Scan barcode
emilysullivan's review
5.0
Magnificent short stories. I’ve never read anything like them, or any author who could say so much with so few words.
mdrosend's review
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
briandice's review
5.0
Fellow Amy Hempel crushing fanboy [a:Chuck Palahniuk|2546|Chuck Palahniuk|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1264506988p2/2546.jpg] writes in his essay "Not Chasing Amy", "I once gave [b:At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom: Stories|33303|At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom Stories|Amy Hempel|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1208130539s/33303.jpg|3203] to a friend and said, 'If you don't love this, we have nothing in common.'" Hempel has that effect on her readers: you don't come away from her stories having read them - you walk away a snarling, gauntlet throwing, lit-beast.
Hempel's minimalist style feels anything but; her sentences are so packed with meaning and nuance. It isn't uncommon for additional insight to reveal itself long after the story is finished. You get the feeling that words aren't chosen, they're hewn, chiseled and polished from the essence of language. Quoting from a story doesn't do the writing justice - it would be like showing a picture of Teddy Roosevelt's stone nose and trying to explain Mount Rushmore. Hempel needs to be ingested, whole-hog.
I still remember, years ago, when a fellow Hempel fan alerted me to the publishing of her complete works in one volume: [b:The Collected Stories|33299|The Collected Stories|Amy Hempel|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328039577s/33299.jpg|33384]. This is an amazing book - and highly recommended for any lover of the written word.
Hempel's minimalist style feels anything but; her sentences are so packed with meaning and nuance. It isn't uncommon for additional insight to reveal itself long after the story is finished. You get the feeling that words aren't chosen, they're hewn, chiseled and polished from the essence of language. Quoting from a story doesn't do the writing justice - it would be like showing a picture of Teddy Roosevelt's stone nose and trying to explain Mount Rushmore. Hempel needs to be ingested, whole-hog.
I still remember, years ago, when a fellow Hempel fan alerted me to the publishing of her complete works in one volume: [b:The Collected Stories|33299|The Collected Stories|Amy Hempel|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328039577s/33299.jpg|33384]. This is an amazing book - and highly recommended for any lover of the written word.
nssutton's review
4.0
excellent short stories - albiet a little depressing, but what do you expect from a collection with this title?
chiyeungreads's review
5.0
They say if you want to learn how to write, you should read Amy Hempel. Whoever said this wasn’t wrong; I was blown away by this collection and I will be reading this again and again.
There are so many gems:
“She laughs, and I cling to the sound the way someone dangling above a ravine holds fast to the thrown rope.”
“Here’s a trick I found for how to finally get some sleep. I sleep in my husband’s bed. That way the empty bed I look at is my own.”
While some compare her to Carver, I enjoyed reading her stories much more. She tackles loss, love and death with much more wit and humanity, yet intertwined with that is a sense of yearning and heart ache that you feel with every sentence. In that way she reminds me of Denis Johnson more so than Carver; there is a empathy I feel for all of her characters, something that I never felt for Carver’s.
Hempel’s stories are short but they’re thousand piece puzzles that require attentive reading; stories like Celia is back took me a few rereads to fully understand. She never outright explains anything, and you really have to read in between the lines.
My favorite stories from the collection:
San Francisco
In the cemetery where Al Jolson is buried
Beg, Sl Tog, Inc, Cont, Rep
The man in Bogota
There are so many gems:
“She laughs, and I cling to the sound the way someone dangling above a ravine holds fast to the thrown rope.”
“Here’s a trick I found for how to finally get some sleep. I sleep in my husband’s bed. That way the empty bed I look at is my own.”
While some compare her to Carver, I enjoyed reading her stories much more. She tackles loss, love and death with much more wit and humanity, yet intertwined with that is a sense of yearning and heart ache that you feel with every sentence. In that way she reminds me of Denis Johnson more so than Carver; there is a empathy I feel for all of her characters, something that I never felt for Carver’s.
Hempel’s stories are short but they’re thousand piece puzzles that require attentive reading; stories like Celia is back took me a few rereads to fully understand. She never outright explains anything, and you really have to read in between the lines.
My favorite stories from the collection:
San Francisco
In the cemetery where Al Jolson is buried
Beg, Sl Tog, Inc, Cont, Rep
The man in Bogota
jigwam82's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
In a short story collection there are always going to be some you like and some you don't. But some of these are absolutely beautiful.
My favourites are
Beg, Sl Tog, Inc, Cont, Rep
The Cemetery Were Al Jolson was Buried
My favourites are
Beg, Sl Tog, Inc, Cont, Rep
The Cemetery Were Al Jolson was Buried
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Abortion, and Miscarriage
Minor: Animal death and Panic attacks/disorders
grasonpoling's review
5.0
Masterclass word economy. Hempel uses stark images and phrasing to accompany levels of grief and anxiety with a certain richness that is exactly what it is.
‘Al Jolson’ is still my favorite short story.
‘Al Jolson’ is still my favorite short story.