isayhieveryday's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
buer's review against another edition
4.0
I finished this a while ago and never got around to reviewing it, so please excuse me for the short, less detailed review.
I did not love every story in this book, but each was a really lovely portrait into a very different kind of person.
I don't think that all of these pieces are long enough to even be considered short stories. I think some of them are more accurately described as micro-fiction, which is kind of lovely. Davis gives us tiny, intense doses of people.
Definitely worth reading.
I did not love every story in this book, but each was a really lovely portrait into a very different kind of person.
I don't think that all of these pieces are long enough to even be considered short stories. I think some of them are more accurately described as micro-fiction, which is kind of lovely. Davis gives us tiny, intense doses of people.
Definitely worth reading.
saff24's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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
3.0
h1914's review against another edition
4.0
“I thought that since I was better, my therapy should end soon. I was impatient, and I wondered: How did therapy come to an end? I had other questions too: for instance, How much longer would I continue to need all my strength just to take myself from one day to the next? There was no answer to that one. There would be no end to therapy, either, or I would not be the one who chose to end it.”
gjpeace's review against another edition
4.0
Actual rating: 4.5
An impressive and unique collection, for sure. I may not have LOVED it, but Davis is an incredible writer, and all of these pieces show a command of tone and word choice that is all the more impressive considering this is her debut. Like small anecdotes told by a poet. It all appears quite simple, but the way a single word or phrase can make a single story into something profound/hilarious//heartbreaking reveals the care Davis puts into her writing and the depths that the smallness of these stories hides.
The main highlight: the title story, which is now one of my all-time favorites. I've read it about four times now. Other highlights? I don't know. The whole book, basically. "Story," "In a House Besieged," the Auden piece. These are all stories I'll continue to think about and for a while. But I could say the same for many of the others.
So, basically, this feels like a collection I'll return to again and again, along with (presumably, hypothetically) the rest of The Collected Stories, which I'll get to in a bit. I'm very happy to have heeded the buzz.
An impressive and unique collection, for sure. I may not have LOVED it, but Davis is an incredible writer, and all of these pieces show a command of tone and word choice that is all the more impressive considering this is her debut. Like small anecdotes told by a poet. It all appears quite simple, but the way a single word or phrase can make a single story into something profound/hilarious//heartbreaking reveals the care Davis puts into her writing and the depths that the smallness of these stories hides.
The main highlight: the title story, which is now one of my all-time favorites. I've read it about four times now. Other highlights? I don't know. The whole book, basically. "Story," "In a House Besieged," the Auden piece. These are all stories I'll continue to think about and for a while. But I could say the same for many of the others.
So, basically, this feels like a collection I'll return to again and again, along with (presumably, hypothetically) the rest of The Collected Stories, which I'll get to in a bit. I'm very happy to have heeded the buzz.
nicoleipi's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this. It's slice-of-life, (a bit dull, tbh, hence the 4 stars), the ideas aren't revolutionary, but her words have a nice rhythm and that's all I really wanted.
I'll remember a quirky line or two, the contents of the stories I'll probably forget. Reading this was similar to engaging in conversation with co-workers during downtime--nothing substantial comes out of the conversation. However, it's still satisfying and I leave work feeling content.
"One day she sees an apartment she is willing to take. It is not very pretty, but she is ready to take it because she wants to have a home again, she wants to be bound to this city by a lease, she doesn’t want to go on feeling the way she does, loose in the world, the only one without any place."
I'll remember a quirky line or two, the contents of the stories I'll probably forget. Reading this was similar to engaging in conversation with co-workers during downtime--nothing substantial comes out of the conversation. However, it's still satisfying and I leave work feeling content.
"One day she sees an apartment she is willing to take. It is not very pretty, but she is ready to take it because she wants to have a home again, she wants to be bound to this city by a lease, she doesn’t want to go on feeling the way she does, loose in the world, the only one without any place."
everydayfrog's review against another edition
3.0
I was expecting so much. After all, it is Lydia Davis. Lydia Davis, I knew, was important, big, canonical.
But Break It Down was boring. Simple. Where's the catch? What emotion am I supposed to feel? Give me something!
Although, I must admit, these stories did light up something in me:
The House Plans
Sketches for a Life of Wassily
City Employment
What an Old Woman Will Wear
For these, I give 3 stars. For these, I will come back to you, Lydia Davis.
But Break It Down was boring. Simple. Where's the catch? What emotion am I supposed to feel? Give me something!
Although, I must admit, these stories did light up something in me:
The House Plans
Sketches for a Life of Wassily
City Employment
What an Old Woman Will Wear
For these, I give 3 stars. For these, I will come back to you, Lydia Davis.
jasonfurman's review against another edition
4.0
A really fascinating collection of short stories. Most of them are very short -- a few pages or in some cases even a paragraph (one of these is pasted below). They are all impeccably written, mostly odd, invariably disorienting with their psychological shifts. Most of them are about relationships, many of them failed. All of them are economical with only a minimum of necessary detail.
But better than a description is to read one of them entitled "What She Knew":
"People did not know what she knew, that she was not really a woman but a man, often a fat man, but more often, probably, an old man. The fact that she was an old man made it hard for her to be a young woman. It was hard for her to talk to a young man, for instance, though the young man was clearly interested in her. She had to ask herself, Why is this young man flirting with this old man?"
But better than a description is to read one of them entitled "What She Knew":
"People did not know what she knew, that she was not really a woman but a man, often a fat man, but more often, probably, an old man. The fact that she was an old man made it hard for her to be a young woman. It was hard for her to talk to a young man, for instance, though the young man was clearly interested in her. She had to ask herself, Why is this young man flirting with this old man?"