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Visitations
"People--the species defies logic!" reflects the protagonist of one of the dazzling, intricate stories in Visitations. In this latest collection from Lee Upton, characters navigate often bewildering situations, from the homeschooled girl trying to communicate telepathically with an injured man she finds on the beach to the experimental theater troupe (called the Community Playas) composed primarily of actors the story's narrator has wronged or been wronged by.
Upton's stories frequently draw inspiration from books--books as art objects or lost objects, as inspiration or points of contention. "Night Walkers" tells the story of the world's laziest book club, while "A Story's End" follows a woman's search for the last book read by her mother before her sudden death. Elsewhere, the ghosts of literature and writers past haunt the characters' present: "The Tell-All Heart" sees a woman falling in love with Edgar Allan Poe's discarded suit, and an unruly, unpredictable shadow creeps in a child's window to demand that he cut off the other hand of Captain Hook in "A Shadow."
In the surreal yet playful tradition of Karen Russell and George Saunders, Visitations brings together seventeen incandescent short stories from a writer at the height of her powers.
Upton's stories frequently draw inspiration from books--books as art objects or lost objects, as inspiration or points of contention. "Night Walkers" tells the story of the world's laziest book club, while "A Story's End" follows a woman's search for the last book read by her mother before her sudden death. Elsewhere, the ghosts of literature and writers past haunt the characters' present: "The Tell-All Heart" sees a woman falling in love with Edgar Allan Poe's discarded suit, and an unruly, unpredictable shadow creeps in a child's window to demand that he cut off the other hand of Captain Hook in "A Shadow."
In the surreal yet playful tradition of Karen Russell and George Saunders, Visitations brings together seventeen incandescent short stories from a writer at the height of her powers.
- GenresFictionShort Stories
216 pages, Hardcover
Published August 16, 2017
3 people are currently reading
159 people want to read
About the author
Lee Upton
42 books32 followersLee Upton writes books of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and literary criticism. Her comic novel, Tabitha, Get Up, will be released in May 2024 from Sagging Meniscus Press. A literary mystery is forthcoming in 2025. She is also the author of The Day Every Day Is, winner of the Saturnalia Books Prize, and two collections of short stories, The Tao of Humiliation, and Visitations, which were both awarded the Kirkus Star. The Tao of Humiliation received the BOA Short Fiction Prize. Her novella, The Guide to the Flying Island, was awarded the Miami University Novella Prize. Her collection of essays, Swallowing the Sea: On Writing & Ambition Boredom Purity & Secrecy, received ForeWord Review's Book of the Year Award in the category of books about writing. Her poetry has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, the New Republic, Poetry, Harvard Review, American Poetry Review, and in three editions of Best American Poetry.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 27, 2017
As someone who was a big fan of Upton's previous short-story collection, The Tao of Humiliation, precisely for the degree of uncertainty anchoring many of the stories, it seemed a bit odd to enjoy Visitations even more, particularly when there seemed to be such a radical shift of focus - or at least in focal point, if not in the underlying grace of each tale. For these stories come with a piercing clarity not always present in Upton's last story collection - frankness, outrageous absurdity (I will never be able to hear the word "lard" again), and a strong centered clarity to each story's protagonist that brings to mind both the victims and perpetrators in Rod Serling's Twilight Zone series. Because make no mistake about it, even if the jokes fly fast and furious, there is a more distinct weave of macabre here than in Tao, and it suits the storytelling just fine.
The obvious connecting thread noted by many readers is the explicit retelling and extension of famous works from James, Homer, Barrie, Poe, with characters who wish to rebel or at least change the circumstances they have been offered in the original tales. This could seem challenging but for the way Upton lays it all out for the reader - 'The Tell-All Heart' would suggest a bit of a stretch, except that the story extends far beyond what a post-Poe boundary might suggest. The repeated use of last and first sentences between sections and points of view in this story evoke a resonating, chanting feeling stronger than any beating heart from an absinthe-soaked Victorian era. Let's be explicit - this author has given us a Poe libretto in the last year, and it's fair to say she has been the first to pull a Poe consciousness from its 19th-century anchor since the death of the master storyteller.
While some conceits in this collection work better than others, it's hard to point to a single story among the 17 here as less interesting than the ones surrounding it. If brief but chilling stories like 'The Stone Wall' don't stick, it's only because the standouts, like 'Hello! I Am Saying Hello! Because That Is What I Do When I Say Hello!' and 'Gods and Goddesses in Art and Legend' are so breathtaking, they demand more than their share of attention.
Upton would be a perfect modernist Grimm for a new fairy tale collection, had she not been perfecting her droll humor to heights only hinted at in Tao. In particular, her mastery of the follow-a-run-on-sentence-with-a-short-disarming-declaration method gives her a better handling of the sucker-punch than any prizefighter. So what do you do when you wish to keep the suggested horror at a gothic-era sense of timing, while still aiming to bowl the audiences over with one-liners? Turn the Visitations stories into a Netflix series? It's a sure bet that many of the characters within, beginning with Tiffany's mother in the eponymous first story, would be avid binge-watchers. But before we can convince producers of the worthiness of a television screenplay, we have to convince the reading public that these stories are among the best short works written in the 21st century. If we can't gain a new tao, or even a satori, from the world's lamest book club described in 'Night Walkers,' well, maybe the century's satori is all used up.
The obvious connecting thread noted by many readers is the explicit retelling and extension of famous works from James, Homer, Barrie, Poe, with characters who wish to rebel or at least change the circumstances they have been offered in the original tales. This could seem challenging but for the way Upton lays it all out for the reader - 'The Tell-All Heart' would suggest a bit of a stretch, except that the story extends far beyond what a post-Poe boundary might suggest. The repeated use of last and first sentences between sections and points of view in this story evoke a resonating, chanting feeling stronger than any beating heart from an absinthe-soaked Victorian era. Let's be explicit - this author has given us a Poe libretto in the last year, and it's fair to say she has been the first to pull a Poe consciousness from its 19th-century anchor since the death of the master storyteller.
While some conceits in this collection work better than others, it's hard to point to a single story among the 17 here as less interesting than the ones surrounding it. If brief but chilling stories like 'The Stone Wall' don't stick, it's only because the standouts, like 'Hello! I Am Saying Hello! Because That Is What I Do When I Say Hello!' and 'Gods and Goddesses in Art and Legend' are so breathtaking, they demand more than their share of attention.
Upton would be a perfect modernist Grimm for a new fairy tale collection, had she not been perfecting her droll humor to heights only hinted at in Tao. In particular, her mastery of the follow-a-run-on-sentence-with-a-short-disarming-declaration method gives her a better handling of the sucker-punch than any prizefighter. So what do you do when you wish to keep the suggested horror at a gothic-era sense of timing, while still aiming to bowl the audiences over with one-liners? Turn the Visitations stories into a Netflix series? It's a sure bet that many of the characters within, beginning with Tiffany's mother in the eponymous first story, would be avid binge-watchers. But before we can convince producers of the worthiness of a television screenplay, we have to convince the reading public that these stories are among the best short works written in the 21st century. If we can't gain a new tao, or even a satori, from the world's lamest book club described in 'Night Walkers,' well, maybe the century's satori is all used up.
September 3, 2017
“Visitations”
Written by Lee Upton
Review written by Diana Iozzia
“Visitations” is a collection of very surreal and unusual short stories. To be frank, I’m not entirely sure I understood every story in the collection. There are seventeen in total and they are relatively short, so I’m sure that someone could find at least one story they really like. Some of these stories are creepy, suspenseful, and a few of them are trippy. I did like this book, and it receives bonus points for being a hardcover that does not use a book jacket. The cover is very pretty and interesting.
The stories in this book are very unusual and confusing at some points. They do tend to adapt old stories and seem to create new stories that remind me of cautionary fairy tales. I enjoyed:
1. “A Shadow”, an interesting Peter Pan adaptation.
2. “A Meadow”
3. “A Stalker”
4. “The Stone Wall”, an interesting new type of creepy fairy tale, if you ask me.
5. “The Tell-All Heart”
6. “A Story’s End”
7. “Ambrosia”, a story about a little old lady who becomes fond of her new neighbor.
Written by Lee Upton
Review written by Diana Iozzia
“Visitations” is a collection of very surreal and unusual short stories. To be frank, I’m not entirely sure I understood every story in the collection. There are seventeen in total and they are relatively short, so I’m sure that someone could find at least one story they really like. Some of these stories are creepy, suspenseful, and a few of them are trippy. I did like this book, and it receives bonus points for being a hardcover that does not use a book jacket. The cover is very pretty and interesting.
The stories in this book are very unusual and confusing at some points. They do tend to adapt old stories and seem to create new stories that remind me of cautionary fairy tales. I enjoyed:
1. “A Shadow”, an interesting Peter Pan adaptation.
2. “A Meadow”
3. “A Stalker”
4. “The Stone Wall”, an interesting new type of creepy fairy tale, if you ask me.
5. “The Tell-All Heart”
6. “A Story’s End”
7. “Ambrosia”, a story about a little old lady who becomes fond of her new neighbor.
November 30, 2018
Catching up on Goodreads... Beautiful collection I picked up at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville last year. Favorite stories include "Escape from the Dark Forest" and "Hello! I Am Saying Hello! Because That's What I Do When I Say Hello!"
May 28, 2018
Somewhat odd and interesting book of stories.
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January 10, 2018Short stories did not seem to go anywhere. Just not to my taste this week. Not to say you might not like it though. Good character development in some of the stories.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews