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greensalbet's review
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Ellen Gilchrist died this January, which has led to many online obituaries and reviews of her life's work.
After three husbands and three children, Gilchrist returned to her home state of Mississippi and enrolled in classes at Millsaps College in Jackson to pursue a degree in philosophy. At the same time. Gilchrist took English classes from Pulitzer-Prize-Winning author Eudora Welty before graduating in 1967 at 32.
This book was Gilchrist's first collection of short stories, In the Land of Dreamy Dreams, published by the University of Arkansas press in 1981. It sold 10,000 copies -- an impressive number from a small press. She said the stories flew out of her head over a three-month period.
Even though there are many flawed characters in Gilchrist's stories, their judgments and blind spots are hilarious and adorably endearing. Most are aware of their shortcomings and starkly honest about them. The protagonists in this book are young women or girls in their tweens and teens. Some are single and rebellious females who reject the institution of marriage. Others are wives living in luxuery married to wealthy men, but still find themselves stifled by their lives of domesticity and child rearing. The women are all white and from a time and place when race relations were still fiercely divided and oppressive. The dialogue includes multiple uses of the word, Nigger, which may take some getting used to.
Except for a few entertaining and deluded females, who use their beauty as currency, most of the women in these stories are full of spunk, spirit, and smarts.
My only complaint is too many of the stories ended abruptly with unsatisfying conclusions. Though this may have been the sign of a young and inexperienced writer, I wanted more.
After three husbands and three children, Gilchrist returned to her home state of Mississippi and enrolled in classes at Millsaps College in Jackson to pursue a degree in philosophy. At the same time. Gilchrist took English classes from Pulitzer-Prize-Winning author Eudora Welty before graduating in 1967 at 32.
This book was Gilchrist's first collection of short stories, In the Land of Dreamy Dreams, published by the University of Arkansas press in 1981. It sold 10,000 copies -- an impressive number from a small press. She said the stories flew out of her head over a three-month period.
Even though there are many flawed characters in Gilchrist's stories, their judgments and blind spots are hilarious and adorably endearing. Most are aware of their shortcomings and starkly honest about them. The protagonists in this book are young women or girls in their tweens and teens. Some are single and rebellious females who reject the institution of marriage. Others are wives living in luxuery married to wealthy men, but still find themselves stifled by their lives of domesticity and child rearing. The women are all white and from a time and place when race relations were still fiercely divided and oppressive. The dialogue includes multiple uses of the word, Nigger, which may take some getting used to.
Except for a few entertaining and deluded females, who use their beauty as currency, most of the women in these stories are full of spunk, spirit, and smarts.
My only complaint is too many of the stories ended abruptly with unsatisfying conclusions. Though this may have been the sign of a young and inexperienced writer, I wanted more.
mgreer56's review
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
bhaines's review
The similar settings and returning names made things a little confusing for me at times.
The main ingredients are southern environment, precocious children, messed up adults at varying levels of severity / supression.
Some of them the messed up part felt a little forced: Suicides, Rich, The President of the Louisiana Live Oak Society. But made for a fun time anyway.
I liked the last group Danger of the Nile best. Maybe that's medium adults and high kids. Revenge / Traveler / Summer, an Elegy.
Rhoda and the Broad Jump Pit. LeLe who isn't really this fat. At home I'm a cheerleader and I'm on the swimming team and I'm very thin. That's my signature that's what I wear now, Tigress in the winter and Aprodisia in the summer.
The main ingredients are southern environment, precocious children, messed up adults at varying levels of severity / supression.
Some of them the messed up part felt a little forced: Suicides, Rich, The President of the Louisiana Live Oak Society. But made for a fun time anyway.
I liked the last group Danger of the Nile best. Maybe that's medium adults and high kids. Revenge / Traveler / Summer, an Elegy.
Rhoda and the Broad Jump Pit. LeLe who isn't really this fat. At home I'm a cheerleader and I'm on the swimming team and I'm very thin. That's my signature that's what I wear now, Tigress in the winter and Aprodisia in the summer.
lbooks's review
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
wendoxford's review
4.0
Could luxuriate in Ellen Gilchrist's stories forever. Themes, tangents, non sequitur, all of her writing just fabulous. Even better whilst reading on her home patch.
hpayne's review against another edition
3.0
Gilchrist is a very blunt writer, which sometimes I like and sometimes I don't. Quirky characters, mostly ones I'm not very sympathetic to. She's great for my short story kick I've been on
liloud0626's review against another edition
3.0
I'm rereading several of Gilchrist's earlier books. At one point in my life, she was my favorite writer. I believe this one was her first effort, and it's really good. It's just strange to read a book that is so of a particular time and place, and not in a historical fiction sort of way.
debnanceatreaderbuzz's review against another edition
5.0
This little book of short stories
got better and better, the more I read.
The characters were as real as any people
I've known in real life, with the same
capacity to surprise and shock me.
My favorite was "Traveler".
got better and better, the more I read.
The characters were as real as any people
I've known in real life, with the same
capacity to surprise and shock me.
My favorite was "Traveler".
circleofreadersdruid's review against another edition
5.0
I first read this collection of short stories by Ellen Gilchrist as a freshman in college, a little over twenty years ago. We read Reynolds Price that semester, too, and I fell in love with both authors. This was my first reread. Why on earth did I wait so long? I'd remembered that Gilchrist was a fantastic writer, but I'd forgotten how good she actually is. Each of the characters is fully formed. You love them. You hate them. You squirm with them. You're shocked and bewildered by them, yet completely identify with them. Rhoda, Nora Jane, and many, many more await you. Come meet them. Highly recommended.