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larryerick's review
4.0
Okay, this now makes three novels and forty-three short stories I have read by this author on the fictional "Port William Membership." This short story collection is the most recently published of the five books I have read, and this one more than any of the others seems very absorbed with looking back at a way of life at a "place in time" that applies to a mere subsection of America. The author sees a past life that he tries to capture in these writings and makes it clear he misses it greatly, and I'm not at all sure he really grasps the full reasons it no longer exists. In my mind, skip the Fox News promoted books and the Hillbilly Elegy type volumes, and read about Port William. It's my belief this is what is separating a large chunk of America from the rest. This shows what people think about what they had and why they are so upset they no longer have it. Okay, maybe that's somewhat of a stretch, but I really don't think I'm that far off target. As somber as this analysis may seem, I would not be fair to the author, if I did not mention that I burst out laughing several times while reading these stories. (That's laughter of pure amusement, not ridicule, in case you were wondering.) The man has a real gift.
toniapeckover's review
4.0
A series of stories that fill in the spaces between the Port William's novels. The book is only 256 pages, but Berry's writing demands you slow down and pay attention, so it feels like a much longer book. As always with him, I feel like I step back in time and even though his is a decidedly male perspective, I am often stirred to something better within myself after I read his stories. This made me want to go back and reread the novels and spend more time in his world.
livingpalm1's review against another edition
5.0
There is never a wrong time to read Port William stories, and this collection of characters worked its way toward the top of the list of my favorites from Wendell Berry. I’m especially enamored with the preacher’s wife Laura Milby from “A Desirable Woman”. As a preacher’s daughter and now a preacher’s wife, and even with many different life circumstances I totally understood this woman.
“For nearly the whole congregation, or for all of them, and especially the men and children, there was a disconnection between the little white clapboard church with its steeple and bell, its observances and forms of worship, and the world’s daily life and work. . . . Laura recognized these disconnections in the people because she felt them, and labored over them, in herself,” Berry wrote.
and
“And when, having done all he could do to help a family through a quarrel or an illness or a death, performing services he was not paid for and could not have been paid for, he might never hear from them again, let alone see their faces even for the courtesy of one Sunday among his hearers, Laura felt herself wounded with sorrow for him and anger at them for their ingratitude.”
“For nearly the whole congregation, or for all of them, and especially the men and children, there was a disconnection between the little white clapboard church with its steeple and bell, its observances and forms of worship, and the world’s daily life and work. . . . Laura recognized these disconnections in the people because she felt them, and labored over them, in herself,” Berry wrote.
and
“And when, having done all he could do to help a family through a quarrel or an illness or a death, performing services he was not paid for and could not have been paid for, he might never hear from them again, let alone see their faces even for the courtesy of one Sunday among his hearers, Laura felt herself wounded with sorrow for him and anger at them for their ingratitude.”
aliciamae's review
3.0
Yes I'm doing that thing where I'm reading my readalong books too early. Oops. But I'm actually in the mood for Berry, and his stories are written in such a way that I've found the correct mood is vital.
I felt like there was almost a more relaxed tone in this collection. It was fun getting more background on various inhabitants of Port William, and over such a big swath of time too. Some stories were a bit thin, others were a bit much. But there were several that were "just right." Berry does know how to create a community, and how to fashion incredibly realistic characters.
I felt like there was almost a more relaxed tone in this collection. It was fun getting more background on various inhabitants of Port William, and over such a big swath of time too. Some stories were a bit thin, others were a bit much. But there were several that were "just right." Berry does know how to create a community, and how to fashion incredibly realistic characters.
dbj's review
5.0
This completes my journey through Wendell Berry's Port William fiction. It has been a remarkable experience.
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