Sarah is trying to move on after the devastating loss of her husband. But a night deep in the fog might help her to cross to another world where he was waiting for her. To spend their ever after together.
This story bought tears to my eyes. It was beautiful, sweet
and totally made me believe in true love. And the idea that love crosses
boundaries. Even if that boundary is death. It’s the kind of story which makes
you believe that there are more things on heaven and earth than you could ever
dream, and maybe you should believe just for that one moment longer.
The atmosphere of this story is beautifully creepy. You can
kind of guess that from the mention of fog in the title. The swirling of fog in
each meeting, the moments which Sarah and her deceased husband manage to steal
away together… that question of “what if” lingers throughout this story. Yet it
doesn’t manage to be creepy… rather an ethereal and beautiful tale.
Possibly my favourite moment ever happens at the end of the
story. When Sarah is able to pretty much turn around and say F*** you to all of
the horrible naysayer. Family might mean a lot, but there are certain aspects
of family and decisions we make that count towards true family…
Title: Only Goodness Author: Jhumpa Lahiri In: Unaccustomed Earth (Jhumpa Lahiri) Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Contemporary, Family, Mental health Dates read: 30th September 2019 Pace: Slow Format: Short story Publisher: Bloomsbury Year: 2008 5th sentence, 74th page: You are in no position to be getting married.
Sudha gave her brother, Rahul his first beer. But she had no idea what that could lead to. Where life would take them and how much danger he could eventually find himself in.
Family is difficult, complex and insane. Completely insane at times. Which is captured brilliantly in Only Goodness. Featuring two siblings and following them as they grow, change and navigate the adult world, there are moments of frightening familiarity, interwoven with a life that I have never experienced. It created a world that was surreal and known. One that I really enjoyed visiting.
Alcoholism is a pretty severe mental health issue. The fact
that this story explores it from those beginning, niggling warning signs to the
eventual demise of a family worked brilliantly well. There was no one moment
throughout which you could pinpoint as the start of an addiction, rather a
series off events and personality traits which eventually led to an incredibly
sad ending.
Unlike the first few stories in the Unaccustomed Earth collection, this didn’t really feel so much like a story about migration and race. Sure, there were aspects of this within the story, but it was the son’s mental health and addiction issues which really took centre stage – something that transcends race and culture.
Title: Spellbound Author: L.A. Banks In: My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding (P.N. Elrod) Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Family, Paranormal romance, Urban fantasy Dates read: 30th September 2019 Pace: Medium Format: Short story Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Year: 2006 5th sentence, 74th page: Ethel floated toward the tree near the two lovers.
Odelia and Jeffereson just want to escape their horrifying families. They want to get married and live happily ever after. But they’re insane, dueling families have a lot to say about it… put in a call to the Grandmothers, and things might just start to work out the way they want them to.
This story is such a gorgeous little Romeo and Juliet themed
tale. Two young people from warring families have fallen deeply in love. And
all they want to do is get married. Unlike the Shakespearean classic though,
they have grandmothers. Who help. Actually they more than help… they step in
and take charge. Big time. I love the strong grandmother trope…
Odelia and Jefferson are a rare and cute couple. And an
interesting wedding to start a collection about supernatural weddings off with.
The hoodoo casting, Deep South dwelling families were completely unexpected.
Totally loved. And impossible to stop thinking about. The fact that the lead
are virgins at their wedding just makes it all the more sweet… especially since
BOTH the man and woman have abstained.
This short story made me think about those moments when
you’re falling madly in love. Those heady moments of excitement and
anticipation as you begin to truly start a new life with each other. It’s sweet
and romantic. And, just downright hilarious to counter all the mushy feelings… definitely
a short story that I would recommend again and again.
Title: Looking for Alibrandi Author: Melina Marchetta Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Australian authors, Book to Film, Contemporary, Family, Young adult Dates read: 23rd – 24th September 2019 Pace: Fast Format: Novel Publisher: Puffin Year: 1992 5th sentence, 74th page: ‘I can look after myself,’ I argued as I followed her into the house.
And what’s this about you and your friends driving around Bondi Junction half-dressed last week?’ ‘Who told you that?’ ‘Signora Formosa saw you. She said you and your friends almost ran her over. She rang Zia Patrizia’s next-door neighbour and it got back to Nonna.’ Telecom would go broke if it weren’t for the Italians.
Josephine Alibrandi is seventeen, illegitimate, and in her final year at a wealthy Catholic school. This is the year her father comes back into her life, the year she falls in love, the year she discovers the secrets of her family’s past and the year she sets herself free.
I’ll run one day. Run for my life. To be free and think for myself. Not as an Australian and not as an Italian and not as an in between. I’ll run to be emancipated.
This book is amazing! Ground shakingly, life-changingly
amazing. Which shouldn’t surprise me. Since I felt that way about the movie
when I first saw it as a teenager. After all, it’s about a young Australian
girl who is just trying to find where she belongs in the world. Trying to fit
in amongst racism and parental expectations. Trying to understand the past and find
a way towards a new future. All things that we struggle with ourselves, just
with different pressures.
There is so much pressure put on students who are studying
year 12. Stupid amounts. I remember my year 12 year, we were all told to put
all relationships on hold and just study. That is not a sane, safe or
reasonable thing to ask anyone. Let alone a teenager. Josie’s story encompasses
that year and the pressures that we all feel about our future, our choices and the
external requirements people place on us perfectly. Her sarcastic, attitudinal
teenage voice carries the message better than any other story would – and make
it far more relatable for someone like me, who was a highly attitudinal
teenager.
The relationships in this story are intense. And real. And, when bad things happen, heartbreaking. Enough so that I started weeping in the car. In the middle of summer. With my partner looking on in total confusion. Marchetta manages to create characters that you knew in high school. Dynamics that you too had, even if they were people of a slightly different socioeconomic group, or background. From that moment of first falling in love to letting go of the crush you always had, to seeing the “mean girl” as just another real person… she manages to show the growth and change that we all went through at such an important time in our lives.
Australia is known as a multicultural country, but it’s not always so accepting. Marchetta helps to bring this to life, not only in Josie’s experiences, but the tales of her mother and grandmother. Interweaving three generations of strong women into one story and showing the importance of family takes you on a fantastic journey. Not only through Australia’s cultural past, but also in the making of Josie Alibrandi and bringing all three women full circle to who they are today. And oh, my beating heart… now I just want to read this amazing novel all over again…
Title: A Choice of Accommodations Author: Jhumpa Lahiri In: Unaccustomed Earth (Jhumpa Lahiri) Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!) My Bookshelves:Contemporary, Family, Race Dates read: 21st September 20199 Pace: Slow Format: Short story Publisher: Bloomsbury Year: 2008 5th sentence, 74th page: Megan was content with one, telling him she’d paid the price for being from a large family.
Amit is attending an old friend’s wedding with his wife. The past and the glory of the night make him reflect on the decisions he’s made in life and whether he’s truly happy in the world he’s created for himself.
Relationships aren’t always sunshine and roses. Whoever tells you that they are is either lying, completely delusional or still in the honeymoon stage of theirs. That’s not to say that relationships aren’t completely amazing, but there is a level of comfort and almost boredom that you reach after a point. One that isn’t glorified in stories, because it is this amazingly comfortable, well-loved and satisfied feeling. Which, in a rare case for the stories I read, Lahirimanages to do kind of perfectly.
Multi-cultural relationships are a little bit difficult. And meeting people from your partners’ past can make all of the issues you thought you no longer had rise to the surface. Jealousy. Insecurity. So many questions. Yet, Lahiri manages to highlight this with a sense of respect. Not just for what people who have been happily married for umpteen years’ experience, but how they sometimes deal with their first night of freedom away from their children.
One of the things I am completely falling for with Jhumpa Lahiri’swriting is her way of taking the everyday life and telling a tale. In some cases, it’s the everyday life of migrants and refugees (something I don’t have much in common with). But in others, it’s the everyday ins and outs of being in a relationship. I think that it’s something that needs to be addressed more frequently. After all, the meeting and first contact are fun and intense. But that bit after? The part where you become comfortable and know that you’ve found that person to spend forever after with. Because forever after can all be first moments and stolen kisses… it has to be about something more.
Title: A Reversal of Fortune Author: Holly Black In: The Coyote Road (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling) Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!) My Bookshelves:Family, Food, Tricksters Dates read: 19th September 2019 Pace: Medium Format: Short story Publisher: Firebird Fantasy Year: 2007 5th sentence, 74th page: Maybe without a soul she wouldn’t even care that Boo was dead.
Nikki is just trying to have a good summer with her dog Boo. But when an accident causes her summer to take a tragic turn, she realises that she might just have to make a deal with the devil.
Eating competitions fascinate me. They’re weird, random and something that I couldn’t fathom doing myself… mostly because I already feel way too sick whenever I overeat even slightly. When I found out that actually being sick is a huge taboo and has its own name (a reversal of fortune), I was drawn completely into the tale. It had me laughing out loud, smiling, and chuckling at the ways in which Holly Black was able to take a fairly typical trickster tale and turn it on its head.
Being that this short story is in a collection of trickster tales, I figured that it was quite likely for Nikki to outsmart the devil. But using a food eating competition to do so. And quite a disgusting one at that… it was a little too humorous and fun for me to put the story down. A good reminder as to why I love Holly Black’swriting so much… she always has just the right amount of sass and surprise to leave me with a large smile on my face.
After finishing this story, I both wanted to go and eat my
weight in sour worms… and never eat them again. There were some fairly strong
emotions inspired by Nikki’s face off with the devil. But mostly what I loved
was the fact that she did all of this for her dog. She faced up to the loss of
her soul, because her dog is her soul. Or at least, that’s how I read it… and
it’s something that I think I too would do. I can’t imagine not having my
beautiful big dog by my side everyday…
Title: Hell-Heaven Author: Jhumpa Lahiri In: Unaccustomed Earth (Jhumpa Lahiri) Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect) My Bookshelves:Family, Migration, Race Dates read: 16th September 2019 Pace: Slow Format: Short story Publisher: Bloomsbury Year: 2008 5th sentence, 74th page: My parents and I had lived in Central Square for three years prior to that day; before that, we lived in Berlin, where I was born and where my father had finished his training in microbiology before accepting a position as a researcher at Mass General, and before Berlin my mother and father had lived in India, where they were strangers to each other, and where their marriage had been arranged.
She’s stuck between two worlds – the past of her parents and the present of America. A fun uncle and his new wife might completely change everything. And help her to find a way to accept her place in the world…
Arranged marriages are something that I don’t understand and
have never had first hand knowledge of. Which means that any story which features
this are going to be completely fascinating. After all, I read because I want
to understand the world and things around me better… so this story was
completely fascinating. Impossible to put down and made me feel like I could understand
the world around me a little better…
I don’t think it matters what culture and society you come
from, family is still an incredibly important driving force. As a woman, the
relationship between mother and daughter is an especially poignant relationship
that forms everything I’ve become. This was beautifully reflected in this short
story – the entire tale revolved around a mother and daughter. The uncle
figures presence provides a vessel through which this occurs, but the central
tale is still about the mother and the daughter.
Short stories which come full circle are always kind of
enjoyable. There is something that is succinct and neatly tied up because of
it. This is the perfect example of such a tale – it starts with a strange man
coming into their lives and becoming part of the family, and ends with the
woman he bought into their lives thanking them for being a family. It’s not
entirely neat, but it is quite sweet and makes you realise that your actions
from years ago can still come back. That sometimes what we thought we wanted
isn’t actually what we needed, and our acceptance of others will always turn
out for the best.
Title: Picking Up the Pieces Author: Pat Cadigan In: Naked City (Ellen Datlow) Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect) My Bookshelves:Family, Historical fiction Dates read: 5th September 2019 Pace: Medium Format: Short story Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Year: 2011 5th sentence, 74th page: Working my way through the crowd, I began hearing snatches of English.
The youngest daughter, Quinn, has always been a little different. But in 1989, when there are happenings afoot, she might just realise that she’s not so special after all…
The use of the Berlin Wall coming down in this story took me somewhat by surprise. Probably mostly because I didn’t actually know in what year it came down and so couldn’t make an educated guess on what life-altering moment was about to occur… I need to brush up on my history badly.
I’ve now read a few Pat Cadiganshort stories and I always find them surprisingly fun. And just plain surprising… they never quite fit into the storyline and themes of the rest of the collections I find them in. But yet, their tenuous connections work so well that I’m surprised I never thought of it myself. Picking Up the Pieces is exactly the kind of story which does that for me. It’s got the great trickster vibe to it, but in a completely contemporary and family driven set up. After all, we will all do anything for our family, even when they’re kind of difficult and definitely an avenue for chaos.
I too have a little sister that just seemed to be golden. She
is just so unbelievably good. Alright, she’s not like Quinn in this story because
she’s not over the top. Or a little too easily distracted. But I would still
totally fly to Germany to try and help get her out of trouble… even if it was
of her own making…
Title: The Governess Author: Elizabeth Bear In: Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling) Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect) My Bookshelves:Family, Fantasy, Gaslamp Dates read: 25th August 2019 Pace: Medium Format: Short story Publisher: Tor Year: 2013 5th sentence, 74th page: But she does, and there it is, and somehow she gets her mouth around it.
Anabelle is the governess of three beautiful children. But not all is right in the manor, and it might take the strength of a woman to make it right again.
Not sure why, but at the beginning of this story, I was kind
of expecting a much more cheerful and happier outlook in this story. Maybe a
bit of a rags to riches story. I was so incredibly wrong. This is a little bit
dark, a little bit uncomfortable and a really enjoyable read.
The Governess is a story that highlights the plight
of women. Not only through Anabelle’s trials, but those of the mistress of the
manor. Both are trapped by a man who is more than a little evil, and both are filled
with their own hidden strength. The ending really drives home that although
both women were brutalised and subject to horrors, they find a way to rise
above and focus on a new future. The grasping of their own freedom and focus on
what makes them strong, rather than what made them victims was the only really
uplifting moment in an otherwise dark story.
This wasn’t a heavy fantasy story, it almost read a little like a historical fiction. But with just that hint of a fantastical element towards the very ending. Actually, it kind of made me want to watch Downton Abbey because it felt kind of like that era. Yet, the beauty of the fantastical hint at the end made me want to clutch this book to my chest, and find yet more stories written by Elizabeth Bear. A great introduction to a new author.
Her father just wants to paint his Briar Rose series, but he’s not quite sure of how. She just wants to start her new life. In this bittersweet story about growing up and moving on, father and daughter find a new, happy life.
This short story had a very dreamy, bittersweet feeling to it.
Which makes sense, because it talks about an artist and is loosely based around
Sleeping Beauty. Both topics and things which tend to bring up a quite
melancholy feel. Or at least, that’s how I personally find these types of
stories.
The imagery used throughout this story was incredibly
beautiful. There is something special about the briar rose and a girl sleeping
amongst them that just seems universal and unforgettable. The use of this to
surround a young girl who is about to enter the world of adulthood through
marriage was very beautiful. Not just in the painting of her sleeping figure,
but also in her relationship with her soon to be husband. It not only highlights
the innocence of youth, but also the fun and beauty of the moments in which we
leave our youthful hope and wonder behind.
Unlike the other stories in this collection, For the
Briar Rose isn’t filled with any kind of conflict. It doesn’t make you feel
in awe of any specific talent or moment. It just makes you think. And for me,
reflect on the innocence of being a young girl when everything was still beautiful,
shiny and hopeful.
Earth and Skye 