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Red Stilettos
Presents a collection of quality short stories, which is useful for the mainstream fiction market. This title is for those readers who enjoy quality short fiction.
- GenresShort Stories
272 pages, Paperback
First published August 16, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 23, 2017
Very impressive!
I bought this book because it contains the story, Devon Cream. I read this years ago in another collection and was bowled over by it. I thought it was one of the best short stories I'd ever read. It stayed with me over the years. In it, Ruth Joseph recounts the effect of a miserable, restrictive mother-in-law moving into a family's home. Her words express a repressed vehemence and pain and sheer raw humanity which is deeply moving. We've all known that woman, at some point in our lives. The one who dampens and obliterates every ounce of joy in any occasion or any bright thing she comes across. I was almost afraid to read it again in case it didn't live up to my fond memory, but I needn't have worried, it was, if anything, even better and more powerful on a second reading.
Other stories in this collection affected me too. Family life, special moments, birth, marriage and death, some bad, painful things, some lovely and poetic incidents, some ironic and uncomfortable, they're all there. Pain, anger and joy nestle together. The stories are only rarely overtly about Jewishness, but shadows circle in the lives of the characters. Ruth has a talent for conjuring the environment that her characters inhabit, we feel that we're there with them, living alongside them. There are ticking clocks and bone china, niceties which mask old memories best pushed away, we walk amongst them and inhabit these small worlds with their jewel-like details. Sometimes the lives described are harsh and hard.
Each story is like opening a gift, you never quite know what is going to be in there. The stories aren't all darkness, there is sometimes a wicked, almost playful sense of humour and humanity which breaks through and lightens the mood. This is especially true in the title story, which is a masterpiece of imaginative writing, brutal and cruel but with a brave, strong heroine at its centre. Other stories are so powerful that when you come to the end you move from the final words and lift your eyes with a shock, wondering how an effect equivalent to reading a novel can come from so few pages. The whole collection spoke directly to me with a firm, fearless voice. It's one I will treasure and read over and over aga.
I bought this book because it contains the story, Devon Cream. I read this years ago in another collection and was bowled over by it. I thought it was one of the best short stories I'd ever read. It stayed with me over the years. In it, Ruth Joseph recounts the effect of a miserable, restrictive mother-in-law moving into a family's home. Her words express a repressed vehemence and pain and sheer raw humanity which is deeply moving. We've all known that woman, at some point in our lives. The one who dampens and obliterates every ounce of joy in any occasion or any bright thing she comes across. I was almost afraid to read it again in case it didn't live up to my fond memory, but I needn't have worried, it was, if anything, even better and more powerful on a second reading.
Other stories in this collection affected me too. Family life, special moments, birth, marriage and death, some bad, painful things, some lovely and poetic incidents, some ironic and uncomfortable, they're all there. Pain, anger and joy nestle together. The stories are only rarely overtly about Jewishness, but shadows circle in the lives of the characters. Ruth has a talent for conjuring the environment that her characters inhabit, we feel that we're there with them, living alongside them. There are ticking clocks and bone china, niceties which mask old memories best pushed away, we walk amongst them and inhabit these small worlds with their jewel-like details. Sometimes the lives described are harsh and hard.
Each story is like opening a gift, you never quite know what is going to be in there. The stories aren't all darkness, there is sometimes a wicked, almost playful sense of humour and humanity which breaks through and lightens the mood. This is especially true in the title story, which is a masterpiece of imaginative writing, brutal and cruel but with a brave, strong heroine at its centre. Other stories are so powerful that when you come to the end you move from the final words and lift your eyes with a shock, wondering how an effect equivalent to reading a novel can come from so few pages. The whole collection spoke directly to me with a firm, fearless voice. It's one I will treasure and read over and over aga.
September 10, 2012
Solidly written, engaging looks at moments in contemporary womanhood. These vignettes transcend geography and open doors to secret places in culture and religion. A beautiful gift for women struggling in what we've been told should be satisfactory sitations - a poignant reminder that we're never alone.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews