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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
Great book. Really strong characters and really strong prose. Some of these stories are unlike anything I've read. They're pretty dark, almost Gothic at times, and basically every one of them fucked me up for the whole day. I'm assuming Adam Haslett has depression, or has at least dealt with it at some point in his life: He just does too good a job of making you feel it to not have experienced it himself. In one form or another I think it's the one thing in common across all these stories. Would highly recommend this, especially if you like short story books. Officially Big Nate approved.
Well written stories about mental illness, but Haslett (with a couple exceptions) seems to treat characters as vessels of mental illness rather than people who have these diseases. As a result, the characters are somewhat flat (but this may be more of a function of short story format than anything else). Still, good read.
Not quite as good as his novel, imagine me gone, but, regardless, I continue to be impressed by his capacity for and understanding of mental health. He writes each story as if he’s lived the experiences of his characters. I especially loved the final story, “the volunteer.” The combination of perspective was heart wrenching, especially the way in which Mrs. Maynard applied meaning to all her situations.
These are powerful stories. I wanted to read them all at once, but had to stop to catch my breath. The language and the characters drew me in every time, and the range of the collection is wide. Loved it!
These stories are well-executed, realistic portrayals of characters suffering from mental illness, but it's pretty damn punishing to go through each of these characters' personal pains story after story. This may just be my own sensibility as a reader, but I was more engaged with the handful of supposedly normal protagonists--the ones who didn't require medication necessarily, but who experienced the everyday neuroses and crippling insecurities that are just capable of ruining our lives. The young boys from "Divination" and "The Volunteer" were more interesting to me than the adults who'd been rendered incapable of carrying out their lives by mental illness. The adults were merely sad. The kids provided more insight into how sadness can plant itself in the brain and germinate over a lifetime.
The writing felt only adequate, but maybe that's because I just finished reading Ben Hale and Colson Whitehead. Almost anyone's else prose would seem pedestrian next to those guys.
Anyway, if you want to dive into the heads of some fucked-up people, this collection is for you. But don't read it if you'd rather not be dragged down to a bad place.
The writing felt only adequate, but maybe that's because I just finished reading Ben Hale and Colson Whitehead. Almost anyone's else prose would seem pedestrian next to those guys.
Anyway, if you want to dive into the heads of some fucked-up people, this collection is for you. But don't read it if you'd rather not be dragged down to a bad place.
The character of Franklin Singer (of the first short story) will stay with me for a long time. His mania (he's a manic-depressive) is so well portrayed that you can feel it in your bones. While the first story is the best, and really anchors the rest of the collection, every story has powerful characters revolving around themes of "depression, obsession, anxiety, and other mental illnesses." The masochism of the third story was painful to read. I would read anything by Haslett.
- Pulitzer Prize Finalist
- National Book Award Finalist
- Five Best Books Of The Year (fiction) according to Time Magazine
- a New York Times Notable Book
- Pulitzer Prize Finalist
- National Book Award Finalist
- Five Best Books Of The Year (fiction) according to Time Magazine
- a New York Times Notable Book
Some of the best short stories I have ever read! Psychological tint to each story but presented for the layperson. Lovely. Just lovely.
Esta recopilación de relatos cortos realmente está genial. Hice todo una crítica elegante para la facultad que planeo subir cuando termine el semestre, pero de todas formas quiero decir que Haslett escribe sobre personas con diferentes problemas psicológicos.
Y, GOD, la manera en que lo hace.
Es engaging.
Entretenido.
Te genera empatía.
Hubo una historia que medio me salteé, pero la última oh my god.
Hubo partes medias lentas pero todo el resto del libro la verdad muy genial y muy recomendable.
Medio bizarro, pero esa eso es lo mejor que este libro tiene.
Y, GOD, la manera en que lo hace.
Es engaging.
Entretenido.
Te genera empatía.
Hubo una historia que medio me salteé, pero la última oh my god.
Hubo partes medias lentas pero todo el resto del libro la verdad muy genial y muy recomendable.
Medio bizarro, pero esa eso es lo mejor que este libro tiene.
All of the stories in this collection deal with characters that are suffering emotionally. Sometimes, it is because of psychosis - in The Volunteer a woman who's break with reality occurred during the birth and death of her only child is befriended by a young man going through first love while his family fails to deal with it's own mental illness. Sometimes it is grief - in The Beginnings of Grief a young man masks the pain of the death of his parents by subjecting himself to abuse from an equally troubled fellow student; and several of the stories have persons suffering from bipolar disorder at the center. I'm not sure what Adam Haslett's background is, but he sure knows his stuff when it comes to pain.
To start with, I am not a fan of short stories. That is why I know I would have never picked up Haslett's collection of short stories "You are not a Stranger Here" if it was not for Laura's inspiring review, which you can read here.
It's not an easy task to describe these magical sketches about the imperfect lives of imperfect people. Complicated family relationships, homosexuality, coming of age, mental disorders, loss and trauma are ingeniously mixed by Haslett's talented hand and presented to us in vivid kaleidoscopic combinations, each of them a masterly and complete work of art. Now let us use the heavy weight of past to drown our kaleidoscope in the murky waters of loneliness and we may get a little closer to the fragile beauty of Haslett's writing.
Short stories are usually too short for me to develop a deep emotional relationship with the characters, which is one of the things I seek from reading. That is one of the main reasons I prefer novels. I tend to perceive short stories as fragments and find it complicated to construct full images of their characters, and thus difficult to trully like them. Haslett proved how wrong my perception was. All of the characters in "You are not a Stranger Here" had a story to tell, all of these stories moved me and all of the characters felt real and palpable. And I couldn't fail to see a fragment of my own reflection in most of them. Even though I feel that I would have liked to spend more time with these imperfect but familiar characters, the time we had together was enough for me to love them.
Am I a convert now? Could be. And if you are afraid of short stories like I was, summon up your courage and go for it. The result may surprise you.
It's not an easy task to describe these magical sketches about the imperfect lives of imperfect people. Complicated family relationships, homosexuality, coming of age, mental disorders, loss and trauma are ingeniously mixed by Haslett's talented hand and presented to us in vivid kaleidoscopic combinations, each of them a masterly and complete work of art. Now let us use the heavy weight of past to drown our kaleidoscope in the murky waters of loneliness and we may get a little closer to the fragile beauty of Haslett's writing.
Short stories are usually too short for me to develop a deep emotional relationship with the characters, which is one of the things I seek from reading. That is one of the main reasons I prefer novels. I tend to perceive short stories as fragments and find it complicated to construct full images of their characters, and thus difficult to trully like them. Haslett proved how wrong my perception was. All of the characters in "You are not a Stranger Here" had a story to tell, all of these stories moved me and all of the characters felt real and palpable. And I couldn't fail to see a fragment of my own reflection in most of them. Even though I feel that I would have liked to spend more time with these imperfect but familiar characters, the time we had together was enough for me to love them.
Am I a convert now? Could be. And if you are afraid of short stories like I was, summon up your courage and go for it. The result may surprise you.