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The Devastating Boys
Here is the collection of Elizabeth Taylor's greatest short stories. Varied in their settings and characters, they are nevertheless the quintessence of all that is most distinguished, and witty, in her art. We meet women, children and men, often ostensibly ordinary, who follow their paths of ruthlessness and ambition, each in pursuit of happiness, love, or power - each a classic creation.
204 pages, Paperback
First published April 28, 1972
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372 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Taylor
70 books524 followersElizabeth Taylor (née Coles) was a popular English novelist and short story writer. Elizabeth Coles was born in Reading, Berkshire in 1912. She was educated at The Abbey School, Reading, and worked as a governess, as a tutor and as a librarian.
In 1936, she married John William Kendall Taylor, a businessman. She lived in Penn, Buckinghamshire, for almost all her married life.
Her first novel, At Mrs. Lippincote's, was published in 1945 and was followed by eleven more. Her short stories were published in various magazines and collected in four volumes. She also wrote a children's book.
Taylor's work is mainly concerned with the nuances of "everyday" life and situations, which she writes about with dexterity. Her shrewd but affectionate portrayals of middle class and upper middle class English life won her an audience of discriminating readers, as well as loyal friends in the world of letters.
She was a friend of the novelist Ivy Compton-Burnett and of the novelist and critic Robert Liddell.
Elizabeth Taylor died at age 63 of cancer.
Anne Tyler once compared Taylor to Jane Austen, Barbara Pym and Elizabeth Bowen -- "soul sisters all," in Tyler's words . In recent years new interest has been kindled by movie makers in her work. French director Francois Ozon, has made "The Real Life of Angel Deverell" which will be released in early 2005. American director Dan Ireland's screen adaptation of Taylor's "Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont" came out in this country first in 2006 and has made close to $1 million. A British distributor picked it up at Cannes, and the movie was released in England in 2009.
In 1936, she married John William Kendall Taylor, a businessman. She lived in Penn, Buckinghamshire, for almost all her married life.
Her first novel, At Mrs. Lippincote's, was published in 1945 and was followed by eleven more. Her short stories were published in various magazines and collected in four volumes. She also wrote a children's book.
Taylor's work is mainly concerned with the nuances of "everyday" life and situations, which she writes about with dexterity. Her shrewd but affectionate portrayals of middle class and upper middle class English life won her an audience of discriminating readers, as well as loyal friends in the world of letters.
She was a friend of the novelist Ivy Compton-Burnett and of the novelist and critic Robert Liddell.
Elizabeth Taylor died at age 63 of cancer.
Anne Tyler once compared Taylor to Jane Austen, Barbara Pym and Elizabeth Bowen -- "soul sisters all," in Tyler's words . In recent years new interest has been kindled by movie makers in her work. French director Francois Ozon, has made "The Real Life of Angel Deverell" which will be released in early 2005. American director Dan Ireland's screen adaptation of Taylor's "Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont" came out in this country first in 2006 and has made close to $1 million. A British distributor picked it up at Cannes, and the movie was released in England in 2009.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
October 9, 2022
I have read quite a few of Taylor's novels, but this is the first book of short stories. I enjoyed them all, as they are representative of her interesting characters and dry humor. The title story, "The Devastating Boys" is one of the top ten short stories I've ever read. Another favorite was about a couple on their honeymoon just beginning to be aware of traits that were going to be real irritations as time went on. And one suspense tale that had a horrific realization at the end. A good collection that proves she could do both forms equally well.
February 10, 2020
As I recall when reading reviews of Elizabeth Taylor and her oeuvre, this was recommended as her best short stories collection. It was quite good. Some of the stories were dated….and of course that makes sense in a way given the collection came out in 1972 and some of the stories dated back into the mid-60s. I didn’t mind it. What I was not used to was the manner in how Black people were referred to in some of the short stories. Nowadays the characterizations would be labeled as over-the-top blatantly racist, and the person writing it would receive condemnation, and rightfully so. I guess I have to remember that as bad as racism can be today it was even worse in the middle of the 20th century in many countries. A couple of reviewers wrote that it wasn’t Elizabeth Taylor’s views…she was trying to make a point about racism and using her short stories as a vehicle for the point.
With that caveat stated, my favorite story was “In and Out the Houses”. This girl…I think she was a teenager, went to a boarding school most of the year but was back home on holiday in the village where she lived. She would go visiting neighbors and would note what they were doing (what they were cooking for dinner for example) and what they told her, sometimes idle gossip…she would pick up this kind of info from Neighbor A and would go to relay it to Neighbor B and so on….and then she would return to Neighbor A eventually and divulge everything she had learned from Neighbors B through Neighbor Z….it was really humorous. She was in essence better than a newspaper! This is how it ended: "She managed a few more visits that holiday; but on Thursday she went back to school again, and then no one in the village knew what was happening any more."
One thing I noticed with the majority of her stories was that older dowdy women in most cases when described had huge bosoms (her word, not mine!)…go figure!
The Fly-Paper: was really creepy…unexpectedly creepy. What an ending!
The Excursion to the Source: was quite good. A young woman is held back by her domineering grandmother (her mother had died and so the grandmother is the ward) on holiday to have any fun but somehow escapes her clutches and finds brief love with the hotel owner’s son. An unexpected ending.
Tall Boy: the author paints a picture of a very lonely man in London in a bedsitter flat on a rainy Sunday afternoon the morning before his birthday. He looks forward to going to work as opposed to looking forward to the weekends where he is stuck in the bedsitter apartment.
There is a brief review of the book at the end of this Atlantic Monthly article by Benjamin Schwarz who was former literary and national editor for the periodical: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...
These are the 11 stories and, in some cases, where I could find the source where they were originally published:
The Devastating Boys: McCall’s, May 1966
The Excursion to the Source: unknown
Tall Boy: The New Yorker, 31 December 1966
Praises; unknown
In and Out the Houses: The Saturday Evening Post, 14 December 1968
Flesh: unknown
Sisters: The New Yorker, 21 June 1969
Hotel du Commerce: The Cornhill Magazine, Winter 1965/66
Miss A. and Miss M.: unknown
The Fly-Paper: The Cornhill Magazine, Spring 1969
Crepes Flambees: unknown
With that caveat stated, my favorite story was “In and Out the Houses”. This girl…I think she was a teenager, went to a boarding school most of the year but was back home on holiday in the village where she lived. She would go visiting neighbors and would note what they were doing (what they were cooking for dinner for example) and what they told her, sometimes idle gossip…she would pick up this kind of info from Neighbor A and would go to relay it to Neighbor B and so on….and then she would return to Neighbor A eventually and divulge everything she had learned from Neighbors B through Neighbor Z….it was really humorous. She was in essence better than a newspaper! This is how it ended: "She managed a few more visits that holiday; but on Thursday she went back to school again, and then no one in the village knew what was happening any more."
One thing I noticed with the majority of her stories was that older dowdy women in most cases when described had huge bosoms (her word, not mine!)…go figure!
The Fly-Paper: was really creepy…unexpectedly creepy. What an ending!
The Excursion to the Source: was quite good. A young woman is held back by her domineering grandmother (her mother had died and so the grandmother is the ward) on holiday to have any fun but somehow escapes her clutches and finds brief love with the hotel owner’s son. An unexpected ending.
Tall Boy: the author paints a picture of a very lonely man in London in a bedsitter flat on a rainy Sunday afternoon the morning before his birthday. He looks forward to going to work as opposed to looking forward to the weekends where he is stuck in the bedsitter apartment.
There is a brief review of the book at the end of this Atlantic Monthly article by Benjamin Schwarz who was former literary and national editor for the periodical: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...
These are the 11 stories and, in some cases, where I could find the source where they were originally published:
The Devastating Boys: McCall’s, May 1966
The Excursion to the Source: unknown
Tall Boy: The New Yorker, 31 December 1966
Praises; unknown
In and Out the Houses: The Saturday Evening Post, 14 December 1968
Flesh: unknown
Sisters: The New Yorker, 21 June 1969
Hotel du Commerce: The Cornhill Magazine, Winter 1965/66
Miss A. and Miss M.: unknown
The Fly-Paper: The Cornhill Magazine, Spring 1969
Crepes Flambees: unknown
June 5, 2024
All of these stories are great, ranging from 3.5 to 5 stars. So an average of 4 overall. I particularly liked “Tall Boy” and “Flesh”.
April 26, 2022
Some ups and downs, as with all short story collections, but some very good stuff indeed, including some interesting attempts (some successful, some less so) to deal with more racially and socially diverse subject matter
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March 26, 2020My first forage into Elizabeth Taylor... I hadn't realised when I picked it up that it was short stories, not a novel, but if anything it surpassed what I had hoped for. Taylor is brilliantly satirical, dry, witty and amazing at exploring relationships in detail. To me she is a mixture of Barbara Pym, Angela Thirkell, Monica Dickens and EM Delafield. She's brilliant, and so very relatable. I have many of her novels and cannot wait to read these too.
May 11, 2015
Quiet desperation. Lonely lives played out against cups of tea and marmalade. Elizabeth Taylor wrote of the 'silent majority', those (us) who go to work, raise their children, pay their taxes...yet have issues and yearnings, all kept hidden behind tidy front lawns. This is what it is to be middle-class in a 'nation of shopkeepers'.
For the sake of a tan, she was wasting her holiday - just to be a five minutes' wonder in the bar on her return, the deepest brown any of them had that year.
There are eleven short stories in this collection, probably her best. Each story has its own angle, of course, but never far from tea rooms and shy, sheltered living. The oddy is The Fly-Paper which is a bit of a horror story. Macabre. Taylor was first a governess and then a librarian. After getting married, she began the stories based on her comfortable life in a comfortable English village.
“I dislike much travel or change of environment and prefer the days … to come round almost the same, week after week,” she said. Her writing is a reflection of this.
I first read this while holidaying on North Caicos, where I found the book sitting outside a general store. Boaters would drop off the books they had read and take the ones they hadn't. No one had touched Taylor's book, the proprietor said, so I gladly adopted it. Luck was with me. Taylor was a lovely writer, extremely under-rated. Crafty prose, clear details, and that constant craving.
Book Season = Autumn (hints of darkness)
For the sake of a tan, she was wasting her holiday - just to be a five minutes' wonder in the bar on her return, the deepest brown any of them had that year.
There are eleven short stories in this collection, probably her best. Each story has its own angle, of course, but never far from tea rooms and shy, sheltered living. The oddy is The Fly-Paper which is a bit of a horror story. Macabre. Taylor was first a governess and then a librarian. After getting married, she began the stories based on her comfortable life in a comfortable English village.
“I dislike much travel or change of environment and prefer the days … to come round almost the same, week after week,” she said. Her writing is a reflection of this.
I first read this while holidaying on North Caicos, where I found the book sitting outside a general store. Boaters would drop off the books they had read and take the ones they hadn't. No one had touched Taylor's book, the proprietor said, so I gladly adopted it. Luck was with me. Taylor was a lovely writer, extremely under-rated. Crafty prose, clear details, and that constant craving.
Book Season = Autumn (hints of darkness)
November 25, 2017
There are eleven stories in this collection – and they are all quite brilliant, though I am not going to write about each story separately – but attempt to give a flavour of the whole collection. On of things that Elizabeth Taylor can do in her short stories is to have her characters step fully formed from the pages, and the reader is immediately involved in their lives. These stories take place both at home and abroad, and concern a variety of types. We have remembrances of childhood holidays and the infatuations they bring. Loneliness and humour sit side by side throughout this delicious collection. In two of the stories there is certainly an acknowledgement of the changing face of Britain, as Elizabeth Taylor introduces us to some more diverse characters than we perhaps usually associate with her, in the title story and in Tall Boy. This later story tells the rather poignant story of Jasper; a young man, an immigrant not long arrived in England. I don’t want to say too much about that one as it could spoil it – but it is certainly one of my favourites in the collection.
“He imagined home having the same time as England. He would have felt quite lost to his loved ones if when he woke in the night, he could not be sure that they were lying in darkness too and, when his own London morning came, their also came, the sun streamed through the cracks of their hut in shanty-town, and the little girls began to chirp and skip about.” (Tall Boy)
Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2017/...
“He imagined home having the same time as England. He would have felt quite lost to his loved ones if when he woke in the night, he could not be sure that they were lying in darkness too and, when his own London morning came, their also came, the sun streamed through the cracks of their hut in shanty-town, and the little girls began to chirp and skip about.” (Tall Boy)
Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2017/...
July 10, 2023
Read: July 2023
Rating: 1/5 stars
I have read so many wonderful reviews for this short story collection I feel bad for only giving it one star, but I simply didn't like it. I have previously read Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor and found it a bit of a chore to get through - and this one was even worse. I think I just find her work vaguely depressing and so it is not really for me!
Rating: 1/5 stars
I have read so many wonderful reviews for this short story collection I feel bad for only giving it one star, but I simply didn't like it. I have previously read Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor and found it a bit of a chore to get through - and this one was even worse. I think I just find her work vaguely depressing and so it is not really for me!
May 16, 2016
Short story collection, witty, dark, incisive and at points disturbing. She writes beautifully, well worth a read.
December 2, 2008
This is one of my all-time favorite short story collections. I particularly enjoy the title story and "Excursion to the Source." Taylor is a highly overlooked writer. After discovering her last year I read this collection and five of her novels in a 2 or 3 month span. I even bought a few that I couldn't find at the library, which says a lot since I try never to buy books if I can check them out for free. But I needed them that bad. This collection is truly wonderful, though it's hard to describe why. I think the reason I like Elizabeth Taylor is the way that she describes intimacy between people and the way that she writes about small, everyday moments and interactions. It's like she's writing so eloquently things that you've always thought yourself, but never thought anyone else would have noticed. In this way she reminds me a bit of Chekhov. She should definitely be more well know and so should this collection.
May 12, 2015
Of all of the stories in The Devastating Boys, the one that will remain with me is "Praises".
In ten pages, Elizabeth Taylor has crystalized the character of Miss Smythe so precisely that anything more would be superfluous, even though I can almost imagine a novel with her as the main character. There are other very good stories in this collection, but (for me) "Praises" is the gem.
Many thanks to Christy for bringing Miss Taylor's stories to my attention. I'm looking forward to reading more of her creations.
In ten pages, Elizabeth Taylor has crystalized the character of Miss Smythe so precisely that anything more would be superfluous, even though I can almost imagine a novel with her as the main character. There are other very good stories in this collection, but (for me) "Praises" is the gem.
Many thanks to Christy for bringing Miss Taylor's stories to my attention. I'm looking forward to reading more of her creations.
September 2, 2024
4.5
An extremely interesting collection, with stories from the mid sixties to early seventies, I guess. Her interests have broadened, she's writing about racism and othering in some of these. This works well when she takes the POV of her white protagonists, as in her masterpiece, the titular The Devastating Boys. Less well or maybe not at all when she writes from the POV of a Black character, as in Tall Boy, which to me seems cruel and involuntarily condescending in its compassionate bleakness.
Her style remains immaculate. I love how she barely ever flexes her muscles, sometimes not at all, but when she does oh boy. This is one of those proverbial books which made me gasp a few times.
Loneliness remains her main topic, and she takes ut to its most brutal conclusion in The Fly-paper. I hate that story, but in thematic focus and technical brilliance it's on a level with Shirley Jackson's The Lottery and should be taught in schools.
An extremely interesting collection, with stories from the mid sixties to early seventies, I guess. Her interests have broadened, she's writing about racism and othering in some of these. This works well when she takes the POV of her white protagonists, as in her masterpiece, the titular The Devastating Boys. Less well or maybe not at all when she writes from the POV of a Black character, as in Tall Boy, which to me seems cruel and involuntarily condescending in its compassionate bleakness.
Her style remains immaculate. I love how she barely ever flexes her muscles, sometimes not at all, but when she does oh boy. This is one of those proverbial books which made me gasp a few times.
Loneliness remains her main topic, and she takes ut to its most brutal conclusion in The Fly-paper. I hate that story, but in thematic focus and technical brilliance it's on a level with Shirley Jackson's The Lottery and should be taught in schools.
May 1, 2020
‘Miss A. and Miss M’ will hurt me forever. What a perfect story. This is a great collection of stories by one of my favorite authors. Even minor Elizabeth Taylor is grander than most things written that are highly esteemed.
February 24, 2014
an excellent collection. "the fly-paper" is one of the creepiest stories i've ever read.
November 10, 2019
From BBC Radio 4:
The arrival of two little boys from London for a fortnight changes Laura's life forever.
Sarah Badel reads Elizabeth Taylor's short story.
Abridged and produced by Di Speirs.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 1999.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00...
The arrival of two little boys from London for a fortnight changes Laura's life forever.
Sarah Badel reads Elizabeth Taylor's short story.
Abridged and produced by Di Speirs.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 1999.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00...
March 4, 2023
Taylor was a great novelist, and now I see she excelled at the short story as well. All of these 11 stories were good. I particularly enjoyed the title story and one called "In and Out the Houses." Another one called "The Fly-paper" was surprisingly creepy. As with her novels, her strength lies in focusing in on the details.
November 19, 2014
I believe Elizabeth Taylor to be a very under-rated author. Her short story collection, The Devastating boys, contains eleven evocative and thought provoking stories. Elizabeth Taylor writes about everyday life, she takes the mundane and weaves it into something magical.
The title story of this collection tells of two under privileged boys from London who go to stay at the home of a middle class couple's home. Their effect on the husband and wife is both profound and long lasting.
In the story, Tall Boy, the central character Jasper Jones is in London, a long way from home, isolated and lonely. This story has a deep sense of melancholy running through it and offers little hope apart from the determination of Jasper to carry on by showing a happy face to the outside world.
The story, The Flesh, tells of a holiday romance between Phyl, a London pub landlady, and Stanley, a reticent widower from Hastings. Their romance is a disaster and they each return to their respective lives, still lonely and unfulfilled.
The story The Fly-Paper is genuinely creepy and menacing. The ending is both shocking and totally unpredictable. This story will stay in your mind long after reading.
Elizabeth Taylor is not a 'happy ever after' author. She is not afraid to throw frequent and unexpected obstacles in the way of her characters. These obstacles may come in the form of disappointment, regret, revenge or many other emotions which the reader can identify with. The author shows how these characters deal with and occasionally overcome these obstacles.
A mesmerizing collection.
The title story of this collection tells of two under privileged boys from London who go to stay at the home of a middle class couple's home. Their effect on the husband and wife is both profound and long lasting.
In the story, Tall Boy, the central character Jasper Jones is in London, a long way from home, isolated and lonely. This story has a deep sense of melancholy running through it and offers little hope apart from the determination of Jasper to carry on by showing a happy face to the outside world.
The story, The Flesh, tells of a holiday romance between Phyl, a London pub landlady, and Stanley, a reticent widower from Hastings. Their romance is a disaster and they each return to their respective lives, still lonely and unfulfilled.
The story The Fly-Paper is genuinely creepy and menacing. The ending is both shocking and totally unpredictable. This story will stay in your mind long after reading.
Elizabeth Taylor is not a 'happy ever after' author. She is not afraid to throw frequent and unexpected obstacles in the way of her characters. These obstacles may come in the form of disappointment, regret, revenge or many other emotions which the reader can identify with. The author shows how these characters deal with and occasionally overcome these obstacles.
A mesmerizing collection.
October 31, 2013
The characters and situations in the best of these eleven short stories continue to reverberate in the mind after the book is closed: the country hostess of two disadvantaged city children discovers their sharp eye for mimicry, a man sends himself a birthday card, two middle aged vacationers unsuccessfully try for a night together, the head of an exclusive clothing department retires, a woman looks back at mistakes of her younger self ironically. The author has a sharp eye for the telling detail and for the insincerities of social life.
"Once, she had been insatiable as a flame. She lay and remembered the days of her youth, but with interest, not wistfully." Flesh
"She also had a few scruples about Charlie, but they were not so insistent as the cicadas." Flesh
"She seemed to be concerned about my butterfly mind, its skimming over things, not stopping to understand. I felt that knowing things ought to 'come' to me, and if it did not, it was too bad. I believed in instinct and intuition and inspiration--all labour-saving things.
Miss Martin, who taught English (my subject, I felt), approached the matter coldly. She tried to teach me the logic of it--grammar. But I thought 'ear' would somehow teach me that. Painless learning I wanted, or none at all." Miss A. And Miss M.
"Once, she had been insatiable as a flame. She lay and remembered the days of her youth, but with interest, not wistfully." Flesh
"She also had a few scruples about Charlie, but they were not so insistent as the cicadas." Flesh
"She seemed to be concerned about my butterfly mind, its skimming over things, not stopping to understand. I felt that knowing things ought to 'come' to me, and if it did not, it was too bad. I believed in instinct and intuition and inspiration--all labour-saving things.
Miss Martin, who taught English (my subject, I felt), approached the matter coldly. She tried to teach me the logic of it--grammar. But I thought 'ear' would somehow teach me that. Painless learning I wanted, or none at all." Miss A. And Miss M.
August 23, 2007
Invisible and incredible. I discovered Elizabeth Taylor (the writer) just after discovering Robert Walser. Both of them brilliant. Both of them completely undiscovered by most Americans. I love her writing for the precision of her observations and her ability to pin down vague moods and feelings. I love his writing (I've only read The Assistant and am just getting started on Jakob von Gunten) because he is so weirdly upbeat.
Elizabeth Taylor:
1912-1975
British
Worked as a governess, tutor, and librarian.
Robert Walser
1878-1956
Swiss
Worked as an engineer/inventor's assistant, butler, and secretary.
Elizabeth Taylor:
1912-1975
British
Worked as a governess, tutor, and librarian.
Robert Walser
1878-1956
Swiss
Worked as an engineer/inventor's assistant, butler, and secretary.
January 16, 2025
Taylor’s short stories: some great, some slight.
I’m a great fan of Elizabeth Taylor’s novels, but this short story collection left me disappointed. Taylor is a master at identifying the little traits that capture middle class britons—the attention to social proprieties, the fear of gossip, the attention to who makes the best marmalades…
These stories are set in the 60s and 70s when overseas travel was becoming more common, and several stories feature what, for the time, were mildly exotic foreign locations.
Some of the best address powerful (though not always affectionate) female-female relationships: Excursion to the Source; Sisters; Miss A. And Miss M. There are hints here of lesbian attraction. Other stories seem too slight to have been included.
Overall, I find Taylor better at longer stories where she has scope to explore the depths of her characters and their interactions. Recommended, though newcomers might want to start with her novels.
I’m a great fan of Elizabeth Taylor’s novels, but this short story collection left me disappointed. Taylor is a master at identifying the little traits that capture middle class britons—the attention to social proprieties, the fear of gossip, the attention to who makes the best marmalades…
These stories are set in the 60s and 70s when overseas travel was becoming more common, and several stories feature what, for the time, were mildly exotic foreign locations.
Some of the best address powerful (though not always affectionate) female-female relationships: Excursion to the Source; Sisters; Miss A. And Miss M. There are hints here of lesbian attraction. Other stories seem too slight to have been included.
Overall, I find Taylor better at longer stories where she has scope to explore the depths of her characters and their interactions. Recommended, though newcomers might want to start with her novels.
September 5, 2018
I am not usually a fan od short stories. I like to dig in and stay inside the world of a good novel. But I loved these stories. Truly delightful and insightful. Very touching.
November 19, 2024
Fantastic collection—Elizabeth Taylor is masterful. My favourite was the comedic “Flesh”, and the title story was very sweet and funny, too. Just to show her incredible range, “The Fly-Paper” is the scariest story I’ve read in years. So subtle and realistic, my blood went cold at the ending.
October 21, 2016
No, this is not National Velvet's Elizabeth Taylor. I read about her years ago when Virago decided to re-release her books and I managed to score this from the dollar bin at the Strand.
Ms. Taylor is an English writer who takes small slices of life and develops them into deliciously sly stories. One of my favorites is about a teenage girl who spends her days going from house to house imparting gossip about the townspeople. She is under the impression that her visits are acts of charity for these lonely souls when, in reality, they dread her approach and fear that anything they tell her will be relayed to another neighbor.
I'm not sure if even these re-releases are still in print, but I hope to stumble upon her again.
Ms. Taylor is an English writer who takes small slices of life and develops them into deliciously sly stories. One of my favorites is about a teenage girl who spends her days going from house to house imparting gossip about the townspeople. She is under the impression that her visits are acts of charity for these lonely souls when, in reality, they dread her approach and fear that anything they tell her will be relayed to another neighbor.
I'm not sure if even these re-releases are still in print, but I hope to stumble upon her again.
August 6, 2010
1972. Stories. Many of them are very well crafted. The story about the young couple who go back to Tunis a few years after their honeymoon there, hoping the same magic would be there -- this is all so well described.
But maybe I am just not a short-story person. I guess I would rather have a lot longer to get used to a character!
But maybe I am just not a short-story person. I guess I would rather have a lot longer to get used to a character!
June 20, 2008
Elizabeth Taylor is one of my favorite authors. Few people know about her--perhaps because they confuse her with the actress? This collection of stories is a masterpiece in the art of the miniature.
August 23, 2012
Each of these stories is so delicately wrought, so well observed. Women "living lives of quiet desperation". I've never read any of her novels, but from this evidence, she is an underrated writer.
August 5, 2024
Elizabeth Taylor’s accurate descriptions of everyday people going about their everyday lives never gets stale or outdated. These short stories written in 1972 could be about people today with very few period changes. She exposes human follies and frailties but never is she condescending or judgmental.
The title story was one of my favorites. A well-to-do older couple agree to take two little boys from a poor section of London into their home for a two week vacation. The country air, the outside activities will be good for them. But will two active and mischievous children be good for this couple? The story, which left a big smile on my face, was a good reminder of how sometimes things we dread can turn out to be wonderful.
More than a few stories were about travelers staying in unexpectedly seedy hotels. A couple on their honeymoon, an arrogant, overbearing, and disgruntled woman and her ward delayed due to car problems and two middle-aged vacationers interested in a short fling, all exhibit the author’s keen observation of human foibles. It is as if Taylor loves her characters but is able to laugh at their weaknesses, flaws that existed then and will likely continue to exist forever.
In each story, Taylor’s spot-on observations were perfect and her wry humor added to the reading pleasure.
February 18, 2020
Her best short story collection.
October 23, 2020
Really good stories
June 16, 2024
Some good stuff in here. I liked the title story, "Flesh", "Tall Boy", "Hôtel du Commerce", "Praises" and "In and Out the Houses", while "The Fly-Paper" had a fun Shirley Jackson-ish vibe.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews