Earthquake Weather [Hardcover]

Catherine Ryan Hyde (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1998

A modern, hard-edged and comic tale of a woman who inherits a dangerous dog on the death of her married former lover. Her sex life quickly goes from bad to non-existent, because Dante won't let anyone near her. "Dante" first appeared in Descant, and on the winner's list of the 1996 Raymond Carver Short Story Contest.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Each of the 18 stories in this strong collection by Hyde (Funerals for Horses) holds a dangerous emotional temptation for its protagonist. Often, they arrive in strange towns out West fresh from funerals or breakups, eager to avoid another broken heart. In the first story, a woman discovers that her married lover has suddenly died and left her to care for his emotionally needy and very dangerous dog. Trying to kick her addiction to both Valium and sex, the protagonist of another story finds, albeit fleetingly, a "guardian angel" who will actually be faithful to his wife rather than sleep with her. "I'm always fighting motion sickness," she remarks, as could any of Hyde's desert drifters and recovering souls. These roughed-up characters put us in mind of Raymond Carver's, while the smell of hungry desperation that seeps through the work recalls the stories of Joyce Carol Oates. Indeed, Hyde does not seem yet to have hit on a voice entirely her own, save when she uses irony for humorous effect, as in the story "Mrs. Mulvaney, the Grasshopper God," in which the narrator wonders whether insects react to the cutting of her grass as humans do after war: "Stand among the corpses and the rubble asking, 'Why, god? Why?'" Hyde's ability to fix our attention fully to each piece bodes well for future work.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Earthquake Weather [is] a strong, finely-wrought collection from Catherine Ryan Hyde. Many of Hyde's stories deal with temptation and redemption in the setting of rough, western towns. My favorite is a road trip through a barren exterior landscape and the rich interior life of two unlikely travel partners. Charlie is a young boy who is having terrible nightmares after witnessing his father's death. Ted, the mother's new boyfriend, is an ex-con who takes it upon himself to rid the boy of his fears. Of course, Ted has ghosts of his own. The characters are well-drawn without falling into western stereotypes; the dialogue is right on target. -- Jill Wolfson, San Jose Mercury News, May 31, 1998

Catherine Ryan Hyde writes with refreshing precision. She captures a scene or a character with the barest of flourishes, revealing as much with what she doesn't say as with what she does. Every word counts. "Earthquake Weather" is a new collection of short fiction from the Cambria-based author. Of the 18 pieces collected here, all but one have been previously published in literary reviews and journals. And all are worth reading.

Empathy is everywhere in this book... And perhaps that's what's so striking about this collection: In your heart, you can see yourself in most every character. Sometimes that's frightening, and sometimes it's kind of nice. Either way it's a good read. -- Michael Ray, San Luis Obispo Telegram- Tribune April 3, 1998

Each of the 18 stories in this strong collection by Hyde holds a dangerous emotional temptation for its protagonist. -- Publishers Weekly February 9, 1998

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 229 pages
• Publisher: Russian Hill Pr; First Edition edition (March 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965352471
• ISBN-13: 978-0965352475
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,636,466 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author of 18 published and forthcoming books. Her newer novels are Becoming Chloe, Love in the Present Tense, The Year of My Miraculous Reappearance, Chasing Windmills, The Day I Killed James, Diary of a Witness, Jumpstart the World and the UK titles When I Found You, Second Hand Heart, and Don't Let Me Go. The US editions of Second Hand Heart and When I Found You are now available on Amazon.

Older works include the story collection Earthquake Weather, and the novels Funerals for Horses, Pay it Forward, Electric God, and Walter's Purple Heart.

Forthcoming is When You Were Older (Transworld UK, '12).

Pay It Forward was adapted into a major motion picture, chosen by the American Library Association for its Best Books for Young Adults list, and translated into more than 23 languages for distribution in over 30 countries. The paperback was released in October 2000 by Pocket Books and quickly became a national bestseller. Love in the Present Tense enjoyed bestseller status in the UK, where it broke the top ten, spent five weeks on the national bestseller list, was reviewed on a major TV book club, and shortlisted for a Best Read of the Year award at the British Book Awards. Both Becoming Chloe and Jumpstart the World were included on the ALA's Rainbow List, and Jumpstart the World was a finalist for two Lambda Literary Awards.

More than 50 of her short stories have been published in The Antioch Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Ploughshares, Glimmer Train and many other journals, and in the anthologies Santa Barbara Stories and California Shorts and the bestselling anthology Dog is my Co-Pilot. Her stories have been honored in the Raymond Carver Short Story Contest and the Tobias Wolff Award and nominated for Best American Short Stories, the O'Henry Award, and the Pushcart Prize. Three have been cited in Best American Short Stories.

For more information, please visit the author at www.catherineryanhyde.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fluid and involving, April 2, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Earthquake Weather (Hardcover)

_Earthquake Weather_ is, at first read, a surprisingly calming collection of stories about people at violent points in their lives, choosing non-violent coping methods. I found myself pausing for a few minutes after each story to wonder if I would have been as graceful as Hyde's characters had I been in their situations. After more reflection, however, the book has a definite anger running through it, as if each protagonist is raising hands to the sky to ask "why?," quietly furious that the answer is not waiting there. Characters from all walks of life can be found in this collection, from an unlikely pair of secretive male lovers to a scared little boy and his best friend, the war veteran, to a guarded and needy recent divorcee and the unwilling subject in her revenge plot. This book is utterly involving and not unlike a long train trip, watching people out the window. Here, instead of just wondering, you actually find out what their lives are like.

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of Catherine Ryan Hyde, April 1, 2004

By 

Traveler (New England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Earthquake Weather (Hardcover)

In just about all the stories presented here we have some common elements - western US setting, characters down on their luck and sometimes a little rough, and usually a positive or reaffirming message despite the messy environment Hyde has created.

While no specific story stands out as grand art, all are good reads that show skill in creating characters and carrying a story forward in a short space of time. In too many short stories it seems like there's no point, that the whole thing was a college course exercise in creating a single scene. Or its the opposite extreme in which you've got all plot and no character to care about. Hyde somehow does the miraculous and pulls both off in just about every story here. And she does it all in a positive and life affirming way.

Far and away, I consider this her best work. This is perhaps not a popular view among Catherine Ryan Hyde fans, but her later work has gotten sloppy, especially in her last two books, "Electric God" and "Walter's Purple Heart" in which she presents us with unrealistic characters and situations. But that is simply not the case here.

If you've read any of Hyde's later books and you want more then I highly recommend "Earthquake Weather." You'll be pleasantly surprised that perhaps her best book ever is the one that's sadly out of print.