Customer Reviews

Ideas of Heaven: A Ring of Stories

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Joan Silber's Ideas of Heaven is really a terrific collection. Each of these first-person narrative stories is just wonderful, not a weak link in the bunch. Many times, I feel that a short story is a bit of an emotional letdown, but not in the case of these stories; each is emotionally rewarding. Never will you wish that a story was a little longer, or had a bit more for you. The writing here is excellent; the stories, compelling. Silber makes it a little bit more interesting by linking each story to the ones surrounding it as placed in the book. Well done. I highly recommend this collection, even if you generally shy away from short fiction.

I picked this book up because of the controversial comments some critics made about the 2004 National Book Award nominees. I was looking for something different from the usual bestsellers that sit out front in Borders or Barnes and Noble, bestsellers that can easily be turned into Hollywood blockbusters.

Silber's book was a refreshing change. You don't read this book for the plot, you read it for the language and the wonderful exploration of the relationship between sexual and spiritual longing. It's not a deep, dense philosophical treatise on the subject though; you see the tension of unfulfilled longing played out in the lives of mostly normal, everyday characters.

I started out thinking about the characters of the first two stories as losers - people who made bad choices in search of fulfillment. But as I kept reading, I came to recognize that many of the weaknesses of the characters were weaknesses I shared - I'm often blind in the same way they were blind about the mistakes they were making. This is what made the book compelling for me.

In the end, this book was just a lot of fun to read. I had a great time sitting on the couch and savoring Silber's beautiful language.

I usually read only novels, but this is what the author calls a ring of six first-person stories, linked by the device of having a person or idea mentioned in a minor way in one story becoming the main subject of the next. Far more important than these surface links, however, is the commonality of theme that ties these first-person narratives together, even though their narrators alternate between male and female and their locales range from Renaissance Venice and 19th-century China to more-or-less-contemporary New York and Paris. Few of these life-stories (for each typically spans several decades) deal with great figures, and many are humdrum or downright uneventful. Most of the tales are about love found and lost again, through stupidity, tragedy, or the mere passage of time. Yet each ends in a state of acceptance, compromise perhaps, but increasingly verging on religious grace; the book-jacket comparison with William Trevor is not inapt. And the book's power is cumulative, enfolding the reader in a moral universe that is more consistent and consoling than in many a novel.

In short, excellently conceived and executed; the missing star is simply due to the fact that the book keeps a relatively low profile, without the emotional range of many of the books to which I have awarded five stars.

This "circle of stories" manages to capture more of human life than a dozen novels. I think it's the depths of the characterization. Like Alice Munro, Joan Silber makes you feel that you know these people better than anyone in real life, and sympathize with them, understand them, and care for them as if they were real.

The characters and situations in one story resonate in another: a woman who longs to be a dancer -- without the equipment to go past a certain point -- is cruelly humilated by her teacher. But then, when we get to his story, we see how and why he has become the person who could do this. The book ranges across time and place, connecting through names, themes, story elements, and the ways the characters' erotic and spiritual longings intertwine.

I finished the book a week ago and can't stop thinking about it. I thought it was one of the best works of fiction I'd ever read, both deep and dazzling. It hasn't faded for me at all; if anything, my admiration has grown. This makes me understand why readers want to follow a writer around and ask, "What do you eat for breakfast? How many hours a day do you write? Do you do your first drafts on a computer or by hand? How many times did you rewrite these magical stories?" As if there were some formula whereby the writer could communicate to the reader her wisdom, her humor, her compassion. Here's a moment where we see a character angrily sinking into failure:

"In the end I gave up the studio, gave up the whole idea of teaching. I got a job in an agency booking dancers for clubs. Go-go girls, in spangled underwear and little white boots. I was the man the girls talked to after they read the classified and came into the office, nervous and flushed or tough and scowling. I sent them to clubs in the outer boroughs, airless caves in the Bronx with speakers blaring disco and red lights on the catwalk. My temper was so bad that people did what I told them, which was the agency's idea of sterling job performance. I was a snarling jerk in those years. Contempt filled by every cell; I was that as a tick on contempt."

Oddly enough, though there's nothing resembling advice in here, after reading this book, I feel as if I know more about how to live, how to be the person I wish I could be. Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading these again and have given copies to two friends already. I just wish I could read it again for the first time, for the shocks of discovery.

So many voices, so many styles--and she *gets* them all. A year later, I'm still awestruck by the story of the missionary in China. Not the most eloquent of praises but: Wow. (Read Household Words after; it was good, but she'd already shown me Wow, so I was disappointed.)

I really enjoyed this book. I liked how the stories entertwined, and a character from one would pop up in another, and I would get a completely different take on the character's behavior or motives. Sometimes it was just a glimpse, but it would explain something said by another character in another story. The stories were well written, and I liked how they weren't all contemporary. I don't think her writing style was as effective for the stories in Italy and China, but still quite enjoyable. The stories aren't "fluff," but they read quickly because they flow so well. I recommend this novel for those who enjoy short stories, but also for people who like really well written fiction.

Ideals of Heaven is quite a unique collection of short stories in that a secondary character in one story has a chance to tell his or her own views on life, love and faith in the next offering. All of the stories are in first-person narrative and each character has its own take on life, relationships, sex, and other subjects. This book enthralled me from beginning to end because each story spoke to me -- the voice of each character has something special, with musings and insights that make the reader nod in agreement and be touched as well. My favorite stories are "Ideas of Heaven," "The High Road," and "My Shape." The aforementioned stories touched me the most. The link of characters in each story makes this book all the more interesting. Joan Silber is a great author. I recommend this wonderful piece of work.

I have just ordered Joan Silber's new volume of short stories, "The Size of the World," and, thinking back on
how much I enjoyed this book, I decided to take the time out of my life to be a bit generous, to take the time
to tell others--you, who happen to be reading this review just now--how very, very good the book is.

This book of inter-connected stories is one of the best reading experiences I've had in the last ten years.
Oh, yes, there are one or two or three novels which outpace this book, but right behind those three giants
comes this smallish book. The stories are enormously varied, and yet each one is imbued with the very
essence of truth. A story about a would-be dancer who simply doesn't have the stuff? Oh, I believed every word. A story about a family of people who pull up stakes in America and go off to save souls for Christianity
in China? Unforgettable.

Again, you will think back and say, "Oh, yeah, that guy who wrote that review on e-bay helped me make up
my mind to buy that Silber book. He was right. I do thank him."

This short story collection really struck a chord with me--although on the surface I wouldn't seem to have anything whatsoever in common with any of the characters. That's what makes it so special: Silber captures an indefiniable element of humanity--or maybe human spirituality--that we can all recognize, if not name. I didn't want this book to end. It's a keeper.

These six sometimes connected stories set around the globe are simple, eloquent, and touching in their honest revelations about matters of the heart. Told in first person narratives Joan Silber creates a series of unique voices, some with heartbreaking circumstances, all with hope and faith. A particular favorite of mine is the title story, where a family of missionaries moves to China to spread the Gospel of the Lord. Slight enough to read at one prolonged sitting, it's cumulative effect is strong enough to make you catch your breath.