Customer Reviews

The Happiest Days

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For starters, I love the photo on the cover. It shows two smiling girls, both wearing knitted sweaters. It makes me think that this photo comes from a knitting magazine or pattern book. The photo sets the theme for this collection of short stories, all of which feature children and/or adolescents. I am not sure the title of this books truly reflects what happens in these stories.

* How I lost my Vocation
Francis is a devout Catholic and a very observant boy, and he notices that his parents are not very happy. During summer at the beach house, with Catholic Granny sick and Aunt Rose coming to visit, Francis manages to lose his vocation. The second part to this story is the very last one, "Indian Summer", where an older Francis narrates the aftermath of his parent's divorce and shows his loyalties in a very mature way.

* Canada
Rather clichéy story about a mother feeling smothered by her family life. Her escape is to dream about Canada, so vast and with so many square miles between people.

* The Pleasure Gardens
Again a story that I found slightly clichéy. The main topic in the story is the coming-of-age of the narrator, who is 13. She does that both in a gentle way, by falling in love with a boy at the same time her father is contemplating a move to another city, and brutally, by being the unwilling witness to sexual abuse in the house of her best friend.

* Greengages
Story told dually by mother and daughter. This was my favorite, because it shows the unfortunate rifts that grow between people that should love each other so much, yet they are so encumbered by those rifts and don't grasp the opportunities that come to knock them down.

*Granville Hill
A girl talks about her sister, who died from leukemia. She struggled from her feelings of jealousy at all the attention her sick sister was getting, to the feeling of guilt after her death.

* Paradise Drive
Another story with two narrators, Jon and Alison. Foster parents take in a juvenile delinquent who loves stealing hot cars (Jon). The problem is the parent's 16-year old daughter (Alison) gets jealous. Not a happy ending.

*Bare
OK, maybe my favorite story after all. Dad brings girlfriend to meet daughter and ex-wife (Bea). Bea wants to be extra nice for the sake of the girl, but girlfriend is a real bitcharoonie on the sly. Bea is so perceptive that she picks up all the clues. I liked that writing. Bea feels depressed and unfulfilled, and gets a life-cleansing tattoo. I liked the honesty that Bea has with herself.

* The Bounce
Historical piece! A woman lion-tamer spends some time in Ireland and gets involved with a farmer, and life gets very complicated for all involved. The narrators are the husband and wife, many, many years later.

I usually don't go for short stories, but I must say that I was really impressed with Ms. Connolly's book. All of the stories were interesting and thought-provoking. I was hoping that she had other books available...I will be waiting patiently for more!

When I came across this slim volume of stories at the library, I didn't read the jacket info closely enough to realize that this was Cressida Connolly's debut. The stories here are impressively well-written and warmly emotional, without being sappy in the least -- they could easily be the work of a seasoned writer.

The photo on the book's cover of the two young girls is an appropriate one -- nearly all of the stories center around children or young adults. The two stories that revolve around adults, 'Bare' and 'The bounce', involve children to a lesser degree, but they are there. Connolly has a sharp eye (or is it a memory in some cases...?) and keen observational/descriptive talents. She chooses her words carefully and to great effect. One particular talent she possesses is her ability to tell some of the stories from varying points of view, without allowing the shifts in perspective to become confusing to the reader. This technique is not over-applied, and it adds multiple dimensions to several of the works here.

Besides the childhood/young adult perspective that most of these stories share, I found another common thread. In each one, a secret of some sort plays a part in the events -- and a secret is a powerful thing. In some cases, the secret is held by a single character -- in others, it is a secret shared between two characters, or revealed. It always has its consequences -- the power gained, or the events set in motion are not in every case planned or calculated, but they are there nonetheless.

Connolly is a very talented writer -- I look forward to reading more by her in the future.