tjt's review against another edition
5.0
This book is jammin', particularly the "stories" section. Paley is an extraordinarily evocative writer whose dialogue choices and story structuring are always both surprising and exactly right. The scenes of the parks and avenues and too small apartments and jobs that don't pay enough and the soldiers and young mothers that make up the cast of these places are drawn with a humble and sympathetic eye, but without pulling punches.
The essays are interesting, but I think the format could use some work. There are too many war essays right after each other. The essays on writing at the end of the section could perhaps be interspersed more effectively, because I enjoyed them the most, with perhaps the exception of the story on Vietnamese children being airlifted (aka stolen) into the USA, which was also really good. However, the essay where she goes to Vietnam to collect the POW bombers has big boomer activist energy. Writing about how the Vietnamese gave the POWs more food than they ate. I understand she's writing with an agenda and fought against the war her entire life, so she has a vested interest in portraying Vietnam and Vietnamese people in a good light, but it just made me roll my eyes the more she wrote about their saintliness.
Her poetry sucks (compared to her stories.) I'd skip that.
It was interesting to see how her concerns bled across all her creative pursuits, she writes in all forms about essentially the same things. But she's so much better at short stories than the others, I'd maybe recommend picking up a collection of her stories instead of this reader.
The essays are interesting, but I think the format could use some work. There are too many war essays right after each other. The essays on writing at the end of the section could perhaps be interspersed more effectively, because I enjoyed them the most, with perhaps the exception of the story on Vietnamese children being airlifted (aka stolen) into the USA, which was also really good. However, the essay where she goes to Vietnam to collect the POW bombers has big boomer activist energy. Writing about how the Vietnamese gave the POWs more food than they ate. I understand she's writing with an agenda and fought against the war her entire life, so she has a vested interest in portraying Vietnam and Vietnamese people in a good light, but it just made me roll my eyes the more she wrote about their saintliness.
Her poetry sucks (compared to her stories.) I'd skip that.
It was interesting to see how her concerns bled across all her creative pursuits, she writes in all forms about essentially the same things. But she's so much better at short stories than the others, I'd maybe recommend picking up a collection of her stories instead of this reader.
tiaelisabeth's review against another edition
3.0
I struggled with the short stories, but found the essays on the peace movement incredibly insightful and the language of Paley’s poetry absolutely sparkles. What a fascinating person! The introduction from Saunders and the afterword by Paley’s daughter are great touches to this volume.
christinaautumn's review against another edition
2.0
Read the first bit. Her dialect and is challenging and takes more effort than I was willing to give for a bedside table read.
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