Stories from Another World

by Sheila Kohler

A new collection of short fiction by the South African author whose debut novel was praised by J. M. Coetzee as "wholly entrancing." Sheila Kohler's new stories range from a boarding school in South Africa where a pre-adolescent girl discovers her own mortality when an aging teacher attempts to seduce her, to a remote American mental hospital visited by an idealistic young psychiatrist from the city, to the South African veld where a young physician's confession to his wife of a homosexual affair leads to his death. Kohler's writing is intelligent, sensual, compassionate, always laced with irony and a subtle humor.

Genres: Short Stories

150 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2003

About the author

Sheila Kohler was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, the younger of two girls. Upon matriculation at 17 from Saint Andrews, with a distinction in history (1958), she left the country for Europe. She lived for 15 years in Paris, where she married, did her undergraduate degree in literature at the Sorbonne, and a graduate degree in psychology at the Institut Catholique. After raising her three girls, she moved to the USA in 1981, and did an MFA in writing at Columbia.

In the summer of 1987, her first published story, “The Mountain,” came out in “The Quarterly” and received an O’Henry prize and was published in the O’Henry Prize Stories of 1988. It also became the first chapter in her first novel, "The Perfect Place," which was published by Knopf the next year.

Reviews

[Ivy Murillo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know what the 5 star reviewers read....
Best stories were 5, 6 and 11

[Allyson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm finding this collection of short stories to be a hard slog. All of the women end up dying in vague ways or being punished (death of children, stigmatization) for stepping outside the lines of cultural expectations. I'm only halfway through though, and I WILL finish. I'm kind of determined to read Cracks and Crossways in near future, so I want to work towards them.

Koehler is admired by many writers who I appreciate greatly, but I'm not enjoying her storytelling or narrative style. She's very tight in her craftsmanship though, so perhaps that's the key. Or perhaps I'm not quite in the mood for the meal that she's dishing up.