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kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review against another edition
3.0
Disclaimer: ARC via Librarything.
Valerie Miner’s short story collection “Blood and Salt” offers up a group of stories that give use glimpses into moments and lives. The majority of the stories are quiet ones, though there a few dark ones in this collection. As in most short story collections some stories stand out more than others.
There were a few stories that one wanted more from. This doesn’t mean that the stories felt unfinished, but that the feeling of there should have been more lingers after the story has been finished. This is very true of “Iconoclast”. Yet there are many magnificent stories.
The best stories in the collection focus more on the quiet interior of life as opposed to the darker stories. “Under the Stars,” for instance, is a quiet story that takes place over an evening at a party in India. To say that nothing happens is both at once correct and incorrect. There is no major action but there is plenty of internal action. There is such simple and wonderful beauty in the story.
This is also true of “Far Enough”. Yet that supposedly simple story captures the essence of guilt, of complicated friendship, of desiring company, and desiring solitude so strongly and believably illustrated and described.
Many of the stories have to do reconciling with the past and the ghosts of the past that haunt us. But they are also concerned with what exactly makes a family, aptly illustrated by the first story in the collection “Il Piccolo Tesoro”, which is about family and art.
The darker tales, “Escape Artist” and “Hollow” are perhaps the weakest story. The characters are well drawn but the interior life that sustains that other stories seems weaker and the threat of menace does not quite fit. You can see it coming.
There is humor in the collection as well, best illustrated by the tale of a woman’s layover at an airport in “Coming Though”.
The collection also contains a story that deals with the questions and conflicts that arise around generations and privilege. “The Woman at Coral Villas” details an unlikely friendship that develops between three women, but what it looks at is how misunderstanding and privilege can effect how we see others.
The title story, the novella that closes the volume, “Blood and Salt”, is an excellent combination of the themes of friendship and family that runs though the other stories. The novella concerns Caroline who travels back to Tunisia and relives parts of her youth. The writing in this closing story is particularly good.
The stories, in general, concern friendship in particular friendship among women and predominately feature women who are in their middle or later years. The book also features LGBTQIA+ characters.
Valerie Miner’s short story collection “Blood and Salt” offers up a group of stories that give use glimpses into moments and lives. The majority of the stories are quiet ones, though there a few dark ones in this collection. As in most short story collections some stories stand out more than others.
There were a few stories that one wanted more from. This doesn’t mean that the stories felt unfinished, but that the feeling of there should have been more lingers after the story has been finished. This is very true of “Iconoclast”. Yet there are many magnificent stories.
The best stories in the collection focus more on the quiet interior of life as opposed to the darker stories. “Under the Stars,” for instance, is a quiet story that takes place over an evening at a party in India. To say that nothing happens is both at once correct and incorrect. There is no major action but there is plenty of internal action. There is such simple and wonderful beauty in the story.
This is also true of “Far Enough”. Yet that supposedly simple story captures the essence of guilt, of complicated friendship, of desiring company, and desiring solitude so strongly and believably illustrated and described.
Many of the stories have to do reconciling with the past and the ghosts of the past that haunt us. But they are also concerned with what exactly makes a family, aptly illustrated by the first story in the collection “Il Piccolo Tesoro”, which is about family and art.
The darker tales, “Escape Artist” and “Hollow” are perhaps the weakest story. The characters are well drawn but the interior life that sustains that other stories seems weaker and the threat of menace does not quite fit. You can see it coming.
There is humor in the collection as well, best illustrated by the tale of a woman’s layover at an airport in “Coming Though”.
The collection also contains a story that deals with the questions and conflicts that arise around generations and privilege. “The Woman at Coral Villas” details an unlikely friendship that develops between three women, but what it looks at is how misunderstanding and privilege can effect how we see others.
The title story, the novella that closes the volume, “Blood and Salt”, is an excellent combination of the themes of friendship and family that runs though the other stories. The novella concerns Caroline who travels back to Tunisia and relives parts of her youth. The writing in this closing story is particularly good.
The stories, in general, concern friendship in particular friendship among women and predominately feature women who are in their middle or later years. The book also features LGBTQIA+ characters.
cnyreader's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked the stories in this collection. They feel very human, very genuine, and they aren't all happy, which is refreshing. Some were only a couple pages, which was a bit jarring. The title novella was my favorite, seconded by Far Enough. The women in the stories feel very real.
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