Customer Reviews

Emerald City: Stories

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

If this were a drink, that's what it would be. With a sprig of iceberg lettuce, and a film of palm oil. This is another of those books that makes you wonder whether the reviewers quoted on the book jacket could possibly be talking about the same material.

With all the hype that "Invisible Circus" and "The Keep" have gotten, I thought that beginning with some of her short stories, would give me a better insight into the type of writer Egan is. But, I found myself very disappointed to the point where I don't think I'll read anymore of her stuff. Her stories are all written under the same style and except for the names of the characters and the places they are in, they seem to all follow the same pattern.

Her stories are always about boredom, the paean of the rich, and contain enough ennui to fill a Paris Cafe. The stories about woman who have married for money are almost funny. The "what have I done with my life" and "what is my true identity" can give you a terminal case of melancholy.
Because they all have the same basis bottom line, with a loud sigh, after a while they all blend into each other. They're probably a lot better if you read them one at a time as part of a magazine. But for me, blah.

It would not surprise me to learn that Jennifer Egan attended a graduate school for a degree in creative writing; her stories have the studied by-the-numbers sincerity of the typical intelligent eager grad student, looking to career her way through a writing life with focus, earnestly collecting her As. This is not entirely a bad thing: she has largely mastered the form; the problem is, the form, as well as all the well-meaning advice from teachers, may have mastered her, too, in the sense of quashing any vitality and idiosyncracy she may have possessed.

The characters in all of these stories are caught up in running around the world looking for something better, or at least, a distraction from the realities of the human condition. Fortunately Egan could never be confused with the characters she seems so fascinated by; she writes with compassion, but also with a subtle gift for saying more, communicating more, than her characters could ever do on their own. The best stories here are structured as small journeys themselves, taking short, unexpected yet inevitable turns off the predictable trail, leading the reader to unanticipated discoveries.

I felt like I should like these stories, but the writer never engaged, nor involved me enough. The writing was "correct" but lacked heart and any real artistic vision. I picked up the book in great anticipation, and sorry to say, I felt duped. Conclusion: a perfect thesis, but hardly a work of art.

Perhaps my expectations were too high, but I found these stories irritatingly tedious and trite. The author never quite manages to find a pulse in any of her subjects.

I'm a writer. I've heard Jennifer Egan speak, and I know her background and history. You guys are as far off-base as you could possibly be.

Pay no attention to the negative reviews. How seriously can you take, for example, someone who can't distinguish between an author's own politics and those of the characters about whom she writes? And yes, she has academic training -- but her fiction was shaped by her experience as a struggling young writer in New York. And finally, the dozen-and-a-half reviews excerpted in the edition I have include raves from the NYTBR, Time, The Phila Inquirer, The SF Chrnoicle, etc -- who are you going to believe? NYTBR or some anonymous bozo on Amazon?

Buy it -- you will absolutely not regret it.

I read this slim volume of stories with a sense of awe. Each story is like a jewel set in an elegant bracelet. Egan's prose is crystal clear yet subtle. Her characters are so alive, so fatally human. Each story veered away from what I expected, but surprised me with how "right" they ended. Although these tales are conventional short stories, each of them had the clarity of a fine poem yet the depth of a novel.

I found each and every story in this collection to be thought provoking, insightful, and a true joy to read. They are bitter-sweet, tender tales. Well...some are more like moments that evolve into stories, but all well- shaped. I do understand what a previous reviewer meant when calling them "studied". Yes, they could be thought of as 'here's how you do it samples' from a creative writing class, and a writer/reader may feel certain subtle manipulations at work, but I did not find that this interfered with the sharp brilliance of Egan's writing. This woman can really turn a phrase! I also think that it is possible to confuse a writer's "style" with a "formula". I just read Egan's "The Keep" and was blown away by it. Halfway through this story collection, I started to see these short tales as a working out of the longer pieces that have become Egan's novels. (Like an artist doing sketches of a larger work.) She is able to distill a character in a few sentences, and she captures the essence of setting brilliantly. "Sisters of the Moon," for example does more to capture the mood of the early seventies, youth and San Francisco than anything I've ever read. I find Egan's brush strokes to be very light. So light that she makes these stories look "easy." If there are little writerly devices at work, well... so be it. I still loved this collection. I found these stories to be a perfect blend of mystery, pathos, humor, angst and redemption. Egan nearly always gets it right. My favorites are "Why China", "Puerto Vallarta", "Spanish Winter", and "Sisters of the Moon". Writer or reader, skipping this collection would be a mistake.

Jennifer Egan has a rare gift of communication -- I felt as if she were sharing a wonderful secret with me. Her stories are intimate and, like a rare spice, perhaps not meant to be appreciated by everyone. Most intelligent readers will willingly delight in being seduced by the charm and wit of this engaging writer. Few writers have made me feel like I was best friends with a Catholic schoolgirl in one story and business associates with a faithless couple on a yacht in another. At first I wanted to reach out and tell these characters what they needed to hear, but I soon realized that Egan was using them to tell me what I needed to know. Brilliant!