Customer Reviews

Things You Should Know: A Collection of Stories

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Dissatisfaction is the emotion experienced by most of the characters in this collection, but is also, unfortunately, the most likely reader response to the work.

Homes has undoubted talent, and most of the stories start well and have interesting themes. However, she doesn't seem to know where to go with many of the pieces, and the endings uniformly pack no punch at all, rather allowing the stories to peter out into forgettableness.

The two exceptions to this trend are 'Georgica', startling if only for its premise of a woman who inseminates herself using sperm found in used condoms (!), and the outstanding title story, in which all Homes' best absurdist traits are on show. Perhaps significantly, the latter is the shortest piece in the collection.

This is not a terrible book, and is probably worth about 2.5 stars, but how anyone could give it 5 is beyond me. One is tempted to recommend that those reviewers turn to some of the undisputed masters of the short form for greater delights than can be found here.

No matter what the gender is, everyone acts irrationally in all of Homes' short stories. It is without rhyme or reason these characters exist to do whatever and to say whatnot. Each tale ends abruptly therefore it is up to the readers to compose their minds about each conclusion. Some are funny than others and all of them are quite bizarre. Extreme usage of adjectives and pronouns in narrating events among more than two people at one time can result in a mild confusion in regards to the actual speaker or doer. Nevertheless, it is a fast read of a collection of peculiar people and happenings.

As is usually the case with Homes, these stories focus on discontented suburbanites. Mostly weaker men, stronger women. Some very good, if tough to read stories. As always, Homes's writing is quick-hitting. Especially as she deals with more serious topics: a husband and wife couple in which the woman's cancer is exposing the weaknesses in their relationship, the story of a man who hits and kills a kid with his car, and a story about Nancy and Ronald Reagan and dealing with his Alzheimer's. Overall, the stories were less outrageous than some of her other stuff, and several of them seemed to end with punch lines, which I didn't care for. But pretty good stuff otherwise.

A.M. Homes is a little warped--she's got a dark, twisted vision of contemporary life and that vision serves her well in this collection of short stories. At times she almost verges on science fiction, with people morphing into animals, but I believe she is at her best when simply pondering the intricacies and oddities of human relationships, which the bulk of these stories do quite well.

Not for the delicate minded, A.M. Homes returns after a twelve year absence with a collection of short stories that show the human condition rubbed raw to the bone.These are not happy people, but so compelling in their various life crisis' that you can't help but feel like you're sucked into a vacuum. Two in particular are just plain brilliant: The first about a woman who's a shape shifter, and the second an imagined account of life for the former First Lady Nancy Reagan as she copes with her husbands alzheimer condition. These last two stories alone are worth the price of the book.

I have waited a long time for the new collection of stories from A.M. Homes and it was certainly worth it. Once again Homes has captured the complexities of interpersonal relationships and the humor and tragedy of modern life. Engaging characters and compelling situations make this book a great read. I highly recommend it.

I'm a big A.M. Homes fan, and this is a terrible book. I'd love to read stories the way she used to write them, but they're not in here.

I heard Ms. Homes say at a reading that "Things You Should Know" was conceived to contain stories that all involve "shape-shifting" of some sort. The stories don't display her talent; they're boring. They're pretty bad, really. It reads as though she's coasting, now that she's become as famous as she is. I don't think anyone without a "name" would have got this book published. One of the stories, btw, is on the Nerve website, so you can have a free look.

She's uneven, I think. I used to refer to A.M. Homes as my favorite contemporary author. Now, I find her to be ubiquitous and mediocre. This book is perfect example of her mediocre writing. Ms. Homes, though, is marvellously talented. Read "Music For Torching" (my favorite) instead, if you haven't. Or "The Saftey of Objects" (my own 2nd favorite) or even "Jack." "In a Country of Mothers" is also easy to skip - her first (I'm pretty sure) and predictable from right near the beginning.

If you've not read Ms. Homes's work, I would definitely not start here. If you're a fan - go for it. I know I'll keep reading what she writes and keep watching her read - though it is becoming tiresome.

As an aside: she's rather unfriendly and pompous in person, a busy-looking-for-better-people-to-talk-to type. But, that's her prerogative. She's earned the right.

I feel a little sorry for people who think of themselves as intellectuals but don't know how to read a book. This is a collection of stories about how little we can ever be prepared for what life throws up in our faces, so it is logical that several characters have this common trait: the obsession with being prepared for what we can never prepare for. ...

There's an essential bluntness to Homes's writing. There always has been. She writes like a surgeon performing triage. She opens up her characters vulnerabilities for examination. And she has a wicked sense of humor. But her stories are the kind that will make some uncomfortable. Not everyone's cup of tea, but isn't that what writing literature is meant to be?

Emotional trainwrecks are served up as only A. M. Homes can; clever staging and just enough room to bloom.
Homes will introduce you to relationships that have only tattered buttons to push, relationships that are beyond broken.
Strangely, the battered participants have no choice but to continue on, no tease of a resolution, it doesn't come.
In keeping with her other books, Homes predictably drops the whole mess in your lap which can leave you feeling burdened and oddly responsible.

Another book that I picked up simply because it had a great title was Things You Should Know by A. M. Holmes. Not only do I like to know things (so a book that detailed what I should know was particularly appealing), but it has a lovely picture of a penguin-badger on the cover.

I know you're thinking "Penguin-badgers? We don't need no stinkin' penguin-badgers!", but in this case you might want to reconsider. This is a collection of short stories is wonderful, despite the yellow post-it note that informs me: "this book sucks" (I love used books. :)

She writes from the heart, which is something that reviewers say quite often but never define. This is unsurprising, as the heart is a tricky thing. Most authors tend not to write about four chambers that endlessly pump oxygenated erythrocytes, choosing instead to write from a metaphorical heart. This is the approach that A. M. Homes has taken. In her case, however, "writing from the heart" and "writing heart-warming stories" are very different.

She opens the collection with "The Chinese Lesson", which doesn't so much explore the issue of an interracial marriage (half unrecognized) as drop you into it and let you find your own way out (sans-machete). She then goes into incomprehensible magical realism in "Raft in Water, Floating", which doesn't even being to make sense until you read "The Weather Outside is Sunny and Bright", her other magical realism story later in the volume. Even then, it's not entirely clear what's going on, but such things do not have to be understood to be appreciated.

Then, just in case you were liking her characters, you get to meet a woman who you really want to like, but can't quite manage to. This is largely because she is emotionally crippled and indulges in what I can only describe as "genetic rape". "Georgica" is a spooky story, one about loss and pain and longing. I'm still not sure if I liked it. I certainly didn't enjoy it... but of all the stories in this book, it's the most memorable.

The woman in "Remedy", however, is very likable. It's a story about maturity and anxiety. It's about trust and communication... and about how easy it is to lose them both in the business of the everyday.

In contrast, "Rockets Around the Moon" doesn't hit nearly as hard. It's about family -- families of birth and families of choice. It really should be more powerful than it is, but I just didn't find myself caring about the characters. People with other upbringings might have different reactions to it.

Then I read "Please Remain Calm" and my world was shaken. Some of you know bits of my past. This was a story about marriage and suicide. I'll just say that it hit very close to home, and I may have been crying at the end. In some ways, I wish I had read it years ago. In others, I'm glad that I have taken the path I have.

The title story "Things You Should Know" is about uncertainty and (possibly) a psychotic break. Generally speaking, it does not present the things you should know, but it does discuss them in their absence. It's hard to boil a three page story down further, so I will merely say that it's about expectation and the eventually realization that, contrary to the common message of society, you have to make a life for yourself. Things don't magically fall into place because there are no places for them to land.

"The Whiz Kids" is about sexual abuse among children. I did not enjoy it... but then I wasn't supposed to.

The other story that stuck with me was "Do Not Disturb". Homes has a way of writing emotionally distant characters, and it really shines in this story. You get to meet a woman who is amazingly egotistical and self-centered as well as her husband who never stands up for himself. It's an unbalanced relationship between two people who become progressively more unbalanced as the story progresses. It's good. It's not fun, but it's good... and it's probably good to read stories that aren't fun sometimes.

The story ends with "The Former First Lady and the Football Hero", which (to spoil it) is about Nancy Regan's life taking care of her husband as he slips into Alzheimer's. It's really good. I never thought that I'd think that about a story about a political figure... especially one with whom's policies I disagree, but it's just so well written. Unlike most of the characters in this book who are somewhat distant and crippled, Nancy Regan is portrayed as being amazingly strong and capable. It's a great end to the collection.