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The stories in this collection are not all of equal quality. Some- like the novella Venus Rising- are wonderfully imagined but had some pacing issues that challenged my ability to remain enthralled with the narrative. The stories at the center of the collection, i.e. "It Comes From Deep Inside," "Prejudice and Pride," "Report to the Men's Club," "Water Master," "Abominable," and "Desert Child" are phenomenal, offering commentary on gender, perception, and community. Many of the stories, specific...
delightful magical realism with very simple, quirky twists. Emshwiller manages to achieve a level of simplicity to her prose and story ideas that can be disarming - what if superheroes aged? what would two lonely sister spinsters do if they found a humanoid lab experiment? each is presented with a child-like wink, and many are done just as quickly. the characters are conflicted but persistent, sometimes they are quite oblivious to their own situations - and endearingly so. sometimes monsters act...
Great collection of short stories, with some very interesting premises. Even the ones that didn't grab my attention so much were well written. Also a good mix of styles in the different stories, from funny to smart to creepy.
Love her writing style. Got a visual in my head of a gleeful cloud just about to unleash a tornado funnel. Some of the stories are poignantly personal: After All in particular. The Water Master is a favorite; Grandma. It's unusual and welcome to find a short story collection with all of the entrants excellent reading. Will be reading her other short story collections in the near future. For those who'd like a sampling to savor, here's a link, including a couple that are in the Men's Club collect...
“Report to the Men’s Club” is a collection of short stories by Carol Emshwiller that spans her career from 1977 to 2002. I was curious about Emshwiller, having come across her name in numerous places; none of the summaries of her novels especially interested me so I decided to discover her via this collection.There is no theme that connects the stories in this collection but there is discernible similarity in the writing style. The 19 stories, seven of which had not been previously published, co...
If you care about women, or animals, you should read this! It is soooooo good. Emshwiller writes deeply sympathetic characters who struggle with mental illness, patriarchy, identity, belief, and other huge issues, but in such a creative and beautiful and winsome way, I could barely put the book down. In particular I loved "Venus Rising" and "Foster Mother" - both were so sweet and sad I'm having a hard time returning this little book to the library. The stories are a mix of sci fi, mythmaking, a...
I expected more from this book, because I'd read a couple of the author's short stories in the past, and also really enjoyed The Mount, one of her novels. These stories were interesting enough, just not arresting or overly memorable.
Most of the stories in this collection are written in first person with the same voice. By about 50% of the way I was weary of it.
An aged superhero and her granddaughter. Bickering sisters whose lives are altered by the discovery of a small winged male. A woman in search of art. A tale from the time when humans lived in the sea. These stories and the others that make up Carol Emshwiller’s Report to the Men’s Club are all very different in many ways. But they have their similarities, too, namely an intense interest in how folks (human or otherwise) relate to one another and an impish sense of humor.
Eh, I found one or two of them okay, but most didn't do anything for me.
Emshwiller is So. Freaking. Weird. I say that as a compliment. I have no doubt many readers will give this 1 star and be unable to finish, but for me, the absurdity of it all, combined with the completely believable characters, makes her unlike any other writer.