Suzanne
Rating:
Review
These thirteen short stories about women's lives are intense reading. Almost all of the women feel trapped, whether by motherhood, men, circumstances, or their own previous poor choices. There's Jenny, a stripper/animal rights activist whose anti-cruelty message seems completely lost on Andrea, a blue-collar worker who believes the circus is "wholesome and all-American". Not a lot of hope there. Or for Cynthia, the woman who's losing her mind thinking about her screaming baby and cheating husband. The oppressiveness is palpable - nothing is going to change for these women. Slivers of hope do appear in a couple of the later stories, including one about Maggie, a teacher who's actually kicked her former heroin addiction. My favorite story, "pygmalion (recast)" features Ima, a woman with ovarian cancer who's facing certain death. Ima is the sole woman in the bunch to acknowledge and care about her husband's opinion but not let it dictate her choice. The writing is good; the reading can be hard.
Best Line:
"She's learned, in thirteen years of marriage, that you get into trouble assuming the worst." (pg. 57)
Kim
Rating:
Review
This collection of 13 short stories begins with "Medusa Song", and a young mother's inner demons wreaking havoc on her emotional well-being, and ends with Cecie and her memories of her father in "Still Life with Shoes". There are several stories I especially liked, including "Multicolored Tunneled Life", which tells of how life doesn't always happen the way its planned, "Pygmalion (recast)", which shows main character Ima's commitment to art and education, much to her husband's dismay, "The Rashomon Tree, where we meet new age mom Henna and her more conservative neighbor, Pearl, and the lessons they learn from one another, and "Evangeline", which is written in a completely different tone and aptly so, since the title character is young and naïve, and following a similar path laid out by her mother years earlier. All of the women in the stories are in some sort of turmoil, and all show varying degrees of strength in their everyday life struggles, making these stories thought-provoking for this reader. The title is great and I love the cover art too.
Best Line:
from "Evangeline", "So I don't hold much to naming a thing for the hope you stick on it."
