The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel (Paperback)

by Amy Hempel (Author), Rick Moody (Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Hempel's four collections of short fiction are all masterful; while readers await the follow-up to last year's acclaimed The Dog of the Marriage, this compendium restores the full set to print. The first of Hempel's books, Reasons to Live (1985), is justly celebrated by Rick Moody in his preface as a landmark of its era's "short-story renaissance"; it introduces Hempel's unmistakable tone, where a "besieged consciousness," Moody says, hones sentences to bladelike sharpness "to enact and defend survival." The second, At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom (1990), is the main reason to buy this book: used copies are scarce, and the collection contains stories like "The Harvest." Hempel's genius, whether in first or third person, is to make her characters' feelings completely integral to the scenes they inhabit; her terse descriptions become elegantly telegraphic—and telepathic—reportage, with not a word wasted and not a single fact embellished. Her great subject is the failure of human coupling, and she charts it at every stage: giddy beginnings, sexy thick-of-its, wan (or violent) outcomes, grim aftermaths. Seeing it laid out kaleidoscopically in this volume is an awesome thing indeed, and a pleasure lovers of the short story will not want to deny themselves. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* With the publication of her first book of short stories, Reasons to Live (1985), Hempel earned a strong position in the vanguard of the minimalist school of fiction writing, in vogue at that time and especially significant in the short story genre. Her three succeeding collections of stories, the most recent being The Dog of the Marriage (2005), maintained her high stature as a short story writer. She generally continued to compose tightly hewn stories despite the fact that minimalism as a stylistic movement was shrinking around her like a drying riverbed. The stories from her previous collections are gathered here into a single volume, and her achievement in the form is now boldly obvious. She has never imitated, never been just a somewhat anonymous member of a pack of talented storywriters. She is an original, having found--and kept--her unique way of expressing her not so much cut-and-dried as deeply penetrating vision. As the 70-page story "Tumble Home" testifies, Hempel can write longer than usual for her, and certainly that interior monologue by a patient in a mental institution is arresting in its pristine tracing of a pattern of thought. Nevertheless, she is at her best by far in the short, highly imagistic, sparely plotted, stiletto-keen slice of narrative that in her hands glistens in its sheerness, and for that she has made short story history. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (September 18, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743291638
• ISBN-13: 978-0743291637
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #39,645 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Pleasant Surprise, December 29, 2006

By	A. Harrell "[e-mail]" (Denver, Colorado United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel (Hardcover)

I am embarrassed to say that before I read Amy Hempel's "The Collected Stories", I did not know anything about her. If Hempel's writing is considered "minimalist", she certainly manages to pack a wallop in the words she carefully uses. I would not classify Hempel's writing as "minimalist"; her view of the world from the inside out is powerful and intriguing. The stories frequently deal with grief and sadness. Each word is carefully chosen. The emotions that Hempel's use of language elicits are palpable and powerful: they often seem to strike a cord of unexpected and frightening familiarity. The book is expansive and the stories in this collection grow on you. To have all of these stories in one volume, the reader has the opportunity to witness the evolution and growth of a writer. Hempel's stories seem to grow sadder as she matures as a writer; but, at the same time they flower ever so beautifully as her perception deepens.
As I was reading this collection I found myself anxious to return home from work so I can sneak another peek at one of these delicious tales. I am delighted to have found this treasure. I am dazzled by Hempel's art. If you buy this collection, you will not be disappointed.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Short and not necessarily sweet, December 19, 2006

By	Shashi Jivan (Berkeley, CA. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel (Hardcover)

Amy Hempel's short stories are short -- not because she doesn't have much to say, but rather she can say much in fewer words and with more impact. As I read through this collection, I became more aware of how she chooses her words and how deeply powerful they become. The simplicity and power of her stories are in their directness, and in re-reading several of them I was struck once again by a sense of wonder. Not all of them are sweet, but they will strike you in one way or another.

38 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Short Stories, Very Good, May 20, 2006

By	C. Hutton "book maven" (East Coast, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel (Hardcover)

Amy Hempel has published four volumnes of short stories which are collected together here for the first time. Written over the past twenty years, the actual stories are quite brief (three pages for many and the novella's would be short stories by any other writer). She is inside the head of her narrators in a stream of consciousness style that is short on plot and long on exploration of feelings. Given that "At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom" (1990) is out of print and the other three paperbacks would cost $35 at Amazon, "The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel" is a bargin at $17. And the stories stay with you long after you read them.