Follies: New Stories [Hardcover]

Ann Beattie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 26, 2005

Ann Beattie's Follies is a superb novella and collection of stories about adult children, aging parents, and the chance encounters that irrevocably alter lives. Beattie, winner of four O. Henry prizes, has been called "one of our era's most vital masters of the short form" (The Washington Post Book World). She is a masterful observer of domestic relations and the idiosyncratic logic that governs human lives.

In Follies, her most resonant collection, she looks at baby boomers in their maturity, sorting out their own lives and struggling with parents who are eccentric, unpredictable, and increasingly dependent. In "Fléchette Follies," a man rear-ends a woman at a stoplight, and the ripple effect of that encounter is vast and catastrophic. In "Apology for a Journey Not Taken," a woman's road trip is perpetually postponed by the UPS deliveryman who wants to watch TV in her house, by the girl next door who has lost her dog, and by the death of her friend in a freak accident. Impatient in his old age, the protagonist of "That Last Odd Day in L.A." can hardly manage a pleasant word to his own daughter, but he finds a chance for redemption on the last day of a vacation he spends with his niece and nephew.

Ann Beattie is at the top of her form in this superb collection, writing with the vividness, compassion, and sometimes morbid wit that have made her one of the most influential writers of her generation.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Odd but subtle coincidences, missed connections, strained family relations—these are the major dynamics in Beattie's latest collection of nine stories and a novella. In the latter, "Flechette Follies," a random accident—George Wissone rear-ends Nancy Gregerson at a stoplight—in Charlottesville, Va., sparks a connection that affects far-flung people. Nancy's troubled son is MIA in London, and she hires George (whom she correctly guesses to be in the CIA) to track him down. When George himself disappears, it affects not only Nancy but also George's on-again, off-again girlfriend and others who join forces to learn his fate. Beattie's stories of adult children attempting to make sense of their aging parents and their own relationships are also compelling. In "Find and Replace," a woman tries to comprehend her mother's decision to suddenly move in with another man following the death of her husband; "The Rabbit Hole as Likely Explanation" spools out the strained relations between two siblings after their mother has a stroke. While a few stories read more like extended vignettes, Beattie's trademarks are here: the careful language, the deft humor and the sad, slow sweetness of life winding its way on. Fans should be happy to find that after all these years, this esteemed writer's characters can still be expected to muse over life's ironies and find no easy conclusions. Agent, Lynn Nesbit. (May)
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From Bookmarks Magazine

No one can resist comparing Beattie’s grown baby boomers with their younger selves—the characters who appeared in her early short story collections. Those who were once young and aimless still lack direction—only in Follies, they’re much older. This time, the author has given them a past, which is refreshing, especially as they contemplate typical middle-age concerns (parents in nursing homes, children in trouble, failed relationships, etc.). Beattie’s careful language and dark wit is, as always, impressive and much appreciated. Overall, the shorter pieces received mixed reviews, although one story, "Apology for a Journey Not Taken," was universally panned.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; First Edition edition (April 26, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743269616
• ISBN-13: 978-0743269612
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,516,828 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ann Beattie has been included in four O. Henry Award Collections and in John Updike's Best American Short Stories of the Century. In 2000, she received the PEN/Malamud Award for achievement in the short story form. In 2005, she received the Rea Award for the Short Story. She and her husband, Lincoln Perry, live in Key West, Florida, and Charlottesville, Virginia, where she is Edgar Allan Poe Professor of Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Virginia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars "Follies" was an unfortunate choice of title, October 1, 2005

By 

vicki (Riverside, CA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Follies: New Stories (Hardcover)

I used to like Ann Beattie a whole lot back in the 70s and 80s when she seemed to have an ear for the anomie afflicting a generation. But this book seemed off-key most of time. Too many characters and too many plot threads for short stories. "Write A Story" shares an unfortunate stylistic connection with the children's book, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie." The one story with any strong emotional effect is "The Rabbit Hole as Likely Explanation" about a woman's experience with her mother's Alzheimer's. But it was mistake to begin the collection with the dreary "Flechette's Follies." I would never have toiled to the end of that very long short story, or the collection, if I hadn't been stuck on a 14-hour plane ride. As a complete aside I must say, Beattie looks a bit like Joni Mitchell in the cover shot.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Well-intentioned, poorly executed, November 20, 2009

By 

D. Chaudoir (Michigan and Arkansas, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Follies: New Stories (Paperback)

I really am an Ann Beattie fan. But as I read this collection over a long weekend, I did not find the Beattie voice which so imaginatively gave us portraits of real lives in novels like PICTURING WILL and MY LIFE STARRING DARA FALCON. The main problem plaguing this collection was a lack of focus and imagination, leading to pedantic stories which go down like a bowl of bland oatmeal. Although Beattie is a talented writer I felt like these stories may have been written on autopilot. Stories don't always have to "do" something, but they have to at least be interesting to read; Updike isn't always a master of plot, but his precise and imaginative use of language is always a delight. I found neither interesting plots nor beautiful sentences in this disappointing book. Let's hope for a new, great novel or a strong collection from Ann Beattie again very soon!