Remedies for Hunger

by Anara Guard

A collection of twelve stories featuring memorable and offbeat characters including a woman who can't tell left from right ("Ambidextrous"), a realtor with a bear for a client ("Realty"), and two sparring next-door households in a gentrifying neighborhood ("Neighbors"). Also, growing up with a ghost child in the house ("Georgia") and a pregnant runaway ("Homecoming").

140 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2014

About the author

Anara Guard no longer uses Goodreads (although may return if and when greater oversight of review-bombers, fake profiles, and other falsehoods is provided). She grew up in Chicago where her first job was tending the corner newsstand for a penny a minute while Carl the Newspaper Man ate his lunch at Steinway's drug store. Her debut novel LIKE A COMPLETE UNKNOWN was published in March 2022. She studied writing at Urban Gateways Young Writers Workshop of Chicago with Kathleen Agena, Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts with Norman Corwin, St. Joseph's College with Stu Dybek, Bread Loaf Writers Conference with Robert Cohen and Alix Ohlin, and the Community of Writers. She graduated from Kenyon College and Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science in Boston. She is also the author of two collections of short stories, "Remedies for Hunger" (2014) and "The Sound of One Body" (2010), as well as a poetry collection, "Hand on My Heart" (2019). In 2024, a second poetry collection will be published by The Poetry Box. She lives in northern California with her husband and yard dragon.

Reviews

[Cherie O'Boyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

The strength of these stories lies in the characters that are created, each one engaging, believable, and irresistibly vulnerable. As often as we want to think of ourselves as not only unique, but also exceptional, better than others, the characters in Remedies for Hunger reveal that we are not. Regardless of the circumstances or situation, each character is self-reflective and insightful in ways that remind us of our commonality. Even the bear. I feel as though I have just spent time with many new and interesting people, each with a fascinating story to tell.

[Marilyn Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anara Guard's collection of short stories, "Remedies for Hungee," is both entertaining and thought-provoking,
depicting ordinary people in extraordinary situations. Her well-drawn characters will be with me for a long time.

[Dorothy Rice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remedies for Hunger is an insightful and varied collection of short stories, each a surprising, unexpected gem. There are vivid depictions of childhood, and of hope, dreams and disappointment at all ages and stages of life. These are stories that linger and leave an impression, sometimes unsettling, always thought-provoking, raw and real.

[Gay Guard-Chamberlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE this book - and not just because Anara is my sister (and I am even in some of the stories!) I love it because this is the kind of writing that truly feeds me: poignant, sometimes painful, with humor and compassion for the characters. I am constantly surprised and delighted by Anara's abilities to get inside the heads of her characters, many of them so different from herself, as well as her command of detail, and her fluency with language. She never loses sight of the magical ways children see the world either.

I would recommend this book for anyone who loves "The Moth Radio Hour" or writers like Margaret Atwood, Joyce Carol Oates, Alice Hoffman, or Robert Goolrick.

There is a good wide range here: the Magic Realism of "Realty" in which a real estate agent has a bear for a client (!), the near horror-like account of a mother losing her mind in "White Lies", the very funny - and sexy - dilemma in "Ambidextrous", the melancholy mystery of "Georgia", and the bittersweet coping strategies of "My Fourth Grade Diary".

I can hardly wait to read what comes next!

[Ramsey Hootman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This lovely little volume of stories was perfect for what I needed right now: something short and sweet to read at bedtime. I would call these more "vignettes" than "stories," since most are like brief, poignant moments in a character's life: decisions made, chances missed. Guard's touch is deft; in a very small space, she is able to paint portraits of people that make us feel like we've already known these folks for a lifetime. And, in fact, these are our neighbors, our coworkers, our family members. With the exception of one story involving a bear (my favorite, actually), each of these brief glances into a person's life are very grounded in reality. Some are sad, and some are uplifting, as one expects of everyday life. All in all, a very satisfying read by an obviously skilled author.

[Margaret Duarte · Rating 5 out of 5]

The stories in "Remedies for Hunger" evoke thought about the human condition as seen through the eyes of the most common of us rather than super heroes. Most of the stories are told in first person and pull you into lives that feel familiar -- yet different, the behind-the-scene stories underlying the headlines in the newspaper, the kind of stories that touch you emotionally, the kind of stories that cause you to reach inside for empathy and understanding rather than judgement.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting compilation of short stories. They mostly seem to be set in the past, with a general theme of trying to make ends meet in an absent-father household. Somewhat melancholy.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exquisitely written stories with great attention to detail.