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The Anna Papers
Anna Hand, a rambunctious, passionate, and famous Southern writer, returns home to straighten out the chaos of her family. But just as she forces her brother Daniel to face up to the responsibility of his daughter from an early marriage, she discovers that the vague malaise she has been feeling is cancer and commits suicide by walking into the sea. The papers she leaves behind shock her literary executor and sister Helen, but with the seductive help of her co-executor Helen begins her own liberation and the acceptance of Anna's adventurous--even exotic--credo of life.
277 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
About the author
Ellen Gilchrist
71 books265 followers A writer of poems, short stories, novels, and nonfiction commentaries, Ellen Gilchrist is a diverse writer whom critics have praised repeatedly for her subtle perceptions, unique characters, and sure command of the writer’s voice, as well as her innovative plotlines set in her native Mississippi.
As Sabine Durrant commented in the London Times, her writing “swings between the familiar and the shocking, the everyday and the traumatic.... She writes about ordinary happenings in out of the way places, of meetings between recognizable characters from her other fiction and strangers, above all of domestic routine disrupted by violence.” The world of her fiction is awry; the surprise ending, although characteristic of her works, can still shock the reader. “It is disorienting stuff,” noted Durrant, “but controlled always by Gilchrist’s wry tone and gentle insight.”
She earned her B.A. from Millsaps College in 1967, and later did postgraduate study at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
She has worked as an author and journalist, as a contributing editor for the Vieux Carre Courier from 1976-1979, and as a commentator on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition from 1984-1985. Her NPR commentaries have been published in her book Falling Through Space.
She won a National Book Award for her 1984 collection of short stories, Victory Over Japan.
As Sabine Durrant commented in the London Times, her writing “swings between the familiar and the shocking, the everyday and the traumatic.... She writes about ordinary happenings in out of the way places, of meetings between recognizable characters from her other fiction and strangers, above all of domestic routine disrupted by violence.” The world of her fiction is awry; the surprise ending, although characteristic of her works, can still shock the reader. “It is disorienting stuff,” noted Durrant, “but controlled always by Gilchrist’s wry tone and gentle insight.”
She earned her B.A. from Millsaps College in 1967, and later did postgraduate study at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
She has worked as an author and journalist, as a contributing editor for the Vieux Carre Courier from 1976-1979, and as a commentator on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition from 1984-1985. Her NPR commentaries have been published in her book Falling Through Space.
She won a National Book Award for her 1984 collection of short stories, Victory Over Japan.
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June 21, 20193. The Anna Papers
We’re going to fast forward from my childhood to my Ellen Gilchrist obsession. The Anna Papers was the first, and remains the most beloved, book by her. I don’t remember why I bought it, but I owned it, along with several others, including The Annunciation and Victory Over Japan: A Book of Stories, and moved them from apartment to apartment half-a-dozen times before they disappeared from my collection – except this one. This one I still have on my bookshelves as I write this post, tattered, yellowed, corners crumpled.
I am not from the South, and the characters in this book utterly confounded me; even their names felt foreign to me - DeDe and LeLe - and their huge, seething, extroverted, dysfunctional family was like nothing I’d ever experienced. They might as well have been from a different country, that’s how different they were. I have no idea whether it would hold up on a reread – but at this point, I feel like maybe I should pull that copy off my shelves and find out.
You can find out more about this review project on my review of The Real Mother Goose. All of the reviews are collected on my blog Books Do Furnish A Mind.
Book 2: A Little Princess
Book 4: The Secret of the Mansion
We’re going to fast forward from my childhood to my Ellen Gilchrist obsession. The Anna Papers was the first, and remains the most beloved, book by her. I don’t remember why I bought it, but I owned it, along with several others, including The Annunciation and Victory Over Japan: A Book of Stories, and moved them from apartment to apartment half-a-dozen times before they disappeared from my collection – except this one. This one I still have on my bookshelves as I write this post, tattered, yellowed, corners crumpled.
I am not from the South, and the characters in this book utterly confounded me; even their names felt foreign to me - DeDe and LeLe - and their huge, seething, extroverted, dysfunctional family was like nothing I’d ever experienced. They might as well have been from a different country, that’s how different they were. I have no idea whether it would hold up on a reread – but at this point, I feel like maybe I should pull that copy off my shelves and find out.
You can find out more about this review project on my review of The Real Mother Goose. All of the reviews are collected on my blog Books Do Furnish A Mind.
Book 2: A Little Princess
Book 4: The Secret of the Mansion
January 28, 2021
An unsatisfying tale of stereotypes. And corny; not in a good way. Occasional groovy aphorism: “Never leave the garden to look for the garden.”
March 9, 2009
This is my favorite book. Well this or Shipping News. It tells the story of novelist Anna Hand, a woman from a crazy Southern family who kills herself rather than fight a horrible cancer diagnosis. This story winds together the lives of her lovers, friends and family members --even an estranged young niece -- through those who gather at her memorial service, as well as through her papers, notes and letters. GIlchrist is a fantastic writer, and although this story is somewhat dated and stuck in the 1980s, there is nothing more timeless or beautiful than Anna and her love for life and friends. If you haven't read GIlchrist's work, you are in for a treat. Anna, her crazy cousins and even little Olivia are featured in several volumes of short stories as well as in novels.
March 7, 2008
I adore Ellen Gilchrist's writing. When I saw she has a new novel out (finally! I've been afraid she's unwell...) and that it featured Olivia Hand, I knew I had to go back and re-read all the books with Olivia in them. So it's back to my old friend, The Anna Papers. I don't care than Anna is such the product of her dysfunctional family, I still want to be her. I love these terribly flawed, destructive people.
March 8, 2012
I really like Ellen Gilchrist for her humane sense of humor and her interesting, sexy characters, especially women, and Anna Hand is no exception. Not as quirky as some of the women in her short stories, Anna is nevertheless remarkable and memorable as the writer everyone loves but no one can hold. The relationship between her and her brother Daniel is especially well-drawn, as is the complexity of the relationship between him, his daughter Jessie, and his daughter by an earlier and short-lived marriage whom he meets for the first time thanks to Anna's meddlesome brokering, Olivia. You find out early on that Anna's end is tragic, but her joie de vivre more than compensates and left this reader grateful to have made her acquaintance.
December 9, 2024
DNF 15%
January 6, 2022
I hadn't read this book since 1989, so it was a lot like reading it for the first time. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed it.
May 7, 2013
There was a time when I devoured books by Ellen Gilchrist. These books provide a sense of escape--beautiful, rich characters flit and out of the frame, doing nothing but getting intoxicated, having relationships with each other, and thinking Big Thoughts about all their relationships. Everyone always speaks in short, similarly constructed sentences.
This novel seems such a mess. It starts many years earlier, with the protagonist sleeping with one man and talking on the phone with another. Neither of the two men have any role whatsoever in the rest of the novel. Fast forward to a time when Anna is moving away from one man and taking up with another. A few paragraphs of that and fast forward again to one year in the future. Now we have a few months with Anna, then she gets a bad diagnosis from her doctor and kills herself (no surprise--we've been told many times earlier in the book that this will happen). The two most recent men appear at her wake (but don't meet each other), as do a bunch of other people we haven't heard of before but about whom we're apparently expected to care. Take for instance the older sister Louise, who is said to be very sad but we don't know why. There's a love triangle between two vaguely defined (yet intriguing) characters and one young man about whom almost nothing is known. By this time I was so detached I started to skim just to finally finish the damn book. One of the secondary characters now becomes the narrator, reads through Anna's journals and realizes she didn't know her at all (my feelings exactly!). Then--thinking some private thoughts to herself about some old grudge with her husband--starts an affair with another character who had made the briefest of appearances earlier in the novel.
Glad this one's over.
This novel seems such a mess. It starts many years earlier, with the protagonist sleeping with one man and talking on the phone with another. Neither of the two men have any role whatsoever in the rest of the novel. Fast forward to a time when Anna is moving away from one man and taking up with another. A few paragraphs of that and fast forward again to one year in the future. Now we have a few months with Anna, then she gets a bad diagnosis from her doctor and kills herself (no surprise--we've been told many times earlier in the book that this will happen). The two most recent men appear at her wake (but don't meet each other), as do a bunch of other people we haven't heard of before but about whom we're apparently expected to care. Take for instance the older sister Louise, who is said to be very sad but we don't know why. There's a love triangle between two vaguely defined (yet intriguing) characters and one young man about whom almost nothing is known. By this time I was so detached I started to skim just to finally finish the damn book. One of the secondary characters now becomes the narrator, reads through Anna's journals and realizes she didn't know her at all (my feelings exactly!). Then--thinking some private thoughts to herself about some old grudge with her husband--starts an affair with another character who had made the briefest of appearances earlier in the novel.
Glad this one's over.
August 25, 2011
I really tried to like this book, but I feel its focus is off. Instead of being a story about Anna, it should be a story of Olivia, or Jessie, or the relationship between them (sisters). As it is, I just don't like Anna herself. I don't feel the narration puts me "on her side," either. She seems to be a take-her-or-leave-her character. Well, I'd just as soon leave her . . . and I did. I read two-thirds of the book, maybe even three-fourths, but I just couldn't turn another page. Unusual for me.
Unfortunately, this is my first Gilchrist book. Maybe I'll try another one down the line, but this one has put a bad taste in my mouth.
Unfortunately, this is my first Gilchrist book. Maybe I'll try another one down the line, but this one has put a bad taste in my mouth.
December 4, 2015
Loved the "alive" Anna in the book...didn't feel quite the same about the following sections where Anna was "told" through other characters. Have read these books in completely the wrong order and with decades of time between them but somehow still feel a part of the Hand family and the women of the South. Fabulous characters whose portraits are drawn so convincingly and whose family dynamics are so persuasive that you feel a part of this extended clan.
January 8, 2012
Made me think about wanting to be a writer again.
April 2, 2014
Loved this book. One of Ellen's best.
August 5, 2018
What an absolutely perfect novel. My appreciation for Gilchrist's work just keeps growing, the more I read. Ignore the cheesy-looking cover; this one is worth your time.
September 24, 2026
I'm giving this book 3 stars, even though I did not enjoy it, because clearly the writer has skill, talent and experience. But it's a style of writing I don't have experience with, and I felt it was more of a "slice-of-life" experience, rather than a story with twist, turns and surprises. Personally I found Anna's self-absorption tiring, and found myself skipping dozens of pages to see what happens next. She has much to be grateful for: an income that allows her freedom; an immunity to writer's block; a successful career in a highly competitive field; lots of family with a beautiful homestead (complete with a family cemetary, a lake, miles of land and horses). Yet she seems to take those things for granted, as she does her lover's infidelity to his marriage. She's very laissez-faire about her blessings, and I felt the tone was "yeah, I'm self-centered, but I love you all, so you'll deal with it." There's lots of furtive phone calls from her lovers in far-away cities: "Where are you? I must see you now" kind of calls, without a lot of background to how or why these intense emotions developed, other than great sex. Furthermore, she's obsessed with weaving her brother's estranged daughter from a previous marriage into the family dynasty - didn't get that intense motivation. (This is before she gets her cancer diagnosis.) The "new" daughter is 16, visiting the family for the first time, and two days later, Anna is already pressuring her brother to discuss his will with her! I found that jarring. However, I think some readers would enjoy this style of writing, and the journey taken towards accepting one's mortality, and the choices one makes on that journey. But to go on that journey, you will have to feel the sadness. Not for everyone, but some will enjoy the ride.
February 1, 2022
I think the reason Ellen Gilchrist is better known for her short stories is because she’s much better at suggesting a story or the characters in the story than she is at fleshing them out into a full novel. Passages of this would work great as individual stories—and even combined some of them work well together (the contrast between free-spirited Anna and her more conformist sister Helen is beautifully told). But as one cohesive novel with a sprawling cast of characters, I’m not convinced that it works. Gilchrist’s dialogue is often not good and it gets irritating to read the 50th time she describes how perfect and beautiful her nieces are.
August 20, 2023
Back when I lived in N’Awlins in the 80’s, Ellen Gilchrist was one of my favorite authors. I read everything she wrote and enjoyed it. However, with the passage of 40 years, I have matured, but the Anna Papers, well, it has only aged, and not well.
Like many of her novels, this one is about a powerful, hyper-sexual but tragic protagonist, Anna. Even though it’s set in New Orleans, it’s only about overly wealthy and white folks. The most interesting aspect of this novel was seeing how it made me introspective on how I was 40 years ago, and how I’ve developed and matured. The plot line and the characters, unfortunately, are mired in a self-centered, lily-white past.
Like many of her novels, this one is about a powerful, hyper-sexual but tragic protagonist, Anna. Even though it’s set in New Orleans, it’s only about overly wealthy and white folks. The most interesting aspect of this novel was seeing how it made me introspective on how I was 40 years ago, and how I’ve developed and matured. The plot line and the characters, unfortunately, are mired in a self-centered, lily-white past.
January 9, 2025
Me ha parecido un libro extraño. Extraño por la forma en la que está escrito y extraño por cómo lo cuenta y es Anna.
Anna es una escritora que proviene de una familia con dinero. Tiene 40 años, varios amantes, tuvo 3 maridos y ama el amor, ama amar.
El centro de vida es Anna: su caos, su vida, sus amores, su familia, su forma de hacer las cosas, sus libros. Pero todo contado de forma atropellada, o esa ha sido la sensación que me ha dado. Esto ha hecho que no haya disfrutado del libro. Tengo la impresión que la escritora tenía la idea en la cabeza y la soltó, sin ordenarla primero.
No sé, no me ha convencido...
Anna es una escritora que proviene de una familia con dinero. Tiene 40 años, varios amantes, tuvo 3 maridos y ama el amor, ama amar.
El centro de vida es Anna: su caos, su vida, sus amores, su familia, su forma de hacer las cosas, sus libros. Pero todo contado de forma atropellada, o esa ha sido la sensación que me ha dado. Esto ha hecho que no haya disfrutado del libro. Tengo la impresión que la escritora tenía la idea en la cabeza y la soltó, sin ordenarla primero.
No sé, no me ha convencido...
September 10, 2026
3,5⭐️
Considero que es una buena historia, sin embargo, la última parte de la trama respecto a Anna resulta en mi opinión innecesaria. Es cierto que no está de mas porfin conocer detalles de la protagonista de la obra pero, en este caso y teniendo en cuenta que ocupan todo el final del libro, se siente como si estuvieran rellenando paginas para alcanzar un número suficiente (270 aproximadamente).
Aún así, el libro merece la pena y relata una historia interesante, a pesar de ser bastante simple a nivel de personalidad y profundidad de personajes en varias de sus escenas.
Considero que es una buena historia, sin embargo, la última parte de la trama respecto a Anna resulta en mi opinión innecesaria. Es cierto que no está de mas porfin conocer detalles de la protagonista de la obra pero, en este caso y teniendo en cuenta que ocupan todo el final del libro, se siente como si estuvieran rellenando paginas para alcanzar un número suficiente (270 aproximadamente).
Aún así, el libro merece la pena y relata una historia interesante, a pesar de ser bastante simple a nivel de personalidad y profundidad de personajes en varias de sus escenas.
August 28, 2017
I got into this book thinking it could be profound and wanted to see how the situation with the long lost child worked out. But I totally lost interest in these self-absorbed people and found it hard to slog through the last quarter of the book. Pretty bad when you really could care less how it all ends. I grew tired of how willing these people were to jump into bed with anyone who was attractive. Although I liked Anna, the rest of it was a waste of time.
September 29, 2019
Wonderful Ellen Gilchrist
I've read much Gilchrist, and she still touches places in my heart and mind with her words after many years. She never fails to teach me about life, make me laugh and cry. The Anna Papers is full of her characters that are so real that I think about them long after the final page. You can learn a lot from Anna Hand and her family. If you've never read Gilchrist, you must!
I've read much Gilchrist, and she still touches places in my heart and mind with her words after many years. She never fails to teach me about life, make me laugh and cry. The Anna Papers is full of her characters that are so real that I think about them long after the final page. You can learn a lot from Anna Hand and her family. If you've never read Gilchrist, you must!
April 11, 2020
I wrote this blurb in 2005:
Tom, my writing instructor, suggested I read Ellen Gilchrist's short stories. This novel was sitting on my bookshelf. In three parts, it tells the story of Anna from many different perspectives. I look forward to Gilchrist's book of short stories that I just bought. She's amazing!
Tom, my writing instructor, suggested I read Ellen Gilchrist's short stories. This novel was sitting on my bookshelf. In three parts, it tells the story of Anna from many different perspectives. I look forward to Gilchrist's book of short stories that I just bought. She's amazing!
October 3, 2020
Ellen Gilchrist had a great writer's voice--funny, very wise, sad, and as strong as a diamond. This is one of her best books. She also wove some great yarns in the form of short stories. She is missed.
January 5, 2019
Rated 8 out of 10. Entertaining collection of short stories set in the deep south.
July 30, 2019
Couldn’t finish
March 14, 2022
I'm not sure what to make of this book. I made myself finish it, not sure why.
November 21, 2009
When I borrowed this book, I was thinking it was an entirely different author. Not to far into it I realized it wasn't who I thought it was, so I checked my book journal for others by Gilchrist. I found them and didn't seem to have like them! At this point in the reading, I was really liking this one though.
The first half of the book is about a writer, Anna, who moves back home after just not feeling her normal self. She muddles into her siblings lives in good and bad ways, and maintains a slight connection to her own personal life. She is a character... always herself which is not always appreciated by her family. The accept it mostly with '...that's just Anna for you.' She learns and keeps secret a severe breast cancer diagnosis, wraps a few things up and commits suicide.
The second half of the book is mostly about her sister, as co-literary executor dealing with all her papers. In the process she grows to understand her sister better, and, dare I say, partakes of part of her lifestyle! Learning to be a little more giving to herself after many years of 'sacrifice.' All the characters are touched and influenced by the very strong Anna in one way or another, but most for the better.
So, for me, this book is redemption for not enjoying the others (Net of Jewels and Land of Dreamy Dreams) as much! And while the character of Anna had the potential to create a similar reaction as I had to those in the other two books... I could appreciate her a little more without as much judgment!
The first half of the book is about a writer, Anna, who moves back home after just not feeling her normal self. She muddles into her siblings lives in good and bad ways, and maintains a slight connection to her own personal life. She is a character... always herself which is not always appreciated by her family. The accept it mostly with '...that's just Anna for you.' She learns and keeps secret a severe breast cancer diagnosis, wraps a few things up and commits suicide.
The second half of the book is mostly about her sister, as co-literary executor dealing with all her papers. In the process she grows to understand her sister better, and, dare I say, partakes of part of her lifestyle! Learning to be a little more giving to herself after many years of 'sacrifice.' All the characters are touched and influenced by the very strong Anna in one way or another, but most for the better.
So, for me, this book is redemption for not enjoying the others (Net of Jewels and Land of Dreamy Dreams) as much! And while the character of Anna had the potential to create a similar reaction as I had to those in the other two books... I could appreciate her a little more without as much judgment!
June 6, 2013
Eh. This novel started out strong--I enjoyed the first half of the novel told from Anna's point of view--but once she dies, the book's lifeline itself seems to die, too. Helen is a boring character, and it made no sense for Gilchrist to just suddenly insert this weird and poorly written attempt at stream-of-consciousness after Anna's section ends.
Secondly, much of the dialogue felt forced and unnatural. It made sense for Anna to talk so much about "fucking" and use such vocabulary, but it felt awkward coming out of the other characters' mouths. Her conversation with Helen as to whether she has "ever sucked a man's dick" was ridiculous and just seemed so strange and out of place. And it felt just plain silly coming out of Helen's mouth.
The best part of the novel was the section dealing with Olivia and Anna's quest to bring her to meet the Hand family. I loved the tension between the cultures and the added pressure of Daniel's gradual acceptance of her. Honestly, this should have been the focus of the novel; it would have added so much more pathos and tragedy to Anna's character.
All in all, I guess it's worth reading. I really enjoyed Gilchrist's first novel,
The Annunciation, but this felt like a trashier, less interesting version--and Anna is basically a boring version of Amanda. As I said earlier, ...eh.
Secondly, much of the dialogue felt forced and unnatural. It made sense for Anna to talk so much about "fucking" and use such vocabulary, but it felt awkward coming out of the other characters' mouths. Her conversation with Helen as to whether she has "ever sucked a man's dick" was ridiculous and just seemed so strange and out of place. And it felt just plain silly coming out of Helen's mouth.
The best part of the novel was the section dealing with Olivia and Anna's quest to bring her to meet the Hand family. I loved the tension between the cultures and the added pressure of Daniel's gradual acceptance of her. Honestly, this should have been the focus of the novel; it would have added so much more pathos and tragedy to Anna's character.
All in all, I guess it's worth reading. I really enjoyed Gilchrist's first novel,
The Annunciation, but this felt like a trashier, less interesting version--and Anna is basically a boring version of Amanda. As I said earlier, ...eh.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 29, 2012
Ellen Gilchrist is a terrific writer.
Her books have always provided me with great pleasure.
"The Anna Papers" is no exception in this instance as well.
The story of Anna Hand is funny and moving.
I usually pass on most of my books of fiction, but not the books of Ms. Gilchrist.
I like to keep her books near by for another read when I want something that will
continue to surprise me on a second reading, or in some cases a third or fourth.
This book, "The Anna Papers" will have a place on my shelf as well.
Her books have always provided me with great pleasure.
"The Anna Papers" is no exception in this instance as well.
The story of Anna Hand is funny and moving.
I usually pass on most of my books of fiction, but not the books of Ms. Gilchrist.
I like to keep her books near by for another read when I want something that will
continue to surprise me on a second reading, or in some cases a third or fourth.
This book, "The Anna Papers" will have a place on my shelf as well.
May 12, 2008
Dec 2018 Re-read this book for book group. Still enjoyed it. This time around I would say the writing isn't very smooth but there is just something Gilchrist does with her stories that fascinates and captures me.
This is the first Ellen Gilchrist book I read and I have been a huge fan ever since. While the topic of this book is heavy, Ellen's writing makes it interesting instead of depressing.
This is the first Ellen Gilchrist book I read and I have been a huge fan ever since. While the topic of this book is heavy, Ellen's writing makes it interesting instead of depressing.
August 21, 2007
This and I Cannot Get You Close Enough are my favorite Ellen Gilchrist books, but far and away she is my stand-by author. I've read every book she's written and every one of them is great (except for her journals - Falling Through Space which I don't recommend). Everyone I tell about her seems to like her, too.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews