Granta 95: Loved Ones

Granta: The Magazine of New Writing #95

by Ian Jack (Editor)

It can be hard to love the people we should love; sometimes objects of affection are easier. This issue features Jonathan Taylor’s frank and funny account of a boyhood spent caring for a father with Parkinson’s Disease (‘Who are you?’), and James Lasdun revisits Forest Lawns cemetery, inspiration for Evelyn Waugh’s The Loved One. How does Los Angeles bury its dead today? Plus new fiction by David Malouf, Rebecca Miller and Jim Shepard.

Genres: Literature, Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 2, 2006

About the author

Ian Jack is a British journalist and writer who has edited the Independent on Sunday and the literary magazine Granta and now writes regularly for The Guardian.

Reviews

[Liviu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another issue that offers excellent - though quite emotional, disturbing and dark - writing with five pieces by D. Malouf (fiction, an unusual love story), M. McFadyen (nonfiction about growing up in different houses when parents divorce, remarry etc interspersed with historical remembrances as the author is the daughter and granddaughter of Germans forced out by the Nazi's), R. Miller (fiction about a pregnant mother of two and the perfect nanny), J. Lanchester (non-fiction, part of his memoir and detailing the retirement and death of his father), J. Seabrook (non-fiction and a story of two very apart twins despite growing up together), while the rest are also ok to good pieces too

highly recommended but again stories that you want to be up for as they present the manifold joys and sorrows of loving

[Janine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Granta is always a pleasure to read. Which is why I always dutifully pick up the old abandoned copies from my library's free bin by the front door and give them a home. Even though there are usually a few stories or non-fiction entries that are less than spectacular, I still cannot help but consume every single word. (Even the advertisements fascinate me!)

This issue especially had some impressive gems: David Malouf's "Every Move You Make" and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Jumping Monkey Hill" knocked the wind out of me. The photographs by Albert Smith and Graham Smith moved me to tears. Claire Keegan's "Safe" had a very interesting perspective -- I don't recall ever seeing an author successfully place "you" as the protagonist before I read this story. And the fiction from Fan Wu and Rebecca Miller was entertaining (though the Wu story was a bit sad). I was less impressed with the non-fiction in this issue, but it was still thoroughly readable and commented on some interesting themes (houses/home, the working life/retirement, death and Forest Lawn "Memorial Park", Alzheimer's, separation from a twin, Communism, etc.).

Beautiful. And from what I've heard, Granta has only improved in the last few years. Perhaps I will someday have to subscribe.

[Kerry L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the more fascinating and touching volumes of Granta I've read. Each story is personal and gripping. Really a total pleasure from cover-to-cover.