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emmareadstoomuch 's review for:
Collected Stories
by Shirley Hazzard
my becoming-a-genius project, part 26!
the background:
i have decided to become a genius.
to accomplish this, i'm going to work my way through the collected stories of various authors, reading + reviewing 1 story every day until i get bored / lose every single follower / am struck down by a vengeful deity.
we're approaching the third anniversary of my commencement of this project and also i have not undertaken an installment of it in several months, so this is an exciting event.
let's get into it.
view project parts 1-26 here
DAY 1: THE PARTY
starting this whole thing off on a real "men are trash" note.
and ending the first story (which had many witticisms and clever turns of phrase) on a real "cheesy dialogue" note.
rating: 3
DAY 2: A PLACE IN THE COUNTRY
hell is a teenage girl!!!
rating: 3.5
DAY 3: VITTORIO
the guiding philosophy of this story is one i agree with (that women are very beautiful and know everything nearly before it happens).
rating: 3.5
DAY 4: IN ONE'S OWN HOUSE
ignoring everything i'm supposed to be paying attention to in this one to be incredibly disturbed by the idea of being a wealthy widow whose two adult sons and daughter in law STILL LIVE IN HER HOUSE.
rating: 3.5
DAY 5: VILLA ADRIANA
lately everything i pick up seems like it's set in italy. at first this was fun because in 2ish weeks i'll be in italy, but now like anything else it's getting old.
rating: 3
DAY 6: CLIFFS OF FALL
well, it's been 3 weeks and i've taken a full whirlwind trip through europe during which i initially (delusionally) thought i'd be keeping up this project, but...
obviously i didn't. but this was a nice way to resume!
rating: 3.5
DAY 7: WEEKEND
birthday story. this one has to be good.
couples are so evil. you can spend your whole life single and then finally give in to a relationship and suddenly you're wickedly sympathetic to anyone who doesn't share your plight.
rating: 3.5
DAY 8: HAROLD
such a bummer to be on a good story streak and then have one that's incontrovertibly meh. it feels inappropriate to be able to obviously tell what a story is trying to do while seeing that it isn't doing it...like someone whose skirt is tucked up in their underwear.
rating: 2.5
DAY 9: THE PICNIC
a sequel story!
to be honest i am blown away with myself for remembering the names of characters in a short story i read a month ago.
rating: 3.5
DAY 10: THE WORST PART OF THE DAY
hope the answer here is "waking up."
in spite of the fact that this story says its title about 11 times (see day 8), none of those times is waking up.
rating: 3
DAY 11: NOTHING IN EXCESS
this is like a satire of corporate life if the satire had to keep excusing itself to explain itself to you.
rating: 2.5
DAY 12: THE FLOWERS OF SORROW
not a sequel story...
rating: 2.5
DAY 13: THE MEETING
well. it appears that this whole section (titled, a bit obviously, PEOPLE IN GLASS HOUSES) is a set of stories about the same people at the same company.
god help me.
rating: 2.5
DAY 14: SWOBODA'S TRAGEDY
i confess to looking ahead to see how many stories i still have yet to spend in this terrible awful "Organization" and i am demoralized to see the answer is 5.
i'll be tolerating these well into next week.
rating: 2.5
DAY 15: THE STORY OF MISS SADIE GRAINE
this is a story about a person's name who, when referenced in the last story, entered into a coquettish parenthetical about how sadie was a person in and of herself and we might be hearing HER story someday.
sigh. lucky us.
rating: 2.5
DAY 16: OFFICIAL LIFE
i did appreciate this story for agreeing with what i've always said: that it's actually tuesdays (not mondays) that are the worst day of the week.
but not for much else.
rating: 2.5
DAY 17: A SENSE OF MISSION
and so we beat on...boats against the current....
these never do stick the landing either.
rating: 2.5
DAY 18: THE SEPARATION OF DINAH DELBANCO
what joy...the final installment of this section.
rating: 2.5
DAY 19: WOOLLAHRA ROAD
with great relief and gratitude we move our way into the UNCOLLECTED / UNPUBLISHED section, and i hope i'm not soon saying "i see why."
phew.
rating: 3.5
DAY 20: FORGIVING
this story should have been clichéd first and foremost, and maybe it was, but all i know is i felt completely charmed by it.
rating: 4
DAY 21: COMFORT
i really can't believe THESE are the unpublished / uncollected ones. after all we've been through...
rating: 4
DAY 22: OUT OF ITEA
okay...well this has already taught me a new word if nothing else.
oh. never mind. it's a place, not a type of shrub. anyway this was fairly lovely.
rating: 3.5
DAY 23: THE EVERLASTING DELIGHT
that's what they call me. because of my unparalleled conversational skills, obviously.
i love House Talk.
rating: 3.5
DAY 24: THE STATUE AND THE BUST
extremely cool to be a smart and effortlessly charming woman who manages to mildly embarrass some random guy while simultaneously not thinking of him at all...
rating: 3.5
DAY 25: LEAVE IT TO ME
this one felt needlessly confusing. but maybe i'm just irritable.
rating: 3
DAY 26: SIR CECIL'S RIDE
oh men and women and young and old and so on and so forth.
rating: 3
DAY 27: LE NOZZE
i'd love to someday love anything as much as shirley hazzard loves italy.
this one was very romantic, and also not italian. whoops.
rating: 4
DAY 28: THE SACK OF SILENCE
what a nice note to end on: just banter city.
rating: 3.5
OVERALL
so much of this — the stories that feel like small captured moments of everyday life — is perfectly wonderful. unfortunately, bizarrely, inexplicably, a whole central swath of this book was what i can only refer to as the horrible corporate section.
i enjoyed this, for the most part, except when i detested it utterly.
rating: 3
the background:
i have decided to become a genius.
to accomplish this, i'm going to work my way through the collected stories of various authors, reading + reviewing 1 story every day until i get bored / lose every single follower / am struck down by a vengeful deity.
we're approaching the third anniversary of my commencement of this project and also i have not undertaken an installment of it in several months, so this is an exciting event.
let's get into it.
view project parts 1-26 here
DAY 1: THE PARTY
starting this whole thing off on a real "men are trash" note.
and ending the first story (which had many witticisms and clever turns of phrase) on a real "cheesy dialogue" note.
rating: 3
DAY 2: A PLACE IN THE COUNTRY
hell is a teenage girl!!!
rating: 3.5
DAY 3: VITTORIO
the guiding philosophy of this story is one i agree with (that women are very beautiful and know everything nearly before it happens).
rating: 3.5
DAY 4: IN ONE'S OWN HOUSE
ignoring everything i'm supposed to be paying attention to in this one to be incredibly disturbed by the idea of being a wealthy widow whose two adult sons and daughter in law STILL LIVE IN HER HOUSE.
rating: 3.5
DAY 5: VILLA ADRIANA
lately everything i pick up seems like it's set in italy. at first this was fun because in 2ish weeks i'll be in italy, but now like anything else it's getting old.
rating: 3
DAY 6: CLIFFS OF FALL
well, it's been 3 weeks and i've taken a full whirlwind trip through europe during which i initially (delusionally) thought i'd be keeping up this project, but...
obviously i didn't. but this was a nice way to resume!
rating: 3.5
DAY 7: WEEKEND
birthday story. this one has to be good.
couples are so evil. you can spend your whole life single and then finally give in to a relationship and suddenly you're wickedly sympathetic to anyone who doesn't share your plight.
rating: 3.5
DAY 8: HAROLD
such a bummer to be on a good story streak and then have one that's incontrovertibly meh. it feels inappropriate to be able to obviously tell what a story is trying to do while seeing that it isn't doing it...like someone whose skirt is tucked up in their underwear.
rating: 2.5
DAY 9: THE PICNIC
a sequel story!
to be honest i am blown away with myself for remembering the names of characters in a short story i read a month ago.
rating: 3.5
DAY 10: THE WORST PART OF THE DAY
hope the answer here is "waking up."
in spite of the fact that this story says its title about 11 times (see day 8), none of those times is waking up.
rating: 3
DAY 11: NOTHING IN EXCESS
this is like a satire of corporate life if the satire had to keep excusing itself to explain itself to you.
rating: 2.5
DAY 12: THE FLOWERS OF SORROW
not a sequel story...
rating: 2.5
DAY 13: THE MEETING
well. it appears that this whole section (titled, a bit obviously, PEOPLE IN GLASS HOUSES) is a set of stories about the same people at the same company.
god help me.
rating: 2.5
DAY 14: SWOBODA'S TRAGEDY
i confess to looking ahead to see how many stories i still have yet to spend in this terrible awful "Organization" and i am demoralized to see the answer is 5.
i'll be tolerating these well into next week.
rating: 2.5
DAY 15: THE STORY OF MISS SADIE GRAINE
this is a story about a person's name who, when referenced in the last story, entered into a coquettish parenthetical about how sadie was a person in and of herself and we might be hearing HER story someday.
sigh. lucky us.
rating: 2.5
DAY 16: OFFICIAL LIFE
i did appreciate this story for agreeing with what i've always said: that it's actually tuesdays (not mondays) that are the worst day of the week.
but not for much else.
rating: 2.5
DAY 17: A SENSE OF MISSION
and so we beat on...boats against the current....
these never do stick the landing either.
rating: 2.5
DAY 18: THE SEPARATION OF DINAH DELBANCO
what joy...the final installment of this section.
rating: 2.5
DAY 19: WOOLLAHRA ROAD
with great relief and gratitude we move our way into the UNCOLLECTED / UNPUBLISHED section, and i hope i'm not soon saying "i see why."
phew.
rating: 3.5
DAY 20: FORGIVING
this story should have been clichéd first and foremost, and maybe it was, but all i know is i felt completely charmed by it.
rating: 4
DAY 21: COMFORT
i really can't believe THESE are the unpublished / uncollected ones. after all we've been through...
rating: 4
DAY 22: OUT OF ITEA
okay...well this has already taught me a new word if nothing else.
oh. never mind. it's a place, not a type of shrub. anyway this was fairly lovely.
rating: 3.5
DAY 23: THE EVERLASTING DELIGHT
that's what they call me. because of my unparalleled conversational skills, obviously.
i love House Talk.
rating: 3.5
DAY 24: THE STATUE AND THE BUST
extremely cool to be a smart and effortlessly charming woman who manages to mildly embarrass some random guy while simultaneously not thinking of him at all...
rating: 3.5
DAY 25: LEAVE IT TO ME
this one felt needlessly confusing. but maybe i'm just irritable.
rating: 3
DAY 26: SIR CECIL'S RIDE
oh men and women and young and old and so on and so forth.
rating: 3
DAY 27: LE NOZZE
i'd love to someday love anything as much as shirley hazzard loves italy.
this one was very romantic, and also not italian. whoops.
rating: 4
DAY 28: THE SACK OF SILENCE
what a nice note to end on: just banter city.
rating: 3.5
OVERALL
so much of this — the stories that feel like small captured moments of everyday life — is perfectly wonderful. unfortunately, bizarrely, inexplicably, a whole central swath of this book was what i can only refer to as the horrible corporate section.
i enjoyed this, for the most part, except when i detested it utterly.
rating: 3