Delicate Edible Birds: And Other Stories [Hardcover]

Lauren Groff (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 27, 2009

From Lauren Groff, author of the critically acclaimed and bestselling novel The Monsters of Templeton, comes Delicate Edible Birds, one of the most striking short fiction debuts in recent years.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Groff follows up The Monsters of Templeton with this innovative and beautifully written collection that covers a wide swath of humanity, from east coast resort towns, to the early 20th century flu epidemic, to WWII Europe. In "Lucky Chow Fun," the narrator, an ungainly but wise 17-year-old girl, watches over her younger sister after their father leaves and their mother tunes out. In "Watershed," a woman reunites with a man and moves back to her hometown, but their happiness is short-lived when a freak accident leaves her husband comatose. Not all stories are gems-the supernatural elements in "Fugue," about a couple tending to a semi-abandoned hotel, don't quite work, while "Blythe," about a housewife who befriends a bipolar eccentric in a poetry class, feels half-baked. Even in the less successful stories, Groff's prose is lovely, and when she nails a story-like the title story about journalists fleeing Nazi-occupied Paris-the results are sublime.
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From Booklist

Following the publication of Groff’s first novel, The Monsters of Templeton (2008), comes this collection of nine short stories, six of which have never been published. The richly conceived, finely detailed stories offer portraits of smart, daring women who are in search of, in thrall to, or disillusioned by love. In “Lucky Chow Fun,” winner of a Pushcart Prize, Groff returns to the town of Templeton to tell the story of a high-school swimmer who uncovers the sordid sexual secrets of her seemingly idyllic small town. “L. DeBard and Aliette,” included in the latest edition of Best American Short Stories, is a reimagining of the love story of Abelard and Héloïse that sees the couple recast as an Olympic swimmer and his pupil, both of whom suffer through the flu epidemic of 1918. And in the title story, an unconventional female reporter, fleeing the Nazis in rural France along with a band of male correspondents, must strike a sordid bargain with a brutal farmer to secure their safe passage. Vivid tales from a gifted young writer who continues to surprise. --Joanne Wilkinson

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Voice; 1 edition (January 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401340865
• ISBN-13: 978-1401340865
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #297,621 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lauren Groff was born in 1978 in Cooperstown, N.Y. She graduated from Amherst College and has an MFA in fiction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her short stories have appeared in a number of journals, including the New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Ploughshares, Glimmer Train, One Story, and Subtropics, and in the anthologies Best American Short Stories 2007 and Best American Short Stories 2010, Pushcart Prize XXXII, and Best New American Voices 2008. A story will be included in the 2012 edition of PEN/ O. Henry Prize Stories. She was awarded the Axton Fellowship in Fiction at the University of Louisville, and has had residencies and fellowships at Yaddo, Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, and Ragdale.

Lauren's first novel, The Monsters of Templeton, published in February 2008, was a New York Times and Booksense bestseller, and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for New Writers. Her second book, Delicate Edible Birds, is a collection of stories. Her second novel, Arcadia, will be out in March 2012.

She lives in Gainesville, Florida with her husband and two sons. Her website is www.laurengroff.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Collection of Varied Stories about Women February 16, 2009

By B. A. Chaney VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Lauren Groff's "Delicate Edible Birds" is a collection of nine short stories that deal with the intimate details of women's lives in the face of adversity. Unlike many story collections, each of Groff's stories is unique--they are all told by women of different ages, perspectives, and stations in life--so you don't feel like you are reading the same short story retold multiple times in a single volume. Groff gives each of her women a strong narrative voice, rich with the emotions attached to their situations.

My favorite stories in this volume included Lucky Chow Fun, in which a small town ripped apart by a sex scandal is chronicled by a high school girl; Majorette, which traces the life of an under-appreciated young woman as she uses baton twirling to aid her growth into a capable woman who raises a confident daughter; and Watershed, the story of a reckless love affair that ends in tragedy. All of the stories in this volume are as different and rich as these three, and they each leave you wishing for just a little bit longer glimpse into these women's lives.

I would recommend this volume of short stories to anyone who enjoys reading stories about strong women in the face of adversity. These stories are rich and memorable. I can't wait to see what is next from the obviously talented Groff.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost all of the short stories in this collection somehow manage to cover as broad and bold a canvas as any novel February 25, 2009

By Bookreporter

Format:Hardcover

THE MONSTERS OF TEMPLETON, in which Lauren Groff adroitly reimagined her hometown of Cooperstown, New York, and the novels of James Fenimore Cooper, was one of the most widely acclaimed debut novels of 2008. Now Groff follows up its success with DELICATE EDIBLE BIRDS. Almost all of the short stories in this collection somehow manage to cover as broad and bold a canvas as any novel, often exploring the shape of a whole life in just a few dozen pages.

Not surprisingly, given Groff's obvious affinity for history demonstrated in THE MONSTERS OF TEMPLETON, the stories collected here range widely over time and place, which helps contribute to the expansive feel of her short fiction. The opening story, "Lucky Chow Fun," takes place in Groff's fictional Templeton and is set in the present or the very recent past; others, however, explore the ravages of the 1918 influenza epidemic, the mixed blessings of the 1970s women's movement, the dread enfolding Paris's denizens during the Nazi invasion in World War II, and even the vicissitudes of fortune among the privileged classes in an unnamed dictatorship.

Unlike much short fiction, which often conveys a turning point through a single encounter, utterance or even image, Groff's stories frequently find their meaning in the shape of a whole life, reading more like imagined biographies than typical modern short stories. Groff's gift is in imparting meaning and beauty to what could be mere chronicles.

"Majorette," for example, traces the fortunes of three generations of women in the same family, vividly illustrating how their socially acceptable options --- ranging from having a large number of children at a young age to starring as a baton twirler to excelling on the volleyball court --- influence their future directions and their possibilities for happiness." In "Sir Fleeting," a woman's history of failed relationships is contrasted with (and perhaps perpetuated by) her periodic encounters with a mysterious, almost unbelievably romantic figure. In "Blythe," a lonely, bored housewife fails to live up to her own potential when she becomes entangled with Blythe, a beautiful, creative but hopelessly imbalanced young mother when both take a poetry course. The ravages of Blythe's emotional demands on her friends and family are traced over the course of years.

As in "Blythe," a current of sadness and tragedy runs through many of the stories, often relating to the elusiveness of love. In "L. DeBard and Aliette," a champion swimmer and poet, and his pupil --- a fragile, crippled heiress --- secretly fall in love, only to be thwarted by obstacles both natural and human-made. Likewise, "Watershed" is a heartbreaking story about a woman who, after several failed relationships in the big city, returns to her small town and marries a childhood friend, only to perpetuate discord that results in tragedy.

The protagonist in "Watershed" is a storyteller whose pastime is "selecting a few strands from many and weaving them into cloth," but whose penchant for story still can't make sense of the tragedy that befalls her young family. Many of Groff's female heroines share this desire to comprehend the world through story. The young narrator of "Lucky Chow Fun" views her experience through the lens of horrifically dark fairy tales. In the title story, probably the strongest one of the collection, a group of stranded journalists try to find meaning in the unimaginable horrors of war.

These characters often turn to story to find richness, solace and meaning in both ordinary and extraordinary circumstances --- much like Groff herself.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

2.0 out of 5 stars Prose beautiful but at times overly self-indulgent February 23, 2013

By ARH1387

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I purchased this collection based solely on the strength of the story after which the collection is named, "Delicate Edible Birds," eager and optimistic. And though I still stand by the beauty and near-perfection of "Delicate Edible Birds," a story about journalists during WW2, I found many of the other stories boring or completely forgettable. It wasn't that the stories were inherently uninteresting--in fact, Groff has included truly intriguing and interesting situations and characters and her prose is both beautiful and evocative--but that they at times included such convoluted story lines, dragged out, predictable plots, or such dense passages of the aforementioned prose that I, more often than I'd like to admit, found myself eagerly checking how many pages remained until the story ended.

Not all of the stories here are bad or boring: "Lucky Chow Fun" was interesting and written with a firm, insightful finger on the pulse of small town life, "L. DeBard and Aliette" was entertaining though painfully predictable, and "Delicate Edible Birds" contains such finely crafted, expertly written characters almost to redeem the tedious and meandering "Fugue" that precedes it. Many of the stories are completely forgettable, unfortunately, including "Watershed," "Sir Fleeting," and "Blythe," stories that contained strong essential elements but that somehow failed in execution.

Groff is obviously a talented writer--I just don't believe this collection succeeds in representing all that she is, by the merit of her stronger stories alone, clearly capable of.