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The World to Come: Stories
"Without a doubt the most ambitious story writer in America," according to The Daily Beast, Jim Shepard now delivers a new collection that spans borders and centuries with unrivaled mastery.
These ten stories ring with voices belonging to--among others--English Arctic explorers in one of history's most nightmarish expeditions, a young contemporary American negotiating the shockingly underreported hazards of our crude-oil trains, eighteenth-century French balloonists inventing manned flight, and two mid-nineteenth-century housewives trying to forge a connection despite their isolation on the frontier of settlement. In each case the personal is the political as these characters face everything from the emotional pitfalls of everyday life to historic catastrophes on a global scale. In his fifth collection, Shepard makes each of these wildly various worlds his own, and never before has he delineated anything like them so powerfully.
These ten stories ring with voices belonging to--among others--English Arctic explorers in one of history's most nightmarish expeditions, a young contemporary American negotiating the shockingly underreported hazards of our crude-oil trains, eighteenth-century French balloonists inventing manned flight, and two mid-nineteenth-century housewives trying to forge a connection despite their isolation on the frontier of settlement. In each case the personal is the political as these characters face everything from the emotional pitfalls of everyday life to historic catastrophes on a global scale. In his fifth collection, Shepard makes each of these wildly various worlds his own, and never before has he delineated anything like them so powerfully.
272 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 21, 2017
102 people are currently reading
1522 people want to read
About the author
Jim Shepard
81 books302 followersJim Shepard is the author of seven novels, including most recently The Book of Aron, which won the Sophie Brody Medal for Achievement in Jewish Literature from the American Library Association and the PEN/New England Award for fiction, and five story collections, including his new collection, The World To Come. Five of his short stories have been chosen for the Best American Short Stories, two for the PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories, and one for a Pushcart Prize. He teaches at Williams College.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews
April 9, 2017
This short story collection gets 4 stars from me, while I recognize that this is not the book for me. I am not a fan of the short story format (Helen Ellis being the exception). I feel over the past several years, I have given a number of collections a try, but the form annoys me. That said, these are interesting, amazing sad stories. I did a lot of web searching about the situations and now I want to read more about the Arctic, Queensland etc. Beautifully written, this collection will no doubt please many of my fellow Booktopians more than it did me.
February 21, 2017
Edit: here's my chat with Jim at Kirkus: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/feature...
I have an interview with Jim forthcoming in Kirkus Review, but I'll say here that this is yet another stellar book from a writer incapable of producing anything else. Shepard is a master of the form, and it's never been more apparent than in the stories that comprise this collection; stories in which Shepard's radical empathy, intellectual acuity, unremitting imagination, and sorcery over language are on full display. He makes imprecision of thought, feeling, and description his enemy. He writes from a reservoir of rigorous care and concern. (Though he would and did rebuke this: He does what Saunders wishes he could do.)
Put simply, Jim is my favorite living male writer, and a hell of a human being to boot. Consider these passages, then go out and buy this collection in February:
“And in every room there were other versions of my sister and me. They gave me that look and they dragged their feet. Or they reached for my hand and then knocked it away. They saw right through me, but even so they kept perking up, like they’d never stopped thinking I was someone they should stay in contact with, or they’d never stopped believing I might be about to step in and make things better.”- "Wall-to-Wall Counseling
"In the interval you have left you might even make
clear with just a moment's embrace and the time to hold her face still and engage her eyes that despite your lassitude and arrogance and petulance and selfishness and pettiness, she's granted you a gift for which you've never adequately expressed your joy. She's buoyed and nurtured you and weathered your despotism, and continued to envision what you could've become rather than what you are. She's put wings to your feet for the entirety of your lives together, and with them you run."- "Cretan Love Song"
"Night after night we enact our separation. Anxiety is now his family, discord his home, and dark spirits his company. Captious dignity and moonlit tears his two prevailing states. This love he seeks to win back he fails to apprehend would be only the hulk of a wrecked affection fitted with new sails.”- "The World to Come”
I have an interview with Jim forthcoming in Kirkus Review, but I'll say here that this is yet another stellar book from a writer incapable of producing anything else. Shepard is a master of the form, and it's never been more apparent than in the stories that comprise this collection; stories in which Shepard's radical empathy, intellectual acuity, unremitting imagination, and sorcery over language are on full display. He makes imprecision of thought, feeling, and description his enemy. He writes from a reservoir of rigorous care and concern. (Though he would and did rebuke this: He does what Saunders wishes he could do.)
Put simply, Jim is my favorite living male writer, and a hell of a human being to boot. Consider these passages, then go out and buy this collection in February:
“And in every room there were other versions of my sister and me. They gave me that look and they dragged their feet. Or they reached for my hand and then knocked it away. They saw right through me, but even so they kept perking up, like they’d never stopped thinking I was someone they should stay in contact with, or they’d never stopped believing I might be about to step in and make things better.”- "Wall-to-Wall Counseling
"In the interval you have left you might even make
clear with just a moment's embrace and the time to hold her face still and engage her eyes that despite your lassitude and arrogance and petulance and selfishness and pettiness, she's granted you a gift for which you've never adequately expressed your joy. She's buoyed and nurtured you and weathered your despotism, and continued to envision what you could've become rather than what you are. She's put wings to your feet for the entirety of your lives together, and with them you run."- "Cretan Love Song"
"Night after night we enact our separation. Anxiety is now his family, discord his home, and dark spirits his company. Captious dignity and moonlit tears his two prevailing states. This love he seeks to win back he fails to apprehend would be only the hulk of a wrecked affection fitted with new sails.”- "The World to Come”
April 10, 2017
These ten stories remind us what it means to be human, even as we are pushed to the most extreme of circumstances, whether it's stranded in the Atlantic Ocean or back at home, stuck in the Arctic, or dealing with own demons. As many of the stories are grounded in real events, I found myself taking the time to research what "really" happened. Humorous when they need to be, each story finds its own unique voice, which is sometimes a rarity in short story collections.
June 24, 2017
Supongo que habrán visto o leído alguna novela histórica (de perdida algo facilito tipo Ken Follett)... pero... ¿Alguna vez habían oído hablar de relatos históricos? No es un género muy practicada, a menos que hablemos de ucronías. Entonces al tomar esta colección de diez cuentos uno parece hallarse con algo totalmente nuevo.
Llegué a este libro por recomendación de la revista Outside (y por el hecho no menor de que había sido publicada por Knopf, que -Eragon aparte- siempre es garantía de calidad.)
Venía también de una antología de Mark Haddon que no me había convencido al 100% y que había impactado mi idea de que la mayoría de los libros top de este año iban a ser libros de relatos... hasta que empecé a leer a Jim Shepard y quedé prendado de sus historias.
El tema subyacente de la colección es la de gente que se ve envuelta en situaciones límite. Esto podría hacer creer que se trata de algo facilón tipo thriller, pero nada puede estar más lejos de la verdad. Ésta es ficción literaria, y en cada una de las veces que los protagonistas se enfrentan al desastre en trenes, barcos, submarinos, estaciones marinas, ciudades y horrores domésticos hay un paralelo claro con vidas que vienen hechas trizas o siquiera enfrentan soledades y dramas internos.
Tenemos en toda época gente puesta en lo más extremo: las estaciones offshore de radar que construyó EU en los 60s, un moderno tren que transporta petróleo, la infame expedición del HmS Terror que Dan Simmons inmortalizara, un ciclón en la costa norte de Australia, la invención del aerostático, la solitaria vida de las esposas en el siglo XIX en Nueva York rural, un submarino británico durante los momentos más desesperados de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, so and so. Incluso los dos cuentos que temática,ente parecen fuera brillan por sí mismos y son tan agudos como los demás.
Hay una delicadeza y una poesía inherentes a cada historia y con sus protagonistas (en un destello de ambientación extraordinaria, incluso imitando el habla de cada época) sufrimos mientras van de frente al desastre o la gloria.
Una colección recomendadísima
Llegué a este libro por recomendación de la revista Outside (y por el hecho no menor de que había sido publicada por Knopf, que -Eragon aparte- siempre es garantía de calidad.)
Venía también de una antología de Mark Haddon que no me había convencido al 100% y que había impactado mi idea de que la mayoría de los libros top de este año iban a ser libros de relatos... hasta que empecé a leer a Jim Shepard y quedé prendado de sus historias.
El tema subyacente de la colección es la de gente que se ve envuelta en situaciones límite. Esto podría hacer creer que se trata de algo facilón tipo thriller, pero nada puede estar más lejos de la verdad. Ésta es ficción literaria, y en cada una de las veces que los protagonistas se enfrentan al desastre en trenes, barcos, submarinos, estaciones marinas, ciudades y horrores domésticos hay un paralelo claro con vidas que vienen hechas trizas o siquiera enfrentan soledades y dramas internos.
Tenemos en toda época gente puesta en lo más extremo: las estaciones offshore de radar que construyó EU en los 60s, un moderno tren que transporta petróleo, la infame expedición del HmS Terror que Dan Simmons inmortalizara, un ciclón en la costa norte de Australia, la invención del aerostático, la solitaria vida de las esposas en el siglo XIX en Nueva York rural, un submarino británico durante los momentos más desesperados de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, so and so. Incluso los dos cuentos que temática,ente parecen fuera brillan por sí mismos y son tan agudos como los demás.
Hay una delicadeza y una poesía inherentes a cada historia y con sus protagonistas (en un destello de ambientación extraordinaria, incluso imitando el habla de cada época) sufrimos mientras van de frente al desastre o la gloria.
Una colección recomendadísima
July 6, 2017
A short story collection. This is the kind of writer that makes you feel lazy. Not only is the writing stunningly good, but almost all (maybe all?) the stories were historical fiction that involved a lot of research, in a wide array of historical periods and locations. The style, voice, and range of characters makes it almost hard to believe this is all the same author.
There's a 19th-century farm woman whose secret lesbian lover is killed by domestic violence (and her husband gets away with it), pioneers in Australia during a massive storm, an ancient Minoan husband and father who dies in a volcanic explosion, and a group of poor, doomed Air Force cadets killed by a rogue wave on Texas Tower 4, a radar surveillance station off the coast of New England (although really, they were killed by the careless, shoddy construction of the structure and the lack of prompt evacuation by our government).
His writing is pragmatic and straightforward, in such a way that the heartbreaking sadness of some of the situations don't completely hit you until later. It was a unique writing style. Not a beach read--you can tell this is a writing professor... the stories are literary and esoteric.
There's a 19th-century farm woman whose secret lesbian lover is killed by domestic violence (and her husband gets away with it), pioneers in Australia during a massive storm, an ancient Minoan husband and father who dies in a volcanic explosion, and a group of poor, doomed Air Force cadets killed by a rogue wave on Texas Tower 4, a radar surveillance station off the coast of New England (although really, they were killed by the careless, shoddy construction of the structure and the lack of prompt evacuation by our government).
His writing is pragmatic and straightforward, in such a way that the heartbreaking sadness of some of the situations don't completely hit you until later. It was a unique writing style. Not a beach read--you can tell this is a writing professor... the stories are literary and esoteric.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 15, 2017
Short stories are not my favorite genre, but these 10 stories were captivating. I look forward to meeting this author in Manchester VT in May.
Read
September 1, 2024How I came to I read THE WORLD TO COME: An excerpt of one of the stories in this collection was used as a prompt in a writing class I took that explored different narrative strategies. I found the narrator in this exercise a bit annoying, the writing mannered and the exercise generally very challenging. But while I was struggling with the exercise (which used the beginning and the end of the story) I decided it might help me to read the entire story. This, somehow, led to reading all the short stories in the book.
Jim Shepard is one of those writers I was somehow aware of without having read any of his work. A writer's writer, as such people are sometimes called: respected and honored, but without having (so far) broken into the sort of larger fame (which is not a really very large fame, anyway, writers taking up so little space in the cultural consciousness) of a George Saunders or an Ann Patchett.
An MFA-ish sort of writer, was my initial impression, writing (as Barbara Pym put it) the sort of books that no one could be expected to read. But I kept reading, impressed by his mastery of the form, how well he expressed ideas without stating them outright, and by the range of history and experience captured in these stories.
And I kept reading, admiring his abilities more and more but unchanged in my view that this was mighty tough sledding. Mostly the characters die in dreadful and heavily foreshadowed ways -- freight train derailment, ocean platform collapses -- or the story takes you to the moment where you know they are shortly about to die -- their submarine's about to attack an enemy flotilla, someone's aloft in an experimental balloon, the Arctic expedition is not going well. Almost universally, the protagonists are out of touch with themselves and universally disliked by people around them for reasons that we, the readers, understand only dimly.
It was this relentless striking the note of the misfit loner that I found especially hard to keep reading about. Nonetheless, I was increasingly impressed by the subtle ways information got conveyed.
Also, reading so many short stories one after another makes the narrative strategy more visible than it would be in a novel, where the plot machinery is easier to conceal. There is so much DETAIL -- about polar voyages in the 19th century, submarine warfare, colonial Australia, freight trains, etc. Even if I sometimes skimmed over all these details, I never felt less than convinced by them. Then, there is always something unresolved in the character's past -- a failed love affair, a troubled sibling, etc -- that the character returns in memory to again and again as disaster looms and then unfolds in the present. At the end, the situation is not resolved exactly, but they've come to some new understanding, almost always when it's too late to do anything about it.
It's also almost all (not entirely) stories about the world of men: a world of violence, occasional heroism, and difficult work in dangerous conditions, among people in touch with neither their own feelings nor often their own thoughts.
And that this is actually such a subtle and profound exploration of what being human involves. Though often such a bleak exploration; it resists easy consolation; it revels in gruesome details.
Still, it is probably better than 95 percent of the writing out there. Don't miss the acknowledgements, in which Shepard lists all the books he read to help him write these stories. It's humbling.
Jim Shepard is one of those writers I was somehow aware of without having read any of his work. A writer's writer, as such people are sometimes called: respected and honored, but without having (so far) broken into the sort of larger fame (which is not a really very large fame, anyway, writers taking up so little space in the cultural consciousness) of a George Saunders or an Ann Patchett.
An MFA-ish sort of writer, was my initial impression, writing (as Barbara Pym put it) the sort of books that no one could be expected to read. But I kept reading, impressed by his mastery of the form, how well he expressed ideas without stating them outright, and by the range of history and experience captured in these stories.
And I kept reading, admiring his abilities more and more but unchanged in my view that this was mighty tough sledding. Mostly the characters die in dreadful and heavily foreshadowed ways -- freight train derailment, ocean platform collapses -- or the story takes you to the moment where you know they are shortly about to die -- their submarine's about to attack an enemy flotilla, someone's aloft in an experimental balloon, the Arctic expedition is not going well. Almost universally, the protagonists are out of touch with themselves and universally disliked by people around them for reasons that we, the readers, understand only dimly.
It was this relentless striking the note of the misfit loner that I found especially hard to keep reading about. Nonetheless, I was increasingly impressed by the subtle ways information got conveyed.
Also, reading so many short stories one after another makes the narrative strategy more visible than it would be in a novel, where the plot machinery is easier to conceal. There is so much DETAIL -- about polar voyages in the 19th century, submarine warfare, colonial Australia, freight trains, etc. Even if I sometimes skimmed over all these details, I never felt less than convinced by them. Then, there is always something unresolved in the character's past -- a failed love affair, a troubled sibling, etc -- that the character returns in memory to again and again as disaster looms and then unfolds in the present. At the end, the situation is not resolved exactly, but they've come to some new understanding, almost always when it's too late to do anything about it.
It's also almost all (not entirely) stories about the world of men: a world of violence, occasional heroism, and difficult work in dangerous conditions, among people in touch with neither their own feelings nor often their own thoughts.
And that this is actually such a subtle and profound exploration of what being human involves. Though often such a bleak exploration; it resists easy consolation; it revels in gruesome details.
Still, it is probably better than 95 percent of the writing out there. Don't miss the acknowledgements, in which Shepard lists all the books he read to help him write these stories. It's humbling.
February 7, 2017
It's rare to read a book of short stories where EVERY one knocks your socks off, but this was the case with Jim Shepard's latest collection "The Word to Come." Despite hearing rave reviews for Shepard's short stories for years, I only recently discovered the author when I finally picked up his excellent novel "The Book of Aron" last year, and since then I've been curious to read more from him.
Keeping in line with his flair for engaging historical fiction, Shepard's stories feature captivating snapshots of ordinary people faced with extraordinary circumstances and obstacles. Whether it's summoning the crew of the HMS Terror in Antarctica, the tragic fate of the Texas Tower-4 Radar Station, or a simple farmer's wife finding love in her harsh and isolated pioneer existence, Shepard has not only done a ton of research (seriously, check out the 'Acknowledgements' section for his list of sources and inspiration) but also has an incredible imagination to bring such a myriad of characters to life so fully. The way these stories completely immerse you with adventure, heart, and suspense is narrative magic.
Keeping in line with his flair for engaging historical fiction, Shepard's stories feature captivating snapshots of ordinary people faced with extraordinary circumstances and obstacles. Whether it's summoning the crew of the HMS Terror in Antarctica, the tragic fate of the Texas Tower-4 Radar Station, or a simple farmer's wife finding love in her harsh and isolated pioneer existence, Shepard has not only done a ton of research (seriously, check out the 'Acknowledgements' section for his list of sources and inspiration) but also has an incredible imagination to bring such a myriad of characters to life so fully. The way these stories completely immerse you with adventure, heart, and suspense is narrative magic.
March 17, 2017
What's most impressive about the stories in The World to Come, as in all of Jim Shephard's work, is how detailed and layered the writing can be, without sacrificing a modicum of the deep heart that makes it all so memorable.
April 3, 2021
Tallie & Abigail <3
March 9, 2017
3 stars. I was intrigued by Outside Magazine's glowing review of Jim Shepard's new short story collection, The World to Come The expectation of greatness was amplified by the book jacket description:
I'd say that sets the bar pretty high...
The author indeed has a gift for giving his characters distinctive voices. He's captured period diction almost perfectly, from the dry "stiff upper lip" of British explorers to the pioneer diary of an upstate New York woman to the elaborate and stylized prose of the dying days of the French aristocracy. The author's obvious talents are on display in a second-person story of the destruction of Santorini. Shepard's settings are clearly exquisitely researched as well, rich with details that give authenticity to a WWII submarine and a crude oil train conductor's experiences.
For all the writing skill, The World to Come was largely "meh" for me largely because I never made an emotional connection with the characters. Two of the stories are told in a journal format, which relate events instead of developing characters. Stories such as "The Ocean of Air" overwhelmed with detail to the exclusion of personality. "Intimacy" and "Safety Tips for Living Alone" presented a wide cast of characters but spent so little time with any one that they seemed largely interchangeable. "Wall-to-Wall Counseling", "Forcing Joy on Young People", "Telemachus", and "Positive Train Control" all featured detached characters who didn't relate to those around them, and thus were never able to reach me.
My chief critique of Shepard's writing is that there is very little dialog. This inhibits character relationships from developing. Most characters feel like the anti-Donne: every one is an island, and when the bell tolls for them, it doesn't toll for me.
Many of the stories ended with the implied death of their subjects. This prevented me from experiencing closure and catharsis necessary to appreciate the theme of the story. The first-person narration of many of the stories limits this by nature; in others, they end with no conclusion.
I felt that my enjoyment of a particular story was largely tied in with my interest in its subject matter, which left the collection feeling uneven. The three-page "Cretan Love Song" was my favorite because it captures the raw emotions of the destruction of Santorini so poignantly. "Safety Tips for Living Alone" is an intriguing account of the Texas Tower 4 disaster; a foreboding sense of doom kept me turning the pages. "HMS Terror" is another high point. Its scholarly journal entries added to the classical tragedy feel of the lost Franklin expedition. Shepard's masterful foreshadowing in "Positive Train Control" adds power to his scathing indictment of the lack of safety focus in the crude oil trains that feed our energy dependency. "Telemachus" reads like pulp WWII fiction with its fatalistic narrator and high-stakes deeds.
On the down side, "Wall-to-Wall Counseling" portrayal of a woman facing family and work crises ended without resolution, character development, or theme. Similarly, "Forcing Joy on Young People" meandered aimlessly here and there throughout its principal character's life, and he was so flawed that the only conclusion I could reach is that he deserved what he got.
I do not regret reading The World to Come; nor did I feel any regret when I turned its final page.
"These ten stories burst with his wicked sense of humor and incomparable understanding of what it means, and has always meant, to be human. The World to Come is the work of a true virtuoso."
I'd say that sets the bar pretty high...
The author indeed has a gift for giving his characters distinctive voices. He's captured period diction almost perfectly, from the dry "stiff upper lip" of British explorers to the pioneer diary of an upstate New York woman to the elaborate and stylized prose of the dying days of the French aristocracy. The author's obvious talents are on display in a second-person story of the destruction of Santorini. Shepard's settings are clearly exquisitely researched as well, rich with details that give authenticity to a WWII submarine and a crude oil train conductor's experiences.
For all the writing skill, The World to Come was largely "meh" for me largely because I never made an emotional connection with the characters. Two of the stories are told in a journal format, which relate events instead of developing characters. Stories such as "The Ocean of Air" overwhelmed with detail to the exclusion of personality. "Intimacy" and "Safety Tips for Living Alone" presented a wide cast of characters but spent so little time with any one that they seemed largely interchangeable. "Wall-to-Wall Counseling", "Forcing Joy on Young People", "Telemachus", and "Positive Train Control" all featured detached characters who didn't relate to those around them, and thus were never able to reach me.
My chief critique of Shepard's writing is that there is very little dialog. This inhibits character relationships from developing. Most characters feel like the anti-Donne: every one is an island, and when the bell tolls for them, it doesn't toll for me.
Many of the stories ended with the implied death of their subjects. This prevented me from experiencing closure and catharsis necessary to appreciate the theme of the story. The first-person narration of many of the stories limits this by nature; in others, they end with no conclusion.
I felt that my enjoyment of a particular story was largely tied in with my interest in its subject matter, which left the collection feeling uneven. The three-page "Cretan Love Song" was my favorite because it captures the raw emotions of the destruction of Santorini so poignantly. "Safety Tips for Living Alone" is an intriguing account of the Texas Tower 4 disaster; a foreboding sense of doom kept me turning the pages. "HMS Terror" is another high point. Its scholarly journal entries added to the classical tragedy feel of the lost Franklin expedition. Shepard's masterful foreshadowing in "Positive Train Control" adds power to his scathing indictment of the lack of safety focus in the crude oil trains that feed our energy dependency. "Telemachus" reads like pulp WWII fiction with its fatalistic narrator and high-stakes deeds.
On the down side, "Wall-to-Wall Counseling" portrayal of a woman facing family and work crises ended without resolution, character development, or theme. Similarly, "Forcing Joy on Young People" meandered aimlessly here and there throughout its principal character's life, and he was so flawed that the only conclusion I could reach is that he deserved what he got.
I do not regret reading The World to Come; nor did I feel any regret when I turned its final page.
April 29, 2017
Dipping in and out....have probably read half the stories.
June 27, 2021
I sought out this book because I so loved the screenplay for The World to Come, which Jim Shepard adapted with Ron Hansen from the title story in this collection. "I'm a library without books" may be the saddest sentence I have ever heard/read. At the same time, some of the diary entries are achingly beautiful descriptions of being in love. While this story is yet another tale of queer tragedy (and one written by a man), what this one has going for it is that neither woman is shown to be distressed by her queerness.
Several other stories in the collection are based on historic and recent real-world tragedies, endeavours of human progress, and the disastrous force that is Nature — the Franklin Expedition, Texas Tower 4, life aboard a WWII submarine, the invention of the hot air balloon, and the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster. Despite mostly tragic conclusions to these stories, romantic and familial love, and the indomitable human spirit are woven through the collection. This, along with Shepard's poetic language, cuts through the bleakness.
An amusing bonus: The author photo accompanying this book is the best I've ever seen, depicting Shepard with his three beagles, only one of whom is actually looking at the camera.
Several other stories in the collection are based on historic and recent real-world tragedies, endeavours of human progress, and the disastrous force that is Nature — the Franklin Expedition, Texas Tower 4, life aboard a WWII submarine, the invention of the hot air balloon, and the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster. Despite mostly tragic conclusions to these stories, romantic and familial love, and the indomitable human spirit are woven through the collection. This, along with Shepard's poetic language, cuts through the bleakness.
An amusing bonus: The author photo accompanying this book is the best I've ever seen, depicting Shepard with his three beagles, only one of whom is actually looking at the camera.
September 9, 2018
There are 10 stories in this book; 10 little worlds created by Shepard. The writing is so fine, so perfectly structured to the situation of the time and place of the story that I was immediately inside the story, bonded with the characters and ready to go the long haul. The only problem was that I wanted each story to continue; I wanted to spend more time with the characters.
Because each story represents a different world, the amount of research Shepard had to do is amazing. One doesn't expect that amount of research for stories. But, for the reader it was worth it.
Because each story represents a different world, the amount of research Shepard had to do is amazing. One doesn't expect that amount of research for stories. But, for the reader it was worth it.
July 8, 2017
For some reason I have trouble with short stories. I guess they usually leave me wanting more. This was a Booktopia book, so I thought I would give it a try.
Not bad. Ten stories, each involves a disaster. Maybe I just needed something a little more positive right now. Been a tough couple of months.
Not bad. Ten stories, each involves a disaster. Maybe I just needed something a little more positive right now. Been a tough couple of months.
March 9, 2017
A set of short stories where people are in the most extreme situations: stranded in the Arctic ice, piloting the first balloon, in a WWII English submarine, etc. Each story is written in the vernacular of the time. And each story has a protagonist who is a loner, a loser, not well loved by his or her parents. Really strange. Some stories are hopeful, others not so much.
May 2, 2017
Although I found most of the stories interesting, they were very dark.
March 1, 2017
come of the short stories are interesting chronicles of extreme survival crisis
February 12, 2018
Who Needs Pay?
A hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. A colloquialism held classically for managers, the United States economy holds this operating assumption. If the average person works hard, just compensation becomes the result. When the company prospers, the employees prosper at an equal rate of advancement. Classic motivational carrots and sticks implies that managers and employees alike hold shared interest in the flourishing of the company; everyone benefits. Even more, managers have always found it in their best interest to pay people well. Happy employees are engaged employees. Turnover is expensive. And well-compensated employees buy things. People often associate the success of Ford’s Model T with Ford’s decision to pay his employees enough to buy the Model T.
Given this understanding, 2017 has placed a burden on my egalitarian and collectivist perspectives. Statistically, the once-lockstep association between productivity and compensation has shattered. While employees continue to work at a more efficient pace to produce more goods, wages are falling flat. The difference slips into the pockets of shareholders who, in turn, heap praise on executives and bump up the executive compensation packages. As a result, society leans plutocratic, where the majority of the resources funnel to the few and the masses are left scraping the bottom of the barrel for survival.
To Plutocracy!
It seems as if almost every institutional decision points toward this plutocratic existence, a place where the few can conduct a cocktail party while the world burns around them, like Mr. Robot recently depicted so apropos.
The classic understanding of economic flourishing would suggest plutocracy leads to societal demise. When the rest of the world can no longer afford to engage in the marketplace, civilization dies.
Within this understanding of how the world works, Jim Shepard’s The World to Come offers a collection of stories highlighting the many ways indifferent, plutocratic institutions grind down and spit out the people it relies upon to keep the lights on.
Texas Tower no. 4
In the opening story, Shepard depicts the real-life Air Force catastrophe of Texas Tower no. 4 through the framing device of phone calls home to spouses.
Death’s Public Relations
Shepard illustrates the deadening life of a PR worker in an insurance agency hellbent on denying coverage.
Positive Train Control
He also outlines how the profit motif overwhelms any moral faculty for human life in the freight train industry.
Each story, in its own way, announces the plutocratic foundations of society. Time and time again, the stories place the competing interests of human life and profit on a balance. And unfortunately, human life loses. The World to Come is a sobering look at institutional transgression. Not a light read. But recommended if you can stomach the darkness.
Originally published at http://www.wherepenmeetspaper.com
A hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. A colloquialism held classically for managers, the United States economy holds this operating assumption. If the average person works hard, just compensation becomes the result. When the company prospers, the employees prosper at an equal rate of advancement. Classic motivational carrots and sticks implies that managers and employees alike hold shared interest in the flourishing of the company; everyone benefits. Even more, managers have always found it in their best interest to pay people well. Happy employees are engaged employees. Turnover is expensive. And well-compensated employees buy things. People often associate the success of Ford’s Model T with Ford’s decision to pay his employees enough to buy the Model T.
Given this understanding, 2017 has placed a burden on my egalitarian and collectivist perspectives. Statistically, the once-lockstep association between productivity and compensation has shattered. While employees continue to work at a more efficient pace to produce more goods, wages are falling flat. The difference slips into the pockets of shareholders who, in turn, heap praise on executives and bump up the executive compensation packages. As a result, society leans plutocratic, where the majority of the resources funnel to the few and the masses are left scraping the bottom of the barrel for survival.
To Plutocracy!
It seems as if almost every institutional decision points toward this plutocratic existence, a place where the few can conduct a cocktail party while the world burns around them, like Mr. Robot recently depicted so apropos.
The classic understanding of economic flourishing would suggest plutocracy leads to societal demise. When the rest of the world can no longer afford to engage in the marketplace, civilization dies.
Within this understanding of how the world works, Jim Shepard’s The World to Come offers a collection of stories highlighting the many ways indifferent, plutocratic institutions grind down and spit out the people it relies upon to keep the lights on.
Texas Tower no. 4
In the opening story, Shepard depicts the real-life Air Force catastrophe of Texas Tower no. 4 through the framing device of phone calls home to spouses.
“’So they’ll just evacuate you until spring, then?’ Jeannette asked Louie once he’d shared the news on his leave. They’d been lying together, and Louie answered that he didn’t see what else the Air Force could do, given how badly no. 4 was damaged. And Jeannette startled him by shouting, ‘Don’t lie to me about this!’ and then rolling away. And after he’d driven back to base, she found under her pillow a note that read, ‘I love you SO much.’ It was paper-clipped to a booklet entitled SAFETY TIPS FOR LIVING ALONE” (21).
Death’s Public Relations
Shepard illustrates the deadening life of a PR worker in an insurance agency hellbent on denying coverage.
“He was talking about my Horror Stories inbox, which was so nuts by that point it took me a full five minutes to scroll though it. I work for the PR arm of America’s largest health insurance company, and the last few months the entire Eastern Seaboard had apparently been denied claims for reasons that would make any self-respecting media outlet sit up and take notice, and I was having trouble writing up the explanations as to why. Some of the clients, if you had any kind of heart, it wasn’t easy to explain why they should be shit out of luck” (37).
Positive Train Control
He also outlines how the profit motif overwhelms any moral faculty for human life in the freight train industry.
“All sorts of things could’ve made this work safer, and deregulation gutted every one of them. Going slower is always safer, but the speed limit for extremely hazardous materials got bumped up to forty miles an hour. In emergency stops, electronic braking systems can keep the cars from piling into one another, but the companies said they were too expensive. Shorter trains have a much lower chance of derailing, so our union asked for a 30-car limit, but most of the trains now haul 100 to 120. Pressure-relief valves on the tank cars reduce the risk of explosions but are only recommended, not required, by the National Transportation Safety Board. And with the track problems, better inspection would help, but here’s how big a job that is: even Amtrak, the runt of the litter, operates over twenty-two thousand miles of track” (165).
Each story, in its own way, announces the plutocratic foundations of society. Time and time again, the stories place the competing interests of human life and profit on a balance. And unfortunately, human life loses. The World to Come is a sobering look at institutional transgression. Not a light read. But recommended if you can stomach the darkness.
Originally published at http://www.wherepenmeetspaper.com
June 3, 2017
Normally, I do not read short stories. However, when I saw a review of the book (likely from Kirkus) and with the words of Colum McCann (in his weekly blogs from 2016) in mind, something like “read as much as you can, and as varied as you can”, I decided to try the book.
In any set of stories, it is likely you can find one you enjoy. But with this author, there were several that stayed with me well beyond the reading, even from the short number of pages. In one case “Wall-to-Wall Counseling” I began to wonder whether I lived such a sheltered life; I was completely baffled on how the protagonist managed in her daily chaos; if her life is normal (and I know some people a bit like her), then mine must not be. In another story, “Safety Tips for Living Alone”, it is clear early on that the story will not end well (in fact, in most of these stories it does not end well), yet the writing creates a web of invisible ties around you that pulls you along – you need to get to the end. Another, “The World to Come”, draws you in for and through the feeling of the protagonist; she lives in a very closed environment but for a while has a means of escape from the day to day and from the confines of her spirit. However, as with other stories in this collection it does not end well; however as the title of the story suggests, the protagonist imagines the world to come.
The shortest story, “Cretan Love Song”, is two and a half pages, and captures the thinking of one individual as he experiences the cataclysmic event (and it does not end well for him); the story ends with his final thoughts – ones about his wife and his thanks for her in his life.
I was wondering while I was reading these stories why I continued. None ended well (no happy endings). Yet when I got to the last one, “Intimacy”, I am glad I kept reading. The story takes place on the north eastern coast of Australia (Brisbane and north), first pulling on several threads of individuals and their lives, and then how they individually deal with the impact of a huge cyclone (it may have been talking about the storm of March 1899, called Mahina, see http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-27...). Of course, it does not end well in a broad sense, however most of the key individuals survive. I was struck by the writing about the storm and its impact; it is riveting. And by the end, through the storm and its aftermath, people realized their own priorities and inner strengths.
I have added some links to reviews of the book for those interested:
Review of The World to Come by Lisa Zeidner: https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...
Review of The World to Come, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...
Finally, the writing did force me to go to the dictionary a few times, with some choices of words I had not encountered before.
Comment on Ratings (i.e., number of stars)
In this and the next few reviews I will be trying to establish some criteria for how I rate books. I note my ratings tend to be a bit higher than others (although not always). Why is that? Perhaps I am more selective? Perhaps I am in awe of anyone who can publish a story (or collection of stories) or the telling of a story (in the case of history, science, …)?
As a first thought, perhaps all books should start with a three (out of five) star rating. To earn another star, the story telling must be strong and convincing. To earn yet another star, the story needs to open up my thinking in ways it had not done before.
More to come.
In any set of stories, it is likely you can find one you enjoy. But with this author, there were several that stayed with me well beyond the reading, even from the short number of pages. In one case “Wall-to-Wall Counseling” I began to wonder whether I lived such a sheltered life; I was completely baffled on how the protagonist managed in her daily chaos; if her life is normal (and I know some people a bit like her), then mine must not be. In another story, “Safety Tips for Living Alone”, it is clear early on that the story will not end well (in fact, in most of these stories it does not end well), yet the writing creates a web of invisible ties around you that pulls you along – you need to get to the end. Another, “The World to Come”, draws you in for and through the feeling of the protagonist; she lives in a very closed environment but for a while has a means of escape from the day to day and from the confines of her spirit. However, as with other stories in this collection it does not end well; however as the title of the story suggests, the protagonist imagines the world to come.
The shortest story, “Cretan Love Song”, is two and a half pages, and captures the thinking of one individual as he experiences the cataclysmic event (and it does not end well for him); the story ends with his final thoughts – ones about his wife and his thanks for her in his life.
I was wondering while I was reading these stories why I continued. None ended well (no happy endings). Yet when I got to the last one, “Intimacy”, I am glad I kept reading. The story takes place on the north eastern coast of Australia (Brisbane and north), first pulling on several threads of individuals and their lives, and then how they individually deal with the impact of a huge cyclone (it may have been talking about the storm of March 1899, called Mahina, see http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-27...). Of course, it does not end well in a broad sense, however most of the key individuals survive. I was struck by the writing about the storm and its impact; it is riveting. And by the end, through the storm and its aftermath, people realized their own priorities and inner strengths.
I have added some links to reviews of the book for those interested:
Review of The World to Come by Lisa Zeidner: https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...
Review of The World to Come, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...
Finally, the writing did force me to go to the dictionary a few times, with some choices of words I had not encountered before.
Comment on Ratings (i.e., number of stars)
In this and the next few reviews I will be trying to establish some criteria for how I rate books. I note my ratings tend to be a bit higher than others (although not always). Why is that? Perhaps I am more selective? Perhaps I am in awe of anyone who can publish a story (or collection of stories) or the telling of a story (in the case of history, science, …)?
As a first thought, perhaps all books should start with a three (out of five) star rating. To earn another star, the story telling must be strong and convincing. To earn yet another star, the story needs to open up my thinking in ways it had not done before.
More to come.
September 16, 2018
I am a Jim Shepard fan. I have attended two of his readings. For my critical essay in graduate school I analyzed his works and his overarching themes of the liminal space between being unable and unwilling to communicate with others; and how we don't understand or disguise from ourselves our own true natures until faced with calamity and natural disaster. For this project, I interviewed him via email over the course of many months.
I am also a fan of the short story format.
However, for me, this collection had more misses than hits. That's not to say the misses weren't failures: they just didn't connect with me. There are two stories in particular in this volume where Shepard is trying something new: examining the affects of disaster on a group of individuals (as opposed to a group as a collective), instead of examining them on a specific person: the first story "Safety Tips for Living Alone," and the last story "Intimacy." This technique is stronger in the first piece, but because it's exploring so many lives in such a small space, the affect of the disasters is diffuse. These two stories are ensemble films told in a short film format, where a lot of the film pores over the technical details of what it's exploring.
There are also standout stories in this collection, starting with the shortest of them all "Cretan Love Song." At three pages it shows the harrowing thoughts of a father on the isle of Crete with his son racing to their house shortly after the eruption of Thera that wiped out most of Minoan civilization. The father knows their racing is futile, that the massive swell of water will drown and wash them away, but he must do the expected, and proffer the appearance and remote possibility of hope; always try to make an effort at making things better.
"The Ocean of Air" chronicles the invention of the hot air balloon (and manned flight) in 18th century France by the Montgolfier brothers. It takes the first person point of view of the older (12th of 15 children) Joseph-Michel who invented the idea but was profligate with money and business, and his exclusion by his younger brother Etienne, who had a calmer temperament and sound business sense. when showing the idea to aristocracy and those who could fund them. It's a story of muted sibling rivalry and the power of quiet accomplishment.
For me, the most powerful of the collection is the title story "The World to Come" which focuses on the lives and relationship/friendship between two pioneer wives in early America. In every Shepard collection, there are one of two lines that feel as if they could be stated by all of the characters, that capture their inner emotional turmoil and fugue. On the second paragraph of this story:
"With little pride and less hope and only occasional and uncertain intervals of happiness, we begin the new year. Let me at least learn to be uncomplaining and unselfish. Let me feel gratitude for what I have: some strength, some sense of purpose, some capacity for progress. Some esteem, some respect, and some affection. Yet I cannot say I am improved in any manner, unless it is preferable to be wider in sensation and experience."
This is a collection of people wanting to be better versions of themselves and unable to move out of their own ways to accomplish it; people unable to see beyond themselves despite their personal aspirations, people wanting the quiet acknowledgement of accomplishment and affection from those they crave it from the most, and not knowing how to proceed if they don't receive it, even if they know they won't.
It's familiar territory for one of our best short story writers.
I am also a fan of the short story format.
However, for me, this collection had more misses than hits. That's not to say the misses weren't failures: they just didn't connect with me. There are two stories in particular in this volume where Shepard is trying something new: examining the affects of disaster on a group of individuals (as opposed to a group as a collective), instead of examining them on a specific person: the first story "Safety Tips for Living Alone," and the last story "Intimacy." This technique is stronger in the first piece, but because it's exploring so many lives in such a small space, the affect of the disasters is diffuse. These two stories are ensemble films told in a short film format, where a lot of the film pores over the technical details of what it's exploring.
There are also standout stories in this collection, starting with the shortest of them all "Cretan Love Song." At three pages it shows the harrowing thoughts of a father on the isle of Crete with his son racing to their house shortly after the eruption of Thera that wiped out most of Minoan civilization. The father knows their racing is futile, that the massive swell of water will drown and wash them away, but he must do the expected, and proffer the appearance and remote possibility of hope; always try to make an effort at making things better.
"The Ocean of Air" chronicles the invention of the hot air balloon (and manned flight) in 18th century France by the Montgolfier brothers. It takes the first person point of view of the older (12th of 15 children) Joseph-Michel who invented the idea but was profligate with money and business, and his exclusion by his younger brother Etienne, who had a calmer temperament and sound business sense. when showing the idea to aristocracy and those who could fund them. It's a story of muted sibling rivalry and the power of quiet accomplishment.
For me, the most powerful of the collection is the title story "The World to Come" which focuses on the lives and relationship/friendship between two pioneer wives in early America. In every Shepard collection, there are one of two lines that feel as if they could be stated by all of the characters, that capture their inner emotional turmoil and fugue. On the second paragraph of this story:
"With little pride and less hope and only occasional and uncertain intervals of happiness, we begin the new year. Let me at least learn to be uncomplaining and unselfish. Let me feel gratitude for what I have: some strength, some sense of purpose, some capacity for progress. Some esteem, some respect, and some affection. Yet I cannot say I am improved in any manner, unless it is preferable to be wider in sensation and experience."
This is a collection of people wanting to be better versions of themselves and unable to move out of their own ways to accomplish it; people unable to see beyond themselves despite their personal aspirations, people wanting the quiet acknowledgement of accomplishment and affection from those they crave it from the most, and not knowing how to proceed if they don't receive it, even if they know they won't.
It's familiar territory for one of our best short story writers.
May 29, 2017
These stories serve to demonstrate two of Jim Shepard’s great passions: chronicling historical disasters and conducting research. Eight of the ten stories fictionalize real disasters narrated by characters who could have confronted them. These stories also contain so much historical detail that they resemble investigative journalism. It is obvious that Shepard enjoys his time with original records (e.g., personal diaries, journals, naval histories, minutes of hearings, and even safety handbooks intended for employees) and his interests are indeed broad (e.g., Arctic exploration, railway infrastructure, submarine warfare, tsunamis, ocean towers, early flight, volcanic eruptions). Yet there are a few unifying themes in this collection, most notably that man is at the mercy of fate and powerful environmental forces.
The title story is an outlier because it tells a subtler story of two isolated farm wives whose loveless marriages push them into a close relationship. Because of its psychological and personal focuses as opposed to the more dramatic fare of the other stories, this one probably is the strongest piece in the collection.
“Safety Tips for Living Alone” is the most dramatic story. It tells of a collapsing Air Force radar platform in the North Atlantic from the dual perspectives of its commander who is facing a devastating storm and his wife who monitors everything from home.
Although they are set in the past, most of the stories resonate with similar problems we still face. “Positive Train Control” raises the specter if our failing infrastructure. “Cretan Love Song” reminds us of the unpredictability and destructive power of tsunamis. "HMS Terror" tells the story of what can go wrong with exploration.
The first person narratives simultaneously immerse the reader in the drama of dire situations while evoking much of the minutia of daily life. If there is one flaw with Shepard’s writing, it may be his attraction to minutia, an approach that tends to occasionally detract from the tension that he carefully build in the stories.
The title story is an outlier because it tells a subtler story of two isolated farm wives whose loveless marriages push them into a close relationship. Because of its psychological and personal focuses as opposed to the more dramatic fare of the other stories, this one probably is the strongest piece in the collection.
“Safety Tips for Living Alone” is the most dramatic story. It tells of a collapsing Air Force radar platform in the North Atlantic from the dual perspectives of its commander who is facing a devastating storm and his wife who monitors everything from home.
Although they are set in the past, most of the stories resonate with similar problems we still face. “Positive Train Control” raises the specter if our failing infrastructure. “Cretan Love Song” reminds us of the unpredictability and destructive power of tsunamis. "HMS Terror" tells the story of what can go wrong with exploration.
The first person narratives simultaneously immerse the reader in the drama of dire situations while evoking much of the minutia of daily life. If there is one flaw with Shepard’s writing, it may be his attraction to minutia, an approach that tends to occasionally detract from the tension that he carefully build in the stories.
March 4, 2018
Every single story in this collection of historical fiction and contemporary fiction pieces is breathtaking, full of incredible and often all-too-real details, and features characters (whether based on real people or not) that leap off the page. I particularly appreciate how writer Jim Shepard finds the humanity and depth in characters that are otherwise difficult to like.
The title story is a gorgeous examination of a forbidden love that simply cannot survive in its era. It's a great story, but one that is a little hard for me to take after the transcendence of Call Me By Your Name and that book (and movie's) powerful rejection of the old tropes in LGBT fiction. Yet this book is very much about catastrophe, so "The World to Come" fits in well. I frequently found myself looking up information about the events Shepard writes about in his stories that sound so unbelievable but really did take place. The three stories set in modern times are perfectly placed breathers from history no less lacking in concrete details and relevant facts.
I was not looking forward to reading this book at first because I thought I didn't enjoy history, but The World to Come: Stories has convinced me that historical fiction is a powerful and necessary lens through which to see our shared humanity, and perhaps learn how we can avoid such catastrophes in the future. This collection is a revelation.
The title story is a gorgeous examination of a forbidden love that simply cannot survive in its era. It's a great story, but one that is a little hard for me to take after the transcendence of Call Me By Your Name and that book (and movie's) powerful rejection of the old tropes in LGBT fiction. Yet this book is very much about catastrophe, so "The World to Come" fits in well. I frequently found myself looking up information about the events Shepard writes about in his stories that sound so unbelievable but really did take place. The three stories set in modern times are perfectly placed breathers from history no less lacking in concrete details and relevant facts.
I was not looking forward to reading this book at first because I thought I didn't enjoy history, but The World to Come: Stories has convinced me that historical fiction is a powerful and necessary lens through which to see our shared humanity, and perhaps learn how we can avoid such catastrophes in the future. This collection is a revelation.
May 24, 2017
Jim Shepard is one of my favorite contemporary writers so I was really looking forward to reading The World To Come (2017) and it did not disappoint. I think Shepard is especially good at writing historically based short stories in which he does extensive research to give correct period details and there are a number of those types of stories in this collection. The first story, "Safety Tips for Living Alone" is a fictional account of the Texas Tower 4 disaster where all 28 civilians contractors died in the accident. There was also the Arctic exploration story of the lost Franklin expedition, "HMS Terror." Then there's the WWII submarine story "Telemachus" and an imagined viewing of the largest volcano eruption on Santorini in "Cretan Love Song." Air ballooning at the turn of the century in "The Ocean of Air" and life in Queens land, Australia in the late 19th century in "Intimacy." "Forcing Joy on Young People" was also an engaging portrait of man struggling to find his place and meaning in life. The title story "The World to Come" was a powerful portrait of a woman in a loveless marriage surviving as best as she can isolated in the late 19th century and finds solace in the love of another farmer's wife. However, my favorite was "Wall-to-Wall Counseling," a portrayal of a woman facing family and work crises. It is another diverse and intriguing collection of short stories.
July 23, 2017
Shepard's smirking, ominous message--delivered mostly through expertly researched historical fiction--is that we're doomed. I've read/own all his short story collections and love them. Not a sentimental bullshit moment in any of them. He seamlessly weaves in spot-on, telling historical detail without it ever seeming as if he's showing off. And to write the kind of stuff he writes--you have to get the details correct. He's obsessed with, among other subjects: Australia, early sea travel, war, the 19th century... and yet it all feels topical and urgent (hence the collection's title).
He differs from similar authors (Andrea Barrett, Erik Larson) in that he doesn't dig too deeply into characters' emotions. This actually feels more honest in some weird way. Also? He's funny. Wickedly funny--but its deadpan humor, delivered almost reluctantly. No one writes like Shepard. Read his stories--you'll get so depressed it'll actually cheer you up.
He differs from similar authors (Andrea Barrett, Erik Larson) in that he doesn't dig too deeply into characters' emotions. This actually feels more honest in some weird way. Also? He's funny. Wickedly funny--but its deadpan humor, delivered almost reluctantly. No one writes like Shepard. Read his stories--you'll get so depressed it'll actually cheer you up.
June 16, 2025
Noia e indifferenza. Carta sprecata, ecco cosa mi viene in mente.
Sono finita a leggere questa raccolta dopo aver visto il film “il mondo che verrà”; in effetti è il racconto più decente che si trova qua dentro, anche se poteva essere approfondito meglio. Speravo di trovare più risvolti nella versione letteraria, ma è stato il contrario; il film ha intessuto una trama decisamente migliore.
Gli altri racconti… non ce l’ho fatta. Con alcuni mi sono impegnata, ma se dopo una, due, tre pagine ti si chiudono gli occhi da soli per la noia, per me non c’è speranza. E per trasformare un evento come quello del Terror con cannibalismo annesso in qualcosa da sbadiglio, ce ne vuole.
Lo stile di scrittura, poi. Insopportabile. Sciatto e banale, ma che con qualche vocabolo pomposo qui e lì, pretende di essere raffinato. Altra cosa che non sopporto è il tipo di analogie che fa, zero eleganza.
Insomma, questo autore non fa per me.
Sono finita a leggere questa raccolta dopo aver visto il film “il mondo che verrà”; in effetti è il racconto più decente che si trova qua dentro, anche se poteva essere approfondito meglio. Speravo di trovare più risvolti nella versione letteraria, ma è stato il contrario; il film ha intessuto una trama decisamente migliore.
Gli altri racconti… non ce l’ho fatta. Con alcuni mi sono impegnata, ma se dopo una, due, tre pagine ti si chiudono gli occhi da soli per la noia, per me non c’è speranza. E per trasformare un evento come quello del Terror con cannibalismo annesso in qualcosa da sbadiglio, ce ne vuole.
Lo stile di scrittura, poi. Insopportabile. Sciatto e banale, ma che con qualche vocabolo pomposo qui e lì, pretende di essere raffinato. Altra cosa che non sopporto è il tipo di analogie che fa, zero eleganza.
Insomma, questo autore non fa per me.
September 20, 2021
This guy is a great writer. I enjoyed several of the stories included in this selection. I originally started reading this because of the movie made based on the title selection. He had objections so, my interest increased. The title piece was not bad but was depressing. In fact, depressing seemed to be the over all tone of the collection. I feel like I am not savvy enough to fully appreciate some of the stories. Lots of technical talk about trains, submarines, and ships. Shepard feels like he went through hardships growing up and may not be the most upbeat guest at a cocktail party. He could keep everyone engrossed if he decided to share a story but, it would involve a few damp eyes and a couple of exhales of relief at the end from listeners that didn't realize they'd been holding their breath.
May 17, 2025
The stories in this collection are nothing special. They’re all quite bleak and most of them end in death. The only one I enjoyed was The World to Come (adapted into the film). While it was very dour, the writing was so beautiful. The epistolary style fit the life of living on the frontier. I really loved the atmosphere the author created when describing harsh winters, farming, and cooking during this time period. There is a restraint in the narrator’s entries; you feel her urge to suffuse emotion into the anecdotes. She has a desire to purchase a dictionary, which further proves her need to use stirring language. To fit such restrained passion into a short story is impressive to say the least.
December 28, 2017
I'm not really one for historical fiction usually but Shepard's assured style and blurb soundbites from other respected authors sustained my curiosity.
When my attention flagged, I clung to memories and titbits of familiarity.
The seafaring stories went on a bit too long and the non-catastrophes in the present day proved quite dull.
I'm not sure I'll rush to read him again.
Notable Stories
• Safety Tips for Living Alone - servicemen left to the mercy of a huge wave is horrifying thought.
• The World to Come - I joked that the two men might find love and was touched when they did.
• The Ocean of Air - the strong memory of the name 'Montgolfier' carried me aloft through this tale.
When my attention flagged, I clung to memories and titbits of familiarity.
The seafaring stories went on a bit too long and the non-catastrophes in the present day proved quite dull.
I'm not sure I'll rush to read him again.
Notable Stories
• Safety Tips for Living Alone - servicemen left to the mercy of a huge wave is horrifying thought.
• The World to Come - I joked that the two men might find love and was touched when they did.
• The Ocean of Air - the strong memory of the name 'Montgolfier' carried me aloft through this tale.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 29, 2018
Shepard follows-up his brilliant Holocaust novel Book of Aron with an uneven story collection. (Aren’t they all?) Once again, it’s historical characters staring death in the face: sailors on a doomed 19th-century Arctic expedition; the claustrophobic crew of a WWII English submarine in enemy waters; a frontier housewife whose marriage is as barren as the frosty landscape. Drags a bit, but his research is thorough & he’s comfortable shifting styles from diaries to internal monologues. The few modern settings can seem jarringly out of place, even if they’re a welcome break from the magical misery tour.
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