A Glimpse of Scarlet: And Other Stories

by Roxana Robinson

A New York Times Notable Book: Fourteen exquisitely crafted tales of love, betrayal, loss, and renewal among the upper class.
 
Acclaimed author Roxana Robinson’s collection runs the gamut of emotion, with characters facing shifting family dynamics and moments of personal crisis: marriage and remarriage, the delights and struggles of raising children, the lure of illicit romance, and the bitter acrimony of divorce. Robinson draws her characters—including disaffected stepchildren, seemingly well-meaning in-laws, and adult children coping with aging parents—with compassion and a deep understanding of the heart’s capacity for pain, hope, and growth.
 
“Second Chances” examines the complications of arranging a Thanksgiving dinner in a family of second marriages, former spouses, and stepchildren, where connections are tenuous at best and spiteful and destructive at worst. In “Graduation,” a woman dreads attending her son’s boarding-school festivities, where she will see the vindictive ex-husband she hasn’t spoken to in years. And another mother finds her own desires threatened by her young daughter’s blossoming independence in “Daughter.”
 
Through the nuanced experiences of the complex and flawed characters in her debut story collection, Robinson expertly probes the universal complexities of friendship and forgiveness, love and devotion, separation and reunion, echoing the wit and grace of John Cheever, Henry James, and Edith Wharton.
 

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

200 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Roxana Robinson is the author of eight works of fiction, including the novels Cost and Sparta. She is also the author of Georgia O’Keeffe: A Life. A former Guggenheim Fellow, she edited The New York Stories of Edith Wharton and wrote the introduction to Elizabeth Taylor’s A View of the Harbour, both published by NYRB Classics. Robinson is currently the president of the Authors Guild.

Reviews

[Tmorgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved. One of those writers you find who then spark the need to read everything they've done. This still my favorite, but she's very talented.

[Judith Shadford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved these for two specific reasons: the collection of short stories concerns the terrors of the heart amongst-gasp-people with more than average amounts of money. After multiple collections about the poor and unemployed and hangers-out-at-grungy bars, it was a breath of fresh air to have people eat with linen on the table.

More importantly, in her best stories, "Friendship in a Foreign Country" specifically, she has absolute control of diverted tension. A few of the stories, not so well done. But that one? Bullseye.

[Tom Leland · Rating 5 out of 5]

WASPs and their divorces and affairs....not a world I know first-hand, but I have no doubt Robinson captures it brilliantly. To me one of the marks of a great writer is the ability to articulate an emotion, or describe the physical world, in a way that seems so obvious you can't believe you hadn't already, at some point in your life, constructed the very same thought. She displays that ability again and again, making these short pieces all the more compelling...

[Richda Mcnutt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well-crafted selection of short stories - poignant, trenchant, and diverse views of complicated emotions. I zipped through this volume, and then was irritated with myself for not making it last longer.

[Jessica Touchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book of short stories surrounding family, marriage, parenthood. Absolutely LOVE Robinson’s writing!!

[Kilian Metcalf · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a hard book for me to review. I shouldn't have bought it, but I've read three novels by Robinson and loved each one. I cried when I read Sparta, it was so moving. Ms Robinson is an acute observer and write with delicate precision. The problem is with me. I don't particularly like short stories. I want to be immersed in a world and develop a long-term relationship with the characters.

Just as I was getting interested in the characters, the story ended. I wanted more. I think I'll stick to her novels from now on.

My blog:

The Interstitial Reader
https://theinterstitialreader.wordpre...

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great work by Roxana Robinson!

Published in 1991, this is her first collection of short stories. The themes are domestic — marriage, divorce, children, stepchildren — and the tone is perceptive, insightful, wounded and heavy.

Good stuff.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you wonder how the other hlaf lives and deals with their problems: i.e. affairs and sharing children in boarding school, this is the book for you. Her writing is effortless and flowing.