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The Collected Stories
The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel gathers together the complete work of a writer whose voice is as singular and astonishing as any in American fiction. Hempel, fiercely admired by writers and reviewers, has a sterling reputation that is based on four very short collections of stories, roughly fifteen thousand stunning sentences, written over a period of nearly three decades. These are stories about people who make choices that seem inevitable, whose longings and misgivings evoke eternal human experience. With compassion, wit, and the acutest eye, Hempel observes the marriages, minor disasters, and moments of revelation in an uneasy America. When Reasons to Live, Hempel's first collection, was published in 1985, readers encountered a pitch-perfect voice in fiction and an unsettling assessment of the culture. That collection includes "San Francisco," which Alan Cheuse in The Chicago Tribune called "arguably the finest short story composed by any living writer." In At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom, her second collection, frequently compared to the work of Raymond Carver, Hempel refined and developed her unique grace and style and her unerring instinct for the moment that defines a character. Also included here, in their entirety, are the collections Tumble Home and The Dog of the Marriage. As Rick Moody says of the title novella in Tumble Home, "the leap in mastery, in seriousness, and sheer literary purpose was inspiring to behold.... And yet," he continues, "The Dog of the Marriage, the fourth collection, is even better than the other three...a triumph, in fact." The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel is the perfect opportunity for readers of contemporary American fiction to catch up to one of its masters. Moody's passionate and illuminating introduction celebrates both the appeal and the importance of Hempel's work.
432 pages, Hardcover
First published May 9, 2006
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About the author
Amy Hempel
51 books1,019 followersAmy Hempel is an American short story writer, journalist, and university professor at Brooklyn College. Hempel was a former student of Gordon Lish, who eventually helped her publish her first collection of short stories. Hempel has been published in Harper's, Vanity Fair, GQ, and Bomb. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, as well as the Ambassador Book Award in 2007, the Rea Award for the Short Story in 2008, and the Pen/Malamud Award for short fiction in 2009.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 702 reviews
September 8, 2024
CARTE IN TAVOLA
In copertina: David Hockney, Mr & Mrs Clark & Percy, (1979-71, Londra Tate Gallery).
Come nella pesca. Quanto più è leggera la lenza, tanto più in profondità scende l’esca.
Amy Hempel dice che quando inizia un racconto scrive la prima e l’ultima frase e spiega che è come “tracciare i contorni di un disegno”, dentro cui è libera di esplorare le possibilità offerte dalla storia.
A volte quel “dentro” si riduce a non molto, mezza pagina o poco più.
Nella prefazione all’edizione americana Rick Moody definisce questo stile “di una compattezza quasi giapponese”.
In un’altra intervista la stessa Hempel dice che il suo lavoro da giornalista le ha insegnato come scrivere una frase che invoglia a leggere quella seguente. Allena a eliminare tutto ciò che non è essenziale.
David Hockney davanti al suo quadro insieme a Celia Birtwell che da giovane gli fece da modella per quest’opera.
Non conoscevo Amy Hempel fino a poche settimane fa, mai sentita nominare. La recensione su una rivista mi ha acceso una lampadina e invece di prendere la nuova raccolta appena uscita, ho recuperato le sue precedenti.
Sono quattro diverse uscite nell’arco di vent’anni, dal 1985 al 2005. Qui sono presentate tutte insieme, e mi pare ammirevole.
Hempel scrive solo racconti, come Grace Paley, come Lucia Berlin.
L’impatto è stato immediato, e subito forte, amore a prima vista: o meglio, a prima riga.
L’incipit del primo racconto, “Nella vasca”, è di rara potenza, è magnifico, è surreale, è buffo, è divertente, è tinto di nera ironia, disperato, e gioioso…:
Il mio cuore – credevo si fermasse. Così ho preso la macchina e sono andata a cercare Dio. Ho superato due chiese con qualche auto parcheggiata davanti. Mi sono fermata alla terza perché non c’era nessuno.
John Duncan Fergusson: Poise. 1916.
E quindi, siccome sono racconti brevi, minimi, che forse Moody definirebbe haiku, e siccome Hempel è stata felice allieva di Gordon Lish, il mitico editor di Carver, e siccome è tutto un lavoro di eliminazione per lasciare solo l’essenziale, via ogni accenno anche solo parziale di superfluo, viene immediato parlare di minimalismo.
Pagato il tributo, colloco Hempel più prossima a Grace Paley che al maestro del minimalismo, Carver.
Felice Casorati. Ci sono molti animali domestici in questi racconti, la raccolta più recente si chiama “Il cane del matrimonio”, e un’altra “Alle porte del regno animale”, quella che contiene il racconto probabilmente più celebre della Hempel, “Il raccolto”.
C’è sempre una voce che racconta in prima persona, più spesso donna, ma a volte anche maschile. Il nome di quell’io narrante spesso non c’è, e se c’è si dimentica presto, conta poco, sono voci qualunque, anonime, ma tanto speciali: perché hanno trovato espressione nelle scelte e selezionate parole della Hempel.
Storie nelle storie, accenni, sospensioni, vite destinate a rimanere sconosciute, meraviglioso senso d’incompletezza, frammenti che diventano influenti pur restando secondari, assenza di linearità, salti…
Proprio come nella pesca:
Quanto più è leggera la lenza, tanto più in profondità scende l’esca.
Forse quei giorni torneranno alla memoria, e forse no. Nel frattempo sentite questa: non riesco neanche a ricordare tutto quello che ho dimenticato.
David Hockney
In copertina: David Hockney, Mr & Mrs Clark & Percy, (1979-71, Londra Tate Gallery).
Come nella pesca. Quanto più è leggera la lenza, tanto più in profondità scende l’esca.
Amy Hempel dice che quando inizia un racconto scrive la prima e l’ultima frase e spiega che è come “tracciare i contorni di un disegno”, dentro cui è libera di esplorare le possibilità offerte dalla storia.
A volte quel “dentro” si riduce a non molto, mezza pagina o poco più.
Nella prefazione all’edizione americana Rick Moody definisce questo stile “di una compattezza quasi giapponese”.
In un’altra intervista la stessa Hempel dice che il suo lavoro da giornalista le ha insegnato come scrivere una frase che invoglia a leggere quella seguente. Allena a eliminare tutto ciò che non è essenziale.
David Hockney davanti al suo quadro insieme a Celia Birtwell che da giovane gli fece da modella per quest’opera.
Non conoscevo Amy Hempel fino a poche settimane fa, mai sentita nominare. La recensione su una rivista mi ha acceso una lampadina e invece di prendere la nuova raccolta appena uscita, ho recuperato le sue precedenti.
Sono quattro diverse uscite nell’arco di vent’anni, dal 1985 al 2005. Qui sono presentate tutte insieme, e mi pare ammirevole.
Hempel scrive solo racconti, come Grace Paley, come Lucia Berlin.
L’impatto è stato immediato, e subito forte, amore a prima vista: o meglio, a prima riga.
L’incipit del primo racconto, “Nella vasca”, è di rara potenza, è magnifico, è surreale, è buffo, è divertente, è tinto di nera ironia, disperato, e gioioso…:
Il mio cuore – credevo si fermasse. Così ho preso la macchina e sono andata a cercare Dio. Ho superato due chiese con qualche auto parcheggiata davanti. Mi sono fermata alla terza perché non c’era nessuno.
John Duncan Fergusson: Poise. 1916.
E quindi, siccome sono racconti brevi, minimi, che forse Moody definirebbe haiku, e siccome Hempel è stata felice allieva di Gordon Lish, il mitico editor di Carver, e siccome è tutto un lavoro di eliminazione per lasciare solo l’essenziale, via ogni accenno anche solo parziale di superfluo, viene immediato parlare di minimalismo.
Pagato il tributo, colloco Hempel più prossima a Grace Paley che al maestro del minimalismo, Carver.
Felice Casorati. Ci sono molti animali domestici in questi racconti, la raccolta più recente si chiama “Il cane del matrimonio”, e un’altra “Alle porte del regno animale”, quella che contiene il racconto probabilmente più celebre della Hempel, “Il raccolto”.
C’è sempre una voce che racconta in prima persona, più spesso donna, ma a volte anche maschile. Il nome di quell’io narrante spesso non c’è, e se c’è si dimentica presto, conta poco, sono voci qualunque, anonime, ma tanto speciali: perché hanno trovato espressione nelle scelte e selezionate parole della Hempel.
Storie nelle storie, accenni, sospensioni, vite destinate a rimanere sconosciute, meraviglioso senso d’incompletezza, frammenti che diventano influenti pur restando secondari, assenza di linearità, salti…
Proprio come nella pesca:
Quanto più è leggera la lenza, tanto più in profondità scende l’esca.
Forse quei giorni torneranno alla memoria, e forse no. Nel frattempo sentite questa: non riesco neanche a ricordare tutto quello che ho dimenticato.
David Hockney
April 7, 2022
"Ir a alguna parte, de eso se trata."Hempel es una escritora original, podría decir incluso que sus cuentos son raros, como rara les puede parecer a ustedes la razón por la que el libro me ha parecido una maravilla: algunos cuentos, muchos en realidad, me gustaron tanto que los muchos que no entendí, algunos en realidad, pensaba que debían ser aún mejores.
"Ese es el problema de la mayoría de la gente: que tienes que tratar con ella."Hempel construye collages mediante la superposición de comentarios, escenas, diálogos y monólogos, pensamientos, imágenes que se van superponiendo unas a otras. No siempre estuve seguro de comprender correctamente la relación que guardaban unas partes de ese collage con las inmediatamente adyacentes o qué papel jugaban en el todo que conformaba el relato. El motivo del cuento, o bien surge por acumulación de detalles, asomándose poco a poco tras lo que aparece en primer plano, o bien se expresa, como un golpe en la mesa, en una frase directa que da todo el sentido a las otras muchas que la rodean. Hay que resaltar el gusto de Hempel por las frases rotundas, bellas, muchas de ellas crípticas.
"Dentro de mi cabeza hay un balcón roto desde el que me caigo de bruces cuando hablo."Después están los relatos cortísimos, de una página o dos, a veces de un solo párrafo. Pero no se crean que estos les ocuparán menos tiempo, de tan concisos necesitan un mayor reposo y varias relecturas en las que se hace necesario levantar la cabeza a cada momento. Y es que no siempre es sencillo llegar a ver el sentido de los relatos de Hempel, a veces crees que casi lo has conseguido, es suficiente: con Hempel uno se siente orgulloso de ser lector.
"Cualquier vestido es bonito si está tirado en el suelo al lado de una cama."
"Le mandé un rebaño de palabras que levantaban a su paso una polvareda, pero no fue suficiente."
"La vida es dura, y después nos morimos".Ya se podrán imaginar ustedes que los personajes de Hempel son gente con problemas, concretamente mujeres con problemas, con frecuencia en hospitales o lugares de reposo recuperándose de algo, enfermedades, accidentes, relaciones fracasadas, ausencias, madres. También hay casas enfrente de cementerios y muchos kilómetros recorridos en coches y en soledad.
"¿A qué gente se conoce aquí? Hay dos tipos entre los que elegir: aquellos que están hundiéndose y aquellos que no avanzan."Pero no se crean que leerán algo deprimente, Hempel trata los dramas personales dotando a sus personajes de un ácido sentido del humor.
"No quiero conocer a hombres. Ya conozco algunos."Hay hasta párrafos o frases que podrían ser relatos en sí mismos:
(Tras un pequeño movimiento sísmico) "Santo Dios, ¿ha sido eso un terremoto? El psiquiatra le contestó lo siguiente: ¿Te ha parecido un terremoto?"
"Estoy ganando peso porque he dejado de toser. Toser era mi manera de hacer ejercicio."
"Me imagino que existen muchísimas cosas que una debería procurar no tomarse como una cuestión personal. La falta de aparcamiento, el mal tiempo, un marido que se da cuenta de repente de que está enamorado de otra."
"Y entonces Jean contó una historia relativa al hombre con el que pudo haberse casado, algo sobre una cena que compartieron, cuyo argumento me pareció que podría resumirse de esta manera: las cosas empeoran antes de volverse espantosas."Y eso que dicen por ahí que la traducción deja mucho que desear… a mí que me registren.
"Las pastillas que se tomó eran mías. Me las recetaron porque no podía dormir. Con la misma amabilidad que siempre me mostró en vida, dejó una pastilla en el bote. Quizá supuso que me costaría trabajo dormir la noche en que la encontramos muerta. Nunca en mi vida dormí mejor."
April 4, 2008
This is one of those books that has you rereading sentences over and over again, not because you couldn't parse their basic meaning, but because you suspect that a second reading will glean another, more subtle bit of information. It will also make you want to own a dog. It will also have you falling in love with Amy Hempel and wanting to make her your bride, in a house on the countryside with a weedy garden and a swamp nearby.
I started reading God of Small Things within five minutes of finishing Hempel's collection of short stories, and as soon as I finish God of Small Things I intend to reread Hempel: as much as I love writing flowery, adjective-ridden prose, I'd rather return to Hempel's universe of somehow showing without showing, and saying without saying.
Hempel's stories will make you want to write differently: what higher praise can I give?
I started reading God of Small Things within five minutes of finishing Hempel's collection of short stories, and as soon as I finish God of Small Things I intend to reread Hempel: as much as I love writing flowery, adjective-ridden prose, I'd rather return to Hempel's universe of somehow showing without showing, and saying without saying.
Hempel's stories will make you want to write differently: what higher praise can I give?
April 29, 2014
Amy Hempel writes intriguing, beautifully constructed sentences. Piecemeal they are pretty darn awesome. Here's the rub. I'm not sure if how one incredible sentence leads into another is coherent enough for me. I found a major disconnect. It's like being walked into a conversational corner, like recently when my sister in law compared the intrigues of Tupperware parties with Australian parliament. There may be true enough correlations, but I just couldn't get there. Either place.
On the other hand, the author is provocative, secretive, suggestive, there is an open invitation to interpret the narrative, to end the started sentence, to leap into supposition - there is charm in that, but one after the other (this hefty a collection), that's a lot of coloured plastic and politics.
More than once I wanted to put this aside but I've read nothing but glowing reviews, so it really does come down to plain preference, preferring blood sports to shadow boxing.
On the other hand, the author is provocative, secretive, suggestive, there is an open invitation to interpret the narrative, to end the started sentence, to leap into supposition - there is charm in that, but one after the other (this hefty a collection), that's a lot of coloured plastic and politics.
More than once I wanted to put this aside but I've read nothing but glowing reviews, so it really does come down to plain preference, preferring blood sports to shadow boxing.
June 19, 2025
Some of my neighbors call me the Book Whisperer. When they come by my Little Free Library Shed and I am present, they ask me to suggest books to read, and I usually will hand them a book that I think might appeal to them, and they go off hopeful that I selected the right book. And, I go back in my house hopeful that I did the same.
In this case, with this book, my 77-year-old neighbor brought this book to me. He said he had a love-hate relationship with this author, and was anxious to hear what I thought about it. He felt because I loved dogs, that I might like her stories about the dogs. (No spoilers from me.)
Willow, an Asian transgender, comes to my LFL at least once a week. The other day we had the opportunity to talk about books and how much they appreciated all the variety of books I made available in my LFL. Will they like this one perhaps for all the questions about life it brings up?
The reason I am sharing my thoughts and ‘role’ as a Book Whisperer, is that this is what I love about my LFL. The experience of what books bring to our neighborhood. Discussion. About all kinds of books. And, a sense of community. We need more books, and connection, and the ability to just have civil discussion about life in general with each other in our crazy, mixed-up world these days. Right?
This book won the English-Speaking Union’s Ambassador Book Award for Fiction in 2007. It was also named one of “The Ten Best Books of the Year” by the New York Times in 2006 and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award in 2007. Hempel won the Rea Award for the Short Story in 2008 and she received the PEN/Malamud Award for Short Fiction in 2009.
Hempel’s “Collected Stories” is made up of four slim volumes of previously published stories: ‘Reasons to Live,’ ‘At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom,’ ‘Tumble Home,’ and ‘The Dog of the Marriage.’
In many ways the stories are weird, unsettling, disquieting, and yet, amazingly expressive. They epitomize the true short story, by being blissfully short. Sometimes humorous, but even when they are, it takes a moment to get the joke.
And, who exactly are Hempel’s narrators? Do we want to know them? How can we even describe them? If readers eventually get them, through her story “Offertory” maybe it will make sense. And, that is all that will matter. Because that is what is so interesting about her – to read her is an experience. An individual one. Just like what my 77-year-old neighbor was describing. He felt different things about her work. And, so did I. I have a feeling if you give her a chance, you will, too.
In this case, with this book, my 77-year-old neighbor brought this book to me. He said he had a love-hate relationship with this author, and was anxious to hear what I thought about it. He felt because I loved dogs, that I might like her stories about the dogs. (No spoilers from me.)
Willow, an Asian transgender, comes to my LFL at least once a week. The other day we had the opportunity to talk about books and how much they appreciated all the variety of books I made available in my LFL. Will they like this one perhaps for all the questions about life it brings up?
The reason I am sharing my thoughts and ‘role’ as a Book Whisperer, is that this is what I love about my LFL. The experience of what books bring to our neighborhood. Discussion. About all kinds of books. And, a sense of community. We need more books, and connection, and the ability to just have civil discussion about life in general with each other in our crazy, mixed-up world these days. Right?
This book won the English-Speaking Union’s Ambassador Book Award for Fiction in 2007. It was also named one of “The Ten Best Books of the Year” by the New York Times in 2006 and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award in 2007. Hempel won the Rea Award for the Short Story in 2008 and she received the PEN/Malamud Award for Short Fiction in 2009.
Hempel’s “Collected Stories” is made up of four slim volumes of previously published stories: ‘Reasons to Live,’ ‘At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom,’ ‘Tumble Home,’ and ‘The Dog of the Marriage.’
In many ways the stories are weird, unsettling, disquieting, and yet, amazingly expressive. They epitomize the true short story, by being blissfully short. Sometimes humorous, but even when they are, it takes a moment to get the joke.
And, who exactly are Hempel’s narrators? Do we want to know them? How can we even describe them? If readers eventually get them, through her story “Offertory” maybe it will make sense. And, that is all that will matter. Because that is what is so interesting about her – to read her is an experience. An individual one. Just like what my 77-year-old neighbor was describing. He felt different things about her work. And, so did I. I have a feeling if you give her a chance, you will, too.
June 8, 2023
I never quite loved these stories. The closer to the heart she writes the better I liked her but she doesn't do this enough. And when she's not writing from the heart she often teeters close to pretentiousness - Anais Nin gets a name check which is a red flag for me. She also seems to have aspirations to be a stand-up comedian and this aspect of her writing was hit and miss for me. She's a very American writer - lots of references to products that were lost on me. Isaac Babel has set the bar very high for me this year where the short story is concerned. These stories were not in the same league. 3.5 stars.
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August 8, 2011Am I the only reader who doesn't take pleasure in reading Amy Hempel? She is always praised for writing "the perfect sentence," for the way she distills a story to its poetic essence, for writing precise little gems. (Some stories are less than two pages long.) How can I describe my aversion? Is it that I feel like I'm being toyed with? That Hempel's spareness is a literary exercise? There's a chill in her writing that comes from that spareness, I think. There was one story that was superb, "In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried," in which she makes her one and only visit to her best friend, who is dying alone in a hospital. It's unflinching and autobiographical. But again, I felt her at a great remove. She's the master of "show it, don't tell it." I experienced the narrator's jubilation at running away from death, but the specter of guilt was only inferred. It's a powerful trick. But I end up feeling I've had no communion with this writer, only that I've been acted upon.
September 11, 2020
Amy Hempel is a master of the sentence, as well as under-statement. She can create paragraphs that pack more emotional sentiment than entire novels. Part of this is her ability to render the verisimilitude of a moment and place it directly into her character's eyes. She can also be funny and sarcastic too. There are few contemporary writers who have as much versatility as she does, at least in the small slice of Americana she chooses to write from.
March 13, 2017
It'd been a while since I reread the entirety of Hempel's Collected. There are certain stories I revisit with regularity—"In the Cemetery...," "Today Will Be a Quiet Day," "The Harvest," "The Most Girl Part of You," "The Dog of the Marriage"—but I felt an urge to go through them all again, and I'm so glad I did. Not that it delivered me unto anything I didn't already know—Amy Hempel is a genius, and on the Mount Rushmore of short story writers, DUH—but it was a pleasure to reread stories that hadn't grabbed me the first, second, third time I read them but, for whatever reason, absolutely did this time around. "Jesus Is Waiting" is one. What a story. In the same way that Amy has said she could not have written "Today Will Be A Quiet Day" had Mary Robison not written "Widower," "Jesus Is Waiting" feels like a take on Robison's Why Did I Ever:
Similarly, I don't remember "The Uninvited" as having had much of an effect on me in previous readings, but this time it stopped me in my tracks. How had I failed to notice how masterful a story it is?
But the big gift—beyond an excuse to read for probably the tenth time the exquisite and flawless "Tumble Home"—was becoming reacquainted with "Offertory," a story that I've always admired but which always felt rather inscrutable to me. I can't claim to "understand" all of it this time around either, but my god, it's now in the ranks of my favorite Hempel stories. The way she writes about sex in the story—I'm sorry, but it makes even Gaitskill pale in comparison. "Offertory" also includes what is probably my favorite line in all of Hempel: “It is possible to imagine a person so entirely that the image resists attempts to dislodge it.” Ain't that the fucking truth.
All of this to say that if you haven't yet read Amy Hempel, or if you've only read the few stories that are frequently anthologized, just get this book, give yourself over to it.
It's a master class in writing—and in humanity.
“In a tornado outside Baltimore, in a broken neighborhood off I-95, I asked the attendant in a Mobil station, ‘Where’s anywhere else?’ The man didn’t even point.”
Similarly, I don't remember "The Uninvited" as having had much of an effect on me in previous readings, but this time it stopped me in my tracks. How had I failed to notice how masterful a story it is?
But the big gift—beyond an excuse to read for probably the tenth time the exquisite and flawless "Tumble Home"—was becoming reacquainted with "Offertory," a story that I've always admired but which always felt rather inscrutable to me. I can't claim to "understand" all of it this time around either, but my god, it's now in the ranks of my favorite Hempel stories. The way she writes about sex in the story—I'm sorry, but it makes even Gaitskill pale in comparison. "Offertory" also includes what is probably my favorite line in all of Hempel: “It is possible to imagine a person so entirely that the image resists attempts to dislodge it.” Ain't that the fucking truth.
All of this to say that if you haven't yet read Amy Hempel, or if you've only read the few stories that are frequently anthologized, just get this book, give yourself over to it.
It's a master class in writing—and in humanity.
September 21, 2008
The reason for reading this book was because I could not otherwise get away from this lady until doing so. One such instance involved an innocent perusal of Raymond Carver's wikipedia entry, and there was Hempel and Gordon Lish sitting one booth over and trying to look conspicuously casual. Another time I was cruising Palahniuk.com (feeling all manly and disenfranchised, of course), and there she was again, rocking back and forth on her heels expectantly after blurting out an awkward "Hi!". This is obviously all in jest, as I'm not yet unbalanced enough to truly believe that writers stalk potential readers (well...except for maybe a couple of those Paranormal Romance folks...). The motivation to read this book gave rise to questions in my mind about how readers are led to explore a previously unfamiliar writer based solely on a lumped association with writers that the reader already knows. Perhaps I just need an additional hobby.
Seriously, this book is a work of great beauty. This collection unites Hempel's previous collections into one volume which spans the years of 1985-2005. She is considered to be one of those writers that slaves over every word and sentence, and this results in paragraphs that explode with meaning. These are basically stories about people trying to reconcile the circumstances of their lives with a demeanor of quiet intensity. Seemingly mundane tasks that are undertaken by characters within these stories, such as knitting or gardening, reflect and amplify the overall theme of each story. Some of these themes include death, the decay of marriages and relationships, and the bond between humans and pets. Despite this description, Hempel is not just a one-trick "gloom and doom" pony. There are light-hearted moments within this book that are equally touching as well. An example of this would be the first line of 'Tonight Is a Favor to Holly' and possibly one of my favorite sentences in this book:
"A blind date is coming to pick me up, and unless my hair grows an inch by seven o'clock, I am not going to answer the door."
How great is that? Probably all of us know at least one person who has said a variation on these words at some point in life.
I'm really conflicted about this rating, as this is easily a five star book by anyone's standards. My personal rating metric has always been that a five star book for me is one that has fundamentally changed the way that I view the world or myself upon completion. This book did not quite accomplish this, although I found it very emotionally moving. This is actually saying something, as I'm not usually an "emotionally moving literature" kind of guy.
The only possible complaint that I could have here is that most of these stories are written in a first-person perspective from the point of view of a woman that seems to be roughly the same age as Hempel would have been when these stories were written. This caused some conflict on my part as I began to conflate the author with the subject matter and would have to remind myself that these are stories, not necessarily the private journals of an incredibly gifted writer. The whole first-person confessional thing always makes me a little uncomfortable, as I think back to the young fellow whose early, false starts at fiction always involved an angst-y male protagonist in his early twenties. This is probably my problem as a reader, rather than Hempel's problem.
David, I've put a lot of thought into the one thing that I could say to renew your interest in this book. It should be somewhat lurid as you are a male(I knew that marketing class would come in handy someday), yet at the same time not a total spoiler. So here goes: You should continue reading this book because when you reach the final story, 'Offertory', you will surely say the same thing that I did - "Twelve acts of sexual congress in the same night!?! Good Lord! Has that guy never heard of a refractory period or what?".
Seriously, this book is a work of great beauty. This collection unites Hempel's previous collections into one volume which spans the years of 1985-2005. She is considered to be one of those writers that slaves over every word and sentence, and this results in paragraphs that explode with meaning. These are basically stories about people trying to reconcile the circumstances of their lives with a demeanor of quiet intensity. Seemingly mundane tasks that are undertaken by characters within these stories, such as knitting or gardening, reflect and amplify the overall theme of each story. Some of these themes include death, the decay of marriages and relationships, and the bond between humans and pets. Despite this description, Hempel is not just a one-trick "gloom and doom" pony. There are light-hearted moments within this book that are equally touching as well. An example of this would be the first line of 'Tonight Is a Favor to Holly' and possibly one of my favorite sentences in this book:
"A blind date is coming to pick me up, and unless my hair grows an inch by seven o'clock, I am not going to answer the door."
How great is that? Probably all of us know at least one person who has said a variation on these words at some point in life.
I'm really conflicted about this rating, as this is easily a five star book by anyone's standards. My personal rating metric has always been that a five star book for me is one that has fundamentally changed the way that I view the world or myself upon completion. This book did not quite accomplish this, although I found it very emotionally moving. This is actually saying something, as I'm not usually an "emotionally moving literature" kind of guy.
The only possible complaint that I could have here is that most of these stories are written in a first-person perspective from the point of view of a woman that seems to be roughly the same age as Hempel would have been when these stories were written. This caused some conflict on my part as I began to conflate the author with the subject matter and would have to remind myself that these are stories, not necessarily the private journals of an incredibly gifted writer. The whole first-person confessional thing always makes me a little uncomfortable, as I think back to the young fellow whose early, false starts at fiction always involved an angst-y male protagonist in his early twenties. This is probably my problem as a reader, rather than Hempel's problem.
David, I've put a lot of thought into the one thing that I could say to renew your interest in this book. It should be somewhat lurid as you are a male(I knew that marketing class would come in handy someday), yet at the same time not a total spoiler. So here goes: You should continue reading this book because when you reach the final story, 'Offertory', you will surely say the same thing that I did - "Twelve acts of sexual congress in the same night!?! Good Lord! Has that guy never heard of a refractory period or what?".
November 11, 2007
i kind of just want to copy one of her stories and so that's what i'm going to do. her stories are pretty short and this may be the shortest of them all. it's called:
"The Man in Bogata"
The police and emergency service people fail to make a dent. The voice of the pleading spouse does not have the hoped-for effect. The woman remains on the ledge -- though not, she threatens, for long.
I imagine that I am the one who must talk the woman down. I see it, and it happens like this.
I tell the woman about a man in Bogota. He was a wealthy man, an industrialist who was kidnapped and held for ransom. It was not a TV drama; his wife could not call the bank and, in twenty-four hours, have one million dollars. It took months. The man had a heart condition, and the kipnappers had to keep the man alive.
Listen to this, I tell the woman on the ledge. His captors made him quit smoking. They changed his diet and made him exercise every day. They held him that way for three months.
When the ransom was paid and the man was released, his doctor looked him over. He found the man to be in excellent health. I tell the woman what the doctor said then -- the kidnap was the best thing to happen to that man.
[then three little stars follow along with three more sentences which i omit for copyright reasons.]
Her writing is the best I've come across in a while -- "in my head there's a balcony I fall off of when I speak."
Not only is she telling a story but she's also feeling it with you, for example, from "The Most Girl Part of You": "Since his mother died I have seen him steam a cucumber thinking it was zucchini. That's the kind of thing that turns my heart right over."
Maybe she's a sentimentalist, maybe she's beautiful, but when i read her i find myself wondering, how would one know the difference?
She's also gotten my thinking a lot about irony and I wonder, really, doubt, whether it exists at all. Maybe the real trick to irony is to not be ironic at all, just to believe something crazy or to believe it in a way that everyone thinks, "oh, that must be ironic." Let the reader do your ironizing for you...
"The Man in Bogata"
The police and emergency service people fail to make a dent. The voice of the pleading spouse does not have the hoped-for effect. The woman remains on the ledge -- though not, she threatens, for long.
I imagine that I am the one who must talk the woman down. I see it, and it happens like this.
I tell the woman about a man in Bogota. He was a wealthy man, an industrialist who was kidnapped and held for ransom. It was not a TV drama; his wife could not call the bank and, in twenty-four hours, have one million dollars. It took months. The man had a heart condition, and the kipnappers had to keep the man alive.
Listen to this, I tell the woman on the ledge. His captors made him quit smoking. They changed his diet and made him exercise every day. They held him that way for three months.
When the ransom was paid and the man was released, his doctor looked him over. He found the man to be in excellent health. I tell the woman what the doctor said then -- the kidnap was the best thing to happen to that man.
[then three little stars follow along with three more sentences which i omit for copyright reasons.]
Her writing is the best I've come across in a while -- "in my head there's a balcony I fall off of when I speak."
Not only is she telling a story but she's also feeling it with you, for example, from "The Most Girl Part of You": "Since his mother died I have seen him steam a cucumber thinking it was zucchini. That's the kind of thing that turns my heart right over."
Maybe she's a sentimentalist, maybe she's beautiful, but when i read her i find myself wondering, how would one know the difference?
She's also gotten my thinking a lot about irony and I wonder, really, doubt, whether it exists at all. Maybe the real trick to irony is to not be ironic at all, just to believe something crazy or to believe it in a way that everyone thinks, "oh, that must be ironic." Let the reader do your ironizing for you...
December 30, 2007
I know it's a cliche, but some of these stories just took my breath away. "In the Cemetery where Al Jolson is buried" is just extraordinary, but there are at least a half a dozen other stories which are just as good.
This book contains all four collections of short stories written by Hempel over the last 20 years and has been praised to the skies. Deservedly so, IMO. Some of the stories are less than a page long, but they all pack a punch.
A couple of months later, and I'm downgrading this review to 4 stars. Why?
Too many dogs.
More seriously, several of these stories were unnecessarily opaque, almost to a Faulknerian degree. If one goes to the trouble of reading through a story three times, then one shouldn't still be in the dark about who did what to whom and when. I realize that this kind of opacity may sometimes be deliberate, in the service of the story, but it's bothersome enough to make me revise my rating downwards. There are still some excellent stories in this book, but there are some duds as well. So no 5 stars, in the interests of reserving some kind of meaning for that rating.
(There were a lot of dogs, though only a frivolous person would use that a basis for rating. Right? :))
This book contains all four collections of short stories written by Hempel over the last 20 years and has been praised to the skies. Deservedly so, IMO. Some of the stories are less than a page long, but they all pack a punch.
A couple of months later, and I'm downgrading this review to 4 stars. Why?
Too many dogs.
More seriously, several of these stories were unnecessarily opaque, almost to a Faulknerian degree. If one goes to the trouble of reading through a story three times, then one shouldn't still be in the dark about who did what to whom and when. I realize that this kind of opacity may sometimes be deliberate, in the service of the story, but it's bothersome enough to make me revise my rating downwards. There are still some excellent stories in this book, but there are some duds as well. So no 5 stars, in the interests of reserving some kind of meaning for that rating.
(There were a lot of dogs, though only a frivolous person would use that a basis for rating. Right? :))
March 25, 2019
Una raccolta di racconti scritti ad arte. Lei dopo averla letta diventa il termine di paragone tra chi è brava come lei e chi non lo è. I racconti sono divisi in quattro sezioni: Ragioni per vivere, Alle porte del regno animale, Rientrata, Il cane del matrimonio. I racconti sono perfetti, folgoranti, ogni parola è al posto giusto.
Tra i miei preferiti Le ceneri di Nashville, Rientrata, Il cane del matrimonio.
La Hempel, per me, è la numero 1!
Tra i miei preferiti Le ceneri di Nashville, Rientrata, Il cane del matrimonio.
La Hempel, per me, è la numero 1!
September 16, 2010
Debo ser desconfiada por naturaleza, porque cuando veo que un libro tiene críticas muy dispares (unas muy buenas y otras malísimas) sospecho, pero lo cierto es que también desconfío cuando un libro sólo tiene críticas excelentes. Para mí es más fácil creer que un libro está sobrevalorado que no que es tan bueno que consigue que todos los críticos se pongan de acuerdo. Por supuesto, me pasó esto mismo con los cuentos de Amy Hempel. Os desafío a que encontréis una crítica mala de Amy Hempel; buscad y sólo encontraréis los elogios más hiperbólicos. Esto inevitablemente me hizo poner en guardia. Sin embargo, debe ser que mi curiosidad es aún mayor que mi desconfianza y me obliga a querer leer todas las cosas por mí misma para formarme mi propia opinión (o simplemente confirmar el prejuicio que tenía antes de leerlo). Así que fue por esta razón que saqué de la biblioteca la edición de los ‘Cuentos completos’ de Amy Hempel presintiendo que al terminar iba a decir que no había para tanto. Pero a veces es realmente maravilloso darse cuenta que una se ha equivocado por completo, porque resulta que los cuentos de Amy Hempel son realmente prodigiosos.
Encontré una cita de Hempel que venía a decir que el mayor elogio que le habían dado en su vida es que en sus cuentos dejaba fuera todo lo que se tenía que dejar fuera. Y ya es esto. Un cuento nunca tiene que contarlo todo, sólo dar unas pistas para que el lector pueda acabar reconstruyendo toda la historia y todo el significado por su cuenta. Así es Amy Hempel; te relata unas escenas que pueden parecer inconexas y banales, pero que son inmensamente ricas en detalles, y luego tú tienes que sacar tu propia conclusión. Hempel está entre los cuentistas más grandes. Ahí arriba con John Cheever y Dorothy Parker. Escribe tan bien que es de esas escritoras que, depende del día que tengas, te puede hacer venir ganas de escribir compulsivamente, o bien ganas de no escribir ya nunca más porque sientes que después de ella ya no vale la pena. Sus cuentos están llenos de tristeza y humor y es muy difícil explicar de qué tratan; es eso que tantas veces se dice: se tienen que leer.
Me han gustado tanto, que sólo he leído sus dos primeras recopilaciones, ‘Razones para vivir’ y ‘A las puertas del reino animal’, y me he dejado las otras dos para más adelante, porque no me quiero terminarlas todas tan pronto y quedarme sin nada de ella que leer. Es algo magnífico. A sus cuentos no les sobra ni les falta nada, cada detalle por más nimio que sea dice muchísimo, se nota tanto que estos relatos han sido trabajados hasta la extenuación, rescritos incontables veces. Leyendo Hempel una tiene la sensación que le han hecho un regalo de lo más valioso y no puede hacer nada más que estar terriblemente agradecida. Al principio sus cuentos pueden desconcertar, pero una vez te sumerges en ellos te das cuenta de que te hablan de cosas tuyas e íntimas de las que muy pocos escritores antes te han hablado.
Encontré una cita de Hempel que venía a decir que el mayor elogio que le habían dado en su vida es que en sus cuentos dejaba fuera todo lo que se tenía que dejar fuera. Y ya es esto. Un cuento nunca tiene que contarlo todo, sólo dar unas pistas para que el lector pueda acabar reconstruyendo toda la historia y todo el significado por su cuenta. Así es Amy Hempel; te relata unas escenas que pueden parecer inconexas y banales, pero que son inmensamente ricas en detalles, y luego tú tienes que sacar tu propia conclusión. Hempel está entre los cuentistas más grandes. Ahí arriba con John Cheever y Dorothy Parker. Escribe tan bien que es de esas escritoras que, depende del día que tengas, te puede hacer venir ganas de escribir compulsivamente, o bien ganas de no escribir ya nunca más porque sientes que después de ella ya no vale la pena. Sus cuentos están llenos de tristeza y humor y es muy difícil explicar de qué tratan; es eso que tantas veces se dice: se tienen que leer.
Me han gustado tanto, que sólo he leído sus dos primeras recopilaciones, ‘Razones para vivir’ y ‘A las puertas del reino animal’, y me he dejado las otras dos para más adelante, porque no me quiero terminarlas todas tan pronto y quedarme sin nada de ella que leer. Es algo magnífico. A sus cuentos no les sobra ni les falta nada, cada detalle por más nimio que sea dice muchísimo, se nota tanto que estos relatos han sido trabajados hasta la extenuación, rescritos incontables veces. Leyendo Hempel una tiene la sensación que le han hecho un regalo de lo más valioso y no puede hacer nada más que estar terriblemente agradecida. Al principio sus cuentos pueden desconcertar, pero una vez te sumerges en ellos te das cuenta de que te hablan de cosas tuyas e íntimas de las que muy pocos escritores antes te han hablado.
July 2, 2014
I workshopped a story about a dog in one of my fiction writing classes at school last semester, and several people informed me that I needed to read Amy Hempel. They told me that she wrote these great stories that always had dogs in them.
They always have dogs in them? I asked. That's like her trademark?
And while I was busy sort of mocking this idea, one of my friends pointed out that I had written a story about a dog, and I found myself out of excuses.
And wow, am I ever glad that I read the works of Amy Hempel. I'm never quite sure how to review short story collections, let alone a book that contains three and a half decades of a writer's work, but here's what I can say about this book: read it. The prose is stunning, each sentence contains multitudes. I want to read this entire book aloud to somebody who has never heard of her before. I want to smack my earlier self in the face for poking fun at her. The longer stories especially--namely, Tumble Home and Offertory--are masterpieces, something beyond "flawless." I think she did what she did better than Raymond Carver.
I know one thing--I need to scrap that dog story I wrote and rethink everything.
They always have dogs in them? I asked. That's like her trademark?
And while I was busy sort of mocking this idea, one of my friends pointed out that I had written a story about a dog, and I found myself out of excuses.
And wow, am I ever glad that I read the works of Amy Hempel. I'm never quite sure how to review short story collections, let alone a book that contains three and a half decades of a writer's work, but here's what I can say about this book: read it. The prose is stunning, each sentence contains multitudes. I want to read this entire book aloud to somebody who has never heard of her before. I want to smack my earlier self in the face for poking fun at her. The longer stories especially--namely, Tumble Home and Offertory--are masterpieces, something beyond "flawless." I think she did what she did better than Raymond Carver.
I know one thing--I need to scrap that dog story I wrote and rethink everything.
August 17, 2017
Every story is a treasure - a puzzle box, or a quilt of memories - every sentence like an imperceptible razor.
June 23, 2018
"My heart—I thought it stopped. So I got in my car and headed for God." So entered Amy Hempel into the book world, a master of the line to the point of hyper-intense concision. Hempel was one of the great short story writers of the 1980's whose career went beyond the popularity of form. When short stories weren't selling so well the in the 1990's, she tried to transform into a longer form writer, coming out with only the 80-page story Tumble Home, a good illustration of why that's not her strength. It's a good story in the end, but the getting their requires the reader to move through numerous hyper-intense short outbursts all going different directions.
But in the short form she is a special voice, clever, fun, passive in complex and fascinating ways, and full of memorable lines, including wonderful opening lines (all hinted at in some of her titles). She can be sensual, but mostly she is scoffing and blessing at the same time all life's normal difficulties. Another gem that was languishing on the shelf way too long.
-----------------------------------------------
34. The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel
Forward Rick Moody
published: 2006
format: 412 page ARC Paperback
acquired: 2007 from a library book sale
read: May 29-Jun 14
rating: 4½
This is a collection of four books of stories:
- Reasons to Live (1985)
- At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom: Stories (1990)
- Tumble Home: A Novella and Short Stories (1997)
- The Dog of the Marriage: Stories (2005)
But in the short form she is a special voice, clever, fun, passive in complex and fascinating ways, and full of memorable lines, including wonderful opening lines (all hinted at in some of her titles). She can be sensual, but mostly she is scoffing and blessing at the same time all life's normal difficulties. Another gem that was languishing on the shelf way too long.
Mrs. Deane scans the written portion of my test. She says I skipped a question, the one that says, "Would you prefer to: (a) Think about your plans for tomorrow, (b) Think about what you would do if you had a million dollars, (c) Think about how it would feel to be held up at gunpoint?"
I say, "I want the job for the person who picks (b)."
-----------------------------------------------
34. The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel
Forward Rick Moody
published: 2006
format: 412 page ARC Paperback
acquired: 2007 from a library book sale
read: May 29-Jun 14
rating: 4½
This is a collection of four books of stories:
- Reasons to Live (1985)
- At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom: Stories (1990)
- Tumble Home: A Novella and Short Stories (1997)
- The Dog of the Marriage: Stories (2005)
October 20, 2009
I tried to like her stories, but after making it about a third of the way through this book, I gave up -- something I rarely do. The writing just seemed too affected, too deliberately offhand. Try as I might, I simply could not connect with her characters, and I simply could not relate to the universe they inhabited. A quick example: In one story, a character is said to hurl his wife's false teeth "like a discus." Sorry, that is simply not believable, and seems to have been written by someone who has no idea what it is to hurl either teeth or a discus. I really enjoy Raymond Carver, so it is not that I am opposed to "minimalism," but I just could not get through this book. YMMV.
July 25, 2017
No me queda más que animarles a que corran a su librería de confianza y que amenacen a su librero de confianza con comprar vía internet Cuentos Completos, de Amy Hempel, si no se lo proporciona en unos días. Les aseguro que nadie saldrá herido. Crítica completa: http://www.libros-prohibidos.com/amy-...
December 4, 2012
wow i really didn't like this book.
in a nutshell it reminds me of those creative writing exercises i used to have to do in high school. you're assigned a theme, or a series of themes, and try to find ways to connect them, or write them down, and maybe use some, maybe don't use all, just sort testing everything out and jotting unfinished thoughts down in a very VERY rough draft.
now imagine taking all of these drafts from your creative writing class, like a single assignment i mean, and actually publishing them. together. in a book. the repetition and disconnection all jumbled together.
i'm sure some people might consider this genius. myself i consider it lazy. just sit your ass down and write THE book. i'm not your editor. i'm not your friend. i want to read a book. and a collection of short stories should be short stories: not my homework from high school.
in a nutshell it reminds me of those creative writing exercises i used to have to do in high school. you're assigned a theme, or a series of themes, and try to find ways to connect them, or write them down, and maybe use some, maybe don't use all, just sort testing everything out and jotting unfinished thoughts down in a very VERY rough draft.
now imagine taking all of these drafts from your creative writing class, like a single assignment i mean, and actually publishing them. together. in a book. the repetition and disconnection all jumbled together.
i'm sure some people might consider this genius. myself i consider it lazy. just sit your ass down and write THE book. i'm not your editor. i'm not your friend. i want to read a book. and a collection of short stories should be short stories: not my homework from high school.
August 6, 2019
Racconti incisivi con una scrittura secca, limata, essenziale. Hempel scava, scava, scava all'interno del lettore per poi abbandonare al suo interno, come distrattamente, un tizzone ardente che resterà a lungo attivo.
"Però imparo dai miei errori. La sicurezza che provo posso usarla per contrattaccare. Così, per modo di dire, adesso ho un bastone più grosso di quello con cui sono stata picchiata."
"Holly dice che questi incontri sono come i tramonti sulla spiaggia: una volta sparito il sole, la sabbia si raffredda velocemente. Allora sono come tanti altri momenti, che erano belli dieci minuti fa e adesso non contano più."
"Però imparo dai miei errori. La sicurezza che provo posso usarla per contrattaccare. Così, per modo di dire, adesso ho un bastone più grosso di quello con cui sono stata picchiata."
"Holly dice che questi incontri sono come i tramonti sulla spiaggia: una volta sparito il sole, la sabbia si raffredda velocemente. Allora sono come tanti altri momenti, che erano belli dieci minuti fa e adesso non contano più."
May 17, 2012
"Quiero que me hables sin tapujos, con matices, con sutileza, con exactitud. Quiero que emplees un lenguaje minucioso, distinguido, que tenga el aura de lo inexpresable, pero que sea lírico" Así dice la propia escritora Amy Hempel en su cuento Santuario. Y qué mejor forma de expresarlo. Por fin tenemos edición de todos los cuentos de esta maestra de la narrativa corta. Si bien, la traducción es mejorable, pero ah, qué cuentos, qué profundidad en el alma de todos los personajes. Es la épica de lo cotidiano. Es un libro que hay que leer, simplemente bello y una obra maestra. A por él!
June 22, 2024
«Cuéntame cosas que no me importe olvidar»
«Cuando vuelvas, tráeme algo. De la playa o de la tienda de regalos. Aunque sea feo, cualquier cosa, salvo una suscripción a una revista».
«Cuando vuelvas, tráeme algo. De la playa o de la tienda de regalos. Aunque sea feo, cualquier cosa, salvo una suscripción a una revista».
Read
May 21, 2012Tolta l’acqua dalla soluzione, restano i sali.
I racconti di Carver sono corsi d’acqua che osserviamo scorrere fino all’istante prima di svoltare in un’ansa, o un istante dopo essere precipitati nella cascata. La Hempel invece asciuga i suoi per ottenere puri aggregati salini (non è un caso che lei, Lish, lo ringrazi). Lo schema si ripete più o meno identico: aggregato di informazioni irrilevanti/futili che sottendono il Significato + perla di saggezza finale. Quindi il giochino intellettual-cerebrale è del tutto scoperto. Eppure si sente la pulsione e il ritmo delle parole, si sente quel quid che serpeggia, l’intesa che sa creare col lettore e l’ironia. Si procede per scarti, incastri e soprattutto omissioni… le cose vengono frantumate, disgregate e poi ammonticchiate insieme; l’unico collante possibile è la rivelazione, la ‘perla di saggezza’. Per quanto arty sia, è uno sguardo plausibile sul mondo (e uno sguardo che sento mio).
Non so se la scrittura della Hempel, e questo libro, siano una sòla o meno. Ma se sapessi scrivere, vorrei farlo proprio come lei.
I racconti di Carver sono corsi d’acqua che osserviamo scorrere fino all’istante prima di svoltare in un’ansa, o un istante dopo essere precipitati nella cascata. La Hempel invece asciuga i suoi per ottenere puri aggregati salini (non è un caso che lei, Lish, lo ringrazi). Lo schema si ripete più o meno identico: aggregato di informazioni irrilevanti/futili che sottendono il Significato + perla di saggezza finale. Quindi il giochino intellettual-cerebrale è del tutto scoperto. Eppure si sente la pulsione e il ritmo delle parole, si sente quel quid che serpeggia, l’intesa che sa creare col lettore e l’ironia. Si procede per scarti, incastri e soprattutto omissioni… le cose vengono frantumate, disgregate e poi ammonticchiate insieme; l’unico collante possibile è la rivelazione, la ‘perla di saggezza’. Per quanto arty sia, è uno sguardo plausibile sul mondo (e uno sguardo che sento mio).
Non so se la scrittura della Hempel, e questo libro, siano una sòla o meno. Ma se sapessi scrivere, vorrei farlo proprio come lei.
July 13, 2015
There is some really terrific material in this collection; Hempel has a remarkable talent for refreshing turns of phrase and revealing details that lesser writers would never consider. At their best the stories exude sprightly spontaneity along with shrewd perceptions of human emotions and shortcomings. Hempel's voice is consistently wry, tough, and wise (but never self-important or excessively pessimistic). She's charming and disarming, yet unafraid of packing emotional punches; candid honesty and artful simplicity infuse these miniature works, which explore some of life's little joys and disappointments with bracing humor and sensitivity.
Personal favorites: "In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried," "Offertory," "Rapture of the Deep," "Nashville Gone to Ashes," "The Harvest," "Jesus Is Waiting," "The Most Girl Part of You," "Reference #388475848-5," "Church Cancels Cow," "The Man in Bogotá"
Personal favorites: "In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried," "Offertory," "Rapture of the Deep," "Nashville Gone to Ashes," "The Harvest," "Jesus Is Waiting," "The Most Girl Part of You," "Reference #388475848-5," "Church Cancels Cow," "The Man in Bogotá"
January 24, 2013
Annie Dillard writes in one of her books about a young student approaching his famous writer/professor. "So you think I can be a great writer?" asks the student. "I don't know. Do you like sentences?"" answers his teacher. I thought about this as I read Amy Hempel's book because I paused after so many sentences while reading. Paused not only for "wow" but paused also for "mmm" and paused also for "ouch", like when the sentence evoked the memory of hurt (to you or by you). If you like to write, this book will help because it shows you as if in slow motion the power of less is more, the eloquence of holding back, the artistry of surprise, of reaching deeper with the unexpected phrase, the quirky twist of words.
October 17, 2012
I felt swindled after reading half her stories. I felt cheated and taken. This isn't even light reading; it is pointless and poorly conceived writing. I have a drawerful of underdevelopped writing of the same calibre as her published pieces. Depthless description; characters about whom you are not compelled to care; directionless plots; meaningless dialogue; superficial writing all in all: a terrible waste of time.
September 28, 2018
Amy Hempel's powerful fiction will make you cry, will make you laugh, and finally will break your heart and then send it out to dry.
Readers, she will teach you what it means to read fiction again.
Writers, beware - there is a Ramadhir Singh inside her that wants to tell you ki "Rehne do beta, tumse na ho payega..." Or as Chuck Palahniuk, the writer who introduced me to Amy Hempel's fiction says, "You will write, but you will never write this well."
Readers, she will teach you what it means to read fiction again.
Writers, beware - there is a Ramadhir Singh inside her that wants to tell you ki "Rehne do beta, tumse na ho payega..." Or as Chuck Palahniuk, the writer who introduced me to Amy Hempel's fiction says, "You will write, but you will never write this well."
August 18, 2007
It was hard for me to read this book without constantly thinking about the agonizing amount of work that had to go into every single sentence. I kept picturing this frowny-faced, chain-smoking woman slumped over a typewriter desperately trying to warp every word to express exactly what she wanted. The end result was appropriately rewarding.
July 8, 2015
This collection was like a grandiose bouquet of opiates to this reader. I dreaded finishing it. Can't wait to go back and re-read a good majority of these little jewels.
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