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essjay1's review against another edition
4.0
The author explores the central theme of longing via sex, religion & love in this "ring of stories". Tightly written, and cleverly interlocking characters through the stories that span centuries. Great for a bookclub, lots to discuss along questions of faith, dealing with emotional pain, and the general fallibility of humans.
jessnotjesse's review against another edition
2.0
The narrative style produced an oddly distanced effect. I felt a mile away from both the interiority of the characters and the action itself. While I appreciated the international locales and cultural variances, the tendency for each story to end in death does nothing but continually reduce the overall impact of the next death. You begin to feel like you're reading--more or less--the same thematic exploration over and over again.
walter_heape's review against another edition
5.0
Silber continues to amaze me. I found this ring of stories darker than the others I’ve read, shocking in a couple of instances. But it’s all in keeping with the theme of sex and religion, and how they’re so similar in the way they shape our journey through this life. She has quickly become one of my favorite modern writers.
mrsthrift's review against another edition
3.0
I picked this up b/c Anthony Doerr compared it to A Visit from the Goon Squad in the Morning News Tournament of Books.
POST-READ
This book is interesting in the way that minor and major characters spill from one story to the next in a casual, unintentional fashion. In the last story, you re-meet some characters from the first story, which completes the "ring" of stories. This strategy appealed to me in the same way that I liked A Visit From The Goon Squad, but I didn't like Ideas of Heaven quite as much. The stories are tiny, earnest little gems. I enjoyed the reading experience but, let's be serious, I read it while I was on vacation. Which means I read it in a hot tub in a forest, lit by tiny twinkling lights. I can't imagine not enjoying a book under those circumstances. See?
The pacing was a little slow. While it was reflective and sincere, I never quite connected with the characters enough to tolerate the pace. It was a little too precious. The break-up's, the loneliness and the longing were authentic reflections of the human experience, but maybe a little too bittersweet or just a tad too saccharine for me. The book moves through a universe where the major themes - sex, religion, love - are the scaffolding for dance lessons, siblings, parenthood, bombs, parties, politics, landlords, jobs, and so on. The stories move around the world and through time & space, and the narrators are distinctly different genders, nationalities, sexualities, ages. But the voice is the same in each story. I was confused by this at first. Each narrator sounds the same, so it was difficult for me to switch gears and learn/meet this new person. I think this is supposed to lend itself toward reflections on Humanity, like how our differences are less striking than the similar ways that dissimilar people experience similar emotional moments. I don't know if it quite made it there, though.
Some of the stories and characters were captivating. Others, I really struggled to get through at all. I was interested, though, and enjoyed it enough that I would consider reading another Silber book, even if I probably wouldn't want to re-read this one.
POST-READ
This book is interesting in the way that minor and major characters spill from one story to the next in a casual, unintentional fashion. In the last story, you re-meet some characters from the first story, which completes the "ring" of stories. This strategy appealed to me in the same way that I liked A Visit From The Goon Squad, but I didn't like Ideas of Heaven quite as much. The stories are tiny, earnest little gems. I enjoyed the reading experience but, let's be serious, I read it while I was on vacation. Which means I read it in a hot tub in a forest, lit by tiny twinkling lights. I can't imagine not enjoying a book under those circumstances. See?
The pacing was a little slow. While it was reflective and sincere, I never quite connected with the characters enough to tolerate the pace. It was a little too precious. The break-up's, the loneliness and the longing were authentic reflections of the human experience, but maybe a little too bittersweet or just a tad too saccharine for me. The book moves through a universe where the major themes - sex, religion, love - are the scaffolding for dance lessons, siblings, parenthood, bombs, parties, politics, landlords, jobs, and so on. The stories move around the world and through time & space, and the narrators are distinctly different genders, nationalities, sexualities, ages. But the voice is the same in each story. I was confused by this at first. Each narrator sounds the same, so it was difficult for me to switch gears and learn/meet this new person. I think this is supposed to lend itself toward reflections on Humanity, like how our differences are less striking than the similar ways that dissimilar people experience similar emotional moments. I don't know if it quite made it there, though.
Some of the stories and characters were captivating. Others, I really struggled to get through at all. I was interested, though, and enjoyed it enough that I would consider reading another Silber book, even if I probably wouldn't want to re-read this one.
an_enthusiastic_reader's review against another edition
4.0
This ring of stories is full of distinct characters and situations, though all revolve in some way around religion and romantic love/sex. The title story, Ideas of Heaven, about missionaries and the Boxer rebellion, stands out. I do like Silber's writing.
annaotations's review against another edition
3.0
This collection of first person stories spans centuries and continents, connected by through lines and repeating characters. Themes such as religion, worship, sex, love, and death are explored. Silber’s gorgeous prose is imbued with the writing of Gaspara Stampa, Petrarch, and Rainer Maria Rilke.
The progression of the stories makes perfect sense. The narrator of the second story was a present side character in the first story; Stampa’s writing is first mentioned in the second story, and Stampa herself is the voice of the third story, and so on. The collection is clever, thorough, profound, and gut-wrenching at times. The first four stories were my favorites. They flowed so well together and made so much sense one right after the other. It felt exciting to slowly put things together and trace the connectors throughout.
The progression of the stories makes perfect sense. The narrator of the second story was a present side character in the first story; Stampa’s writing is first mentioned in the second story, and Stampa herself is the voice of the third story, and so on. The collection is clever, thorough, profound, and gut-wrenching at times. The first four stories were my favorites. They flowed so well together and made so much sense one right after the other. It felt exciting to slowly put things together and trace the connectors throughout.
laurenbdavis's review against another edition
5.0
Insanely good writing here. Such richness. These are not sliver-tales of crystal, perfect moments, they are entire lives contained in 35 or so pages each. I quite marvel at her audacity and skill. Silber is a marvelous story-teller. As Anthony Doerr says, "the ardor with which they [the characters] yearn for their respective heavens will break your heart.
scarpuccia's review against another edition
4.0
Ideas of heaven are generally fuelled by either religion or sex. And religion and sex are the themes of the six first person narrative stories in this book. Joan Silber is an excellent writer. As is always the case with stories, some are much better than others.
Where it fell short of five stars for me was that the stories didn't interlock as well as they might have done. All are linked by the above mentioned themes but only a couple are linked by recurring characters or clever motifs. Four are set in recent times while the other two are distinctly exotic - Renaissance Venice and 19th century China. The link to Renaissance Venice is provided by one present day character's love of Rainer Maria Rilke who wrote about the Italian poet Gaspara Stampa who will then narrate her story. I probably liked this the best of all the stories. However, 19th century China bears a much skimpier relationship with what has preceded it and was also perhaps the least convincing, though most dramatic, story (as well as being the longest). For me, Anthony Marra's The Tsar of Love and Techno was more successful in terms of artistry as an interlocking narrative of short stories. However, I did really enjoy the quality of JS's writing. Thanks to Julie for sending this author my way.
Where it fell short of five stars for me was that the stories didn't interlock as well as they might have done. All are linked by the above mentioned themes but only a couple are linked by recurring characters or clever motifs. Four are set in recent times while the other two are distinctly exotic - Renaissance Venice and 19th century China. The link to Renaissance Venice is provided by one present day character's love of Rainer Maria Rilke who wrote about the Italian poet Gaspara Stampa who will then narrate her story. I probably liked this the best of all the stories. However, 19th century China bears a much skimpier relationship with what has preceded it and was also perhaps the least convincing, though most dramatic, story (as well as being the longest). For me, Anthony Marra's The Tsar of Love and Techno was more successful in terms of artistry as an interlocking narrative of short stories. However, I did really enjoy the quality of JS's writing. Thanks to Julie for sending this author my way.
msjenne's review against another edition
4.0
I don't usually like short stories, because they often leave me feeling unsatisfied. But these each covered many years of a person's life, and that and the connections among them gave much more of a sense of completion.
Yet another one of those "I don't like this kind of thing, but I like this instance of it" books.
Yet another one of those "I don't like this kind of thing, but I like this instance of it" books.
neuroteri's review against another edition
4.0
One of those satisfying collections you can race through (but maybe try to resist the temptation here). The connections are neat, and not too glaring.
Look to David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas if you find the intergration intriguing.
Look to David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas if you find the intergration intriguing.