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sethdmichaels's review against another edition
5.0
Love an envy the way she writes. It's extremely simple, straightforward and descriptive but somehow also strange, distant and creepy. A lot of the stories are surreal and abstract like Borges, but more intimate and domestic. She describes the lived experience of depression better than almost anyone.
Cheating on Goodreads, because I have a very long Collected Stories and I'm going to mark off the individual books as I complete them in sections. Don't judge me too harshly.
Cheating on Goodreads, because I have a very long Collected Stories and I'm going to mark off the individual books as I complete them in sections. Don't judge me too harshly.
aoutramafalda's review against another edition
5.0
4.5*
- Story 4*
- The Fears of Mrs. Orlando 4*
- Liminal: The Little Man 3.5*
- Break It Down 5*
- Mr. Burdoff's Visit to Germany 4*
- What She Knew 4*
- The Fish 3*
- Mildred and the Oboe 4*
- The Mouse 4*
- The Letter 4.5*
- Extracts from a Life 3*
- The House Plans 4*
- The Brother-in-Law 4.5*
- How W.H. Auden Spends the Night in a Friend's House 4*
- Mothers 3.5*
- In a House Besieged 3.5*
- Visit to Her Husband 4*
- Cockroaches in Autumn 3*
- The Bone 4*
- A Few Things Wrong with Me 4.5*
- Sketches for a Life of Wassily 4.5*
- City Employment 4.5*
- Two Sisters 4.5*
- The Mother 5*
- Therapy 4.5*
- French Lesson I: Le Meurtre 4.5*
- Once a Very Stupid Man 4*
- The Housemaid 4*
- The Cottages 4*
- Safe Love 4*
- Problem 3.5*
- What an Old Woman Will Wear 4.5*
- The Sock 4*
- Five Signs of Disturbance 4.5*
- Story 4*
- The Fears of Mrs. Orlando 4*
- Liminal: The Little Man 3.5*
- Break It Down 5*
- Mr. Burdoff's Visit to Germany 4*
- What She Knew 4*
- The Fish 3*
- Mildred and the Oboe 4*
- The Mouse 4*
- The Letter 4.5*
- Extracts from a Life 3*
- The House Plans 4*
- The Brother-in-Law 4.5*
- How W.H. Auden Spends the Night in a Friend's House 4*
- Mothers 3.5*
- In a House Besieged 3.5*
- Visit to Her Husband 4*
- Cockroaches in Autumn 3*
- The Bone 4*
- A Few Things Wrong with Me 4.5*
- Sketches for a Life of Wassily 4.5*
- City Employment 4.5*
- Two Sisters 4.5*
- The Mother 5*
- Therapy 4.5*
- French Lesson I: Le Meurtre 4.5*
- Once a Very Stupid Man 4*
- The Housemaid 4*
- The Cottages 4*
- Safe Love 4*
- Problem 3.5*
- What an Old Woman Will Wear 4.5*
- The Sock 4*
- Five Signs of Disturbance 4.5*
verycarefully's review against another edition
2.0
I'm not sure what I think of this one.
For the most part, the protagonists of all the stories felt very samey. Neurotic, alienated, self-obsessed, self-conscious. It's worse when written in the third person, as many of them are; a first-person catalogue of someone's every anxious thought feels a littel more genuine, at least. Still, the main effect these stories had was to make me feel disconnected, uncomfortable, and often bored.
At the same time, there were paragraphs here and there that struck me so strongly I had to stop and write them down, which rarely happens at all. I'll be interested to see if Davis' later work takes a more appealing direction, or if the small parts I liked in this collection will disappear entirely.
I did quite like many of the shortest stories in the collection; at only a very few paragraphs, perhaps they escape some unconscious expectation of mine, so that simply capturing a mood or a small sequence of thoughts feels less unfulfilling.
For the most part, the protagonists of all the stories felt very samey. Neurotic, alienated, self-obsessed, self-conscious. It's worse when written in the third person, as many of them are; a first-person catalogue of someone's every anxious thought feels a littel more genuine, at least. Still, the main effect these stories had was to make me feel disconnected, uncomfortable, and often bored.
At the same time, there were paragraphs here and there that struck me so strongly I had to stop and write them down, which rarely happens at all. I'll be interested to see if Davis' later work takes a more appealing direction, or if the small parts I liked in this collection will disappear entirely.
I did quite like many of the shortest stories in the collection; at only a very few paragraphs, perhaps they escape some unconscious expectation of mine, so that simply capturing a mood or a small sequence of thoughts feels less unfulfilling.
ardinareads's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Enjoyed this collection of short stories even though no story in particular stood out to me