Customer Reviews

My Mistress's Sparrow Is Dead: Great Love Stories, from Chekhov to Munro (P.S.)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Jeffrey Eugenides titled this book from a Latin poet, Catullus (84 BC), who wrote a poem which includes the title line in translation. It's a foreshadowing of the themes of the collected stories within, themes involving the bittersweet, well that's an understatement, aspects of love. Love affairs are often just that -- affairs. Eugenides remarks that Catullus' poems "speak to the stories in this collection that burn, dazzle, delight or sadden, depending."

This anthology of 26 short stories by authors such as William Faulkner, James Joyce, Guy de Maupassant, Mary Robison, Eileen Chang, and Alice Munro among others is carefully edited by Eugenides. He has undertaken this project for charitable proceeds; indeed, all proceeds from My Mistress's Sparrow is Dead will go directly to fund the free youth-writing programs offered by 826 Chicago, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6 - 18 with their creative and expository writing skills and to help teachers inspire their students to write.

A passage in the introduction hints at a possible reason Eugenides felt compelled to put this collection together:

"...I can still hear our Latin teacher, Miss Ferguson, piping out in her most piercing sparrow's voice, "passer pipiabat," getting us to notice how much the plosive rhythm resembled a bird singing. That words were music, that, at the same time they were marks on a page, they also referred to things in the world and, in skilled hands, took on properties of the things they denoted, was for me, at fifteen, an exciting discovery, all the more notable for the fact that this poetic effect had been devised by a young man dead for two thousand years, who'd sent this phrase drifting down the centuries to reach me in my Michigan classroom, filling my American ears with the sound of Roman birdsong..."

The reader is treated to a loose translation of "passer pipiabat" by Eugenides -- "Better a sparrow, living or dead, than no birdsong at all."

I recommend this collection with the notice that one not expect happily-ever-afters. It can be disturbing, thought-provoking, and heartbreaking. For instance, the first two I read, one by Grace Paley and one by Lorrie Moore, were somber and vaguely depressing.

Another plus: all of the contributors have a short bio in the appendix. The cover art is amazing and creative.

If you purchase "My Mistress's Sparrow is Dead" you not only obtain a wonderfully entertaining yet complex anthology of "love" stories, you also contribute to a worthy charity that supports budding writers. Win-Win!

I picked up this anthology expecting to just dip in and out of it, but the selections are so engrossing and lively that I was instantly mesmerized.

Another reviewer has wisely pointed out that these aren't all "happily ever after" love stories - far from it. They are BETTER than anything trite and saccharine.

Best yet, these classics can be read over and over. Bravo Jeffrey!

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jeffrey Eugenides (MIDDLESEX) edited a Valentine's Day 2008 collection of love stories entitled MY MISTRESS'S SPARROW IS DEAD (the title is derived from the work of Roman poet Gaius Valerius Catullus). The book's cover features an anatomical heart, indicating that this is not your standard Valentine's Day mush. The editor describes the collection as such: "A love story can never be about full possession. The happy marriage, the requited love, the desire that never dims -- these are lucky eventualities but they aren't love stories. Love stories depend on disappointment, on unequal births and feuding families, on matrimonial boredom and at least one cold heart. Love stories, nearly without exception, give love a bad name."

Stories by classic authors such as Anton Chekhov, Vladimir Nabokov, and William Trevor are included, but the collection also includes works by literary talents of the moment like Miranda July and and Lorrie Moore. Love topics include adultery ("How to Be an Other Woman" and "Lovers of Their Time"), forbidden love ("The Moon in Its Flight" and "Spring in Fialta"), and celebrated, ambiguous stories of love such as Chekhov's "The Lady with the Little Dog." There are a total of 27 stories in all - plenty of material to cure any reader's broken heart or fend off thoughts of an affair.

All proceeds from of the sale of this book fund the free youth writing programs offered by 826 Chicago.

I got this book from my public library, and have read several of the stories so far. I had already read most of the classics (e.g., "A Rose for Emily," "Lady with the Pet Dog," etc.), so I've been reading the others. I haven't found one so far that I've liked. Based on the preface, I understand that this is not a "happily-ever-after" type collection, and I'm fine with that. But some of these stories paint such a cynical picture of human beings that it seems almost perverse. I mean, in one of the stories, the protagonist is a pot-smoking, drug-dealing teen who masturbates in the basement and then starts having sex regularly with his 14-year old cousin (who, by the way, used to make porn movies for money and thought nothing of it). I'm sorry, but I'd like to be able to identify with SOME aspect of the hero and heroine, and in many of the stories so far, I just can't.

If you want a REALLY excellent collection of short stories that will hold your attention without making you feel as if humankind totally sucks, try Tobias Wolfe's new collection entitled Our Story Begins.

"Two unexceptional people, for no demonstrable reasons, being exceptionally in love..." the intro essay of Jeffrey Eugenides is very good and memorable in itself in dissecting the great short stories about love.

The other exceptional thing in this collection is its decision to include real classic classics (centuries old), and some recent (Miranda July, et al). And I think all the contemportary authors agreed to have their stories included--albeit they are key stories in their own collections that are still 'active' in the storeshelves--because proceeds from this book all go to charity--the Valencia project by Dave Eggers. In the end, the resulting variety, makes this a truly unique collection.

But in every collection of course, not everything will be sparklingly brilliant. For example. Harold Brodkey is the only one with two stories in the collection, showing that the editor likes him, but both are not compelling. You forget about them after finishing.

Yours, What we talk about, Dirty Wedding, are fantastic.

I only gave four also because of the general gloominess of the collection--in most of the endings and the general feeling and flow of prose.

If you loved this, consider also NOTHING BUT YOU (Love Stories from the New Yorker) edited by Roger Angell. That book is five stars to me, just for the variety of the collection (there's humor, tragedy, even commentary).

My Mistress's Sparrow is Dead is a compilation of short stories selected by Jeffrey Eugenides, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of Middlesex. Above all, Eugenides' collection is thoughtful; these stories span the globe and the centuries, creating a diverse and provocative reading experience. Unlike many story compilations, there are no `dogs' mixed up in this one. Each story is a gem in its own right. But readers should approach My Mistress's Sparrow with caution. Although the ostensible theme of this compilation is love, there's very little here that conforms to our idea of sweet, romantic love. Rather, these stories capture the underbelly of love: the agony of unrequited passion, the uncertainty of moral ambiguity, and the detritus of failed relationships. This collection was released right around Valentine's Day. I feel sorry for the poor suckers who gifted this to their sweethearts, hoping to make a good (and romantic) impression.

Eugenides subtitles his book with the phrase "great love stories", but he cautions his readers in his introductory remarks that this is not a book of gooey, sappy stories. There are no happy endings here. But, unless you are a person who takes great pleasure in Harlequins, you will find every story a little masterpiece and you will "love" this book. (Remembering, of course, that "love", even the love of books, is not always a pleasant experience.)

This is my favorite book.

I have always loved short stories - and this collection is diverse enough to keep the reader interested. It has the modern juxtaposed against the classic, the sweet amidst the heartbreak and all dimensions of love. (P.S. If you like the NYT Modern Love column, this is the book for you).

Of course, in an anthology of this size, not every story will speak to every reader, but there are plenty that will resonate with you. I highly recommend this book.

I adore Jeffrey Eugenides. Having read both of his novels, The Virgin Suicides: A Novel and Middlesex: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club), I find that I feel smarter when I read his work. He's clever, intelligent, and never fails to please me. Since it's been several years since his last novel, I decided to read this book to help calm my yearning for the next Eugenides masterpiece. I was hesitant though, as I am not a big fan of love stories in general, and the book appeared to be a little heavy with writers of Russian or Soviet descent (many of whom can be a little dreary for light every day reading). Luckily I was pleasantly surprised. Immediately after reading Eugenides' well written and thought out introduction, I was sold on the premise of the collection. I was pulled into every story from the beginning, until I got a little past the middle. There are three stories in the middle of the book (I will not name them, you should really figure it out on your own) that I felt I was trudging through, but then I picked myself up again with more brilliance to finish it off. There is a great mixture of humor, longing, sadness, true love, beauty, and horror in this collection that really fills out a book of short stories that you may want to read cover to cover, rather than picking and choosing. Love it!

Love at it's most fragile exsistence. The stories pull you in, build you up and then defeat you for the most part. Good reading when you want a short story to distract you from your everyday life.