Customer Reviews

Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is my first exposure to the work of Maile Meloy, but if my enjoyment of this collection of short stories is any indication, I think I have just found a new favorite author! Speaking literarily, Meloy must be a Hydra or something. How else to explain 11 stories of acutely observed characters, graceful prose and achingly naked insights, each distinctly different in tone and approach?
Each story is a complete reality explored in the most poetic, economic language I've encountered since Truman Capote, plus she possesses a way with regional detail that rivals Carson McCullers. Some stories, like "Spy vs. Spy" will make you laugh out loud, while others, like "Travis B." will blindside you and won't be aware of your eyes tearing up until the words have become too blurry to read. The chilling "The Girlfriend" is like Stephen King if Stephen King could write.
I can't remember when I've enjoyed a book more or been as unhappy to come to the end.

This one's as solidly stunning as her first collection, Half in Love. Few flashy plot points, zero flashy sentences, but a confidence in the telling so acute that the characters' lives stay with you for a long time. Meloy GETS people, and she gets the West the way few writers do--the comfort and anxiety of slow open spaces, the barreling toward progress and development and peopled places not inconsistent with the ache for untouched land. This is by far the best collection of shorts this year.

These stories will make you think as well as tug at your heartstrings. There is something in all of them that goes far beneath the surface of universal human truths. It's funny because the ages of the people range from just out of their teens to their 50's or so, though most are 30 or 40 something's, all of them are relatable however. You can feel for the 20 something farm hand falling for a slightly older woman just as much as you do for the middle aged couple contemplating the state of their marriage and where to go with it. I can't help comparing Meloy's story collection to Elizabeth Strout's short stories "Olive Kittridge". (Strout won the 2009 Pulitzer for fiction). Strout's characters are many different ages but mostly the perspective is looking back through Olive's eyes from somewhere in her 60's. Meloy's folks are looking ahead to what might be, possibilities, Strout's look back and try and make sense of how their past is shaping their present and how it's impacted their current array of choices. Both Meloy and Strout have immense insights and lovely moments of interaction that comes after tension, as if the sun broke through clouds and suddenly there's a realization that life doesn't have to be so complicated. Both authors write beautifully and with few words they create an evocative atmosphere that is their's alone. Last week I finished Meloy's debut story collection `Half in Love' and even in 2003 Meloy had a distinct voice and lots to say. Her work has a sweetness whereas Strout can cast a slightly menacing milieu that makes you dread a little to keep reading. They both have a delicious sense of humor as well though, even through the sadness, Meloy's is a lighter touch.

There are eleven finely written short stories in Maile Meloy's new collection titled, Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It. One theme through these stories is the desire of an individual for more than he or she seems to have now or is experiencing. Sometimes those desires are realized, often they are not. Meloy presents real people in relationships that most readers will recognize. Her writing presents just the right amount of conflict among her characters to allow her to use the short story form effectively and not waste a single word.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)

Almost all her characters are maladjusted, but in no way nefarious: lawyers, Montana residents, adulterous spouses, affluent and idiosyncratic older women, women in their youth who are close to their fathers in nice as opposed to creepy ways, and various mixtures thereof. They are people who act illogically, against their own best interests by taking advantage of those that care about them the most, later they submit themselves in a blind pursuit for those they desire. Exaggerated overtures of romance and knowingly setting in motion situations they'd rather avoid. Meloy's prose is so clear, calm and intelligent that the characters behavior becomes strikingly easy relatable.

I admire the author's cautious reigning in of the plot because it manifests itself surprisingly not in the way she plots stories, which is boldly, but in how she chooses to reveal her plots, delivering shocking twists in as low-key manner as possible. I found myself delightfully saddened at each of the stories endings. So much unfinished business, but I did not find myself resentful due to the absence of a neatly packaged ending,. I instead found myself admiring her bravery for allowing her stories to mirror the quotidian of unfinished business experienced by all those who suffer through the basics of human interaction and including the most intimate relationships. I highly recommend this book for those who are interested in deep character analysis without the distraction of a superfluous plot.

Superior writing and well-crafted stories that touch on contemporary family issues and the "inner lives" of characters grappling with life changing forces and events. Each of these memorable stories is brief but quite potent. Cannot recommend highly enough.

A wonderful collection of short stories by a writer at the peak of her form. The writing is spare, all the characters are brilliantly observed, and there is hilarious dialogue, too. Each story is odd and startling in its own way. You'll want to whip through this book, but don't. It's best read slowly so you can savor the language and nuance.

There once was a time when I didn't read short stories, much less short story collections, because I didn't want to get invested in characters only to have to give them up fairly quickly when the story ended. Boy, I'm glad I shook myself free of that quirk, otherwise I wouldn't have read a fantastic book like Maile Meloy's Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It. This collection is on both the New York Times' list of the year's notable books as well as Amazon's 100 best list, and as I discovered last year, I can rarely go wrong with their recommendations.

This collection is about relationships of all kinds and the emotions that these relationships uncover and foster. From the opening story, "Travis, B.," which tells of a young ranch hand's desire to open up to a lawyer working as a night school teacher in rural Montana, to the closing story "O Tannenbaum," which highlights marital discord and temptation during the holiday season, Meloy's writing is at times humorous, at times heartbreaking, always memorable and always terrific. All 11 stories hit slightly different notes and provoked different reactions in me, but I also found myself struck by her fantastic use of language.

If you're a short story fan, add this to your reading list, stat. If you're not, I'd recommend you pick this up anyway. You won't be disappointed.

A very mixed bag, this collection of short stories. People letting each other down, in one way or another. But all done with a very convincing 'voice'.
My favourite story of the nine was 'O Tannenbaum' which charts the complicated coming together of two couples. Recommended reading.

An incredibly good set of short stories; some unpredictable and others that make you stop and say "wow!" In my opinion the best story is the first one called Travis B. which talks about a young woman who works during the day as a lawyer and then drives abou 10 hours in each direction at night into Montana to teach a class. Talk about extreme commuting! But she has a set of bills to pay and she is worried that if she gives up this job, she may be forced to take other extreme measures. I imagine that there are a large number of people today in America who are experiencing something close to what Beth is experiencing in this book. Other stories will shock you including the one where a father does something unthinkable to his daghter. A good set of stories to keep you busy on a cold winter day.