Crash Diet: Stories

by Jill McCorkle

"Invigorating . . . Savagely effective . . . Displays the same wit and ironic compassion that gained so many fans for her novels."
--The New York Times Book Review

Modern stories for modern times, Crash Diet is at once brilliant and bitter, happy and heartbreaking. In eleven stories, acclaimed novelist Jill McCorkle tells the varied tales of today's southern women, the lives they end up leading, and the loves that distract them. Sandra knows that the best revenge is her ex-husband's credit card; Ruthie is stuck owning a motel that the highway has bypassed; Anna is a widow who goes to airports and looks in on other people's lives; Bunny waits eagerly for her absent sister's postcards for advice on how to live.

Stuck in the slow lane, gunning their motors, they are women living the real life, hoping things will get better, but surprised when they occasionally do.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Contemporary, Southern

228 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1992

About the author

Five of Jill McCorkle's seven previous books have been named New York Times Notables. Winner of the New England Booksellers Award, the Dos Passos Prize for Excellence in Literature, and the North Carolina Award for Literature, she has taught writing at the University of North Carolina, Bennington College, Tufts University, and Harvard. She lives near Boston with her husband, their two children, several dogs, and a collection of toads.

Reviews

[Lisal Kayati Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laugh out loud funny! Great insight into the interior lives of a variety of quirky and unforgettable characters. Her use of language is brilliant at times - modern terminology creatively presented as noun, verb or adjective. Loved that aspect.

[Chris - Quarter Press Editor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was first introduced to McCorkle via her short, "Hominids," which I found harsh, beautiful, and darkly comic. I'd always meant to check out more of her work but haven't done so until now. And even though this collection wasn't quite in the same vein as "Hominids," I still enjoyed many of the stories.

Her ability to capture the hurt and frustrations of these various characters is rather incredible. The collection as a whole serves as this "shared hurt" feel, that regardless of our background, we all experience the same feelings of betrayal and a futility to change the things around us. Even still, though, we push on and--if anything--lash out.

Not all of the stories worked for me, and some felt rather weak in comparison to others, but the humor laced throughout made each story--no matter how heartbreaking--enjoyable enough.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eleven short stores about Southern women who don't wait for events to carry them along in life. Instead, they try to take matters into their own hands and seize opportunities whatever the consequences. The women range in age from high school students to those widowed and retired and each is involved in conflicted and troubled relationships. McCorkle is able to capture the personalities of each woman in such a way that readers are reminded of episodes and emotions in their own lives. While the stories are set in the South and clearly paint a picture of life in that region of the country, their appeal is universal.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this when it was published, but that was a LONG time ago, so I just re-read it for late summer. Eleven stories, eleven distinctive female narrators. You'll pull for all of them. The title story is magnificent, hilarious & hopeful. Give it 20 minutes of your life and you'll want to give Jill McCorkle a lot more. What has she been up to lately?

[Lori · Rating 1 out of 5]

a collection of short stories which did not grab my interest and I did not find the characters believable or compelling

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as I'm concerned, Jill McCorkle can do no wrong. She is particularly good at writing in the first-person voice of a teenager.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike so many modern short stories, these don't leave the reader ready to throw themselves out the window. McCorkle's women live in worlds of Target and high school proms; they are betrayed or redeemed. The two that stay with me most vividly are teenagers struggling to make their ways and managing to do so. Particularly the last story (the name of which escapes me) is worth the price of admission--but read them all!

[Dol Leander · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I would say I enjoyed it and it did give nice glimpses into various southern women's lives (which is what I anticipated), this collection of stories was not terribly engaging

In no particular order, those that stood out to me:
Waiting for Hard Times to End
Gold Mine
Departures
Comparison Shopping 

[Sarah W Bowers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good short stories about Southern women and southern places

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just couldn't get into this. I really don't like short stories, and didn't know this was. The first one was ok, but the second lost my interest and I stopped reading it.

[Georgetowner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some stories are better than others, but overall McCorckle does an excellent job of putting the reader inside the head of one Southern woman after another. I really liked most of these stories.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as much fun as "Going Away Shoes,"
but enough to keep my McCorkle "Crash Diet"
going, as I just picked up her novel "Life After Life."

[Debbie Davis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could not get into.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Crash Diet" (the first and title story) is brilliantly funny, and "Waiting for Hard Times to End" hits you hard right where it's aiming. The New York Times Book Review called the collection (in apocalyptic prose) an indictment of the "shoddiness of the pleasures" of the world--to which I would say, um well sort of...--still, I agree with them that readers everywhere will pick up the book and cry, 'That's just how it is!' in the best way possible. When a book has me wondering why I keep buying the latest Elle, I start to like it. There's a witty, funny, slightly self-loathing/slightly world-wizened, highly identifiable voice which women use to speak to themselves and to each other (see the columns of E. Jean), and which I am drawn to every time it appears in fiction (Margaret Atwood, especially in her early stuff like Lady Oracle; Lori Moore, who picks up on the women's magazine trend with SELF HELP; sometimes Amy Hempel). Jill McCorkle has that voice down. She, like Lee Smith, pays fine, poet-like attention to the language she uses: the repetition of "I know him like the back of my hand," for instance.

I've never read Jill McCorkle (except for an interview in the back of Lee Smith's FAIR AND TENDER LADIES) and the reason I chose to start with this collection was the great one-liners she opens with: "Kenneth left me on a Monday morning before I'd even had the chance to mousse my hair, and I just stood there at the picture window with the drapes swung back and watched him get into that flashy red Mazda, which I didn't want him to get anyway, and drive away down Marnier Street, and make a right onto Seagrams," and "I don't believe in non-violence. I never have." I know that "voice fiction" is sometimes considered too cutesy (or "quirky without being truthful" to borrow a phrase) but whenever the author succeeds in showing the vulnerability of a character beneath his or her idiosyncrasies, I find it irresistible--most of the best stuff (Barry Hannah, Amy Hempel, Jim Shepard, Mark Richard, McCorkle herself) that's being written today.

[Chris Bundrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really wonderful collection of short stories by a writer whose sense of the wonder and absurdity of existence leads to a deeply moving series of observations about the value and danger of change. The title story follows its narrator as she plunges into a hysterically suburban depression after her husband leaves her for a younger (and thinner) woman. Over the course of a monumentally impressive bout of crazies, the narrator eventually sheds so much weight that she has to be hospitalized, but this story isn't about the risks of poor body image, nor the nobility of an uplifted spirit. McCorkle is too good for something so pat. Instead, the lesson is somewhat muddy, that we can choose to be happy, if we're brave enough to face the consequences. Also of note, is "First Union Blues," a twentieth-century homage to Eudora Welty's classic "Why I Live at the P.O." McCorkle's narrator (like Welty's) can't stop talking long enough to understand what she seems to know, but not realize about herself. Breathtakingly tragic, in places, "First Union Blues" can read like a scathing indictment of the sort of complex social and economic pressures that modern culture warriors gloss over with easy slogans and pithy bumper stickers, but which real people have to stand and face in the course of their daily lives. McCorkle's approach isn't so clumsy as to fall into the political. Much to its author's credit, the book maintains a certain satirical distance. It's not that McCorkle doesn't mean what she says; however, so much as it shows that she's willing to let her quietly nimble prose transcend the anger and frustration that would dominate these tales in the hands of a less sophisticated story teller and instead look toward the very human place where magnificent and ridiculous reach the point of perfect parallax.

[Kari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crash Diet is McCorkle's first collection of stories, originally published in 1992 (she's since published three more, along with five novels). She tells stories of Southern women—some old, some young, some happy, some sad. The situations are relatable without being too generic, the emotions are raw and real, and the voices ooze honesty.

My three favorite stories in this collection—"Gold Mine," "Departures," and "Waiting for Hard Times to End"—I deem absolute perfection. "Gold Mine" tells the story of a young mother of two as her high school sweetheart husband carries on an affair and their roadside motel struggles for business after the newly opened interstate bypasses their small town. "Departures" is about the daily adjustments of a woman recently widowed as she comes to terms with her own emotions while shielding herself from the behaviors of everyone around her. "Waiting for Hard Times to End" was perhaps the most heartbreaking of the collection, as a sixteen-year-old girl waits daily by the mailbox for word from her older sister who was disowned by the family. These stories had such compelling characters and situations that they will stick with me for sure. Do you ever run across a book or author where you feel the need to underline about every line because it's just so poetic and perfect? That's McCorkle to me, particularly in these stories.

[Stevie Holcomb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite liked this.

Ms. McCorkle has a very good writing style, and these short stories show you how careful she is in her characterizations (something I abhor in many authors) and how many people she can 'step' into. I will seek out her other books.

One story in particular had a protagonist that reminded me of myself--Maureen in First Union Blues, and the ending of the last story, Carnival Lights, I thought would end differently. So many good stories, just enough to wet your appetite but leave you satisfied. I would LOVE if First Union Blues would be made into a full novel.

Worth reading.

[Alanajarero · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this book because it has a real female voice. It is also relatable and fun to read. I'm currently reading Gold Mine which is about a mom with two kids who's husband's having an affair. She is an intelligent woman who has a lot to say about her experience. Although the author says this stories are fiction I think they have some truth in them. It seems like a good book.

[Gato Negro · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Not that I don't value my life because I do, but sometimes I wish I could spread it out on paper and take some wite out to it". - Jill McCorkle. I found myself note taking as I read all these short stories. A masterpiece that can be read in multiple random sittings. Loved it and can't wait to read more of this author.

[SmarterLilac · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love this little collection. Beautiful writing, and McCorkle tackles some original stuff in these pieces (like the one with the male protagonist who is insecure about never having gone to college.)

[sab · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ya know, I liked a few, others not so much, hence my 2 star rating average.
Personal favs from the collection: "Gold Mine" and "Departures."

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! The author definitely captures the South in both description and voice. Every story's protagonist was quirky, yet still very believable. Will have to check out more of Ms. McCorkle's books.

[Lisa Gurganus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great short stories about the lives of southern women. Living in real time through hardships and fun/ great times.

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite story was the last one, Carnival Lights.

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book of shorts. The title story was a very funny story of revenge. Quick reads.

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

McCorkle's narrators are lovable Southern women. My favorite stories: "Gold Mine" and "Waiting for the Hard Times to End".

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A odd collection of short stories--I haven't yet decided how I feel about this author's style. I have many more of her books on my "to read" list so I'll just keep reading.

[Martie Nees Record · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories on southern women filled with humor and grief. "Waiting for the Hard Times to End" nearly broke my heart.

[Sue M · Rating 4 out of 5]

great short stories