Customer Reviews

Do Not Deny Me: Stories

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The short story form is an art and few writers have truly mastered it -- Alice Munro, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Tobias Wolff come to mind. Jean Thompson is among those rarefied authors. I loved her winsome collection "Throw Like A Girl", and couldn't wait to delve into her latest collection.

I was not disappointed. These twelve stories reveal how Americans truly live -- it's like looking in a mirror. All the nuances are pitch perfect, to the point that you say, "I know that guy!" Or, "That reminds me so much of someone I used to know..."

Each reader is bound to have his or her own favorites; I particularly enjoyed "Mr. Rat", the story of a presumably young man in a large, impersonal corporation, who seems at first to be bored and lethargic... and ends up being something far more horrible, a genius at self-preservation and a master at throwing his best friend "under the bus." Then there's "Escape", a tale of Hurley, a stroke victim, and his wife -- two unpleasant people who have a visceral hatred for each other. The twist at the end is reminiscent of O'Henry.

You'll meet people who build treehouses to escape from life's mundanity, women who sing in German and try to save little girls, a divorcee who suffers the blind date from hell, the young "golden couple" who are victims of today's economic times and, in their own way, survivors. Some stories will make you laugh out loud, others will make you wince in self-acknowledgement. All are little gems in their own unique ways.

Finding a good writer of short stories is more rare than finding a gold nugget on the sidewalk while you're taking a walk. Jean Thompson is an excellent writer of the short story genre. There are several favorites that I have in this collection.

My all-time favorite is the first story, 'Soldiers of Spiritos'. Ms. Thompson takes on all the politically correct 'isms' that are currently in vogue in academia. The story is about a drama teacher who feels worn-out and out of place on the faculty. At the same time, he is busy writing a science fiction satire about his colleagues who look down on him and sometimes do not even acknowledge him. We see his sensitive side and that he really cares when he can get through to his students on some level.

Another wonderful story is 'Little Brown Bird'. A woman is working on a quilt and hidden among the appliques in plain sight is a little brown bird. The woman befriends a young girl from a troubled family next door and realizes that the girl's life is as visible as the little brown bird.

'Escape' is a story of two older folks who live to hate each other. Sadly, the husband has had a stroke so he is at a disadvantage in the 'let's see how I can get her back' category. They manage to torment each other and the story is sad to read but most of us know at least one couple like this.

On page 251, Ms. Thompson says. "I think you're destined for something wonderful. Not sainthood, exactly." . . ."But some other kind of shining, special life. No matter what things might look like now." Sadly,in each of her stories, nothing much better than the current unhappiness that each character is facing is likely to appear on the horizon. She uses the term "emotional pollution" on page 250. That is what we see in all of the stories - - sadness, anger, bitterness, despair, hopelessness and the repetition of those same mistakes that got each character to the miserable place that they find themselves in now.

Quietly, through four novels and four story collections, Jean Thompson has been proving herself one of the finest storytellers at work in the United States. Readers of past collections such as Throw Like a Girl and Who Do You Love will expect plainspoken prose of great resonance -- stories that stay with the reader long after the book has been closed. Do Not Deny Me brings more of the same -- reports from the world of the daily, but how fierce the daily!

One of the best collection of American short stories I have read in recent years, Jean Thompson's Do Not Deny Me, highlights the internal worlds Americans' inhabit, even in the most prosaic settings. I have not previously read anything by Jean Thompson, but was shocked I haven't come across her work before, given the weight and talent these stories exhibited. Where have I been? Why haven't I come across her before?

No matter. I have now.

Her stories, quintessentially American,focus on characters that make up middle class America: a single, middle-aged, woman visiting her married house-wife college friend at Thanksgiving; an aging English professor who is being edged out by up-and-coming theory obsessed colleagues; a successful salesman who counters his mid-life crisis by building a tree-house. On the surface these stories sound flat, but Thompson picks away at that surface to reveal the supreme aching loneliness that swims beneath. Isolation runs through all her stories as a constant current, but sometimes her characters are able to counter this by finding meaning and small, measured pleasures within the banality of everyday life.

Rather shorter version of my feelings on this collection would be as follows: Read it late into the night. Finished it in 2 days. Not a light-hearted summer read,BUT an exceptionally satisfying read. Highly recommended.

Do Not Deny Me is one of those rare short story collections that actually gets better as it progresses.

I must admit that I picked this book up simply because it was a short story collection and, as a short story writer, I try to familiarize myself with successful authors' styles and subjects. When I read the author biography and discovered that Thompson only lives fifty miles away from me, well, I automatically wanted to like the book and support a fellow Central Illinoisan.

We got off to a rough start. The first story in Do Not Deny Me, entitled "Soldiers of Spiritos," began promisingly enough but then fell flat as it detailed a burnt out professor and an "emo" student. "Wilderness" was not much of an improvement as it followed the stories of two middle-aged women--friends--and their troubled love lives. The third story was almost enough to make me put down the book; "Mr. Rat" was the typical jerk at work story focusing upon an egocentric young man.

But then, with the fourth story called "Little Brown Bird," things markedly improved. From that moment on, nearly all of the following stories were extremely good. In particular, I enjoyed "The Woman at the Well," a story about a female prison Bible study group; "Escape," a story about an elderly man still suffering from the ramifications of a stroke trying to gain his independence again; "How We Brought the Good News," a story about a spurned lover discovering amazing art in her workplace and hunting down the artist; and, my absolute favorite, "Treehouse," a story about a middle-aged man who just doesn't much see the point of anything anymore, and so he builds himself a tree house as a coping mechanism.

Thompson excels at presenting identifiable, realistic characters that will most certainly remind us of people we know (if not directly ourselves). While few of her characters are heroic, their idiosyncrasies tended to win me over (though not always), and it's obvious they were as real to Thompson as the keyboard I'm typing upon is to me. Her stories are well-plotted and her craftsmanship is faultless. She succeeds in giving us just enough detail to satisfy our mind's eye, but she does not overindulge as so many writers are prone to do.

There are five stories in this collection that more than justify the price of this book, and if you're a fan of character-driven, convincing, adroitly written stories that reveal the hardships of the average person, then I whole-heartedly recommend Do Not Deny Me.

~Scott William Foley, author of Souls Triumphant

12 stories on contemporary topics and issues on how American's live (and cope with) their day-to-day lives including divorce, job loss, midlife crisis, stress, crisis, financial strain, unhappiness, job dissatisfaction, ethical gray areas and dilemmas...). Representative excerpts from 2 stories:

"She'd been unhappy at time, all the usual growing-up stuff: loneliness, self-hatred, the boys who hadn't loved her back, the drip drip drip of her mother's criticism. Then later, the disappointments of adulthood: doubt, fatigue, the realization that some struggles were the sort that lasted the rest of your life. She thought she'd faced her share of suffering, thought she'd acquired solid credentials..."

"It was just the two of them now. His older brother was away at college. His father had decamped. The empty house spoke of failure. Lynn knew her son felt sorry for her, in a way that embarrassed both of them. One more year of high school and he could leave also, breath air that she had not breathed first."

Jean Thompson trolls deep in the minds of her characters. She has the ability to achieve remarkable depth of character development in a short story. Masterful work. I found the stories to be laced with witty, biting and clever observations. I found this book to be a page turner, if that's possible for a collection of short stories. One of the best short story books that I have read. I will definitely look to read more of her prior works.

'do not deny me' is solid collection of short stories. Most are rather dark and depressing in nature, showing a less than glowing reflection of human nature. One or two caught my attention and I find myself thinking about them weeks after I first read them, Little Brown Bird and Her Untold Story in particular. There aren't tie-ins between the stories as far as characters go; the reoccurring theme seems to be people unsatisfied with their lives and what they do (or don't do) to change their situations. The author wrote in a concise, precise manner and I enjoyed her writing style, however I wish there had been more character resolution. However, maybe having no plot resolution is a more accurate way to show what usually happens to people, rather than what we wish would happen. I would definitely read more works by this author.

Jean Thompson's Do Not Deny is, on average, a very good collection of short stories. Some in here are excellent while a couple are pretty weak, with the balance falling closer to excellent than not. On the whole, Thompson's writing is always excellent, and I suspect that each individual reader will find different winners and losers in this collection. Thompson's characters are generally clever and sly, as are Thompson's observations. I would recommend this collection to any short story fan. There is certainly something in here for everyone; this collection will not disappoint.

Jean Thompson is one of the most refreshing and authentic voices I have read in contemporary fiction. Do Not Deny Me is a collection of short stories. Each story is a well-constructed vignette that gives the reader an intimate glimpse into the characters' lives and thought processes. Although the stories, and the characters in each story, are highly diverse, they are also highly relatable. I found that it was easy to identify with each protagonist and her/his struggles. Another strong element of the book for me was that the dialogue in each story is so genuine. Given the fact that the characters and plots are so diverse, the engaging and believable dialogue is a testament to the author's skill.

What made this book truly engaging for me is that the author is so adept at capturing and presenting those quintessentially human foibles in each and every story. I have never before read a collection of short stories in which the quality from story to story was so consistent. Readers should be aware that the themes throughout the book are heavy--this is not light-hearted fare. There are a few instances in the book that the reader is given a glimpse of redemption, such as in the final entry "Her Untold Story." In general, the characters lean toward melancholy, although the stories never dissolve into pathos.

This book was my first exposure to author Jean Thompson, but it definitely won't be the last book I read of hers! I plan to purchase her other short story collections and the two novels she has published to date. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a quick and entertaining, yet thought-provoking read.

I was unfamiliar with Jean Thompson before reading this collection, but I'll be reading more of her work in the future.

Thompson's stories are about real, believable people, portrayed with great insight and sensitivity. Usually these people are in some extreme situation, whether physical (a stroke victim trapped in a hate-filled relationship with his wife and caretaker), or internal/existential (a successful middle aged executive who builds an elaborate treehouse as solace and escape from a life that he suddenly finds painfully empty).

Another reviewer characterized the stories in this book as dark and negative. I disagree, but certainly not in the sense of finding them simple-mindedly uplifting. Thompson's best stories are both dark _and_ uplifting. Her characters struggle, make mistakes, fumble their way through life, have un-noble thoughts and feelings, but they don't give up.

That said, I felt that the real pleasure to be found in these stories was not in either joyful uplift or gritty darkness, but more in the precision and artistry with which she portrays her characters. She creates characters that are recognizable and realistic, but who will also surprise you and teach you something about what it feels like to be alive and in the world and human.