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baearthur's review against another edition
2.0
These stories just didn't catch me or hook me at all.
dommdy's review against another edition
4.0
Some stories are better than others. Thunderstruck is my favorite.
margaret_adams's review against another edition
So many great lines, so many great paragraphs. Three of these stories, somehow, came out of the ashes of a failed novel, though you'd never know it if the author hadn't revealed this in an interview at the back of the book. This collection was the winner of the 2015 Story Prize and long-listed for the National Book Award. This was my first time reading Elizabeth McCracken's work.
Favorites:
The House of Two Three-Legged Dogs
The Lost & Found Department of Greater Boston
Quotes:
"We were two cripplingly shy, witheringly judgemental people who fell in love in private, away from the voncersation and caution of other people, and then we left town before anyone could warn us."
"Listen: don't tell me otherwise. It was not nice love, it was not good love, but you cannot tell me that it wasn't love. Love is not oxygen, though many songwriters will tell you that it is; it is not a chemical substance that is either definitively present or absent; it cannot be reduced to its parts. It is not like a flower, or an animal, or anything that you will ever be able to recognize when you see it. Love is food. That's all. Neither better nor worse. Sometimes very good. Sometimes terrible. But to say--as people will--that wasn't love. As though that makes you feel better! Well, it might not have been nourishing, but it sustained me for a while."
"The finger-biter's feelings for her ex-husband were a bonsai tree--they may have started in something real, but she'd tended them so closely and for so long they were now purely decorative."
"Missing: former self. Distinguishing marks: expectations of fame, ability to demand love. Last seen wearing: hopeful expression, uncomfortable shoes."
"He tried to send her a message on brain waves. Whatever you were thinking of: think of me. Another thing technology had ruined, the ability to dial a number, let it ring, hang up. How often had he done that, only wanting to change what a girl was thinking, without her knowing he was the one who'd done it."
"Well, after all: he’d had the width of three arrondissements to walk, getting ready to see Helen. As a child he’d been fascinated by the bends—what scuba drivers got when they came to the surface the ocean too fast to acclimate their lungs to ordinary pressure. You had to be taken from place to place with care. Laura had gone from apartment to taxicab to hospital too quickly. Of course she couldn’t breathe."
Favorites:
The House of Two Three-Legged Dogs
The Lost & Found Department of Greater Boston
Quotes:
"We were two cripplingly shy, witheringly judgemental people who fell in love in private, away from the voncersation and caution of other people, and then we left town before anyone could warn us."
"Listen: don't tell me otherwise. It was not nice love, it was not good love, but you cannot tell me that it wasn't love. Love is not oxygen, though many songwriters will tell you that it is; it is not a chemical substance that is either definitively present or absent; it cannot be reduced to its parts. It is not like a flower, or an animal, or anything that you will ever be able to recognize when you see it. Love is food. That's all. Neither better nor worse. Sometimes very good. Sometimes terrible. But to say--as people will--that wasn't love. As though that makes you feel better! Well, it might not have been nourishing, but it sustained me for a while."
"The finger-biter's feelings for her ex-husband were a bonsai tree--they may have started in something real, but she'd tended them so closely and for so long they were now purely decorative."
"Missing: former self. Distinguishing marks: expectations of fame, ability to demand love. Last seen wearing: hopeful expression, uncomfortable shoes."
"He tried to send her a message on brain waves. Whatever you were thinking of: think of me. Another thing technology had ruined, the ability to dial a number, let it ring, hang up. How often had he done that, only wanting to change what a girl was thinking, without her knowing he was the one who'd done it."
"Well, after all: he’d had the width of three arrondissements to walk, getting ready to see Helen. As a child he’d been fascinated by the bends—what scuba drivers got when they came to the surface the ocean too fast to acclimate their lungs to ordinary pressure. You had to be taken from place to place with care. Laura had gone from apartment to taxicab to hospital too quickly. Of course she couldn’t breathe."
whitneyborup's review against another edition
5.0
I loved these stories most when they were about the relationships between a parent and a child (or, specifically, an absent child). So "Hungry" was my favorite, and I loved "Something Amazing" and "Thunderstruck."
ameboleyn's review against another edition
4.0
juliet and thunderstruck were the best stories, i think. i loooved the focus on details - who had what, in what condition, in what context did the object live in relation to the owner. also, there were big words in here! which feels childish to say but! there were!
d_tod_davis's review against another edition
4.0
For a collection of stories about loss—most often death—Thunderstruck is never heavy or morose or melancholic. There's a lightness and humor about many of them that make it an easy and vibrant, quick read. McCracken has a marvelous way with description and I often stopped so I could make a note of a line. The stories have unexpected turns and the characters are quickly, richly drawn. I've read her two novels and her previous collection of stories, Here's Your Hat, What's Your Hurry?, and I always recommend picking up whatever she's written. This collection is no exception.
amysbrittain's review against another edition
4.0
McCracken is a fantastic writer who highlights odd, strangely beautiful elements in small moments. Each of the stories in this collection builds from a loss of some kind. Maybe it was me, or more likely this was a deliberate shaping by McCracken and her editor--the early stories felt more bleak and the later ones offered a little more hope or at least acceptance.