Almost No Memory: Stories [Paperback]

Lydia Davis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 8, 2001

Philosophical inquiry, examinations of language, and involuted domestic disputes are the focus of Lydia Davis’s inventive collection of short fiction, Almost No Memory. In each of these stories, Davis reveals an empathic, sometimes shattering understanding of human relationships.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The 51 pastiches in this collection are more experimental than Davis's previous novel, The End of the Story (LJ 1/95), and short story collection, Break It Down (Farrar, 1986) Ranging in length from a single, six-line sentence ("The Outing") to 29 pages ("Lord Royston's Tour"), the selections explore intense feelings in a variety of situations. Frequently using parallel construction, the pieces reveal how someone facing a minor domestic dispute could contort a conversation into an irredeemable confrontation or could behave unnecessarily obsessively. The emotion is very well conveyed and the use of language apt. Occasionally grotesque, the vignettes will appeal to the sophisticated reader, but the lack of closure may frustrate the more traditional.?Ann Irvine, Montgomery Cty. P.L., Silver Spring, Md.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Soberly eclectic doesn't begin to describe this new assortment of 51 short (often very short) stories from Davis, whose first collection, Break it Down (1986), and novel, The End of the Story (1995), have both received much favorable notice. These disparate tales of quiet desperation range from a long 18th-century travel narrative through the vastness of Russia to views of stultifying small-town life, from a rumination on Glenn Gould to a terse description of marriage as an endless round of bruised feelings and displays of pettiness. ``Lord Royston's Tour'' chronicles the hardships of a diffident traveler as he encounters one difficulty after another on a journey from the Arctic Circle to Asian deserts, surviving many close calls only to perish at sea on his way home. ``Mr. Knockly'' details the pursuit of a strange man by the equally odd narrator, who seeks the reason for the man's despair at her aunt's funeral but never gets the answer: She loses interest, and he is murdered. Other stories also deal with death, including one about a dog that served as part of a house-sitting arrangement (``St. Martin'') and another about a woman stabbed by a neighbor as she takes out her trash (``The House Behind''). But the slow torture of a dying relationship is the theme that Davis returns to most frequently, and in such swift, poignant tales as ``Agreement,'' ``Our Kindness,'' ``The Outing,'' and ``How He Is Often Right,'' a much larger, yet infinitely more intimate, tragedy involving the loss of love takes shape. With tightly circular and traditionally linear narratives well represented, Atkinson offers a stylistic as well as thematic mix. Meanwhile, strong writing and a somber mood combine to make this a probing, quietly compelling series of meditations in story form. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Picador (September 8, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312420552
• ISBN-13: 978-0312420550
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #804,739 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Imaginative, Gets Under the Skin, April 9, 1999

By 

Jason A. Newman (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Almost No Memory: (Stories) (Paperback)

Davis has an acute sense-memory, it seems, and her erudite, yet brilliantly emotive, prose stays with you for days and days. You keep going back to it, reading a story here, reading one there, until you realize, without regret, that you've read the whole thing a hundred blessed times.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Goodnes Gracious!, January 9, 2001

By 

Todd Colby - See all my reviews

This review is from: Almost No Memory (Hardcover)

All of the stories in this book have an awe inspiring precision and simplicity that hides some of the real work that I'm sure went into these pieces. Check out End of The Story if you want to see her talents put into the novel form...a sadly under appreciated book if ever there was one...I think Lydia Davis is one of the best contemporary writers and translators in the U.S. I can't wait to read her translation of Proust which is due out in the next year or so...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, October 30, 1998

By 

This book opened my eyes (Charlotte, VT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Almost No Memory (Hardcover)

I've never written a review before but I had to after reading the only customer review listed for Almost No Memory. All I can say is that I'm glad I'm not in her book group.

These stories are fantastic -- each one is a grab at life; each one sings a truth. Just read a few sentences (or a few stories; many are quite short) in the bookstore and see for yourself. If the writing doesn't grab you right away, then you'd probably line up with the disappointed book groupers. If it does . . . enjoy!