Amy Hempel
Hardcover | Pages: 409 pages Rating: 4.26 | 6401 Users | 612 Reviews
Define Books Toward The Collected Stories
| Original Title: | The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel |
| ISBN: | 0743289463 (ISBN13: 9780743289467) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction Nominee (2007), Ambassador Book Award for Fiction (2007) |
Ilustration Supposing Books The Collected Stories
The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel gathers together the complete work of a writer whose voice is as singular and astonishing as any in American fiction. Hempel, fiercely admired by writers and reviewers, has a sterling reputation that is based on four very short collections of stories, roughly fifteen thousand stunning sentences, written over a period of nearly three decades. These are stories about people who make choices that seem inevitable, whose longings and misgivings evoke eternal human experience. With compassion, wit, and the acutest eye, Hempel observes the marriages, minor disasters, and moments of revelation in an uneasy America. When "Reasons to Live, " Hempel's first collection, was published in 1985, readers encountered a pitch-perfect voice in fiction and an unsettling assessment of the culture. That collection includes "San Francisco," which Alan Cheuse in "The Chicago Tribune" called "arguably the finest short story composed by any living writer." In "At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom, " her second collection, frequently compared to the work of Raymond Carver, Hempel refined and developed her unique grace and style and her unerring instinct for the moment that defines a character. Also included here, in their entirety, are the collections "Tumble Home" and "The Dog of the Marriage." As Rick Moody says of the title novella in Tumble Home, "the leap in mastery, in seriousness, and sheer literary purpose was inspiring to behold.... And yet," he continues, ""The Dog of the Marriage, " the fourth collection, is even better than the other three...a triumph, in fact." "The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel" is the perfect opportunity for readers of contemporary American fiction to catch up to one of its masters. Moody's passionate and illuminating introduction celebrates both the appeal and the importance of Hempel's work.Point Containing Books The Collected Stories
| Title | : | The Collected Stories |
| Author | : | Amy Hempel |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 409 pages |
| Published | : | May 9th 2006 by Scribner Book Company |
| Categories | : | Short Stories. Fiction. Literature |
Rating Containing Books The Collected Stories
Ratings: 4.26 From 6401 Users | 612 ReviewsJudge Containing Books The Collected Stories
The reason for reading this book was because I could not otherwise get away from this lady until doing so. One such instance involved an innocent perusal of Raymond Carver's wikipedia entry, and there was Hempel and Gordon Lish sitting one booth over and trying to look conspicuously casual. Another time I was cruising Palahniuk.com (feeling all manly and disenfranchised, of course), and there she was again, rocking back and forth on her heels expectantly after blurting out an awkward "Hi!". ThisBecause I typically fall asleep or become distracted after a few pages of reading, short stories are ideal for me. In addition to that, a well-read friend of mine recommended this book to me, so I was really looking forward to exploring it. My excitement did not last long, however. I've read about four of her stories now, and I'm still wondering when things are supposed to become interesting. The book has been given plenty of awards and good reviews, but I can't quite seem to figure out why.
It was hard for me to read this book without constantly thinking about the agonizing amount of work that had to go into every single sentence. I kept picturing this frowny-faced, chain-smoking woman slumped over a typewriter desperately trying to warp every word to express exactly what she wanted. The end result was appropriately rewarding.
This has all four of Amy Hempel's short story collections in one volume. I am assigning it four stars mostly on the strength of her first collection, Reasons to Live published way back in the 1980s. I kept thinking "a female Richard Brautigan" while reading her early stories. Quirky subjects and bizarre dialogue. You just never know where she's going to go next. Three of my four favorite stories in the whole book are from this first collection. The other three collections just don't have that
Amy Hempel is a pretty pretty cool lady. She writes kind of like Joan Didion, except a little funnier and with more stories about dogs. I really enjoyed this compilation of her four short story books, which is full of simple yet touching musings on California, animals, painters, infidelity, loss -- and starting anew after loss. Many stories touch on dark issues but I would say that overall, her work is quite uplifting. And "The Dog of the Marriage," a story about a woman who trains cute pups to
Contained within these pages are short stories that can make you stop breathing, sentences that I will remember forever and ever, that burned themselves into my brain the second I read them. I was AMAZED to learn that "In the Cemetary where Al Jolson is Buried" was the first piece of fiction she'd EVER written. It's beautiful and real, more real than this keyboard I'm typing on or the trees out my window. I will buy my own copy of this book and re-read these stories for the rest of my life. Each
I workshopped a story about a dog in one of my fiction writing classes at school last semester, and several people informed me that I needed to read Amy Hempel. They told me that she wrote these great stories that always had dogs in them. They always have dogs in them? I asked. That's like her trademark?And while I was busy sort of mocking this idea, one of my friends pointed out that I had written a story about a dog, and I found myself out of excuses.And wow, am I ever glad that I read the
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