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A review by seebrandyread
Binocular Vision: New and Selected Stories by Edith Pearlman
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I've read Edith Pearlman short stories here and there, usually via Best American anthologies. This collection is introduced by Ann Patchett, a huge fan, which was also a selling point. I agree with Patchett and several other blurber-ers (blurb-ists?) that Pearlman is extremely underrated. She's basically the American Alice Munro--a master of the short story whose work explores the depth and vastness of humanity from one small corner of the globe.
Pearlman is a much more succinct writer than Munro. The stories collected here average about 12 pages, and Pearlman does the most with those pages, carefully choosing every detail and turn of phrase while still maintaining a richness to her prose. Though her stories take place all over, the last part of the book, the "New Stories," takes place almost exclusively in Godolphin, a suburb in Boston. Many, many of her characters are Jewish which is sometimes integral to the plot and sometimes a minor fleshing out of a character. While her characters often exist in specific communities, the only explicitly connected stories are 3 from the first half of the book about a woman who moves to Europe during WWII to assist with the war effort.
The titular story indicates what ties the collection together and defines Pearlman as a writer. In it, a young girl spies on her neighbors despite their mundanity until a tragedy teaches her that everything she thinks she knows about them may be wrong. Not only is it a moment of loss of innocence but also a valuable reminder that we often cloud our own vision.
These stories are often preoccupied with death. Characters endure illnesses or die suddenly or live in war-torn times and places. Sometimes they are bystanders, witnesses to the passing of friends or family. Perhaps the ultimate concern of the storyteller is witnessing (see title story). Time passes slowly and quickly in Pearlman's narratives, and her characters are testaments to its passage, no matter how reluctantly.
I enjoyed Pearlman's portrayal of older characters who deal with the predictable declines in health and struggle to adapt to social change but who are also sexually active or crave new experiences. I often wondered if they were later versions of some of her younger characters. There were times when the stories felt repetitive, especially if I read several in a day. This is the kind of collection that lends itself to more spaced out reading or to complement something fast-paced.
Pearlman is a much more succinct writer than Munro. The stories collected here average about 12 pages, and Pearlman does the most with those pages, carefully choosing every detail and turn of phrase while still maintaining a richness to her prose. Though her stories take place all over, the last part of the book, the "New Stories," takes place almost exclusively in Godolphin, a suburb in Boston. Many, many of her characters are Jewish which is sometimes integral to the plot and sometimes a minor fleshing out of a character. While her characters often exist in specific communities, the only explicitly connected stories are 3 from the first half of the book about a woman who moves to Europe during WWII to assist with the war effort.
The titular story indicates what ties the collection together and defines Pearlman as a writer. In it, a young girl spies on her neighbors despite their mundanity until a tragedy teaches her that everything she thinks she knows about them may be wrong. Not only is it a moment of loss of innocence but also a valuable reminder that we often cloud our own vision.
These stories are often preoccupied with death. Characters endure illnesses or die suddenly or live in war-torn times and places. Sometimes they are bystanders, witnesses to the passing of friends or family. Perhaps the ultimate concern of the storyteller is witnessing (see title story). Time passes slowly and quickly in Pearlman's narratives, and her characters are testaments to its passage, no matter how reluctantly.
I enjoyed Pearlman's portrayal of older characters who deal with the predictable declines in health and struggle to adapt to social change but who are also sexually active or crave new experiences. I often wondered if they were later versions of some of her younger characters. There were times when the stories felt repetitive, especially if I read several in a day. This is the kind of collection that lends itself to more spaced out reading or to complement something fast-paced.