The Winter Without Milk: Stories [Paperback]

Jane Avrich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 12, 2003

Jane Avrich explores the perils of desire in these fifteen brilliant stories. Here are characters irresistibly attracted to excess — material, emotional, spiritual — who must in the end choose between a life of self-indulgence and a life of self-control. The results are both disastrous and uplifting, and often wickedly funny.
Throughout The Winter Without Milk are reimagined characters from literature and history — Oedipus, Lady Macbeth, Scheherezade, for example — as well as everyday people who want more. Avrich's writing ranges from whimsical to cerebral. She pays homage to everyone from Kafka to Keats to Sophocles but is very much an original and a major new talent in contemporary fiction.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Rich, wonderfully original writing characterizes this first collection of 15 short stories. Seven were published previously in magazines and literary journals, eight are published here for the first time. Highly descriptive, epigrammatic prose, literary allusions, and folkloric references offer complex, rewarding reading. "Lady Macbeth, Prickly Pear Queen" depicts the lady's eccentricities, as manifested in the English society of the late 1920s. Irony, the occasional funny, bitchy description, and disconcerting twists of plot and character development enliven the stories. In the masterful "Chez Oedipus," an acerbic Teiresias leads us on a tour of Oedipus' palace, now a museum. The author's comfort with the dark side of human lives, human body functions, and the resulting physical and psychological effluvia, lend gritty reality to "The Charwoman," an autobiography, and often hilarious insights to "The Trash Traders," a modern conundrum. If short stories that bring to mind the work of writers as disparate as Garcia Marquez, Jasper Fforde, and Randall Kenan sound enticing, do your fiction readers a favor and rush out to buy this book. Ellen Loughran
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Avrich's sentances are acute and piercing, giving these stories a striking delicacy and a confidence that is impossible to ignore." The New York Times Book Review

"Deftly written...[Avrich] balances skillfully between the fantastical and the real...keeps readers on the edge of their seats." The Washington Post

"Rich, wonderfully origianl writing...Highly descriptive, epigrammatic prose, literary allusions, and folkloric references offer complex, rewarding reading." Booklist, ALA

"Playful inventiveness and a fluid prose style...Stories astonish as much as they entertain." Kirkus Reviews, Starred

"Exceptional...Full of telling details, wickedly so...lives up to the promise of it's elegantly odd title...Distinctive." NPR - "Fresh Air"

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; First Edition. pb original edition (June 12, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618251421
• ISBN-13: 978-0618251421
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,983,511 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Desired reading?, May 22, 2004

By 

Victory Silvers - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Winter Without Milk: Stories (Paperback)

I found this collection of 15 short stories, all dealing with the central theme of desire, to be alright. Perhaps one of my favorite things the author did was take characters from literature and incorporate them in stories. Hester Prynne, Lady Macbeth, Oedipus, and Scheherazade all make appearances. One thing I disliked was that it seemed that the author wanted to make each story so different from the others that you almost felt you were reading a book full of stories from different authors and it feel like it interrupted the rhythm the author had just set up in the previous story.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Elegant, inventive stories, August 18, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Winter Without Milk: Stories (Paperback)

Avrich is one of the few story scribes out there who's doing anything interesting with language. Standouts include "Miss Carmichael's Funeral" and "Lady Macbeth, Prickly Pear Queen." The fable-like voice allows her to take the reader to places as varied as Paris and Zanzibar.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and funny writing, July 15, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Winter Without Milk: Stories (Paperback)

I adored this collection of playful and original short stories. Characters as diverse as Oedipus and Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter make appearances, but you don't have to reread your high school English books to know what's going on. The author has an amazing command of language and a rich, impressive imagination. I laughed out loud countless times, and was left with a lot to think about. Highly recommended.