Pleased to Meet You

by Caroline Adderson

These nine razor-sharp stories herald the return of one of Canada’s most accomplished writers to the short story form. Stylistically varied and linguistically confident, here are compulsively readable stories that plumb the complexities of the human heart. A dying Finn, a philandering photographer recovering from an emergency splenectomy, a young woman heavy with an hysterical pregnancy - these are just some of the surprising characters that people these pages.

Genres: Short Stories, Canada

210 pages, Paperback

First published August 25, 2006

About the author

Caroline Adderson grew up in Alberta. After traveling around Canada, she moved to B.C. to go to university and has mostly lived there ever since. She started writing seriously after university, eventually going on to write two internationally published novels (A History of Forgetting and Sitting Practice) and two collections of short stories for adults (Bad Imaginings and Pleased To Meet You). When her son was five, she began writing seriously unserious books for young readers (Very Serious Children; I, Bruno;and Bruno For Real). Her contribution to the Single Voice series is her first really serious book for young readers and her first book for teens.

Caroline’s work has received numerous prize nominations including the Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist, the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. A two-time Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and three-time CBC Literary Award winner, Caroline was also the recipient of the 2006 Marian Engel Award, given annually to an outstanding female writer in mid-career in recognition of her body of work. She also won the 2009 Diamond Willow Award—voted on by lots of nice kids in Saskatchewan—for her children’s novel Very Serious Children.

Caroline keeps writing for readers of all ages every day. She also does a little teaching at Simon Fraser University and hangs out with her husband, a filmmaker, their 10-year-old son, and their naughty dog, Mickey, a Jack Russell terrier who is very lucky to be cute or she would never get away with all she does. Caroline’s advice to young writers is to read, read, read and write, write, write, and never get a Jack Russell terrier.

Reviews

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really loved some of the stories in this collection, while others left me cold. I'm a fan of more traditional fiction forms. However, the ones that I loved were brilliant. Like me, Adderson has a love for the macabre, the uncanny and the creepy and she used these elements to full effect in her stories.

[Lois Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I particularly loved the last story in this collection.

[Joan Barton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent short stories.

[Ruth Seeley · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing collection of short stories. Adderson's wit is razor sharp and she doesn't hesitate to pull up the blinds to reveal the dirty, cracked and broken windows they conceal in lives that seem, on the surface, very different from the way they actually are. Hard to pick a favourite from amongst these nine stories, although "Mr Justice," "Spleenless," "Petit Mal" and "The Maternity Suite" spring to mind.

Adderson not only manages to clearly delineate character, she has an uncanny knack for knowing when not to explain too much, as in "The Maternity Suite," when the mystery of how sibling rivalry can continue to affect us well into adulthood is explored.

My question: why is she not better known in Canada and abroad? She's an incredible writer.

[Tanya Kyi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I keep saying I don't like short stories. Then I read a book of short stories and I love them. Maybe I only like them once they're bound into book form? Or maybe (gasp!) my tastes are changing? This is a collection published a decade ago, but I picked it up at a workshop on the weekend and now I can't put it down. Caroline Adderson is so adept at wiggling into the heads of quirky characters, from an actuary-turned-poet to a hospice volunteer on the cusp of love. Love -- and the yearning for it -- is what all these stories are about. So for this one, you'll need a glass of wine, a chair on the back deck, and a bright summer evening. Enjoy!

[Shadoh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great stories...wonderful writing. Next story called "spleenless"