The Evening of Adam

by Alice Thomas Ellis

Called to account in the Garden, Adam immediately ratted on “she gave me the fruit of the tree, and I did eat.” Given this beginning, it’s not surprising to find that throughout the immemorial war between men and women “it’s your fault” has been a constant refrain. It’s all rather comic, in its tragic sort of way—at least as Alice Thomas Ellis sees it. The amusing woefulness of Every Couple’s descendents is the theme which unites most of the fifteen stories gathered in this, the only collection of Ellis’s short fiction. The sparkling economy of her style makes these bristlingly witty, clever, and unsettling tales especially vivid and memorable. And enjoyable. First published in Britain in 1994. With a new Afterword by Thomas Meagher.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

189 pages, Paperback

First published November 7, 1995

About the author

Alice Thomas Ellis was short-listed for the Booker prize for The 27th Kingdom. She is the author of A Welsh Childhood (autobiography), Fairy Tale and several other novels including The Summerhouse Trilogy, made into a movie starring Jeanne Moreau and Joan Plowright.

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this story collection a try because I enjoyed the bleak wickedness of the author's The Summer House: A Trilogy when I read it some twenty years ago (would I still like it now? I mean to find out at some point). It turned out I disliked most of the stories here, with a couple exceptions ("Oh Billy" and especially "Statue" come to mind). Rather a lot of them (though not the two I liked) are about desperately unhappy housewives who are driven to point of literal madness by their callous husbands. I can't help sparing a thought for Alice Thomas Ellis' real life husband. Anyway, even though I knew as I was reading it, that this book was not at all a keeper for me, I kept going because Ellis' writing has a quality that kept sucking me in when I glanced at the opening of the next story, despite having just been gutted by the one I'd finished.

[Monique · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spooky little tidbits.

[Richard Francis · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's very hard to write good short stories, but despite the age of the book and the obvious changes in society in 30 years - the human condition behinds them all remains very much in place.
I've been a fan of Ellis since the B.B.C put out 'The clothes in the wardrobe' as a television drama in the early 1990's and gave the books behind the production a huge boost.
You're drawn in quickly and engaged to all of them - bar one or two - and that was probably down to me either being tired or just not in the right frame of mind.
There is a constant struggle for men and women to comprehend each other's modus operandi and mind sets - but these stories catch brief glimpses of this struggle and her imagination capturing was unique and special.

[Christine Dolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange, enigmatic and often disturbing short stories. Quite a few are about bullying husbands and their unhappy wives. A very idiosyncratic collection.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Abrupt, uncanny, and very funny. I gobbled up this whole collection in one afternoon, which goes against my usual rules for short stories, because each one was so dark and delicious.

[scarlettraces · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alice Thomas Ellis has got to be one of the wittiest writers out there. "All her life Milly had bitterly resented this sort of imposition on her time and independence: as a child she had never considered it to be her turn to do the washing up or seen it as just that she should help with the shopping. It was her view that since she had not personally chosen to cook meals and soil dishes or supply the household with goods then she should not be expected to involve herself in such matters. As she neared her second decade she had naturally begun to realize that there was a flaw in her reasoning, but it had not lessened her resentment."

judging by the number of goodreads ratings for her books, she is not much read, for a writer whose last novel was published in the mid 90s (and who put out an excellent, opinionated book on food in 2004, shortly before she died). she should be. me, i'm off to acquire what books of hers i don't already have before they disappear into time's mulcher.

[Georgina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore Alice Thomas Ellis. Always on solid ground and yet the territory is fresh, sometimes startling - always reconiseable, but ever through a glass darkly. She has such perception of the human condition and offers up her insights with meticulous attention, with generosity, and a touch of cynicism - if that is possible!
The stories here are a nosey parker's charter - we look through the keyhole, or over the garden fence, into the untold stories of small lives that are unremarkable and yet vibrate with intensity. There are one or two modern parables and an updated Bunyanesque allegory. I always say I don't like short stories, but I often dip into a volume when my mind is in butterfly mode, and this has been a great reward for doing so.

[Kai Coates · Rating 4 out of 5]

After discovering Ellis through The Inn at the Edge of the World, I straightaway ordered another six of her books. Her writing is acerbic, often balancing on the razor edge between humor and tragedy. This collection of short stories focus on domestic tales with an undercurrent of malevolent possibilities. She’s not as gothic as Shirley Jackson, but I find their tones similar. Anyway, glad this second dive into Ellis was as satisfying as the first. I will continue to make my way through all of her work.

Favorites: “Rats and Rabbits”, “Oh, Billy”, “An Ideal Home”, and the titular “The Evening of Adam”