Customer Reviews

The Stories of Mary Gordon

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Reading this hefty book of short stories that explores the traits and lives of everyday people is enough to wallop a reader in the gut. The tales are all too real. The characters are never seen through a kind pink haze; without softening, they show us --- in unflinching prose --- jealousy, possessiveness, despair, loss and more. And yet we cannot look away; Mary Gordon is describing us.

One theme running through the collection is the notion that the past is never truly gone. The first story, "City Life," brings us Beatrice, whose marriage to Peter is founded on the lie that her parents are dead and her upbringing was normal. In fact, Beatrice has no idea if her alcoholic parents in their filthy hopeless home are still alive. Her life with Peter and her children is disrupted when they move from their restored farmhouse in the country into a New York City apartment. Beatrice meets her past there, and she can no longer deny its power over her life.

The underbelly of love is another premise in many tales, such as "Separation," in which a mother struggles with society's expectation that her young child should bond with others besides herself. The author poses a question: How powerful is the force of maternal possessiveness? In this chilling piece, we see the extreme, which is strong enough to warp lives.

The world constantly changes, as does our place in it. In "Death in Naples," a family jaunt to Naples leaves an elderly widow searching for both her own autonomy and landmarks of her past happy travels with her late husband. Her quest leaves her lost in a world in which she feels misplaced.

Catholicism is the underpinning of many of these stories. In "The Deacon," a nun, Joan Fitzgerald, encounters a trying spiritual challenge in the form of an inept teacher in the parish school in which Joan is principal. The teacher, Gerard, is the one person Joan feels she cannot stomach. Yet fate (or Gerard would say "God's will") pushes them together in a solitary meal during which Joan must make a difficult spiritual choice.

In "Bishop's House," Lavinia seeks solace at the home of elderly friends. Another guest, also recovering from an ended romance, tries the patience of everyone in the house. Lavinia discovers, in a double twist of revelation, that no one is as they appear.

Revenge is served in "Cleaning Up" --- but instead of being punishment for wrongdoing, it strives to chastise an unbearable act of charity. The multilayered story acknowledges the deeply hidden rationale of a seemingly irrational action.

In "Walt," the main character is stuck in a spider web where she considers the ultimate and unforgivable cruelty: her own, toward someone who loves her. The impulse to squelch him survives decades. She can't stop yet she can't live with her actions.

THE STORIES OF MARY GORDON is not a light read, jabbing sharp, unrelenting elbows into the reader and whispering, "Do you recognize yourself?" The following passage in this collection's "Storytelling" struck a chord with me. A new acquaintance is speaking to the main character, who is a writer:

"Are all your books depressing?" asked Jean-Claude.

"I think I write about life as it is."

The tales Mary Gordon writes are about unadorned lives. While they are sometimes bleak, they are also thought-provoking, engrossing and unforgettable, making THE STORIES OF MARY GORDON a challenging and rewarding read.

--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon

Reviewed by Shawn Remfrey

This engrossing collection of tales is a must have for everyone's bookshelf. Each short story is exquisitely written and well-crafted with Mary Gordon's personal style. Whether the reader is wanting a quick entertaining story, or in-depth literature to study, Mary Gordon delivers.

Each story deals with the human condition; thoughts, emotions, actions and where each of those leads us. The most popular theme throughout the book is disillusionment. There are also tales of hopelessness, depression, alcoholism. My favorite two stories involve an elderly woman forced to see her favorite place through the eyes of her daughter in law, and a woman forced to look at her husband through her own eyes. These stories give each person a chance to examine his or her own life.

Mary Gordon's characters are alive and become dear. Vivid imagery helps lose oneself in a world that could easily belong to anyone else, too. In a space of five to ten pages, an entire story unfolds, leaving a sense of completion. Through one snippet of a character's life, the reader has a sense of that person's past, future and all that makes them up.

At first I was skeptical about Mary Gordon's talent, having never read anything written by her before. I quickly learned that you truly can't judge a book by it's cover. I was captivated from story to story. Each character, literally, made me identify and sympathize with them. This collection kept me in emotional turmoil until the end. I fully intend to search for every Mary Gordon book I am able to find and spread the word about this gem.

Mary Gordon comes from an interesting heritage mix of Jewish and Irish Catholic. Most of her stories reflect her upbringing. She currently teaches composition and creative writing at a community college. Mary Gordon's most recent published book is Circling My Mother: A Memoir. This nonfiction book tells the story of her mother as Mary was growing up. In 1996 Mary Gordon wrote a similar book in her father's memory, The Shadow Man.

Armchair Interviews says: Wonderful to know about a first-rate book of short stories.

An avid fan of the oft-maligned Short Story, I have for a long while held up Raymond Carver as the veritable 'yard-stick' against which all authors were measured. Whilst a good number of readers are lost by Carver's 'apparent' simplicity, those who unequivocally understand Carver's greatness are in no doubt that the Emperor is indeed clothed, clothed in sumptuous velvets, silks and satins. However, having such a narrow frame of reference means that almost everything one subsequently reads falls so terribly short of even hitting the board - never mind the target. That is until I encountered the greatness of Mary Gordon.

This anthology contains forty-one short stories amounting to sum four-hundred and fifty-seven pages, and is seamlessly divided into two collection; New & Uncollected and those taken from Temporary Shelter. Among that substantial body of work there is nothing less than perfect storytelling. There is no padding, no filling and nothing slipped in to fulfil publishing obligations. What is presented here is carbon in its purest form; a diamond. So brittle, so transparent, so sharp and so hard that it illuminates in the purest way. It is cold, hard and aggressively competent, it is purity, it is perfect. It is almost too perfect because it raises the bar to such a level that from this point forth all that which is published and thus, quite rightly, held up in comparison will seem to have fallen SO short of the Ideal - that which is encapsulated here.

I think it would not be an over-statement to say that Gordon has now surpassed Carver and is the present undisputed heavyweight champion of the Short Story. Rest assured that such an accolade is not issued lightly and issued knowing full well that she is standing on Carver's shoulders.

Gordon's genius is unrelenting and this text demonstrates that with unquestioning clarity. By page seven I was fully aware of the immensity of that which I held in my hands and from that point forth she had her foot flat to the floor until the very last page. She did not let up, loose her concentration, loose her nerve, loose her focus, she remained authentic and in character until the final scene; the only slight deviation she took was with ' Writing Lesson'.

I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to any of the following:
i) Students of literature
ii) Short Story writers
iii) Teacher's of literature
iv) Anyone previously disillusioned by the Short Story
v) Anyone looking for a great read especially a holiday read.

I can't imagine how anyone would not be enthralled, amazed and somewhat humbled by the genius of Mary Gordon.

Mary Gordon's stories deal with the travails of modern life - of individuals who grapple with the business of family, marriage, and identity.

Her protagonists are mostly women, Irish American, newly-displaced and carving a new identity at various stages of realising or witnessing and coming to terms with their American Dream falling to pieces, having a second go at their marriages, being disappointed with their children, etc.

Some characters that stand out for me include the well-meaning elderly widow who tries to cheerfully face the increasing irrelevance of her existence in `Death in Naples', the efficient nun and principal who tolerates an incompetent teacher and find herself mistakenly playing out the role of friend and supporter despite her less noble intentions in `The Deacon', and the long-suffering husband who holds onto a promise he made to his demented wife, despite his inability to cope with her deterioration in `Mrs Cassidy's Last Year'.

Always graceful and written in careful, delicate strokes, Gordon's stories will touch those that celebrate the honest and the frail but frustrate the cynical and those impatient with evidence of human weakness.

Choppy, some of the stories are excellent, others just so so. Overall, I'd recommend the book as a good reader of short stories and of course, Ms. Gordon.