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Valerie Trueblood

Autor/a de Seven Loves

5 obres 135 Membres 6 Ressenyes

Obres de Valerie Trueblood

Seven Loves (2006) 78 exemplars
Search Party: Stories of Rescue (2013) 19 exemplars
Marry or Burn: Stories (2010) 13 exemplars
Criminals: Love Stories (2016) 12 exemplars

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Membres

Ressenyes

I started reading this book months upon months ago, but I'm a multiple-books-at-a-time reader, and something usually ends up falling by the wayside. Sometimes it's because the book doesn't hold my interest, sometimes it's because something shiny comes along, and sometimes it's just a wrong-place-wrong-time sort of thing. I'm not sure what took me so long with this one...probably a combination of the last two. I remember reading "The Finding," the first story in Search Party, and being pleasantly surprised by it. I read the next few stories and sort of drifted away from the book; when I picked it up again, I couldn't believe I'd waited so long to read something so wonderful.

Search Party is a remarkably strong collection of stories. I enjoy short fiction but, as I mentioned in my review of Lorrie Moore's Bark, I think some of the recent stuff is highly overrated. Not this collection, though. "The Magic Pebble" and "The Stabbed Boy" just about broke my heart with their bits of tragedy; "The Blue Grotto," a tale of a babysitter whose overnight charge has a 105-degree fever and requires a trip to the ER, terrified me; "Later or Never" (about a caretaker) and "Street of Dreams" (about a father shepherding his homeless family) were poignant vignettes; and the opening of "Who Is He That Will Harm You" reveals its events, little by little, until the full scene pops startlingly into your mind's eye.

The main disappointment for me was the final -- and titular -- tale. At 45 pages, it creates a slowly-dragging finish to what is otherwise a smooth-moving collection. It's not a bad story, but it keeps adding new elements just when you think it's going to wrap things up. This was the only story in the book during which I found myself flipping ahead -- multiple times -- to see how much I had left. Don't let that one downfall steer you away from this book, though, because you'd be missing out.

All in all: One of the better story collections I've read recently. I still haven't decided whether to send my copy to a friend or not. I want to share it but also feel like keeping it for myself, which is high praise.
… (més)
 
Marcat
KellyWoodward | Mar 12, 2014 |
Marry or Burn by Valerie Trueblood is a collection of stories about mostly troubled marriages. While the writing style had a lyrical quality, the stories were sometimes confusing and hard to follow. I was beginning to wonder if I could make it though the entire collection but I did find the last story ‘Beloved, You Looked Into Space’ as the best one of the lot, so if you are a purist and feel you must read every story in a collection, then at least you can look forward to the best for last. Otherwise, I'd say don't feel bad if you want to give up early on a few and head right for page 243. Life is short.… (més)
 
Marcat
4daisies | Mar 19, 2011 |
A lovely book to keep. A wonderful story about how we are affected, how our lives are formed by those we love. This is about what is important in life. This book will be staying on my shelf for awhile. I found the premise intriging, although I suspected the "loves" to be all romantic. It is certainly possible to feel romantic love for seven seperate people over a lifetime, especially if one does not marry early, or not at all.
However, each chapter described a different sort of love, which is realistically, how we experience life. Each, though totally different in
nature, was profound in it's own right. The auther expresses this beautifully, in lyrical words that are pure pleasure to read, and reread! There were times I read a sentence over several times to experience it with the same feeling I thought the author intended. One does not need to lead an especially loud or experientially frantic life to glean the sweetness from each encounter. I came to realize through her prose how very profoundly we affect each others lives. Every encounter holds the promise of something important if we choose to be observant. I know I will approach with additional reverence, the people my path may cross daily. I feel profoundly changed by this story, and will look more carefully in my life for the depth in my own "loves."
… (més)
2 vota
Marcat
berylweidenbach | Hi ha 3 ressenyes més | Jun 12, 2010 |
Eh. I felt as though I was lost through most of this book, focusing on the dialogues between people in close relationships (lovers, husbands, sons, caretakers, mothers). However, there were moments within these pages where I fully connected to the characters, and I could not put the book down.

These moments of clarity, while certainly enjoyed and admired, were too few and far between, though. Trueblood has a way with snippets in time, and in describing communication links. Unfortunately, I didn't feel connected enough with any character (even the primary) to be able to make this book worthy of much more of a compliment than "Eh, worth a dollar or two."… (més)
 
Marcat
HippieLunatic | Hi ha 3 ressenyes més | Apr 14, 2009 |

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Premis

Estadístiques

Obres
5
Membres
135
Popularitat
#150,831
Valoració
3.2
Ressenyes
6
ISBN
14

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