Customer Reviews

The Collected Stories (FSG Classics)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Nearly every book I've read on aging women has included a reference to Grace Paley's "The Long Distance Runner." Here it is, along with 43 other stories Paley has written since the beginning of her writing career. Anticipating an anthology of _stories_, the Paley-ignorant reader is bewildered, awed, and delighted in turns as Paley's darkly metaphorical tales reveal her clever humor and, ultimately, her unflagging hope for humanity. Using common language with an uncommon twist, Paley's descriptions cause the reader to laugh with familiarity: "The table was the enameled table common to our class, easy to clean, with wooden undercorners for indigent and old cockroaches that couldn't make it to the kitchen sink." "The Long Distance Runner" is a powerful allegory about menopause, that mystical time in a woman's life when so much more is happening than the simple cessation of menstrual flow. Paley attributes her success as a writer to the wonderful luck of the birth of the women's movement, which coincided with the publication of her first stories.

This collection of short fiction demonstrates just how horrible that would be. Grace Paley's work is amazing in its lyrical sound - at some moments sparse, at others extremely detailed, and always poignant. Stories about single mothers, about women visiting elderly parents in odd nursing homes, about families in general, and how the world works (and worked). It is hard to find a good short story writer... Somewhere between a novel (overly stuffed with words) and a poem (too highly styled and formatted to say what it really wants to say) a short story, when good, can come closest to literary perfection - you can say all that you want to say, but only that. Grace Paley's stories come close to that perfection. She is one of the most underappreciated great authors out there.

Grace Paley has that rarest of gifts: a voice all her own. Funny, tough, and compassionate, this voice mirrors her characters, some of whom (especially the eponymous Faith) are people you wish you knew, or already do. At every turn, her characters avoid stereotype, something most self-professed "political" and "feminist" writers fail to do. Three volumes of stories are collected here; the first volume, I think, is the richest. Here Paley is content to represent the hilarious, yet tragic, travails of her characters. In the later volumes, aside from being more experimental in form, she tackles overtly political themes. But the voice never fails her, and even the most dogmatic, contrived story is lifted above the ordinary. Paley never loses her compassion for mankind. At the end of her career, this was her abiding them: when faced with cynicism or compassion, she always extended the latter to her fellow human beings. These are great, tough stories, worthy of reading several times over. Please buy this collection and spread the word. Paley is that dying breed -- an American original.

Word for word, there's more going on in one of Grace Paley's small masterpieces than in any hefty bestseller on-shelf today. With a single phrase, she can sum up the fullest life, skewer the truth at the heart of things, or send a story off in a direction that surprises in the most satisfying ways. This is an artist who creates characters who live, who delight, who enrich us for knowing them, however briefly. In my favorite story, "A Conversation with My Father," Paley provides a summation of her aesthetic: "Everyone, real or invented," the story tells us, "deserves the open destiny of life." In this collection, you will find a fearless, insightful, & inventively-entertaining explorer as your guide to such "open destinies." It's all here: romance, satire, experimental art, drama that's almost epic, humane warmth. This is literature at its freshest, not because it's new, but because it is timeless

The characters in these stories are consistent throughout the book. Reading the stories was like getting acquainted with a community of people. I lost interest in some stories, while others contained gems of wisdom and phrases that stopped me in my tracks.

In a story called, "A Conversation With My Father" Paley writes:
""I would like you to write a simple story just once more," he says, "the kind Maupassant wrote, or Chekhov, the kind you used to write. Just recognizable people and then write down what happened to them next."

I say, "Yes, why not? That's possible." I want to please him, though I don't remember writing that way. I would like to try to tell such a story, if he means the kind that begins:'There was a woman..." followed by plot, the absolute line between two points which I've always despised. not for literary reasons, but because it takes all hope away. Everyone, real or invented, deserves the open destiny of life."

Someone suggested I read this collection and at first I doubted I would like it, I skimmed through it and it didn't grab me but since I promised the person I would read it, I finally did. I couldn't have been more wrong about this collection- it's very well written and interesting. The subject matter of the stories might not be for everyone but I really was surprised to see how wrong I was and definitely should have given this an earlier chance. Paley's writing is clear and takes you through even parts where you might be confused. It is unusual to what I usually read but it grew on me and now I want to read more of Grace Paley's work. Her stories definitely have a period feel that might challenge certain readers but if you give it a chance, you just might enjoy it as I did.

Grace Paley wrote with intelligence and humor. Her characters are representative of New York City inhabitants of the middle 20th Century, and some have chosen unusual life styles. All of the stories are interesting, most (by far) are pleasurable. The dedication page sets a theme for the reader : how are you going to live the rest of your life? Her stories open possibilities for the reader.

I loved the book and recommend it to all without reservation.

Grahme Fischer

I'm in a discussion group centered on Paley's stories, which I've always wanted to read, and was delighted to buy a copy of it so efficiently online. Her stories are fascinating and rewarding, as layered and complex as poetry. A rich meal!

ENORMOUS CHANGES AT THE LAST MINUTE is a perfect collection of perfect stories. It's too bad the reader from Marietta, GA spews forth such ignorant bile about such a wonderful writer.

I agree with all of the reviewers! There are some beautiful passages and fascinating stories in this collection. But some are downright boring. Also, there is some "pretentious trash". Overall, I was glad that I read it but won't be looking for more by this author.