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tstuppy's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this collection— favorites are “Smokers,” “The Liar,” “Hunters in the Snow,” and the title story.
matt717's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
steller0707's review against another edition
4.0
As with any collection of stories, some appealed more than others. However, all the characters are vividly drawn and are each put in situations in which there is a moral dilemma, some with more serious consequences than others. How they will meet these dilemmas becomes the question.
I liked several stories in this volume. But the title story, In the Garden of the North American Martyrs, is the one I liked the best. Mary, a history professor, loses her job when her college closes. Although she finds another job, she must move to Portland Oregon. The weather there is wet and rainy, and though she is happy to work, she is unhappy there. An old colleague contacts her about a job in upstate New York and her application results in an interview, where she discovers a deception. Her dilemma involves how to handle the attitude of the colleague and the search committee. She resolves it with panache and has the last laugh!
I liked several stories in this volume. But the title story, In the Garden of the North American Martyrs, is the one I liked the best. Mary, a history professor, loses her job when her college closes. Although she finds another job, she must move to Portland Oregon. The weather there is wet and rainy, and though she is happy to work, she is unhappy there. An old colleague contacts her about a job in upstate New York and her application results in an interview, where she discovers a deception. Her dilemma involves how to handle the attitude of the colleague and the search committee. She resolves it with panache and has the last laugh!
ratgrrrl's review against another edition
2.0
Fighting Misogyny with Racism?
This is a very short story from a clearly talented and lauded author about a woman going to interview for a job at a college as a concession to their statute about at least interviewing women. When she discovers she never had an actual chance at the job she goes off script in her guest lecture, going on a racist and unsubstantiated tirade about the torture and murder of a preacher by the Native American people whose stolen land the college is on. Like, I'm all the way in for sticking it to the man and highlighting the plight of anyone in academia who isn't a cishet white man, but an (assumed) white woman going on a demonising and felacious rant about what I understand to be a confederacy of multiple tribal nations as if they are one inhuman people is not the way to go about it. Honestly, it feels like she basically did the thing the Kramer guy did -- going on an abhorrent outburst of racism because of a perceived wrong.
I just...don't know about this one folx. It's bad to be a sexist POS, but being racist or bigoted in any other way is also absolutely unacceptable, and suffering one kind of discrimination doesn't give you the right to do that to another group, regardless of intersections. It makes a mockery of what seemed to be the point of the story, and the way her lecture is handled and how it abruptly ends feels triumphant for her, so it doesn't seem to be making any commentary on how those who lack certain privilege still discriminate those who have equal or less privilege.
Am I way off here? No one else seems to have really addressed this issue, beyond one review saying she says some 'un PC stuff'. Maybe this is a case of this being the first thing of this author I've read and many others already being spellbound by his other work? I don't know.
This is a very short story from a clearly talented and lauded author about a woman going to interview for a job at a college as a concession to their statute about at least interviewing women. When she discovers she never had an actual chance at the job she goes off script in her guest lecture, going on a racist and unsubstantiated tirade about the torture and murder of a preacher by the Native American people whose stolen land the college is on. Like, I'm all the way in for sticking it to the man and highlighting the plight of anyone in academia who isn't a cishet white man, but an (assumed) white woman going on a demonising and felacious rant about what I understand to be a confederacy of multiple tribal nations as if they are one inhuman people is not the way to go about it. Honestly, it feels like she basically did the thing the Kramer guy did -- going on an abhorrent outburst of racism because of a perceived wrong.
I just...don't know about this one folx. It's bad to be a sexist POS, but being racist or bigoted in any other way is also absolutely unacceptable, and suffering one kind of discrimination doesn't give you the right to do that to another group, regardless of intersections. It makes a mockery of what seemed to be the point of the story, and the way her lecture is handled and how it abruptly ends feels triumphant for her, so it doesn't seem to be making any commentary on how those who lack certain privilege still discriminate those who have equal or less privilege.
Am I way off here? No one else seems to have really addressed this issue, beyond one review saying she says some 'un PC stuff'. Maybe this is a case of this being the first thing of this author I've read and many others already being spellbound by his other work? I don't know.
arthoe's review against another edition
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
andrea_rebekah42's review against another edition
4.0
This is a very good collection of stories that includes a couple of excellent ones. Wolff's writing reminds me of Raymond Carver and that's a very good thing.
erinreadseverything's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
kingds's review against another edition
4.0
Over the course of this last summer I read quite a few collections of short stories, and I've been finding it hard to decide what rating to give them. Should a five star collection be one made up solely of great stories, with no duds, or can five stars be awarded on the basis of one really outstanding story in an otherwise mediocre collection? "In the Garden of the North American Martyrs" falls somewhere in between, hence the four stars I gave it. Not all of the stories are great; in fact a couple are really pretty dire. Likewise, the collection doesn't have any stories that could truly be labeled outstanding. But, that said, Tobiass Wolff has built his career on short stories and, on the whole, "ItGotNAM" certainly doesn't disappoint.
First, the bad. The collection really sags in the middle; the three or four stories that take up the book's center feel like filler in the worst way. "Passengers," "Maiden Voyage," and "Worldly Goods" are marked by wooden dialogue and forced situations that feel embarrassingly bland when compared to Wolff at his best. In "Maiden Voyage" Wolff juxtaposes the relationships of two married couples on a romantic cruise. The story is supposed to be a musing on the nature of true love, perhaps with the ultimate goal of getting the reader to question the motivations behind his own relationships, but the characters seem hollow and the story ends up feeling forced. "Passengers" and "Worldly Goods" are quite the opposite. Rather than feeling designed to evoke some specific emotion in the reader, they give the impression that Wolff had no idea what reaction he wanted to muster. All three stories feel lazy, and weigh down the collection as a whole.
Now for the good news: the lackluster material in the middle of the collection is sandwiched between Wolff at his very best. The first few stories of the collection are fairly simple character sketches that allow Wolff to show off his precision at describing human interaction and morality. "Hunters in the Snow," a story of three hunters whose day in the woods ends in tragedy, is the standout here. Unlike many of Wolff's stories, which focus on the morality of every day situations, here he dials up the symbolism and surrealism a few notches to give the story the tone of a good old fashioned parable. The actions of the three characters are given real weight, and the reader is given a sense of urgency that Wolff often fails to provide.
The collection ends on a high note with the two stories "Poachers" and "The Liar." In both of these stories Wolff turns his attention to a frequent obsession of his: the dysfunctional family. I think I am right in saying that Wolff himself had a fairly turbulent childhood, and he writes about families in crisis with an air of authority that makes the characters of these last two stories come to life.
After reading, and loving, Wolff's later short story collection, "The Night in Question," I picked up "ItGotNAM" hoping for more of the same. Wolff didn't let me down. While I feel that "TNiQ" is the stronger of the two books, I found "ItGotNAM" to be just as compelling as the later collection. Wolff has a unique ability to shave complicated subject matter down into lean, simple stories, and both collections feel less substantial than they actually are.
All of the other reviews I have seen of "ItGotNAM" suggest that it established Wolff as a master of short stories. While it may be the book that gave rise to Wolff's literary reputation, it reads more like the foundation on which he built his later work than a great collection in its own right. However, while it didn't tug on my heartstrings as much as some of his other work, that isn't to suggest that it's not worth reading. There's something here for everyone; it's an easy, pleasurable read, and it might even give you something interesting to think about. So go ahead and read it, I say. I find it hard to imagine that you'll end up regretting it and maybe you'll find, in Wolff, a new treasured author.
First, the bad. The collection really sags in the middle; the three or four stories that take up the book's center feel like filler in the worst way. "Passengers," "Maiden Voyage," and "Worldly Goods" are marked by wooden dialogue and forced situations that feel embarrassingly bland when compared to Wolff at his best. In "Maiden Voyage" Wolff juxtaposes the relationships of two married couples on a romantic cruise. The story is supposed to be a musing on the nature of true love, perhaps with the ultimate goal of getting the reader to question the motivations behind his own relationships, but the characters seem hollow and the story ends up feeling forced. "Passengers" and "Worldly Goods" are quite the opposite. Rather than feeling designed to evoke some specific emotion in the reader, they give the impression that Wolff had no idea what reaction he wanted to muster. All three stories feel lazy, and weigh down the collection as a whole.
Now for the good news: the lackluster material in the middle of the collection is sandwiched between Wolff at his very best. The first few stories of the collection are fairly simple character sketches that allow Wolff to show off his precision at describing human interaction and morality. "Hunters in the Snow," a story of three hunters whose day in the woods ends in tragedy, is the standout here. Unlike many of Wolff's stories, which focus on the morality of every day situations, here he dials up the symbolism and surrealism a few notches to give the story the tone of a good old fashioned parable. The actions of the three characters are given real weight, and the reader is given a sense of urgency that Wolff often fails to provide.
The collection ends on a high note with the two stories "Poachers" and "The Liar." In both of these stories Wolff turns his attention to a frequent obsession of his: the dysfunctional family. I think I am right in saying that Wolff himself had a fairly turbulent childhood, and he writes about families in crisis with an air of authority that makes the characters of these last two stories come to life.
After reading, and loving, Wolff's later short story collection, "The Night in Question," I picked up "ItGotNAM" hoping for more of the same. Wolff didn't let me down. While I feel that "TNiQ" is the stronger of the two books, I found "ItGotNAM" to be just as compelling as the later collection. Wolff has a unique ability to shave complicated subject matter down into lean, simple stories, and both collections feel less substantial than they actually are.
All of the other reviews I have seen of "ItGotNAM" suggest that it established Wolff as a master of short stories. While it may be the book that gave rise to Wolff's literary reputation, it reads more like the foundation on which he built his later work than a great collection in its own right. However, while it didn't tug on my heartstrings as much as some of his other work, that isn't to suggest that it's not worth reading. There's something here for everyone; it's an easy, pleasurable read, and it might even give you something interesting to think about. So go ahead and read it, I say. I find it hard to imagine that you'll end up regretting it and maybe you'll find, in Wolff, a new treasured author.