Home Remedies

by Angela Pneuman

Tonsillectomies should not be performed at home, cucumbers do not make good stand-ins, and golf clubs are not for hitting your mother. Angela Pneuman renders these unsettling truths, small and large, with blazing insight in Home Remedies. It is a startling collection of stories peopled by Christian fundamentalists traversing various stages and crises of belief, grappling with intimacies that feel like an anxious mix of longing and repulsion, relating to one another in an uneasy balance of eagerness and wariness.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Angela Pneuman teaches fiction writing in the Continuing Studies program at Stanford University and works as a copywriter in the California wine industry. Her stories have appeared in Best American Short Stories (2012 & 2004), Ploughshares, Los Angeles Review, Iowa Review, Glimmertrain and many other literary magazines—and were collected in her first book, Home Remedies (Harcourt, 2007). Angela was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford, a Presidential Fellow at SUNY Albany, and the recipient of the inaugural Alice Hoffman Prize for short fiction from Ploughshares. Her novel Lay It on My Heart is a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers pick for Fall of 2014.

Reviews

[mark monday · Rating 3 out of 5]

artists will always revisit their pet themes, and I know I've said this before, repeatedly, so I suppose amateur reviewers will do the same. perhaps it is just a part of the human condition - oh I hate the number of times I've used those two words - to repeat the things we know and to listen with ears tuned to things we want to hear and eyes peeled to things we want to see, to make the world and its happenings into patterns we understand. Angela Pneuman revisits the same themes across eight stories. her characters try to make patterns out of disorder and search for themes in the scrapheap of life. themes that are often meaningful only to themselves but still affect those around them; themes that often maintain them within the same old comforting pattern, themes that will sometimes force them to find a new pattern. but hey maybe there's no real pattern, maybe that's how we force logic onto an illogical word? so says the atheist. the atheists are few and far between in Home Remedies. or maybe they are all secret atheists, characters who have adopted a theme that they barely believe in.

Pneuman is a lovely writer: the patterns she weaves are pleasing to the eye and engaging to the mind, although perhaps not particularly nourishing for the soul. macaroons aren't nourishing but they are certainly lovely and pleasant to eat. "All Saints' Day" was the loveliest of all and my favorite story in this collection; that story did nourish me. but macaroons are sweet and these stories are made of salt and copper, tears and blood. and then cooked in the grease of human disappointment? now I'm really overreaching with my metaphors, but hey I have a pattern of doing that in my reviews; perhaps that overuse of metaphors is a hallmark of a major theme in this boy's life.

each story reminded me of the prior story but the effect was less of repetition and more of an accumulation. an accumulation of evidence. the verdict: guilty as charged, humanity!

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tremendous debut of short fiction from an author who truly understands the craft. The eight stories in the collection tap a rich thematic vein of girls and young women on the precipice of change; many stories include mother/daughter struggles and the state of Kentucky is a frequent setting. Pneuman uses religion, pubescence, broken families and mental health to weave narratives poignant and often times hilarious. "The Bell Ringer" and "Invitation" were my two favorites. Fans of Julie Orringer, ZZ Packer and Lorrie Moore will find this collection delightful.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars ✨

[Adam Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I hear people talk about Pneuman's stories, they converge on some of the more unforgettable moments, as when a nanny heats an icepick to perform a home tonsillectomy or when a daughter raises a golf club to her mother. True, those are the kind of thrilling moments many people read for, but I think these stories are also filled with subtle humor, beautiful prose and achingly observed mother-daughter relationships. Plus this book will really make you think about the plateaus that follow a loss of faith.

[Dolores · Rating 2 out of 5]

The problem with books of short stories is that they can be repetitive. In this book the writer seemed to want to explore the same themes (mother-daugher relationships; self-esteem issues; violence, to yourself and others) over and over again without really getting anywhere. The stories were well-written, but if the repetitive themes don't engage you, you won't want to keep reading.

[Kaylin (The Re-Read Queen) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had the chance to meet Angela Pneuman a few years ago, and she seemed like a wonderful and very intelligent lady. She spoke to a class of mine and stayed afterwards to give some tips to us freshmen who all desperately wanted to be writers one day.

Her words at the time meant a lot to me, and I still consider some of them today. For that reason alone, I wish I could rate this collection higher. As it stands, I did very much enjoy some of these stories, but they all share a very similar dynamic that felt very repetitive after a while.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's amazing to find a book that completely shocks me. Some of the stories in this painful and inhalable work manage to accomplish that.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't usually enjoy short stories--there few authors who make me care enough about the characters in the small number of pages available. This particular collection was fantastic, and the stories were just long enough. Each story is set in Kentucky, or has Kentucky-grown characters (which is interesting to me because I've been to KY a few times and have a dear friend who lives there) and each deals with children of families who are religious. This is interesting, because the adults are generally so self-involved (painfully so in some ways) that they have NO IDEA how their actions and reactions hurt the children (generally adolescents). Many of the stories are cringe-worthy, and I'm actually glad I only have to feel their pain or embarrassment a small while. Very, very good. (Anecdotally, one of the stories was set in NH, with KY natives, and I grew up in NH! What a coinkydink.)

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not a big short story person but I am trying to read more of them. This was a good collection about families in Kentucky. Several of the stories had an unpleasant twist - a home-done tonsillectomy, for starters, but I thought the ones that didn't were stronger. I liked the way the stories were open-ended - nothing came to a neat conclusion. Pneuman really nails the mother-daughter relationship and her portraits of emotionally needy parents are cringingly first rate.

Note: turtles and cucumbers are harmed in this book.

[Ffiamma · Rating 3 out of 5]

donne e bambine, il kentucky, la religione, la quotidianità in cui apparentemente non succede nulla ma che invece è teatro di piccole/grandi tragedie e di enormi avvenimenti silenziosi.
bella raccolta, scrittrice interessante.

[marilyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the first story on the subway ride home tonight and it bothered me.

Returned it, it just didn't grab me.

[Cherie · Rating 2 out of 5]

C Some of the stories were interesting, and it had a lot of potential, but too many repetitions of themes and not that strong overall

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple really good stories, the rest were so-so.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh, the stories seemed to not really go anywhere. I wont be passing this one on, and I am glad I only paid $.25 for it at a yardsale.

[Lynn · Rating 1 out of 5]

An entire collection of 'misses'.

[Akeiisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty bleak stories, mostly about young people, and all with a connection to Kentucky. I was expecting a little more humor.

[Regina M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous!

[Rosy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this book and enjoyed all the stories. The characters were well-drawn and relatable.

[Madeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love her style, but these stories got redundant.

[BE · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic group of short stories.