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A review by ncrabb
Grand Central: Original Stories of Postwar Love and Reunion by Sarah Jio, Kristina McMorris, Erika Robuck, Sarah McCoy, Amanda Hodgkinson, Jenna Blum, Pam Jenoff, Karen White, Melanie Benjamin, Alyson Richman
4.0
I wish I could tell you that I absolutely love short story collections. It would enable this review to make more sense. In truth, I tend to avoid short story collections by and large. But when I saw that Kristina McMorris inspired this collection, I knew that avoidance was entirely out of the question. Indeec, had I avoided this collection, I would have severely short changed myself, and so will you if you decide not to read this. It gets 4 stars, but it deserves 4.95, and that's what I'd give it if I had the option to do that.
All of the stories here occur inside New York City's famous Grand Central railroad terminal. All of them are loosely connected in that characters from one story make cameo appearances in other ones. The book ultimately is a wonderful combination of author collaboration and independence. I loved the fact that both collaboration and independence of plot and style could cohabit the book so peacefully.
In "Going Home," Alyson Richman tells the story of Gregori Yanovsky, a young violinist who has come to America just as war was breaking out in Europe. His family had perished in the holocaust, and now with the war over, he and his violin have become a prominent fixture in a specific spot inside the Grand Central terminal. When he plays on a September day in 1945, he notices Liesel, a lovely graceful girl who captures his heart; now he must capture hers with his music. His first challenge is to figure out what kind of music she will respond to in order for that music to open a door of conversation.
Jenna Blum displays her talent in "The Lucky Ones," a story that both saddened and fascinated me. I've spoken with blind adults about memories they had as children being trotted out to tug at the heart strings of the giving public for March of Dimes telethons. They invariably felt somewhat exploited by parents and telethon officials. I've never thought that holocaust survivors would be similarly exploited by those who, ironically enough, paraded them about in an attempt to raise money for Jewish survival assistance funds. Blum's story about Peter, whose wife and twin daughters perished in a concentration camp, explores this issue with the appropriate amount of sensitivity and sorrow.
Sarah McCoy's "A Branch of Hazel" explores the difficulty of leaving behind a life that included a small child and starting over in a nation still reeling from war and suspicious of anyone with a German accent.
Melanie Benjamin--yes, the same one who wrote "The Aviator's Wife," looks at a midwestern girl's dreams and how they are shattered by the actions of a big-city con man in "The Kissing Room."
Sarah Jio thines a talented writer's light on the changes that war and the passage of time create in "I'll be Seeing You."
In Erika Robuck's "I'll Walk Alone," a young mother must fight the horrific war of spousal abuse and determine whether she has the courage to retreat in victory.
Kristina McMorris applies her trademark thoughtfulness and lovely cadences to the issue of survivor guilt, self-forgiveness, and healing in her excellent story "Reunion," which introduces you to Virginia Collier, a female pilot who proves to be remarkable for far more than just her occupation.
So why shave off that five-one hundredths of a star in the rating, you wonder? Only because a couple of these stories started a bit slowly. Often in an anthology or short story collection like this, you find uneven writing or stories with glaring weaknesses nestled in amongst the good ones. I didn't find that kind of imbalance here. Granted, you may not remember every one of these stories weeks after you put the book down, but all of them are worthy of your time, and none of them will leave you wondering why you started the book at all.
All of the stories here occur inside New York City's famous Grand Central railroad terminal. All of them are loosely connected in that characters from one story make cameo appearances in other ones. The book ultimately is a wonderful combination of author collaboration and independence. I loved the fact that both collaboration and independence of plot and style could cohabit the book so peacefully.
In "Going Home," Alyson Richman tells the story of Gregori Yanovsky, a young violinist who has come to America just as war was breaking out in Europe. His family had perished in the holocaust, and now with the war over, he and his violin have become a prominent fixture in a specific spot inside the Grand Central terminal. When he plays on a September day in 1945, he notices Liesel, a lovely graceful girl who captures his heart; now he must capture hers with his music. His first challenge is to figure out what kind of music she will respond to in order for that music to open a door of conversation.
Jenna Blum displays her talent in "The Lucky Ones," a story that both saddened and fascinated me. I've spoken with blind adults about memories they had as children being trotted out to tug at the heart strings of the giving public for March of Dimes telethons. They invariably felt somewhat exploited by parents and telethon officials. I've never thought that holocaust survivors would be similarly exploited by those who, ironically enough, paraded them about in an attempt to raise money for Jewish survival assistance funds. Blum's story about Peter, whose wife and twin daughters perished in a concentration camp, explores this issue with the appropriate amount of sensitivity and sorrow.
Sarah McCoy's "A Branch of Hazel" explores the difficulty of leaving behind a life that included a small child and starting over in a nation still reeling from war and suspicious of anyone with a German accent.
Melanie Benjamin--yes, the same one who wrote "The Aviator's Wife," looks at a midwestern girl's dreams and how they are shattered by the actions of a big-city con man in "The Kissing Room."
Sarah Jio thines a talented writer's light on the changes that war and the passage of time create in "I'll be Seeing You."
In Erika Robuck's "I'll Walk Alone," a young mother must fight the horrific war of spousal abuse and determine whether she has the courage to retreat in victory.
Kristina McMorris applies her trademark thoughtfulness and lovely cadences to the issue of survivor guilt, self-forgiveness, and healing in her excellent story "Reunion," which introduces you to Virginia Collier, a female pilot who proves to be remarkable for far more than just her occupation.
So why shave off that five-one hundredths of a star in the rating, you wonder? Only because a couple of these stories started a bit slowly. Often in an anthology or short story collection like this, you find uneven writing or stories with glaring weaknesses nestled in amongst the good ones. I didn't find that kind of imbalance here. Granted, you may not remember every one of these stories weeks after you put the book down, but all of them are worthy of your time, and none of them will leave you wondering why you started the book at all.