The Consolation of Nature and Other Stories

by Valerie Martin

Comprising of ten stories, this collection includes the title story about a family beseiged by a rodent of startling presence and "Sea Lovers," which explores the passions of both land and sea creatures

Genres: Short Stories

147 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Valerie Martin is the author of nine novels, including Trespass, Mary Reilly, Italian Fever, and Property, three collections of short fiction, and a biography of St. Francis of Assisi, titled Salvation. She has been awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, as well as the Kafka Prize (for Mary Reilly) and Britain’s Orange Prize (for Property). Martin’s last novel, The Confessions of Edward Day was a New York Times notable book for 2009.
A new novel The Ghost of the Mary Celeste is due from Nan Talese/Random House in January 2014, and a middle-grade book Anton and Cecil, Cats at Sea, co-written with Valerie’s niece Lisa Martin, will be out from Algonquin in October of 2013.
Valerie Martin has taught in writing programs at Mt. Holyoke College, Univ. of Massachusetts, and Sarah Lawrence College, among others. She resides in Dutchess County, New York and is currently Professor of English at Mt. Holyoke College.

Reviews

[Rand]

Some of the plots were as well constructed as the sentences, if you dig workshop prose that works if you're willing to shop around.

Depending upon where you are in your life/day, some of these stories may be "bleak" or "realistic" though the ones that hook you will make you keep turning the pages, yearning for that next turn of phrase or phase of a character's awakening.

Some of these stories read more like meditations, but that's more an observation than a quibble.

If you're a fan of Michiko Kakutani's endorsements you would do well to check out Martin. Her blurb sold me.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories all having to do with the theme of nature, cruel and beautiful, impinging into the lives of people who live on its outskirts. (A topic she'll return to in "The Great Divorce.") Martin has a clear (though poetic in her choices of metaphors) style, which makes her quite readable and interesting.

[Frank R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the surface, The Consolation of Nature is rife with supernatural elements. Many have compared her to Poe, but I’ve found that her characters and stories reflect a preternatural element; she alludes to a nature that is prior to what we know as the natural world.

Each story is united by animals and their relationship to people. Every protagonist is female and every animal is either in an aggressor or victim role, and these roles are mirrored in their human counterparts. From a young girl harassed by a rat to a viscous mermaid, a young woman attracted to death to an quasi-schizophrenic obsessed with her cat, and a Kafkaesque tale of a woman transcending her own mental instabilities and traumas to become one with insects, each tale showcases a particular existential aspect of the female condition. Its highly symbolic feminist literature at its finest.

Most of the collection I loved, but a few lacked a true emotive tug that the story was trying to describe. I wanted to love them all, but am still glad for the ones that drew me into this world of melancholic women navigating their places in relationships, society, and nature.

[Logan Noble · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t stop thinking about the gentle terrors of Robert Aickman, the suburban nightmares of Shirley Jackson while reading this book. It’s a read filled with broken people and the ever present spectre of death. I love collections like this. Literary, but with a foot in the oddities that we find capture our attentions so well.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

terrifying short stories!!! not for the faint of heart!! the plotting and pacing of these stories are just....very creepy and riveting.

[Gail Kennon · Rating 2 out of 5]

writing was fine but did not like spending time in these harsh stories.

[Scott E · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's enough in this collection to like, unfortunately, not enough to save it from a 3-star rating, IMO. The title story, and the final three stories (The Freeze, The Parallel World, Elegy for Dead Animals) are the best of this collection. There is a moment in The Freeze exactly when it is revealed what the "clink,clink,clink" sound is that stops your heart. This story will definitely stay with me. 1(3),2(2),3(1),4(2),5(1),6(2),7(1),8(3),9(2+),10(3)

[Robert Pruchniewicz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've only read one other book by Valerie Martin and that was Mary Reilly. I was hoping to enjoy this collection (written prior to Mary Reilly) but I found it a bit lacking. At times it seemed as if the author stretched thin her themes of death + animals / animals + death to the detriment of her narrative. Interesting but not great.....

[SmarterLilac · Rating 4 out of 5]

While there are a couple of tantalizing stories in here, this is probably my least favorite Martin book so far. Many of the stories in it are simply bland.

[Karim · Rating 3 out of 5]

finished this book then searched the internet for pictures of Valerie Martin's face and - let me tell you - I was NOT disappointed!!

[Nancy Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful writing. I'm inspired to read some of Martin's other work.

Favorite story: The Parallel World