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Loading... Paris Stories (New York Review Books Classics) (edition 2002)by Mavis Gallant, Michael Ondaatje (Introduction)Stories are not chapters of novels. They should not be read one after another, as if they were meant to follow along. Read one. Shut the book. Read something else. Come back later. Stories can wait. A showcase of literary pointillism creating densely detailed short stories, this deadpan-ly humorous collection captured the dizzying feelings of displacement and the self-delusion necessary for its exiled characters. Favourite story: The Remission. Stream of consciousness is difficult enough as it is but to have a whole system of streams that intersect, flood, recede and expand, all bridged together by the quietly devastating overarching story about life slowly being bleached out in this paler version of colonial life, to this I say, all hail Gallant. Some of the most skillful, insightful and elegant stories. Self-exiled to Paris by choice, the Canadian born Gallant wrote (in this collection) about exiles. A former German POW in “The Latehomecomer” offers a post WWII view from the perspective of the conquered. An English woman living in the South of France with a dying husband “felt shot through with happiness sometimes, or at least by a piercing clue as to what bliss might be.” “The Moslem Wife” is the extraordinary story of a young hotel owner (born in France to English parents) who struggles between her desire for independence and the love of her husband as she survives WWII and the occupation separated from him. Gallant wrote with startling perception about the relationships between people and the immense complications involved. “I described my husband’s recent death and repeated his last words, which had to do with my financial future and were not overly optimistic.” She addresses the major issues: Joy, love, death, taxes. “Grippes and Poches” revolves around taxes, possibly the only story to do so, certainly the only compelling one. A collection of extraordinary writing. Gallant's writing is pointillist, if one can refer to prose in this way ... a great deal of detail but often not tied to conventional narrative. Her tone usually is unsympathetic - she reports, does not obviously judge, nor try to understand her characters through airing their own self-deceptions. Overall the collection left me feeling quite hollow, chilled. I am glad I read this having heard much praiseworthy about her as an author but I won't read more. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. NYRB Classics2 editions of this book were published by NYRB Classics. Editions: 1590170229, 1590174224 |