In the Mouth: Stories and Novellas

by Eileen Pollack

..".an American talent..."--Stephen King
Pollack writes about times of tragedy and transition insightfully, aware of their everyday quality and of their gravity. In the Mouth is a window onto the amazing tenderness and irrationality of human life.
One story, "The Bris," has been selected for The Best American Short-Stories 2008 (Edited by Stephen King and Heidi Pitlor).
"Eileen Pollock writes with great acuity, humor, and intelligent resign-ation about the various ways family love is called upon and revealed. This book is terrific company."--Lorrie Moore
"These are funny, rueful, wise stories, steeped in absurdity, pain, possibility --the work of a writer who has lived."--Gish Jen

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

257 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2008

About the author

Eileen Pollack grew up in Liberty, New York. She has received fellowships from the Michener Foundation and the MacDowell Colony, and her stories have appeared in Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, the Literary Review, the AGNI Review, Playgirl, and the New Generation. She lives in Belmont, Massachusetts, and teaches at Tufts University. She won the Pushcart Prize for her story “Past, Future, Elsewhere.”

Reviews

[D'Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eileen Pollack's newest collection of stories is very good. She's an excellent story-teller and a fine writer to boot. In the Mouth includes "The Bris" which was included in the Best American Short Stories 2007 collection edited by Stephen King. It's a fantastic story. My other favorite here is "Milk." This book is recommended if you are interested in dentists, fathers, penises, retirees, hospitals, Florida, Jews, Yiddish, babies, tortoiseshell glasses, motherhood, or just really good, well-crafted prose.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of those books I noticed on the library shelf, and read on the strength of the impressive author endorsements (Gish Jen, Stephen King). Eileen Pollack is a terrific writer, exploring Jewish-American New York/Florida culture in a kind of Phillip Roth way. Hmm, perhaps not the best recommendation. Anyway, each story, on its own, is well crafted and worth reading. I particularly enjoyed the Bris (about a dying father who reveals that, although he has lived as a religious Jew all his adult life, never actually converted), and the novella, Beached in Boca (about a father dying of AIDs).

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each story in this collection made me ache with regret or longing. Eileen Pollack shows us passion among lovers, spouses, friends, and strangers -- but she captures with particular tenderness and brutal honesty the nuances of love between parents and their adult children. The book's novellas/long stories "The Bris" and "Beached in Boca" are both powerful, but the crown jewel of this collection -- the one that sent me on a lone walk in the dark -- is "Uno."

[Jeana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of short stories is well written, the characters are human, and the author is shockingly honest. I'm not much of a short-story collection reader anymore (they take me forever to get through them since I don't feel committed to one story); however, I enjoyed this. Pollack is a brave and honest writer and she is so ridiculously smart that I can't help but enjoy reading her stories.

[tiff]

When I apply to MFA programs once I get through this grunt show called being an undergrad, I am applying to a University where she teaches. They say you must get to know the styles of writers where you are considering applying. We'll see...

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

In college I attended a reading where Eileen read "Uno," and it made me feel like I had to take one of her courses. There are some very memorable images.

[Erika Dreifus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this as part of an ongoing project that involves reading books that have won the Edward Lewis Wallant Award. Review has been posted at https://figtreebooks.net/category/pas....