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University Press of Kentucky New Poetry & Prose Series
Make Way for Her: And Other Stories
A girl afflicted with pyrokinesis tries to control her fire-starting long enough to go to a dance with a boy she likes. A woman trapped in a stalled marriage is excited by an alluring ex-con who enrolls in her YMCA cooking class. A teen accompanies her mother, a prestigious poet, to a writing conference where she navigates a misguided attraction to a married writer―who is, in turn, attracted to her mother―leaving her "inventing punishments for writers who believe in clichés as tired as broken hearts."
In this affecting collection, Katie Cortese explores the many faces of love and desire. Featuring female narrators that range in age from five to forty, the narratives in Make Way for Her speak to the many challenges and often bittersweet rewards of offering, receiving, and returning love as imperfect human beings. The stories are united by the theme of desperate love, whether it's a daughter's love for a parent, a sister's for a sibling, or a romantic love that is sometimes returned and sometimes unrequited.
Cortese's complex and multilayered stories play with the reader's own desires and anticipations as her characters stubbornly resist the expected. The intrepid girls and women in this book are, above all, explorers. They drive classic cars from Maine to Phoenix, board airplanes for the first time, and hike dense forests in search of adventure; but what they often find is that the most treacherous landscapes lie within. As a result, Make Way for Her explores a world of women who crave knowledge and experience, not simply sex or love.
In this affecting collection, Katie Cortese explores the many faces of love and desire. Featuring female narrators that range in age from five to forty, the narratives in Make Way for Her speak to the many challenges and often bittersweet rewards of offering, receiving, and returning love as imperfect human beings. The stories are united by the theme of desperate love, whether it's a daughter's love for a parent, a sister's for a sibling, or a romantic love that is sometimes returned and sometimes unrequited.
Cortese's complex and multilayered stories play with the reader's own desires and anticipations as her characters stubbornly resist the expected. The intrepid girls and women in this book are, above all, explorers. They drive classic cars from Maine to Phoenix, board airplanes for the first time, and hike dense forests in search of adventure; but what they often find is that the most treacherous landscapes lie within. As a result, Make Way for Her explores a world of women who crave knowledge and experience, not simply sex or love.
- GenresShort Stories
200 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 2018
49 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 1, 2018
I picked this book up from the new section of the library and wasn't sure what I would get, but as soon as I started reading it I couldn't put it down. I was actually reading it during stoppages in the Nashville-Winnipeg 2OT game, that's how good it was. The language is rich and descriptive and lyrical but also economical, it doesn't feel like any words are wasted. The subjects are obviously things I relate to, because the book is a series of short stories about girls growing up. I honestly don't know how else to articulate why I like it so much, except it deals with the things we grow up dealing with and shows the gravity and seriousness along with the things that are lighthearted if that makes sense. It just captures what it means to be growing up really well. And as I previously said, the writing is gorgeous. It flows like a river and just carries you along with it.
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September 16, 2019by Gretchen Johnson
One of the brightest and darkest times in a woman’s life occurs from adolescence to young adulthood. In this collection of ten stories, Cortese’s characters journey through that middle-ground between childhood and maturity, always asking big questions along the way.
In the first story, fifteen-year-old Lily accompanies her mother on a writer’s conference where she finds herself standing on the sidelines of adult conversations she cannot fully understand yet. She seesaws between a desire to flirt with the much-older writer and the desire to just enjoy those last moments of adolescence a bit longer. This story, like so many others in the book, perfectly characterizes that beautiful way seemingly insignificant questions take on huge meaning in the teenage years. Toward the end of the story, Lily wonders, “When did she stop exploring just for fun?” (13).
In “Straight and Narrow,” the narrator is a young married woman who is yearning to travel the globe while her husband wants to have children and settle into a routine. Five years into the marriage, she has only been to Disney World and is feeling pressure to agree to the conventional life she never wanted. The story stands out as a painful reminder of the end of childhood dreams that so many women are forced to face after marrying the wrong person. The narrator says, “I wanted to follow the world to its four corners, then bring it back home in my recipe book” (83), but the reader understands that this will never happen.
Cortese’s collection is sometimes hopeful, sometimes heartbreaking, and always authentic. She manages to create a world we have all been to, characters who are pieces of people we have known, and plots that travel to places we have stood in. This beautiful collection is for any woman who desires a trip back to times past and for any girl who wants a roadmap to see what lies ahead.
https://mailchi.mp/889a6fc71cee/summe...
One of the brightest and darkest times in a woman’s life occurs from adolescence to young adulthood. In this collection of ten stories, Cortese’s characters journey through that middle-ground between childhood and maturity, always asking big questions along the way.
In the first story, fifteen-year-old Lily accompanies her mother on a writer’s conference where she finds herself standing on the sidelines of adult conversations she cannot fully understand yet. She seesaws between a desire to flirt with the much-older writer and the desire to just enjoy those last moments of adolescence a bit longer. This story, like so many others in the book, perfectly characterizes that beautiful way seemingly insignificant questions take on huge meaning in the teenage years. Toward the end of the story, Lily wonders, “When did she stop exploring just for fun?” (13).
In “Straight and Narrow,” the narrator is a young married woman who is yearning to travel the globe while her husband wants to have children and settle into a routine. Five years into the marriage, she has only been to Disney World and is feeling pressure to agree to the conventional life she never wanted. The story stands out as a painful reminder of the end of childhood dreams that so many women are forced to face after marrying the wrong person. The narrator says, “I wanted to follow the world to its four corners, then bring it back home in my recipe book” (83), but the reader understands that this will never happen.
Cortese’s collection is sometimes hopeful, sometimes heartbreaking, and always authentic. She manages to create a world we have all been to, characters who are pieces of people we have known, and plots that travel to places we have stood in. This beautiful collection is for any woman who desires a trip back to times past and for any girl who wants a roadmap to see what lies ahead.
https://mailchi.mp/889a6fc71cee/summe...
March 27, 2018
I found this book on the New shelf at the library and I am so glad I did. Make Way for Her by Katie Cortese is a collection of short stories all focusing on a female protagonist and with female narration. I haven't read very many collections of short stories, but I will say that I know this book is special. Each story in this book grabbed my heart and I was invested in each character of each story, even if I only got to spend time with her for twenty pages or so. Ms. Cortese has a beautiful ability to bring imperfect, vulnerable, stubborn, and authentic characters to life, whether they are young girls or grown women. I hope she continues to write and publish short stories because I will definitely keep reading them.
May 16, 2018
Ugh. I love a good short story collection. That was not this. I read it a while ago so I can't even remember that well what I so hated, but it just really was not very good. I remember rolling my eyes and shaking my head at some of the characters and writing. Blerg.
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March 23, 2024i picked this short story collection up on a whim while browsing the library stacks, and found myself pleasantly surprised with these stories. they're heartfelt and introspective with strong writing that cues into the experiences of young women without being heavy.
August 16, 2018
Loved this book. Women and girls are so intuitively drawn it makes you realize (once again) how often we are ignored altogether or painted with a broad brush.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews