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Rise
The stories in Rise are fairytales, except that the witch, lucky Hans, and the frog prince are characters at the fringes of everyday life. There are rockets, swells of starlings, and children who disappear into thin air. L. Annette Binder writes magical tales with authority and restraint, and we believe her stories, every one.
168 pages, Paperback
First published August 7, 2012
14 people are currently reading
298 people want to read
About the author
L. Annette Binder
7 books219 followersL. Annette Binder was born in Germany and grew up in Colorado Springs.
Her first novel The Vanishing Sky (Bloomsbury, July 2020) is inspired by events in her own family history.
Her story collection Rise came out in 2012. Her short stories have been included in the Pushcart Prize anthology and the PEN/O. Henry Prize anthology and have been performed on Public Radio's "Selected Shorts."
Her first novel The Vanishing Sky (Bloomsbury, July 2020) is inspired by events in her own family history.
Her story collection Rise came out in 2012. Her short stories have been included in the Pushcart Prize anthology and the PEN/O. Henry Prize anthology and have been performed on Public Radio's "Selected Shorts."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
October 14, 2015
Have you ever seen something so amazing, so incredible, that you know you'll never find the words to describe it?
It happened to me a few weeks ago on one of those perfect fall mornings that start out foggy and eerie before the clouds clear away and it turns into an unbelievably lovely day. It was about 10:30 and the sun was just beginning to peep through the gloom. I noticed a dozen turkey vultures circling my neighbor's house. The birds in the foreground were the usual drab color, but the ones still shrouded in mist had an astonishing silvery hue. More birds joined the loop and soon there were at least twenty. Their colors kept changing as they revolved, passing in and out of the fog, each bird taking turns being ordinary, then incredible - shimmery giant flying creatures like something out of mythology - before morphing back into plain old turkey vultures.
Binder's stories remind me of those birds - both real and yet dreamy, solid but ethereal.
Within these pages lives a giantess who may be the spawn of angels, a pair of neighbors whose war over a property line escalates into the unimaginable, a toddler who finally begins to speak . . . in Ancient Greek.
The writing is stunningly perfect, spare yet descriptive enough to conjure vivid imagery.
My favorite story in the book, perhaps of all time, is Sea of Tranquility which concerns a man who loses his vision . . . and yet, he can still see the sky, far away mountains, the surface of the moon . . .
I've read it four times now and I'm reduced to a quivering, non-functioning puddle each and every time. It's amazing what the power of writing can do.
It happened to me a few weeks ago on one of those perfect fall mornings that start out foggy and eerie before the clouds clear away and it turns into an unbelievably lovely day. It was about 10:30 and the sun was just beginning to peep through the gloom. I noticed a dozen turkey vultures circling my neighbor's house. The birds in the foreground were the usual drab color, but the ones still shrouded in mist had an astonishing silvery hue. More birds joined the loop and soon there were at least twenty. Their colors kept changing as they revolved, passing in and out of the fog, each bird taking turns being ordinary, then incredible - shimmery giant flying creatures like something out of mythology - before morphing back into plain old turkey vultures.
Binder's stories remind me of those birds - both real and yet dreamy, solid but ethereal.
Within these pages lives a giantess who may be the spawn of angels, a pair of neighbors whose war over a property line escalates into the unimaginable, a toddler who finally begins to speak . . . in Ancient Greek.
The writing is stunningly perfect, spare yet descriptive enough to conjure vivid imagery.
My favorite story in the book, perhaps of all time, is Sea of Tranquility which concerns a man who loses his vision . . . and yet, he can still see the sky, far away mountains, the surface of the moon . . .
I've read it four times now and I'm reduced to a quivering, non-functioning puddle each and every time. It's amazing what the power of writing can do.
August 9, 2013
Honest. Clear. Raw. Cliché-free.
There’s a tone and weight to Binder's prose. The stories dig deep into the psyche of their main characters. Point of view reigns over plot, though there is action and movement too. Ailments, disease and various medical “conditions” give these stories an underlying sense of a world turned inward, of a planet of people focused on what anatomical functions aren’t working.
Most of the characters have modest, under-the-radar lives. Binder has the ability to peer deep inside her character’s thoughts and shine a light on basic human needs and wants.
One man should be “home filing bills” but can’t resist a powerful urge to brush hair, as he’d done for his mother.
A man with a wife who no longer recognizes him fashions a hobby out of “Mourning the Departed” and looking for conversation and the human touch during funerals for strangers.
In “Shelter,” a heartbreaking tale of indifference, two neighbors go toe-to-toe in a bitter feud over the property line and only late in the story does Binder let slip the age of Frank, who is defending his turf. It’s not a gimmick and there have been clues along the way, but the age—and Frank’s resilience—come as a wow-moment shock.
“Rise” will give you a little lift for its nifty insights and its gem-like moments of hard humanity.
Read “Rise” and you will know you are reading the work of a writer who thinks deeply about her characters and who knows how to chisel real people out of words.
There’s a tone and weight to Binder's prose. The stories dig deep into the psyche of their main characters. Point of view reigns over plot, though there is action and movement too. Ailments, disease and various medical “conditions” give these stories an underlying sense of a world turned inward, of a planet of people focused on what anatomical functions aren’t working.
Most of the characters have modest, under-the-radar lives. Binder has the ability to peer deep inside her character’s thoughts and shine a light on basic human needs and wants.
One man should be “home filing bills” but can’t resist a powerful urge to brush hair, as he’d done for his mother.
A man with a wife who no longer recognizes him fashions a hobby out of “Mourning the Departed” and looking for conversation and the human touch during funerals for strangers.
In “Shelter,” a heartbreaking tale of indifference, two neighbors go toe-to-toe in a bitter feud over the property line and only late in the story does Binder let slip the age of Frank, who is defending his turf. It’s not a gimmick and there have been clues along the way, but the age—and Frank’s resilience—come as a wow-moment shock.
“Rise” will give you a little lift for its nifty insights and its gem-like moments of hard humanity.
Read “Rise” and you will know you are reading the work of a writer who thinks deeply about her characters and who knows how to chisel real people out of words.
December 7, 2015
Amazing! This book has encouraged me to write short stories as well. ^_^
January 19, 2024
L. Annette Binder's stories in Rise are full of shards of experience that could have been taken from many people's lives: products purchased, shows watched or people you've known, familiar and yet, from the page they take shape and fly away in unexpected and magical, sometimes unsettling directions. Fable like, purposeful and compelling, I could not stop reading, and each story left me wondering for days afterwards: 'What if...? I wonder what that was like? Isn't that like what happened to so-and-so?'- but not. These stories do not just exist on the page; they reflect back and have left me thinking for days afterwards. Will certainly reread these again. Highly recommend.
June 3, 2022
Full disclosure, I have been appearing with Annette at libraries and bookstores as we promoted out books, The Spiral Shell, my debut memoir, and The Vanishing Sky, her debut novel. I had not read Rise, a book I finished this morning.
Here's what I have to say. These are wonderful stories in that each is filled with its own sense of wonder and of mystery. These stories belong to the realm of fairy tales and fables because there is a sense of the beyond in each. There is also a deeply distilled humanity that connects us to these characters and these stories, a moment when a man sees a child in a yellow dress, a moment that changes his life, a child who does not speak and when he does, he speaks Greek, a woman who cares for her dying daughter although neither speaks of dying or death. This is where we live our lives, in indefiniable space, and that is where L. Annette Binder writes.
I read each story slowly. The writing is beautiful and precise. I rested between stories. I needed to. I will read these stories again and again.
Here's what I have to say. These are wonderful stories in that each is filled with its own sense of wonder and of mystery. These stories belong to the realm of fairy tales and fables because there is a sense of the beyond in each. There is also a deeply distilled humanity that connects us to these characters and these stories, a moment when a man sees a child in a yellow dress, a moment that changes his life, a child who does not speak and when he does, he speaks Greek, a woman who cares for her dying daughter although neither speaks of dying or death. This is where we live our lives, in indefiniable space, and that is where L. Annette Binder writes.
I read each story slowly. The writing is beautiful and precise. I rested between stories. I needed to. I will read these stories again and again.
April 28, 2022
Exquisite
I’ve been an admirer of Binder’s since my first reading of “Nephilim” as a stand-alone story some years ago. As a reader, I know I’m in good hands. She is able to conjure quite a distinctive mood and tone. I use the word “conjure” very purposefully because it does often feel to me that Binder is casting a kind of spell over her audience. To me, it’s like she opens a portal into a world that is closely parallel to our own, but often infused with an air of strangeness, mystery, lyricism, beauty, and weight. It’s a unique aesthetic. She writes with intelligence, economy, and a keen eye. Within a page or two, I feel such sure-handedness that I trust her to take me where she wants to go — more often than not, in unexpected, but always interesting, directions. The stories in this collection were wonderful, and I particularly enjoyed “Weights and Measures” and “Halo.” Wowzers.
I’ve been an admirer of Binder’s since my first reading of “Nephilim” as a stand-alone story some years ago. As a reader, I know I’m in good hands. She is able to conjure quite a distinctive mood and tone. I use the word “conjure” very purposefully because it does often feel to me that Binder is casting a kind of spell over her audience. To me, it’s like she opens a portal into a world that is closely parallel to our own, but often infused with an air of strangeness, mystery, lyricism, beauty, and weight. It’s a unique aesthetic. She writes with intelligence, economy, and a keen eye. Within a page or two, I feel such sure-handedness that I trust her to take me where she wants to go — more often than not, in unexpected, but always interesting, directions. The stories in this collection were wonderful, and I particularly enjoyed “Weights and Measures” and “Halo.” Wowzers.
July 29, 2019
Captivating works that promote reflection
With Rise, L.Annette Binder takes us into the tragic, bizarre realism of her characters whether she's writing about someone that won't stop growing taller, a woman who appreciates the beauty of nature even as her body is ravaged by a deadly disease or a little boy with a magical crystal and a stepfather with a vicious temper. Every story is as endearing as it is heart rending.
With Rise, L.Annette Binder takes us into the tragic, bizarre realism of her characters whether she's writing about someone that won't stop growing taller, a woman who appreciates the beauty of nature even as her body is ravaged by a deadly disease or a little boy with a magical crystal and a stepfather with a vicious temper. Every story is as endearing as it is heart rending.
January 27, 2021
Well, as a book of short stories, I have to say quite a few were interesting. I didn't care for all of them. It's not a very big book.
August 14, 2012
I won this book from the Goodreads drawing. My first impression of the book was that it has amazing embossing inside the cover. It adds to the whimsy of the book.
You really need to be in the right frame of mind to read this book. I wasn't sure what I was getting exactly so I sat down thinking I was just reading a story. It is actually broken up into several stories.
If you like poetry you will love this book. It would make a great literary discussion group book. Looking into the meaning of each story and what each person gets out of it. There are messages in every story that some I immediately understood, others were more difficult for me. In fact if anyone would like to get a group together please let me know. I do plan to read it again.
I am sure that I will revise my star rating when I re-read it. For now I gave it three stars because I don't think I was in the right frame of mind while reading it. It was beautifully written and the perfect fables for adults.
You really need to be in the right frame of mind to read this book. I wasn't sure what I was getting exactly so I sat down thinking I was just reading a story. It is actually broken up into several stories.
If you like poetry you will love this book. It would make a great literary discussion group book. Looking into the meaning of each story and what each person gets out of it. There are messages in every story that some I immediately understood, others were more difficult for me. In fact if anyone would like to get a group together please let me know. I do plan to read it again.
I am sure that I will revise my star rating when I re-read it. For now I gave it three stars because I don't think I was in the right frame of mind while reading it. It was beautifully written and the perfect fables for adults.
August 14, 2013
Rise was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award. Full disclosure: the nonprofit I work for administers the CBA. I heard Annette read at an book awards event, and I was intrigued. When I started the book, though, I still wasn't sure what to expect or if I would enjoy it. I admit that I generally do not appreciate short story collections. Writing short stories strikes me as one of the hardest feats for a writer; how to pull in the reader in so few words? How to make characters seem alive and interesting and fallible? How to make the reader care about them? I haven't found many writers that make this genre work for me.
L. Annette Binder is a gifted writer and this book is wonderful. She works in short, declarative sentences and the stories feel quote-unquote "literary" but approachable, too. Her characters seem real and the tension in their lives made me uncomfortable more than once. I really recommend this book.
L. Annette Binder is a gifted writer and this book is wonderful. She works in short, declarative sentences and the stories feel quote-unquote "literary" but approachable, too. Her characters seem real and the tension in their lives made me uncomfortable more than once. I really recommend this book.
February 16, 2013
I really liked these short stories. There is magic in them, and a deep, dark undercurrent of folklore, and the writing is both sharp and surprising. The collection as a whole felt cohesive, and there was not a single story I didn’t enjoy. This is clearly a talented young writer – this is her debut collection – and one I intend to follow. Her stories come out of seemingly mundane occurrences, but to a one they are exalted by a quality of the surreal which imbues in them a kind of quiet danger or desperation. They are at once familiar and not: edged in something other-worldly and always slightly menacing. There is nothing easy about them: somehow you both want to be in them and don’t, but you stay because she casts a spell too powerful to resist. I recommend this collection very highly.
August 23, 2012
I won this book on good reads from first reads. I did finish this about a week ago, but wanted to reflect on the book before doing this review. I loved the cover and the stories were a little different then what I normally read so I personally had a struggle staying on task with this one. I do not want to disrespect short stories however. This book is well put together and I rated 3 out of 5 stars for this. I am donating this book to a short story program at our local nursing home so that people who are into these kinds of books can truly enjoy this:) If I hear back on any of the stories from the residents I will add to this review at a later date. Thank you to firstreads, and the author as this book is going to be read to so many people and be put to special use.
September 7, 2012
This is a collection of short stories, all set in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I thought the stories were beautifully written, and shockingly moving. Several of them -- Nephilim, Dead Languages, and especially Lay My Head, made me cry. Interestingly, the stories all seem to involve contemporary characters, but many also appear to be retellings of fairy tales I read (or was read) as a child. Because of the way they are written and the familiar setting, the emotional distance one usually has to fairy tale characters vanishes, and I found myself pulled into the amazing, horrible, sad and magic experiences of the people in these stories. This is a remarkable collection of stories, and it makes me want to read more!
October 25, 2013
I enjoyed this collection pretty thorougly. I won this book through Goodreads giveaways. This is a collection of short stories that have a bit of a darkness to them, a grit. There are a few in this collection that I couldn't quite pinpoint from stories I've heard which made me want to pick up a folk lore book and do some research. I haven't yet, but I'm likely to come back to bookmarks in the future and do so; Which says a lot bc I usually am not sucked in to short stories for much longer than a week or so after I've read them. Enjoyed. Thanks for the opportunity to review.
December 9, 2012
Rise
Author: L. Annette Binder
What a strange tale, with lots of eerie visuals, funerals, baby birds, autism what’s it all about.
L.Annette Binder is a very fine writer and knows how to get to the bones of a subject.
Something you and I would never give notice, she goes into depth,
describing every little detail and in some way drags you into this collection of imaginary tales.
Strange is the only word I have to describe it.
Worth the read.
Dog Brindle
dogbrindlebarks.blogspot.ca
Author: L. Annette Binder
What a strange tale, with lots of eerie visuals, funerals, baby birds, autism what’s it all about.
L.Annette Binder is a very fine writer and knows how to get to the bones of a subject.
Something you and I would never give notice, she goes into depth,
describing every little detail and in some way drags you into this collection of imaginary tales.
Strange is the only word I have to describe it.
Worth the read.
Dog Brindle
dogbrindlebarks.blogspot.ca
November 5, 2012
I picked this book up on a whim and was happily surprised. This is a collection of short stories that have a very strong emotional pull. And not in a Chicken Soup for the Soul kind of way.
Each short story vividly captures a moment in someone's life. I felt myself completely enveloped in each little world.
As a side note, because it is emotionally charged, it's not the best for bedtime reading.
Each short story vividly captures a moment in someone's life. I felt myself completely enveloped in each little world.
As a side note, because it is emotionally charged, it's not the best for bedtime reading.
October 28, 2019
Several of the short stories in this collection are worthy of five stars, and as a whole, I enjoyed the collection's theme, a contemporary retelling of classic fairy tales. Binder's writing shows a remarkable amount of restraint and never allows the overall theme to overpower her prose or get in the way of her superbly polished stories. I look forward to reading more from Binder in the future.
November 15, 2012
I picked this book up on a whim at the library, not expecting too much. I've never heard of nor ready anything by the author. I couldn't put it down. I loved how each time I finished a story I was left wanting more; a few of the stories made me tear up. It's so rare that I find an author that can evoke such emotions from me.
April 4, 2013
These are dark tales about very lonely souls. I found that many of the tales took on a slightly spooky, maybe even sinister, quality if read right before bedtime. Standouts for me were "Sea of Tranquility" (which may be the only uplifting tale in the book) and "Nephilim."
July 8, 2013
Beautifully written short stories. It took a few stories before I really started to enjoy it, though. As others have noted, the stories tend not to have real plots or resolutions. They're almost more like vignettes.
December 17, 2012
Excellent debut with multiple standout stories that will haunt and influence me.
December 2, 2012
Pretty good for short stories, but I would NOT call them fairy tales.
January 2, 2013
Rich, sensory journeys in crystalline detail. Each one seems perfect.
July 19, 2013
Lovely little nuggets of literary goodness. But fairy tales they are not. Not even close.
September 1, 2015
Loved this. "Dead Languages" alone made me want to buy the book.
June 27, 2015
Boring.
June 24, 2015
Quiet, dreamy, unexpectedly moving stories.
November 15, 2012
Nephilim: *****
Halo: *****
Sea of Tranquility: *****
Sidewinder: *****
Halo: *****
Sea of Tranquility: *****
Sidewinder: *****
February 10, 2013
A moving book of short stories by a talented writer - each one a little gem.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews