Customer Reviews

Forms of Devotion: Stories and Pictures

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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It seems the earned province of Canadian women writers to cut to the heart of gender, race, and class privilege. In the title piece (I would not call it a story in the traditional character/plot sense) Schoemperlen explores a series of intangibles, among them faith, prayer, and hope, and very subtly weaves them into an indictment of middle class privilege. In a later story, "Count Your Blessings (a Fairy Tale)" Schoemperlen, in a twist reminiscent of the best Roald Dahl stories, cuts the heart out of the woman who has everything and is still unhappy. These stories are well-written, and are accompanied by clever old woodcut clip art. But unlike many short story collections, this is not an "easy" book, for the reader, and I suspect, for the author as well. The book jacket describes her work as "electric"--the prospective reader would do well to remember that electricity can shock as well as enlighten.

Diane Schoemperlen said she found inspiration for this book when her young son asked her how come her books never have any pictures. She then had the brilliant idea to wrap short stories around antique drawings, 100 year old catalogue pictures and illustrations from the original Gray's Anatomy. The results are stories that are compelling on their own but are perfectly enhanced by the pictures put in them. A great gift or coffee table book to be flipped through again and again.

After reading Schoemperlen's Language of Love I couldn't wait to read her new book. I was NOT disappointed. All of the magic and insight and wonder and irony is there. Later when I took a walk on the beach, everything seemed magnified. The sun and a grain of sand were suddenly about the same size and equally amazing.

I found out about this author while reading a collection of shorts stories from 1998 with a forward from Garrison Keillor. Her short "Body Language" was included and it was the most impacting story of the bunch. This full collection does not disappoint!

I've read more than 1000 books over the years and this remains as one of my favorites. I love this book so much that I sometimes just read it out loud to myself. Seriously, the flow of the words is that good. It saddens me greatly that this book is somewhat difficult to obtain.

I bought this book at a discount outlet on a whim -- years later, I find myself suggesting it for class reading in graduate school. While the stories are playful, inventive, strange, the important thing to note is that the writing is beautiful, simply beautiful. I especially love her story, "How to Write a Serious Novel About Love," which will make you look at a teacup in a completely different way.

FORMS OF DEVOTION IS A WONDERFUL BOOK. DIANNE SCHOEMPERLEN TAKES THE SIMPLEST TOPICS AND MAKES THEM INTERESTING AND BEAUTIFUL. I WOULD DEFINITELY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.

the observattions of relationships are so accurate that they casue you to nod in agreement when you read this book.