Customer Reviews

When the Messenger Is Hot: Stories

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The only way I can describe this book is to compare it to music- it's sort of a cross between Liz Phair's "Exile in Guyville" and poetry. It's bold, shocking, thoughtful, aching, and funny all at once.

These aren't stories that make you feel good about yourself and inspire you to go and change the world or call your closest friends up to share the joy. This isn't Bridget Jones, either- it's far too intelligent. These are stories that are honest in the best way. Elizabeth Crane writes the way you talk inside your head- lots of run on sentences, extraneous thoughts (that most authors wouldn't dare to allow in their writing), and then one pure, true statement in the middle of it all that just grabs you. Some of it is too raw, and some of it seems too blase, but I don't think that Crane is looking to engage the reader in all of her characters' lives. This book is more of a dirty friend you admire than a close, sensitive sister.

The reason I didn't give the book five stars is because there are a few flaws. Sometimes, Crane allowed her characters to go on *too* much and after two pages of the same sentence I felt like I was listening to a friend that wouldn't shut up. Ironically, that's also part of why I liked the book, too. I did roll my eyes at some of the characters (especially Hayden and Hyman) and situations, but overall this is a solid collection. Lots of quotable lines and paragraphs, which to me is the ultimate compliment for a book- it's something that will live beyond its place on my bookshelf.

Having heard this author read one of these stories,"Return from the Depot!" about a mother's return from the dead and subsequent celebrity, I assumed this was among her strongest in this collection. Well, having ingested the entire collection in one sitting, I can say that while the story was a good representative of her sensibilities and talent, the whole of the collection exceeds the sum of the parts, each story illuminating the others while maintaining its distinct place in the cosmos of the author's worldview.

Crane treads the familiar hip-sensitive female territory of Lucinda Rosenfeld and Elissa Schappel: grief and longing, laced with humor and hope over such commonplace heartbreaks as dead parents, bad boyfriends, unfortunate lifestyle choices. Yet in several stories she throws a curve reminiscent of a softer edged Aimee Bender, a fairy-dusting of magical realism, putting the pain in perspective, reminding us that with imagination wonderful things are possible, horrible things endurable, and transformation is just a dream away.

I like smart, funny women, and though the women in this book are sometimes smarter than they are funny I liked them, too.

It's a form of "chick lit," I suppose, but at least one of Elizabeth Cranes' characters seems to realize (if not really accept) that although her experiences may be unique, her feelings are universal. And you will smile in recognition as she says that she really doesn't want them to be. And like I said, I love her sentences.

This is the kind of collection that makes you want to read more; though as another reviewer pointed out the women in each of the stories have many similarities. She might as well have just given them all the same name and called it a novel.

Hey! And I just found out from reading an article in Book Magazine that Crane and I share a favorite movie, Broadcast News. I love when that kind of thing happens--when you find connections between two things you love.

I thought this was going to be Bridget Jones's Girl's Guide to Wearing Black and Living in New York, yet another book about a smart but aimless young woman who deep down just wants to find Mr. Right and does. It's so much better than that ! It's about certain kinds of deep loneliness and loss, about being just on this side of being truly odd and knowing that, about neurosis as more than a charming foible. The writing is really sharp and clever. I read my teenage daughter "Something Shiny," in which the narrator finds herself pushed out of her own real life by the actress picked to play her in the movies. We laughed and laughed!

I had never heard of Elizabeth Crane before I saw this book. I think it is a pity she is not more well-known because I really enjoyed her stories. Taken together, her stories have a breathless, colloquial quality that makes you feel like a friend is talking to you. Most of the stories have a fun, quirky premise, but without being shallow, and her observations are very funny.

Highlights for me were:

The Super Fantastic New Zealand Triangle: this story is about a woman who constructs an elaborate fantasy about an actor living in New Zealand and their relationship.

Josie and Hyman Differ in Their Use of the Word F***: This is the story of a young woman who dates an older man who doesn't take her seriously because she's beautiful. He's obsessed with his SAT scores and likes to act edgy.

Year-at-a-Glance: This story is a kind of log kept by a woman whose mother died, and tracks the woman's grieving process over a year.

The Daves: One of the best stories in the collection. The protagonist keeps meeting men named Dave, even if they claim to be named something else, and she finds out that all women (even herself) are named Jennifer. Interesting musings on whether everyone is alike or not.

Christina: This is about a woman whose apartment is haunted by the ghost of a baby. They become good friends and dance together, and the baby imparts wisdom to her about how she isn't different from everybody else (though she feels that she is).

An Intervention: This is a story about a woman who joins AA even though she isn't an alcoholic, because it makes her feel "a part of" (AA-speak for a sense of belonging).

Good For You!: This is about a woman who sends out a holiday card with a picture of herself and gets some unexpected responses.

All in all, these were very creative, well-written stories that were fun to read and illuminating as well. Recommended.

Good fiction is all about voice. As a reader, I find a compelling voice, and I'm willing to follow it just about anywhere. The voices in Elizabeth Crane's striking and original debut story collection practically scream off the pages. This book is a pitch-perfect blend of neurosis, humor and pathos. Favorites include "The Archetype's Girlfriend," "Something Shiny," "Year-at-a-Glance," "Return From the Depot!" and "An Intervention." Anyone who thinks the short story is a dead art form would do well to pick this up, along with a copy of David Foster Wallace's Brief Interviews with Hideous Men.

I loved this book. The stories are dreamlike and funky. Woozy and fun. I particularly enjoyed the tale of her dead mother's return as a celebrity and, well, all the stories about her mother. This is a gifted writer and I highly recommend the read.

This is a very interesting collection -- far deeper than I think it may first appear to many readers, simply because the extreme conversational style of the stories lends itself to so fleet a reading that it's easy to hurtle right over the nasty, scarring battle going on between despair and hope -- an underlying shadow largely revealed, I think, in words, turns of phrase, rather than whole plotlines. Doesn't the best comedy always spring from horror?

For example, THE DAVES may at first seem like pure gimmick; then he calls her Jennifer and you realize that for all the quick witted comedy our heroine is trapped in a world of shallow relationships from which there is absolutely no escape -- a trap every bit a nightmarish as your favorite Twlight Zone episode. (I guess that won't make sense to those who haven't read it, sorry). Or take SOMETHING SHINY, in which your wildest dream -- a movie of your life! -- ends up proof that, as you'd always secretly feared, there's nothing to you at all ( no "there there" as they say of LA, which I think is a hidden joke in the story, since it's about the movies).

In NORMAL, a description of someone else's bad behaviour takes a last-second turn to reveal that all the intellectual and moral disdain in the world doesn't stand a chance against the emotional, physical, sexual or psychic attractions we feel. We have met the enemy, and she is us yet again.

Not for nothing is the seemingly positive note the very last -- and, significantly, the very shortest -- with GOOD FOR YOU! sounding a short and simple "I am not most people." Notice, though, that even that proud declaration only comes after misunderstanding, criticism and fear from the rest of the world.

I look forward to watching Ms. Crane develop and I will certainly read her next book(s) with great interest, I think she has a tremendous talent. Don't miss MESSENGER -- but read slowly: it takes a volume of suffering to make a page of jokes.

When my mother was reading this book I decided to start reading it too. I fell in love with the collection of short stories right away. Usually books do not get me to laugh out loud,, but this one had me falling on the floor. This book is a fast and funny read.

If this book doesn't deserve to be on the bestsellers list, I don't know what does! Heartfelt and hilarious, this one has all the ingredients. Go out and grab your copy!

And no, I'm not Amy Tan nor even distantly related to the author.