Return trips

by Alice Adams

“Alice Adams writes with beautiful economy, an infallible sense of the telling detail.  Her place in the company of John Updike and Mary McCarthy.”  --San Francisco Chronicle
 
Alice Adams’ reputation as a short story writer continued to grow with each collection. The stories in her third collection revolve for the most part around the theme of travel.
 
The stories are about people in search of fresh experience, the inspiration of art, the pleasure of new relationships . . . people opening up to the accidental magic of a foreign place, or returning to scenes of childhood to forgive the past.
 
Included are “Alaska,”  “Time in Santa Fe,”  “Barcelona, “ “Molly’s Dog,”  “My First and Only House.”

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

195 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Alice Adams was an American novelist, short story writer, academic and university professor.

She was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia and attended Radcliffe College, graduating in 1946. She married, and had a child, but her marriage broke up, and she spent several years as a single mother, working as a secretary. Her psychiatrist told her to give up writing and get remarried; instead she published her first novel, Careless Love (1966), and a few years later she published her first short story in The New Yorker. She wrote many novels but she's best known for her short stories, in collections such as After You've Gone (1989) and The Last Lovely City (1999).

She won numerous awards including the O. Henry Award, and Best American Short Stories Award.

Reviews

[Edan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Alice Adams might be one of Lorrie Moore's influences, or at least a kindred soul--they both have a pleasing wit, a pleasing prose rhythm, and pleasing female characters who don't always fit in. Adams is a wonderful, underrated author.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent stories of travel and life around the world, written with a female reader in mind. The stories are somewhat dated, but the essence of the story remains true. I flew through these stories and then wanted more. Sadly, it is difficult to find Adams' books at the library.

[Nathaniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read all but the last three stories, and skimmed the last one.

Interesting style of short stories. It's the normal slice-of-life sorta thing, but they have even less of a moral/point than I'm used too, and they end exceptionally suddenly. Couldn't make it through the whole thing, but I enjoyed some of em.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable short stories. I will look for more of her books.

[Tristy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection. As many have said, Alice Adams really is a master of the short story. This collection is really delicious, with each story interpreting the concept of "return trips." I'm really enjoying diving in to her work and I look forward to reading more!

[Leslie Shimotakahara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently finished reading Alice Adams' RETURN TRIPS. My great aunt, an avid reader and art teacher who recently passed away, first lent me this marvellous collection of stories. I was thinking about my aunt, as I reread the title story, "Return Trips" - the narrator reminded me of her, in a way. My full review can be read at www.the-reading-list.com

[Alice · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love short stories and Alice Adams is always a good choice.

[Chuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adams was the master of the short story. I want to cry when I think about the opportunity I had to hear her speak at SMU, but I passed it up.

[Jessie Briggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I need to think about this for awhile before I truly get it. Anxiety captured in a way that made my own self anxious.