is a breath of fresh air compared to the vast majority of Literature that (currently, at least) seems to think stream-of-consciousness and individual sentences that stretch for pages are the necessary ingredients for Literature. (More on this complaint in a future review when I get around to writing about [b:Old Rendering Plant|34146620|Old Rendering Plant|Wolfgang Hilbig|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1490779663l/34146620._SY75_.jpg|55183754]. But see also my review of [b:Death in Spring|6405181|Death in Spring|Mercè Rodoreda|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1398195398l/6405181._SY75_.jpg|6594052].)
The old bachelor is sitting at a table for dinner, with his dogs. Helga and Ali. German hounds. For all three sweetbreads in lemon sauce. Caspar is seized by nostalgia. Nostalgia for the children in the portrait. The food repels him, he throws it to the dogs. He fills a glass with port. It is night.
Despite liking it at a stylistic sentence-level of construction, I struggled to find much of a coherent theme or style to this collection. There are a few motifs that recur -- women who pledge themselves to chastity, for instance -- but even these occur in just two or three stories ... barely even enough to call them a recurring motif.
Not that a short story collection needs anything to tie it all together, I suppose. But it makes it that much harder to give any kind of explanation of what this book even is and whether any given reader would enjoy it. Something like "Cat" is a page-long meditation on cat's "Uebersprung behavior", hardly a "short story" at all. "Negde" is just two pages about a guy who goes for a brief winter walk in Brooklyn.
I was unsure whether to have coffee or an ice cream. Maybe I had both. The lady, mineral water. Évian. I, too, was thirsty. That lake and the landscape made one very thirsty. One couldn’t breathe. It was like being in a desert. In a lake made of sand. The lady drank all of her mineral water. I finished my ice cream. How graceful the lady is. Minuscule gold earrings. And a trim suit, very proper. It couldn’t be otherwise. It is silly to say so.
My two favorite stories were both about mothers with unexpected pasts. In "The Black Lace Veil", a daughter is going through her mom's effects after the mother has passed away. She comes across a photo of her mother having a meeting with the Pope. What's that all about?!
Why the audience? And why that look in her eyes. If she felt the desire to see the Pope, and perhaps receive his blessing, why did she have that terribly sad look in her eyes?
I found this one a powerful story on how little we know the interior life (and past) of our own parents. But most of the stories faded as soon as I finished reading them.