Bees swarm. A president is assassinated. A young mother is electrocuted in her own basement. A space shuttle vanishes. One couple is struck by sudden wealth, another by lightning. An older woman obsesses over a bag boy at the local supermarket. People everywhere watch the sky for signs of intelligent life on Mars and covert Russian space missions. The television era begins, and the Vietnam War ends. Ranging from the 1950' to present time, the stories of Springtime on Mars feature characters who grapple with the human extremes of despair and hope, holding faith in both God and science, and in the love and courage of those around them.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Springtime on Mars,
By JC (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Springtime on Mars (Paperback)
I was amazed with the variety of stories told in "Springtime." All of the stories are set approximately between the 1950s and the 1970s and deal with life in middle-income middle America. Some stories are told in first person, others in third, some from the perspective of children, other from adult perspectives. Yet somehow all of the stories seem to have their own, authentic personality, no two sounding alike.
I am not generally a fan of short stories, I often cannot stay interested in a set of characters I know will only be around for 20 pages or so. However, "Springtime on Mars" kept me wanting to see what characters Woodring was going to introduce next. I was more invested in "Springtime on Mars" than I have been with any collection of short stories since "Interpreter of Maladies." The subjects, and even the writing styles, of the two books are very different, but the heart is the same. I would recommend "Springtime on Mars" to fans of short stories as well as to those who would like to give short stories a try.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Terrific short story collection!,
This review is from: Springtime on Mars (Paperback)
Springtime on Mars by Susan Woodring is a short story collection filled with intensely personal domestic situations of quiet desperation. There are 11 stories, set in the 1950's until the present day, loosely connected by recurrent themes of science and technology, marriage and relationships, love and loss.
Charming, deceptively simple, and utterly American, many of these tales depict the country at the brink of change and huge scientific advances. Others show the struggle between faith in God and faith in science. Ranging from the introduction of the television into our living rooms, to the Kennedy assassination, to the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, Springtime on Mars holds up a mirror and shows us not only who we were, but who we are. Woodring breathes life into her characters so quickly- within a few short paragraphs you fully grasp who they are. I was perhaps most touched and completely caught off guard by the story Beautiful, in which a father is staying in a hotel, apart from his family, on an extended business trip. His wife and daughters come down for a visit, but there are huge walls of silence and misunderstanding. He realizes his 13 year old didn't want to make the trip; she seems embarrassed and unsure of how to act around her dad. He then remembers how it used to be: "When she was little, though, she used to cup his face in her hands and draw it very close to her own. Listen, she would say. There's a crisis on planet Gimbel and we have to go there now. " Throughout that story, I was rooting for the dad so much. I kept thinking, Do something! You're going to lose your family! The relief I felt when he finally took some action to connect with his kids is hard to describe. I got so choked up and was surprised at how much it affected me. Susan Woodring has a unique voice and a disarming style. Many short story collections are woefully uneven, but that is not the case here. I found real moments of charm and humor in every single story. I enjoyed this book so much and enthusiastically recommend it.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Writer to Watch,
By
This review is from: Springtime on Mars (Paperback)
Over and over again, I've heard that it takes more talent to write a short story than a long novel. It makes sense: you have a limited number of words with which to tell a story, which forces you to cut to the heart of matters very quickly. Every word counts. Knowing this, I have to say that Susan Woodring is an excellent writer! The short stories in Springtime on Mars (Press 53, February 2008) are brilliantly written, and manage to capture very believable snapshots of American life druing certain points of time.
Woodring sets the tone for each story very quickly, and although the emotions felt by the characters range from love to grief to bewilderment to disappointment, I was able to really get into the characters' shoes and feel what they were feeling. I think Woodring's biggest talent is the believability she brings to her characters. Her words literally breathe life into the characters in the stories, and by the end of a few pages, they were no longer just characters, they were people whose stories I had come to really care about. If you want to go beyond basic descriptive terms in your writing and really get to the heart of your characters, you will learn a lot by reading Springtime on Mars. And if you're looking for a group of short stories that keep you interested and entertained, look no further! Susan Woodring is definitely a writer to watch!
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