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For Sale by Owner: Stories
Bound to the bustling "big houses" of contemporary suburbia, the women in Kelcey Parker’s tales of twisted domesticity weave secrets, soccer balls, kisses, and dreams into the fabric of an evolving American subculture. Suburban sprawl transcends geography as children, husbands, and all things domestic overpopulate the interior landscapes of young divorcees, best-friends-forever, and tired mothers who give up their families—or won't—for legal struggles, Lent, or the comfort of scrapbooking. The smart, playful female characters navigate the common but seemingly lonely paths of modern parenthood and marriage in this modern collection of short stories.
- GenresShort Stories
144 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2011
63 people want to read
About the author
Kelcey Parker Ervick
5 books53 followersKelcey Ervick is a writer who started drawing. Growing up, she was a goalkeeper in the early years of Title IX. Today she is the author and illustrator of the forthcoming graphic memoir, THE KEEPER (Avery Books/Penguin, Sept. 2022). She lives on the banks of the St. Joseph River and is a professor of English and creative writing at Indiana University South Bend.
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March 7, 2012While Parker's collection consists almost entirely of tales of domesticity, the reader is never bored or lulled by anything resembling the ordinary. In fact, the stories are utterly distinct, each distinguished from the others not just by specific characters and details, but through the voice, form, and style. The story "Possession" for example, is divided into segments bearing titles like "Laundry," "Holiday," and "Toothbrush," which reflect different aspects of daily life.
Read Literary Mama's complete review here: http://www.literarymama.com/reviews/a...
Read Literary Mama's complete review here: http://www.literarymama.com/reviews/a...
April 6, 2011
Kelcey Parker’s debut collection of stories will leave you feeling, among other things, very surprised. The surprise at work is not because of the material she works with—the seemingly quotidian bricks of the domestic Midwestern suburbs—but in the way she infuses those materials with a truly unique velocity and darkly playful touch. The suburbs and soccer moms and unfaithful husbands aren’t the ones you read about in books or watch on sitcoms, but the ones you yourself drive past every day and speculate about as your mind wanders.
To me these stories have done what few have managed, and that is to bypass what we think we mean with terms like ‘realist’ that are supposed to reference a familiar framework—our own ‘real’ lives. So we’ll find ourselves or people we know in them, their stories are ours, and so goes their supposed (and often effective) premise. But Parker has done the real trick, has reached a territory of the real that shows just how far fiction of this type might push when it bothers to stop and trouble itself first. You might not find your story in this collection but they all seem close at hand, in the yelling from the neighbor’s house or the lone woman you spot checking into a dingy motel.
I was also at all times enjoyably perplexed by the emotions and humor Parker has woven, complicating every thought and piece of dialogue such that it seems one might labor under the very real sensation of experiencing several, even conflicting emotions at once. Are these stories hopeful? Nihilistic? Heartbreaking? Heart-affirming? Every sentence seems to turn where you think they’re going, which is the real key to this kind of reality, the one we genuinely recognize as our own: the stories don’t know, the characters don’t, just as we often don’t. Sometimes we do feel affirmed or utterly broken, but such concrete places are few—these stories aren’t selling anything or playing dress-up.
This notion leads to my final appreciation which is that this collection feels like it comes from a veteran source; there’s no lack of confidence or deftness to Parker’s gesturing, a steadied hand at the wheel as she careens us around the burning suburbs of her sophisticated, sharply imagined inner world.
To me these stories have done what few have managed, and that is to bypass what we think we mean with terms like ‘realist’ that are supposed to reference a familiar framework—our own ‘real’ lives. So we’ll find ourselves or people we know in them, their stories are ours, and so goes their supposed (and often effective) premise. But Parker has done the real trick, has reached a territory of the real that shows just how far fiction of this type might push when it bothers to stop and trouble itself first. You might not find your story in this collection but they all seem close at hand, in the yelling from the neighbor’s house or the lone woman you spot checking into a dingy motel.
I was also at all times enjoyably perplexed by the emotions and humor Parker has woven, complicating every thought and piece of dialogue such that it seems one might labor under the very real sensation of experiencing several, even conflicting emotions at once. Are these stories hopeful? Nihilistic? Heartbreaking? Heart-affirming? Every sentence seems to turn where you think they’re going, which is the real key to this kind of reality, the one we genuinely recognize as our own: the stories don’t know, the characters don’t, just as we often don’t. Sometimes we do feel affirmed or utterly broken, but such concrete places are few—these stories aren’t selling anything or playing dress-up.
This notion leads to my final appreciation which is that this collection feels like it comes from a veteran source; there’s no lack of confidence or deftness to Parker’s gesturing, a steadied hand at the wheel as she careens us around the burning suburbs of her sophisticated, sharply imagined inner world.
September 13, 2013
I must admit that I'm not typically a fan of the short story form. I much prefer fiction in its long form (which, by the way, is why I'm excited for Parker's soon-to-be-released novel from Rose Metal Press entitled *Liliane's Balcony*). What I often find lacking in short-form fiction is the kind of engagement with character and theme that leaves a lasting impression after I've put the book down. I often find that short stories disappear from my memory as soon as I've finished them. There are certainly exceptions (Cheever's *Housebreaker of Shady Hill* or Mark Winegardner's *That's True of Everybody* come to mind as personal favorites), and I would go ahead and declare Parker's *For Sale by Owner* another examplary exception. Many of the stories not only remained in my memory long after I put the book down, but they even seemed to haunt me (and I mean that in absolutely the best way). Particular highlights include "Domestic Air Quality," "For Sale by Owner," "The Complete Babysitter's Handbook," "Mermaids," and "Lent." Even the experimental short-shorts in the book ("Biography of Your Husband" and "Falling" come to mind) were engaging enough to be memorable. Overall, this is a highly impressive debut, and I can't wait to see what can happen when Parker tries her hand at the novel form.
September 4, 2012
These are odd stories in the vein of Kelly Link or Kevin Wilson-- not quite magical realism, but definitely weird. "Quirky" is a word that Parker probably hears a lot. But they're also grounded in the domestic--almost all of the protagonists are young wives and mothers, struggling to be happy in the lives they've created.
March 2, 2017
When Hello Kitty-devoted, dark-humored girls grow up and raise families, they become the heroines of Kelcey Parker's grim and satisfying stories. While I read this collection, I wept tears of joy over each obsessive scrapbooking, wedding vow bungling, baby shower ruining scene because it offered me permission to write down my own ugliest triumphs and my most evil dreams.
June 26, 2012
For Sale By Owner lets us see--often hilariously--the doubts and mishaps that swirl around the isolated modern family. I enjoyed this book thoroughly. I laughed aloud many times but these stories also made me think hard about what we expect from families,and how often our expectations fall short.
May 14, 2011
Ms. Parker's collection of stories is dazzling. They are true and painful and funny. She doesn't pull any punches about the joy and heartbreak that go hand in hand with love, marriage and children.
March 31, 2012
Absolutely loved these smart, sly, inventive stories.
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December 30, 20162017 read harder challenge task 21 & 22
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews