Customer Reviews

The Girl in the Fall-Away Dress: Stories

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In this collection of short stories, Richmond braids tales with emotional tactility. Drawing the reader into her collection of recurring characters with deft storylines, Richmond creates vivid images based upon life and living in the modern South.

This book was a treat to read. The carefully crafted stories leave you wondering, how much came from real life and how much was created? At the end of the collection, I went back and read the first story and discovered subtleties that made it all the more thought provoking.

I thought this would be just another lame, overly sensitive chick book that my wife brought home. The cover shot is a nice way to get a semi-literate husband to pick it up and thumb through it, and that is exactly what I had intended to do. However, I found myself reading the whole damn thing start to finish. The soulfulness of the characters, the crisp descriptions and Richmond's ability to tug at one's emotions left me wanting more. Who the hell is this Ivan guy?

It was a delight to dive into a work by such a master craftsman. This is dazzling talent combined with experience, training, sensitivity, humor, and insight. If you want to see how it is supposed to be done, relax into this haunting collection of stories and experience a pro at work.

I bought this book because I liked the cover--okay, so I'm shallow! I started reading it because it was a rainy Sunday afternoon. And in the end, I couldn't put it down simply because it is amazing!

I've already ordered a copy for my sister for Christmas. Next month I am going to nominate it for my book club ...

The same characters appear throughout the book, which makes it feel like a novel in stories. A must-read!

I have read Michelle Richmond's books, all of which I loved! So, I was dying to read this one.
I believe it was her first book - a compilaiton of short stories that were somehow suppose to come together - that's what I read somewhere.
I was sort of disappointed in that the book seemed like a lot of stories that somehow weren't complete and really didn't connect - other than I think they were about a family of girls and their individual stories.
It was a little hard for me to follow because it jumped from one girl to the other.
I didn't NOT like it, but, it didn't really move me as all her other books have.
I like the way she has "matured" in her story writing and am looking forward to her next novel, which I hope is coming soon.

This collection is a wonderful antidote to the mundane and thoroughly unimaginative work that plagues modern fiction. Ms. Richmond rises above the rest with her unique blend of characterization and skillful narrative, making her the first new writer worth your time since Alice Walker came upon the scene. Thanks to the publishers for getting this work to us.

Short stories woven with the common thread of relationships, this book boasts a new delivery. A neoteric realm which captures it's reader spellbound. Eccentric tales loop, twisting into an explainable reality. Thoughtful, humorous, morose, challenging, this read never lets go. The threads of it's beginning pattern complect a tapestry by end. I was mesmerized by each tale; completely given over to the surreal quality that melded into perfect rhyme. It is not an easy read, but is life an easy road? Isn't the trip the joy? It is in this transmigration of spirit and pulp.

A beautiful work of art; that books could be displayed in museums, this would hang in reverence.

This is a read. This is a masterpiece of prose. This should be your next choice.

Ms. Richmond's attention to detail makes me feel I know these women personally. She shows such depth of understanding that I wonder if these characters are based on people she knows. I look forward to her next book and believe that she will have great success in her career.