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Remember How I Told You I Loved You?
From a brilliant new literary voice, a collection of stories that follow a young woman from college into her early thirties—from delayed adolescence to (delayed) adulthood. Through college, careers, love affairs, and marriages, Linden’s characters try to sort out what separates the passing from the permanent, the actual from the possible, and exactly how involved you really have to be in the basic questions of your life. From familiar patterns like ambiguous friendships, uncertain love affairs, and unfulfilling jobs, Linden has created something new: a sharp and intimate take on romance and infidelity, trust and betrayal.
A deadpan narrative, cool and precise, about hesitation and doubt and how to rid your apartment of mice, Remember How I Told You I Loved You? is by turns witty, moving, and darkly humorous.
“With deadpan restraint, Linden captures the drifting disenfranchisement of post-collegiate life—its pretensions and joys, its cubicles and cats, and all those vegan boyfriends demanding their share of the rent.” —Caitlin Macy, author of Spoiled
"Gillian Linden is a master of the understatement and a magician of the unsaid. These stories are narrated in voices soft in tone, but you'd be wise to listen up. The protagonists appear to be lovely young women, but watch your back. Breezy style belies a dark and devious undercurrent. Consider the ingenious title: Remember How I Told You I Loved You? Whatever comes next, it's not going to be sweet. This is a memorable collection of stories." —Binnie Kirshenbaum, author of The Scenic Route
A deadpan narrative, cool and precise, about hesitation and doubt and how to rid your apartment of mice, Remember How I Told You I Loved You? is by turns witty, moving, and darkly humorous.
“With deadpan restraint, Linden captures the drifting disenfranchisement of post-collegiate life—its pretensions and joys, its cubicles and cats, and all those vegan boyfriends demanding their share of the rent.” —Caitlin Macy, author of Spoiled
"Gillian Linden is a master of the understatement and a magician of the unsaid. These stories are narrated in voices soft in tone, but you'd be wise to listen up. The protagonists appear to be lovely young women, but watch your back. Breezy style belies a dark and devious undercurrent. Consider the ingenious title: Remember How I Told You I Loved You? Whatever comes next, it's not going to be sweet. This is a memorable collection of stories." —Binnie Kirshenbaum, author of The Scenic Route
109 pages, Paperback
First published August 27, 2013
7 people are currently reading
537 people want to read
About the author
Gillian Linden
5 books28 followersGillian Linden received her MFA from Columbia University. She is a 2011 winner of the Henfield Prize for fiction. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
June 19, 2017
My Recommendation Pass unless you are really interested in college coming of age stories or really interested in short stories.
My Response I'm not sure why I picked this up back in January 2014, but I did. It was either the sadness in the title or the open envelopes on the front. I had no recollection of it being short stories as I rarely read them. And yet even when I went to read this, because I wanted a quick read before vacation, I was surprised they were short stories and it says STORIES on the front!
Honestly, this book disappointed me. There were two beautiful quotes, but overall I found the stories to be lacking and somewhat stunted. Many of the stories loosely tied together and I felt it distracted from what could've been a wonderful collection of (somewhat depressing) coming of age stories.
Click here to continue reading on my blog The Oddness of Moving Things.
My Response I'm not sure why I picked this up back in January 2014, but I did. It was either the sadness in the title or the open envelopes on the front. I had no recollection of it being short stories as I rarely read them. And yet even when I went to read this, because I wanted a quick read before vacation, I was surprised they were short stories and it says STORIES on the front!
Honestly, this book disappointed me. There were two beautiful quotes, but overall I found the stories to be lacking and somewhat stunted. Many of the stories loosely tied together and I felt it distracted from what could've been a wonderful collection of (somewhat depressing) coming of age stories.
Click here to continue reading on my blog The Oddness of Moving Things.
October 4, 2014
n Gillian Linden’s debut collection of short stories, Remember How I Told You I Love You, we meet a young woman named Karen. Remember How I Told You I Love You follows Karen from college to her days as a young married woman. Through out this collection of stories, we get to know Karen and a cast of characters who drift in and out of her life.
Karen is introduced in the opening story, “Common Rooms.” A college student, Karen is shy and awkward. She soon befriends Lizzie. Together they share stories of separate trips to Italy and a fondness for Limoncello. They also gossip about a professor who they believe is having an affair with a student who is most notable for wearing a nose stud. Karen and Lizzie’s friendship is shortly threatened when Lizzie begins dating a guy named Brian.
Later on in the collection, in the story, “Ham and Crackers,” Karen deals with two low-paying jobs tedious jobs and the task of navigating the disappointment of the real world after the safe cushion of college. At one job, Karen takes care of an aging woman named Bette.
And in the final story “Pests” Karen is now married and dealing with a perceived infestation of mice and an obnoxious dog trainer for a recently acquired dog. And speaking of dogs, Karen is oddly treated by her husband as if she’s a puppy in need of same training and maybe a treat if she behaves well.
Throughout Remember How I Told You I Loved You are stories of people connected to Karen in some fashion or another. For instance, in the story “Crowded Skies” Karen’s old college roommate, Lizzie, is marrying Brian and their friends seem to all be on the same flight to their wedding. Other stories share woes of crappy jobs, bad relationships and the odd ennui many twenty-somethings go through once college has ended and they adjust to the harsh reality of adulthood.
I really wanted to like this book. As someone who has made it through her twenties somewhat intact, I knew I’d relate to the characters’ uncertainty, struggles, bad jobs, love won and lost, arguments with friends and the fear of independence. And I liked the concept of short stories that are intermingled through one character rather than stories that stand alone with different characters and different plots.
However, the execution left something to be desired. Linden is a decent writer. Well, she does seem to know the difference from a verb and a noun. And I don’t think all stories have to have dynamic, exciting plots. Stories that are character-driven can be very interesting indeed. But Linden doesn’t write interesting characters. Despite Karen and her friends’ issues, I didn’t find them compelling. I found them to be boring and not fully-developed. In fact, the student with the nose ring who was allegedly having an affair with a professor stood out more to me than anybody else. And as I kept reading this book I found myself confused, mixing up characters because they weren’t written with defining features that made them memorable in a convincing way.
The book jacket describes the stories written in a deadpan humorous way, but I didn’t chuckle once. Never once did I even crack a smile. So much for deadpan humor. Instead, I found the stories dull and dispassionate.
Interestingly enough, it is the titular story that I found somewhat for interesting. In this story, Daphne moves in with her boyfriend Dennis. Though Dennis has proclaimed his love for Daphne, she can’t help but feel her doubts especially considering Dennis is working all the time and a woman from his past named Natalie arrives to possibly upset the couple. And oddly, this story seems to have almost no connection to Karen. I kind of wish Linden would have fleshed-out this story to an actual novel, and Karen and her woeful band of friends were put into the delete pile.
Ultimately, Remember How I Told You How I Loved You is pretty darn forgetful and best left on the book store or library shelf. There are other collections of short stories worth reading, and I hope to find them.
Originally Published at the Book Self:
http://thebookselfblog.wordpress.com/...
Karen is introduced in the opening story, “Common Rooms.” A college student, Karen is shy and awkward. She soon befriends Lizzie. Together they share stories of separate trips to Italy and a fondness for Limoncello. They also gossip about a professor who they believe is having an affair with a student who is most notable for wearing a nose stud. Karen and Lizzie’s friendship is shortly threatened when Lizzie begins dating a guy named Brian.
Later on in the collection, in the story, “Ham and Crackers,” Karen deals with two low-paying jobs tedious jobs and the task of navigating the disappointment of the real world after the safe cushion of college. At one job, Karen takes care of an aging woman named Bette.
And in the final story “Pests” Karen is now married and dealing with a perceived infestation of mice and an obnoxious dog trainer for a recently acquired dog. And speaking of dogs, Karen is oddly treated by her husband as if she’s a puppy in need of same training and maybe a treat if she behaves well.
Throughout Remember How I Told You I Loved You are stories of people connected to Karen in some fashion or another. For instance, in the story “Crowded Skies” Karen’s old college roommate, Lizzie, is marrying Brian and their friends seem to all be on the same flight to their wedding. Other stories share woes of crappy jobs, bad relationships and the odd ennui many twenty-somethings go through once college has ended and they adjust to the harsh reality of adulthood.
I really wanted to like this book. As someone who has made it through her twenties somewhat intact, I knew I’d relate to the characters’ uncertainty, struggles, bad jobs, love won and lost, arguments with friends and the fear of independence. And I liked the concept of short stories that are intermingled through one character rather than stories that stand alone with different characters and different plots.
However, the execution left something to be desired. Linden is a decent writer. Well, she does seem to know the difference from a verb and a noun. And I don’t think all stories have to have dynamic, exciting plots. Stories that are character-driven can be very interesting indeed. But Linden doesn’t write interesting characters. Despite Karen and her friends’ issues, I didn’t find them compelling. I found them to be boring and not fully-developed. In fact, the student with the nose ring who was allegedly having an affair with a professor stood out more to me than anybody else. And as I kept reading this book I found myself confused, mixing up characters because they weren’t written with defining features that made them memorable in a convincing way.
The book jacket describes the stories written in a deadpan humorous way, but I didn’t chuckle once. Never once did I even crack a smile. So much for deadpan humor. Instead, I found the stories dull and dispassionate.
Interestingly enough, it is the titular story that I found somewhat for interesting. In this story, Daphne moves in with her boyfriend Dennis. Though Dennis has proclaimed his love for Daphne, she can’t help but feel her doubts especially considering Dennis is working all the time and a woman from his past named Natalie arrives to possibly upset the couple. And oddly, this story seems to have almost no connection to Karen. I kind of wish Linden would have fleshed-out this story to an actual novel, and Karen and her woeful band of friends were put into the delete pile.
Ultimately, Remember How I Told You How I Loved You is pretty darn forgetful and best left on the book store or library shelf. There are other collections of short stories worth reading, and I hope to find them.
Originally Published at the Book Self:
http://thebookselfblog.wordpress.com/...
August 10, 2016
I picked this book off of Kindle's Monthly Deals list and was intrigued by the description. At first I liked the stories. They were all different but connected. However, by the end I too wasn't enamored by "Karen." Overall my biggest problem with the book/stories were the way Karen had relationships with people that she really didn't For example the exterminator "Eli." She kept referring to him by his first name and the way she interacted with him and the way she talked about him in relation to her I thought maybe they used to date and it was now awkward or something. However, no he was a stranger, just the exterminator. She did this earlier with another male in her life and it's just confusing. I think part of the problem falls on me though. I was expecting the book to be more profound in the sense of maybe the character(s) change and evolve over time and Karen was still as wishy washy and whiny and unmotivated as she was in the beginning. Maybe that was the whole point and that's why I place part of the blame on myself.
Read
December 27, 2016This is a book that seems to follow twenty-somethings around in their campus or post high-school days as they drift into and out of jobs and relationships without a lot happening. I admired Linden's stylistic approach of "sectioning" her prose with short sections separated by breaks, and I felt that added to the momentum of the stories overall. I was hoping the characters would be a bit more memorable, especially as they weave in and out of various stories in the collection, but I had a hard time keeping track of which character was which as they resurfaced in later stories. Overall, the rhythm of the prose and the spunkiness of the dialogue kept my interest enough to finish the book. A fairly quick read.
September 1, 2013
Cute, quick read. This collection of short stories are connected not just in theme (the pursuit of love & a person's definition of it) but by a lone character, Karen. The reader follows her through college and into her 30s as she stumbles around, figuring out who she is, what she wants and who/how to love.
If I had felt more empathy for Karen I might have given this four stars but by the time I got through her second story I found her to be irritating. She came across as whiny and lazy and if you're going to center so much around this person you'd hope they'd be a bit more likeable.
If I had felt more empathy for Karen I might have given this four stars but by the time I got through her second story I found her to be irritating. She came across as whiny and lazy and if you're going to center so much around this person you'd hope they'd be a bit more likeable.
October 3, 2013
I received this book in the mail today, I finished reading this book today. While reading it I felt as though I was sitting back in my college English class, freshman year at that. I felt as though this book lacked any real flow. Most sentenced were structured as though it was a girl retelling the account of friends... she said, he said, Karen did this, Daphne said this. It was really just to much for me to enjoy. Perhaps with more experience in the flow of writing and building on characters this author will have more successful books in the future.
February 15, 2014
This book of somewhat related short stories was incredibly boring. Most of the stories just ended, with no real plot or conclusion at all. I like character-driven fiction, but these weren't even plotless stories about interesting characters.
Sometimes a good audiobook propels a lackluster book to one more enjoyable, but though Kate Rudd did a decent job with the narration, it didn't help at all. Actually, I guess it helped somewhat, because instead of just skimming through, I did end up listening to it.
Sometimes a good audiobook propels a lackluster book to one more enjoyable, but though Kate Rudd did a decent job with the narration, it didn't help at all. Actually, I guess it helped somewhat, because instead of just skimming through, I did end up listening to it.
March 10, 2015
An instantly forgettable set of short stories. There's really nothing special about the writing and there's not a lot going on. The stories are disjointed; not in a good experimental way, but more of a 'I will write these stories with no prior plan and just write anything that pops into my head' way. I got the feeling that the author doesn't care about the characters and maybe writing these stories were more of a chore than a pleasure, so it turn it was really hard for me to care about and feel connected to the characters.
October 11, 2013
I won this book through Good Reads First Reads. Thank you for choosing me and I will review it upon completion.
This seemingly disconnected series of musings was very well written. I kept thinking when is it going to connect and at times it did but other times it didn't. Sometimes things don't need to connect, they just are. I felt like I was observing lives through a kaleidoscope. It was a nice short read.
This seemingly disconnected series of musings was very well written. I kept thinking when is it going to connect and at times it did but other times it didn't. Sometimes things don't need to connect, they just are. I felt like I was observing lives through a kaleidoscope. It was a nice short read.
January 7, 2014
It was a nice change after The Goldfinch, and I enjoyed it. I looked forward to starting each new story. It would be hard to pick a best story from the collection because they all served their purposes.
It's not a book that I'll likely recommend to everyone, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Thanks Kindle loan.
It's not a book that I'll likely recommend to everyone, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Thanks Kindle loan.
July 23, 2014
Collection of short stories related, but not really related about joining adulthood though romantic relationships. Nothing too inspiring, but nothing offensive or jarring either. Sad to say that I wasn't emotionally invested in stories that were about love. Maybe then I would have felt more passionately about a review?
February 26, 2014
So bad. I quit this book more than halfway through because it was astoundingly dull. Wish I could remember where I heard about it and who recommended it enough so that I added it to my list. Alas, cutting my losses, on to the next.
January 12, 2014
I was excited to try reading a book designed in this format- but became very frustrated reading the stories. The rhythm of the stories was choppy, lacking any depth and imagery. I didn't even finish this book. I tried to like it- but I just could not connect to anything. It all felt pointless.
January 7, 2017
Some very descriptive writing. The stories traverse periods in a person's life. The main character drifts and it's hard to detect her growth or change through the stories. Reminds me of intelligent people with no sense of purpose.
September 16, 2013
Good read for in between the all encompassing love story series. Doesn't rattle your emotions the same way.
January 18, 2014
Bland
Reading this was like getting only part of the story. Each story just ended with no conclusion. The stories were disjointed in my opinion.
Reading this was like getting only part of the story. Each story just ended with no conclusion. The stories were disjointed in my opinion.
March 10, 2014
Crap! don't waste your time with this book
July 4, 2014
Hmmmm
I'm still trying to figure it out ...I lost count of the .times it lost me! I don't even remember any of the characters :/ if there were any at all -Disappointed
I'm still trying to figure it out ...I lost count of the .times it lost me! I don't even remember any of the characters :/ if there were any at all -Disappointed
June 5, 2023
So good. Painfully funny and compulsively rereadable.
November 4, 2017
I like college coming-of-age stories but these were just uninteresting stories, with even more uninteresting characters. Don't bother.
September 21, 2013
Grateful I'm not in any of these relationships ;-) !
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews