Customer Reviews

Unearned Pleasures and Other Stories

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

 

 

This was a worthwhile and enjoyable enough collection of short stories; most of them revolve around what seems to be the female equivalent of midlife crisis. Ideally, I would have rated this book 3.5, but I can't justify giving it a 4. The stories are interestingly told and emotionally sharp. They tend to leave something wanting, however.

A collection of essays written straight forward and in the abstract years before Floating in My Mother's Palm and Stones From the River, Ursula Hegi's Unearned Pleasures gives the reader a smorgasbord of tasty treats for the mind. Tina's room, a story of a young mother's coming to grips with the loss of her infant daughter left my scalp tingling when I finished reading it. Some stories are better than others but most have the vivid imagery that Hegi has become noted for.

Ursula Hegi known for Stones from the River, in this book writes bits of other lives.

WHAT POSSIBILITIES: In each of these smidgens of a life, you can see the past, present and future. There is a whole life in all of these short stories.

POWER OF THE WRITER: These stories step you into lives either vastly different that your own, or incredibly familiar, and show how alike we really all are. What these stories do show you, is how powerfully elegant Ursula Hegi is as a writer, to be able to do this.

EACH STORY IS CAPTIVATING IN ITS OWN WAY: Each of these stories could be a novel in its own right. In fact that is the only complaint I have, is that I wanted more. It was evident each story was complete in its own right, but on the same token, you wanted to follow the writer's thoughts so you could see how things ended up. Many stories were very introscpective, as much of Ms. Hegi's work is. All related a feeling of belonging, betrayal, concern, happiness, etc. These weren't so much spelled out, but you experienced them as you read the stories.

INTERESTING WAYS OF TELLING A STORY: I found several of the stories very compelling. One was by a person that was struggling with the wandering mind of a high fever. Another was of a jilted bride that attended stranger's wedding in her wedding finery, to insure their good fortune. In both of these stories, initially you don't know what's going on. The fog of the central character is over your eyes as well. Marvelous writing.

This is a short book that makes you wish for more.

Fantastic job.

An interesting style, detailed and absorbing for a short story. But too short for a story. Some of the short stories are very different, with a new perspective of social issues, but mostly recording sad incidents in a deep way.

Amongst the many authors in the Inland Northwest, Urusla Hegi seems to stand out more than the rest and this early collection of short stories clearly shows us how. By using love as her main theme Hegi indulges the minds of her readers in touching stories like the one about a girl disobeying all the rules at a nuns'academy just so she could go back and live with her mother.The story about a woman trying to escape the fact that her father is dying and the story about a woman, who finally plucks up the courage to see her daughter's room after she has been dead for some time. This is all encompassed by Ursula Hegi in varying extents and degrees ranging from comic to utterly tragic. This collection of short stories is truly one that a Hegi fan should keep in his or her own collection for years to come.