Saul Stories

by Elizabeth Ellen

A linked story collection detailing the relationship between the 40-year-old narrator, her eighth-grade daughter, Eli, and her daughter’s best friend, Saul. Includes the Pushcart Prize winning story "Teen Culture."

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

160 pages, Hardcover

First published October 27, 2017

About the author

Elizabeth Ellen's stories have appeared in numerous online and print journals over the last ten years, including elimae, Quick Fiction, Hobart, Lamination Colony, Muumuu House, HTMLGIANT, and many others. She is the author of the chapbook Before You She Was a Pit Bull (Future Tense) and her collection of flash fictions, Sixteen Miles Outside of Phoenix, was included in A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness: four chapbooks of short short fiction by four women (Rose Metal Press). Fast Machine is a collection of her best work from the last decade. She was recently awarded a Pushcart Prize for her story "Teen Culture" which appeared in American Short Fiction in 2012. She lives in Ann Arbor, where she co-edits Hobart and oversees Hobart's book division, Short Flight/Long Drive Books.

Reviews

[Scott Mcclanahan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply one of the best writers alive in the world today

[Juliet Escoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is funny and creepy, so what else could you want in a book. Elizabeth Ellen is one of the best writers of our time, hands down, no contest, for real, 100%, dy-no-mite. Also smokin hot.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book so much that I interviewed Elizabeth Ellen about it. Here: http://www.vol1brooklyn.com/2017/11/0...

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A relentless, tension-filled investigation of discontent.

[Joe Sacksteder]

My review up on Green Mountains Review: http://greenmountainsreview.com/revie...

Here's an excerpt: "I’m surrounded all day by teenagers, and I’m negotiating the authority thing, and I have no social life. I’ve never been much on trying to maintain authority through the traditional methods, and seeing such methods fail these days is more enlightening than ever. No wonder kids are so angry. No wonder they’re such little anarchists. They’re moving inexorably towards adulthood—which has never looked more clownishly stupid and artificial than at this moment in history."

[David Kuhnlein · Rating 5 out of 5]

I lost a lot of sleep last winter. I couldn't put Saul Stories down.

[juch · Rating 4 out of 5]

i'm new to this scene of "alt lit," and not fully sure if the scene calls itself that, or if the scene is a single scene, or if "scene" is a stupid/annoying word. i had a few days months ago where i was doing internet research on alt lit more in the early 2010s, pre instagram poetry/rupi kaur, when you'd write blogs and it'd be accessible and DIY but not commodified... maybe? i feel heavy outsider/imposter syndrome but am also growing out of it but also not sure if that's because i'm becoming more confident/social vs. recently having luck accessing more external markers of success, "insideness" even though it feels way too preliminary to say that... i feel confused about any "alternative" scene, because having alternatives to big institutions is great but at the same time any scene is defined in opposition to others / produces an inside and an outside. maybe the way to be neutral/good about this is to be less preoccupied with your own coolness

that's not a review of this book, which i really enjoyed, and found unlike most books i've read before, except like i said i'm new to alt lit (and maybe not it's most archetypal fan?? despite respecting accessibility and DIY energy... despite having googled, "how to be punk" last weekend... i just like, don't smoke cigarettes. and i've tried but haven't finished tao lin). i think it helped that the POV was a woman even though alt lit feels sans identity politics in a way that feels both retrograde and respectable! probably fundamentally everyone wants to be read as an individual writer and i like reading that way so i'm gonna stop w this meta commentary on the larger "genre" now

book jacket very cool. aggro @ agent hehe, + a blurb from a friend that "this book makes me wanna get high and go to mcd's" (paraphrased). so DIY, so punk! did mention that a story got a pushcart and that was indeed my favorite story (loved the driving around, the longing, how being a cool mom is both cool and sad, the bitter descriptions of lee's new armless surfer gf LOL). but i also liked the overall book's world and complicated relationships: the protag and her teenage daughter eli, and eli's close friend saul who she is maybe attracted to? attraction is complicated, which i thought this book explored very interestingly: a product of admiration, pity, what others expect of you, your desire to flout what others expect of you... the story about photographing teenage sexuality / maybe almost sleeping with saul was uncomfortable and interesting, even as i think i disagree that boundary-pushing itself is art

i also really appreciated how the linked stories let you see characters go in and out, especially across race. this book felt not awkward about race which is a low but honestly hard (like idk if i can be not awkward) bar. like it's true that teenagers are often able to transcend this stuff but also true that they struggle to do so permanently, against the odds. it was a present but not hammering theme, it felt real

thank you so much for sending me this + other books ee i'm excited to read the rest!!!

i'm away from the book itself rn maybe i'll update this review more once it's by my side

[Joanna Gammel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I miss my dead friend who always had the best book recommendations. After he died, I found and read his digital diary where he saved clips of different essays and poems that he liked. Through his diary, I discovered Elizabeth Ellen. My dead friend had saved "Primo Carnera" (a chapter in this book) in a note with some of his favorite found writing. I lapped up every juicy word and immediately read everything googleable about mysterious, entrancing Elizabeth Ellen and bought a few of her books. I wish he was alive so we could talk about this book, and how uncool we were at 14, what type of parents we want to become, and all ways we sabotage our lives when we get bored and restless.

Anyway, this book is the closest I've ever been to feeling like I could read every stray thought in someone's mind, so I feel like that justifies the snooping that led me to it. As a person who usually gets bored and abandons a book around page 100, I devoured this book in 2 nights. Read it, love it, share it, feel good about yourself because you're less of a degenerate than the narrator of Saul Stories.

RIP Alex, thanks for the rec.

[Siel Ju · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I try to figure out ways of making myself appear interesting as a solo act.”
*
Saul Stories is a collection of linked short stories about a forty-something woman who, in the void left by a partner who left because she kept pursuing crushes she had on other men, starts spending an inordinate amount of time hanging out with her teenage daughter’s friend Saul — buying him booze and shoes and snacks, hanging out with him mostly naked in a motel room watching tv, smoking joints he gives her. It’s a strange but compelling book about boredom, loneliness, self-destructive desires, and unexpected alliances. Love reading anything Elizabeth Ellen writes — Her voice is like no one else’s!

[Jerome Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't really know what to say about the book itself. I felt so many different ways about it. One things for certain, though: Elizabeth Ellen is, without a doubt, one of the greatest writers of our time.

[Serena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phew

[Josh Sherman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good. For some reason reminds me of shorter BEE novels, in some way. Not plot but vibe.

[Max Hipp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Killer linked story collection.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

So fucking good and weird and sad and did I already say good? Saul and Eli’s mom live rent free in my head

[Mike Corrao · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saul Stories is damn good. It's funny and strange. The relationships are unsettling, yet beautiful. Elizabeth Ellen is incredibly talented.

[AutomaticSlim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, I'm surprised to realize that when I closed this book, I considered it one of my favorites of the past few years. It didn't feel special, and then somewhere along the way, it did. Crept up on me you could say. I felt ya Liz. Thank you.

Round down 4

[b · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very strong writing. All around good stuff. Look forward to reading more of Ellen’s work.

[Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an intense book. So dreadful and full of despair. While I was reading it, I got the feeling that the book didn't just want to be written—it needed it. Enjoyed reading.

[Salvatore Daddario · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s really good! Cool writing style, wish it was longer and had more of a plot. But it was def fun to read and I recommend @lauren