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I never really got it, but I still enjoyed it.
I found this book at the highly recommended Second Story Books in Washington, DC (Dupont Circle) just last weekend. I looked at it a long while. I keep seeing mention about her, but not her writing, which has long sort of intrigued (and annoyed) me. I've looked for Eisenberg in my own library on the shelves but she's either constantly checked out or they don't have any of her books - I've been too lazy to actually check their database. So when I found this used copy for half the cover price, I f...
Anytime one feels the urge to wax sentimental about the 80s, all one would need to do would be read this book.
Wow. This is such a great collection of short stories. If it weren't for Francine Prose's Reading Like a Writer, and her great list of must-reads in the appendix, I never would have even heard of Deborah Eisenberg. She seems to be a master of dialogue and those oh-so-subtle conversations that are really being conducted underneath the spoken words. Simply breathtaking!
Is Deborah Eisenberg the American Alice Munro? That's a dumb question. Stop asking dumb questions.Like Munro, she's amazing at showing how the present mind unpacks the past. These stories just kind of unfurl in front of your eyes. Just pure, voice-driven genius."Fortunately, the restaurant Rafe had chosen turned out to be wonderfully soothing. It was luxurious and private, and at the sight of the cloakroom, with its rows of expensive, empty coats that called up a world in which generous, broad-s...
It's strangely, amazingly touching when the same things happen to the same woman. Just ask Mavis Gallant.
meh! i could write this. and better.
This is everything that Eisenberg wrote up until Twighlight of the Superheroes. There's a story called Robbery and another called What it was Like Seeing Chris that I have never been able to shake. She is a master.
OK
It's hard to locate hilarious stories--there aren't many out there. So I was excited to read the first few stories in this collection--smart, funny, emotional, unexpected--reading them was like eating candy, or drinking water. And then I thought some others were just okay, and few were unengaging. But--I'm glad I finally read her work--I've owned this collection for 8? 9? years, and I'm looking forward to other work by Eisenberg.(A note--I can't help but think that this terrible cover is doing h...
Among other people, I would very much like to be Deborah Eisenberg when I grow up. Think about it-- as a bonus, you'd be married to Wallace Shawn. Not too shabby.
Eisenberg is particularly fine at depicting how bewilderment at human relations feels -- especially to the young, but also when one develops personality (defenses) that get in the way of connecting with other humans. She has paid close attention to how harsh exchanges can feel, and exactly describes how feelings can overpower us. I think she must write about this so well because she respects and observes feelings most of us would rather not experience.
Eisenberg propels many of her stories through pungent, captivating dialogue. Like conversations that are overheard, joined in progress and out of context, it sometimes takes a while for the reader to sort out what is going on, but the joy and satisfaction is in assembling Eisenberg's intricate puzzles of personalities, relationships and situations. Her stories are often surprising suspenseful, and "The Robbery" in particular clutched at my heart.
"what is was like, seeing chris" is my favorite. also "rafe's coat."
It took me an incredibly long time to make it through this collection. This was due to the fact that I took it very slowly and only read a story once every so often. It does not mean this wasn't a compelling collection. Quite the opposite. This collection of short stories is phenomenal. Deborah Eisenberg writes a huge range of characters, places, pov's, styles, tones. They reflect all the real, raw, honest things inside of us, regardless of the circumstance. She does not burrow herself into one
the entire collection is understated brilliance, and "days," about quitting smoking, is the best story i've ever read about addiction and grieving. the humour is superb, while not underplaying with terrible pain the narrator is dealing with. one of my favourite combos.
Her writing is astonishing. Always suprises.
Deborah Eisenberg possesses enormous skill in connecting the reader's empathy to the plight of her characters with an objectivity conveying both deliciously mordant satire and the implication that if we can only understand ourselves a bit more, some measure of redemption is possible. Often at the end of these stories the protagonist is left with little more than very bitterly earned self-knowledge, yet always with a slim suggestion -- and perhaps not immediately experienced by the character -- o...
