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She Was Like That: New and Selected Stories
From Kate Walbert, the highly acclaimed, National Book Award nominee, comes a dazzling, career-spanning collection of new and selected stories about the trials of womanhood and the vulnerabilities of motherhood.
In these deft, acutely funny, heartbreaking stories, Kate Walbert delves into the hearts and minds of women in the age of anxiety. Her characters are uneasy in one way or another; they all yearn for connection; they all struggle to find meaning in their lives as mothers, wives, and daughters; they all try to find their own voices often within isolated, and isolating, circumstances.
In the dazzling opening story “M&M World,” a mother is plunged into panic when she briefly loses one of her daughters at the Times Square store. In “Slow the Heart,” a mother tries to ease tension at the dinner table with Roses and Thorns, the game she knows the Obamas played in the White House. In “Radical Feminists,” a woman skating with her two children encounters the man who derailed her career a decade earlier. And in the story, “A Mother Is Someone Who Tells Jokes,” a grieving mother reflects on the kindergarten project that preceded her son’s autism diagnosis.
In these deft, acutely funny, heartbreaking stories, Kate Walbert delves into the hearts and minds of women in the age of anxiety. Her characters are uneasy in one way or another; they all yearn for connection; they all struggle to find meaning in their lives as mothers, wives, and daughters; they all try to find their own voices often within isolated, and isolating, circumstances.
In the dazzling opening story “M&M World,” a mother is plunged into panic when she briefly loses one of her daughters at the Times Square store. In “Slow the Heart,” a mother tries to ease tension at the dinner table with Roses and Thorns, the game she knows the Obamas played in the White House. In “Radical Feminists,” a woman skating with her two children encounters the man who derailed her career a decade earlier. And in the story, “A Mother Is Someone Who Tells Jokes,” a grieving mother reflects on the kindergarten project that preceded her son’s autism diagnosis.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published May 30, 2011
46 people are currently reading
4180 people want to read
About the author
Kate Walbert
11 books204 followersKate Walbert was born in New York City and raised in Georgia, Texas, Japan and Pennsylvania, among other places.
She is the author of A Short History of Women, chosen by The New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 2009 and a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize; Our Kind, a finalist for the National Book Award in fiction in 2004; The Gardens of Kyoto, winner of the 2002 Connecticut Book Award in Fiction in 2002; and Where She Went, a collection of linked stories and New York Times notable book.
She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fiction fellowship, a Connecticut Commission on the Arts fiction fellowship, and a Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library.
Her short fiction has been published in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Best American Short Stories and The O. Henry Prize stories.
From 1990 to 2005, she lectured in fiction writing at Yale University. She currently lives in New York City with her family.
She is the author of A Short History of Women, chosen by The New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 2009 and a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize; Our Kind, a finalist for the National Book Award in fiction in 2004; The Gardens of Kyoto, winner of the 2002 Connecticut Book Award in Fiction in 2002; and Where She Went, a collection of linked stories and New York Times notable book.
She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fiction fellowship, a Connecticut Commission on the Arts fiction fellowship, and a Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library.
Her short fiction has been published in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Best American Short Stories and The O. Henry Prize stories.
From 1990 to 2005, she lectured in fiction writing at Yale University. She currently lives in New York City with her family.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
June 30, 2021
Finished, just barely. (Won this book through Goodreads Giveaway program! Thank you!)
I hate to say: nothing special, but 'tis IMO. A series of rambling, often confusing stories, and yes, I'm getting old(er), but I need some coherence.
I almost did a DNF on this one, but kept going, and though I'd like to give a brief opinion on each story, I can't. They all seem and sound the same to me. Strengths: good beginnings, draw the reader right in. Dialogue, transition, narration all excellent, but the storylines? I'd lift my head and look outside and find the squirrels on the feeders more intriguing.
Don't mean to be insulting here, just honest. I do think this reader could turn a tidy, intricate, interesting tale, though. Just didn't do it here.
Two stars
I hate to say: nothing special, but 'tis IMO. A series of rambling, often confusing stories, and yes, I'm getting old(er), but I need some coherence.
I almost did a DNF on this one, but kept going, and though I'd like to give a brief opinion on each story, I can't. They all seem and sound the same to me. Strengths: good beginnings, draw the reader right in. Dialogue, transition, narration all excellent, but the storylines? I'd lift my head and look outside and find the squirrels on the feeders more intriguing.
Don't mean to be insulting here, just honest. I do think this reader could turn a tidy, intricate, interesting tale, though. Just didn't do it here.
Two stars
May 25, 2019
I am the perfect audience for this book: Middle aged, young kids, daily asking myself how I ended up where I am, etc, but I didnt find myself itching to pick this book back up after putting it down. While I did finish it, and identified with many of the slices of life highlighted in each story, it just didn't do much for me. Im happy to try out a novel by the author, maybe it was the form that held the writing back.
May 30, 2019
A collection of short stories about stay at home moms, usually living in New York City with anxiety, who encounter more interesting people than themselves.
Meh. None of the stories stood out or made an impression. Even the writing was just ok.
I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Theme: 1 stars
Writing/Prose: 3 stars
Meh. None of the stories stood out or made an impression. Even the writing was just ok.
I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Theme: 1 stars
Writing/Prose: 3 stars
November 19, 2021
DNF - Short stories are definitely not my thing. I'm sure someone will enjoy these stories.
June 6, 2019
Note to self…no more Kate Walbert. This is a third book I’ve read of hers, two novels and now a collection of short stories (more than an adequate sampling by any standards) and her writing just really doesn’t work for me. And to be fair, I’m completely willing to admit this isn’t entirely author’s fault or possibly not even at all, there is definitely such a thing as a lack of author/reader chemistry and this is most likely it. Walbert is a well respected and acclaimed author, I’m sure she has her readership. Although it stands to mention possibly not a very devoted one, since I’m the first person on GR to review this book and I’m definitely not at all a fan. I would also be absolutely willing to admit that she isn’t without talent, it’s mainly about how indifferent her talent leaves me. She writes women’s fiction, very much estrogen driven stories about and for women, but her protagonists never really come alive for me, no matter how nice the language gets, there’s always an emotional distance from which these stories are viewed and from that perspective they leave a lot to be desired. So even if intellectually I was able to appreciate Walbert’s storytelling abilities, I just didn’t care about the stories she was telling. Maybe it requires a different audience to be appreciated, somewhere along the lines of a white upper middle class, possibly New Yorkers, early to middle age women of a certain mindset with heavy concentration of the trials of motherhood. That’s entirely possible. It’s just really outside of my realm of interest. And so, no more Walbert for me. Really, the best thing about this book was how quick it went by, but even still…nothing to show for the time spent. Pass. Thanks Netgalley.
October 8, 2019
Thank you to Scribner & NetGalley for a free e-arc of She Was Like That for review.
I leapt at the chance to request an early copy of Kate Walbert's collection of stories because I really liked His Favorites (published last year). I don't recall the experience of reading that book to be as anxiety-inducing as reading this collection.
Throughout, it felt to me that the stories were about the feeling of being alone and of trying to make sense of things. Grief, pain, confusion, trauma - these pop up continually, to the extent that, at times, the stories ran together for me (i.e. I'm not sure I could distinguish between some of the main characters). And that might be the point - that all women encounter such difficulties and feel such ways. That, although our circumstances may be unique, we have such shared experience.
The focus in this collection is on women who aren't poor (I interpreted them as occupying the range from lower to upper middle class). Many of the main characters also are mothers - the relationships both with their children and their own mothers are explored. Race, if I'm remembering correctly, was only mentioned once - identifying a woman's hired help as black.
I like that She Was Like That is part of a larger conversation beginning about the (often emotional) labor women take on. I did like some of the stories better than others - while some were just okay, others were so deeply felt.
Content warning: suicide, mental illness, substance abuse, autism, eating disorders
I leapt at the chance to request an early copy of Kate Walbert's collection of stories because I really liked His Favorites (published last year). I don't recall the experience of reading that book to be as anxiety-inducing as reading this collection.
Throughout, it felt to me that the stories were about the feeling of being alone and of trying to make sense of things. Grief, pain, confusion, trauma - these pop up continually, to the extent that, at times, the stories ran together for me (i.e. I'm not sure I could distinguish between some of the main characters). And that might be the point - that all women encounter such difficulties and feel such ways. That, although our circumstances may be unique, we have such shared experience.
The focus in this collection is on women who aren't poor (I interpreted them as occupying the range from lower to upper middle class). Many of the main characters also are mothers - the relationships both with their children and their own mothers are explored. Race, if I'm remembering correctly, was only mentioned once - identifying a woman's hired help as black.
I like that She Was Like That is part of a larger conversation beginning about the (often emotional) labor women take on. I did like some of the stories better than others - while some were just okay, others were so deeply felt.
Content warning: suicide, mental illness, substance abuse, autism, eating disorders
Read
July 24, 2022This seemed like a book I would like and I kept trying it. Something about the writing was pleasing at times, but ultimately I just couldn’t get into it. Although I have bumped into some extra reading time as of late, I think I still must shelve as a - did not finish.
January 20, 2020
He sees the author of literary fiction on the other side a cafe, wrapped in a tasteful blue cardigan and hunched over her laptop as inappropriate verbs evanesce through her fingers. She is, no doubt, stitching together more plotless short stories out of pretentious analogies, like a Spartan widow weaving a shroud for her husband felled on the plains of Thermopylae. She sweeps one dirty blonde lock of her tastefully bobbed hair off her forehead before finishing another sentence that meanders past the limit of most readers' attention spans, perhaps elongating it with an unnecessary clause, as is the custom for some writers but not for others, or maybe a highbrow cultural allusion at at which her literary idol Virginia Woolf might have scoffed. Oh well, he imagines her surmising as her lips purse to a slightly warped line near the base of her oval face, no metaphor is too melodramatic in the quest to aestheticize the mundane, the steam wafting from her cappuccino, vapors rising from beneath the temple of Delphi. Beyond her, workday Gotham ebbs past the cafe window in a Stygian stream of brown overcoats and black wool pullovers. With a tremor as delicate as the glissando in a John Coltrane solo he realizes that his her presence in a Midtown Manhattan cafe is roughly as surprising as that of a cactus in a desert, or a jellyfish in the Sargasso Sea; she is a specialized organism who can only function in certain environments, as incapable of imagining a life not spent among the East Coast neurotics as a penguin is of contemplating life as a Vegas showgirl.
He rises, crosses the cafe, propelled by nothing he can explain, not unlike the characters in her stories.
"Ms. Walbert?"
She raises her thoughtful, intelligent face to him, her confusion expressing itself through a reluctant smile. "Yes?"
"I hate your writing."
He exits.
He rises, crosses the cafe, propelled by nothing he can explain, not unlike the characters in her stories.
"Ms. Walbert?"
She raises her thoughtful, intelligent face to him, her confusion expressing itself through a reluctant smile. "Yes?"
"I hate your writing."
He exits.
April 9, 2020
Chock full of middle-aged mothers’ melancholy. Maybe would be better if not read during a pandemic.
November 17, 2019
Kate Walbert’s short stories remind me of a girl I knew in high school, beautiful and smart, undoubtedly so, but also a bit mysterious and unknowable. I’d leave conversations with her thinking I’m pretty sure I followed all that, maybe, but boy, is she pretty. Walbert’s pretty takes several forms. She creates characters of interest and depth with shockingly few words. She touches on motherhood, loss, companionship, and loss of companionship with the utmost credibility and relatability. And then there’s her prose. Walbert’s descriptive turns of phrase are as evocative as they are precise, the prettiest of the pretty:
“She could barely look at him. He was all secrets; they slid around beneath his expression like tectonic plates. He was all the things he wouldn’t say to her that she wanted to know ….”
***
“We drove into downtown Rochester fast, through yellow lights just changed to red”.
***
“I can tell you that there will be times when you have to choose between beginning again in a cold and lonely place or making do with whatever fragile shelter you have already built.”
***
“Her scalp burns. The dye has seeped into the gray roots - something about opened follicles - and covered the gray like so many shovels of dirt on a patch of bright white snow.”
***
“She wants to be a person who sees, who believes in things, like Bigfoot, or God.”
***
“Charles had linked his arm in hers and led her down the stone walk, breaking away only to open her door of the station wagon, to bend with a flourishy bow as if earlier the station wagon were a pumpkin and he a mouse.”
***
“‘Wow,’ she says, turning to Sharon. ‘You are so nice,’ she says. ‘Really,’ she says, as if someone has disagreed, slamming the car door shut like at any moment Sharon Peterson will change her mind.”
***
“‘Exactly,’ Sharon says, slowing to comply with the light, the radio on the station Fred Vegas has suggested, no one voting news, please never again news, the music jazzy, a breeze - saxophone or clarinet or French horn. Sharon eyes the corralled automobiles behind her: a temporary, nervous peace, all of them eager to accelerate again, to get there.”
***
“Maggie had listened as Will shifted in his seat to sneak a look at his phone. For this she will never forgive him.”
***
“She would find [his miniature warriors] everywhere, assaulting a sock, scaling the Ping-Pong table, plastic, molded men with clearly defined weaponry and indistinct faces.”
“She could barely look at him. He was all secrets; they slid around beneath his expression like tectonic plates. He was all the things he wouldn’t say to her that she wanted to know ….”
***
“We drove into downtown Rochester fast, through yellow lights just changed to red”.
***
“I can tell you that there will be times when you have to choose between beginning again in a cold and lonely place or making do with whatever fragile shelter you have already built.”
***
“Her scalp burns. The dye has seeped into the gray roots - something about opened follicles - and covered the gray like so many shovels of dirt on a patch of bright white snow.”
***
“She wants to be a person who sees, who believes in things, like Bigfoot, or God.”
***
“Charles had linked his arm in hers and led her down the stone walk, breaking away only to open her door of the station wagon, to bend with a flourishy bow as if earlier the station wagon were a pumpkin and he a mouse.”
***
“‘Wow,’ she says, turning to Sharon. ‘You are so nice,’ she says. ‘Really,’ she says, as if someone has disagreed, slamming the car door shut like at any moment Sharon Peterson will change her mind.”
***
“‘Exactly,’ Sharon says, slowing to comply with the light, the radio on the station Fred Vegas has suggested, no one voting news, please never again news, the music jazzy, a breeze - saxophone or clarinet or French horn. Sharon eyes the corralled automobiles behind her: a temporary, nervous peace, all of them eager to accelerate again, to get there.”
***
“Maggie had listened as Will shifted in his seat to sneak a look at his phone. For this she will never forgive him.”
***
“She would find [his miniature warriors] everywhere, assaulting a sock, scaling the Ping-Pong table, plastic, molded men with clearly defined weaponry and indistinct faces.”
December 29, 2022
I feel like a fibber I did not read this book in fact I only read one of the short stories of it it was called “radical feminists” and it was on simply e and sounded good and was pretty short I was like oh cool I’ll read to help my reading goal ONLY TO FIND IT IS NOT ON GOODREADS??? And I was not about to let that hour of my life I spent on that short story not go to my goodreads goal SORRRYYYY radical feminists was really good though so sad though damn but who knows maybe I’ll eventually get around to reading the rest of the stories some day (unlikely)
September 10, 2019
In She Was Like That, Kate Walbert offers readers short stories covering a wide range of topics. They all share a woman's need for connection, for finding her place and purpose in the overall scheme of things, for trying to make sense of her situation, for trying, trying, trying to bury her anxieties and fears and move on.
With that overall theme, this book should rank high with me, but it doesn't. While some of the characters drew me in, for the most part, I felt a sense of being held at a distance, of isolation. This surprised me as I was expecting/hoping for just the opposite!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for allowing me to read an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Publication date for this book is currently set for 10/1/19.
With that overall theme, this book should rank high with me, but it doesn't. While some of the characters drew me in, for the most part, I felt a sense of being held at a distance, of isolation. This surprised me as I was expecting/hoping for just the opposite!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for allowing me to read an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Publication date for this book is currently set for 10/1/19.
December 16, 2019
A NYTS Notable Book of the Year. Perhaps, the best place to start reading Kate Walbert's fine collection is with "Do Something" a strong stand alone story which is also the author's reworking of "Dover 2003" from her remarkably intricate novel "A Short History of Women"(A NYTS Ten Best Books of 2009). Here, Walbert has torqued and updated the original giving us the same yet not quite the same tale. Perhaps, the best place to finish the collection is with the final story "Radical Feminists", a masterful evocation of the power of past injustice and injury to intrude, like a nightmare, into the present.
As in the best of Kate Walbert's writing, in these stories there is an underlying tension, palpable yet just below the surface, like an itch the reader cannot quite scratch.
Another impressive volume from a writer at the height of her craft and creative powers.
As in the best of Kate Walbert's writing, in these stories there is an underlying tension, palpable yet just below the surface, like an itch the reader cannot quite scratch.
Another impressive volume from a writer at the height of her craft and creative powers.
February 10, 2020
Follow me on Instagram @bookmarkedbya / instagram.com/bookmarkedbya and see the full review at my blog: https://bookmarkedbya.wordpress.com/2...
*Thanks to Scribner for the free review copy.
A wide-ranging collection of touching and observant short stories centered around woman- and motherhood.
Summarizing a short story collection is difficult, and reviewing one is even more so. That said, here’s what I know - this is an easily accessible collection of short stories, most of which have clear plots and meanings - something I find lacking, and detrimentally so, in many collections of short stories. These stories are contemporary, likable, and honest, dealing largely with the mundanities of everyday life for women, mothers, and daughters. I only felt particularly moved by and connected to about half the stories. The collection starts strong, peaks in the middle, and ends strong, leaving the rest of the stories by the wayside. That said, each of Walbert's stories was entertaining, honest, and I was easily able to identify with many of them. While I only connected with a handful, I enjoyed each. If you're a fan of short stories with less complicated nuance but just as much depth, I do recommend this collection to you!
*Thanks to Scribner for the free review copy.
A wide-ranging collection of touching and observant short stories centered around woman- and motherhood.
Summarizing a short story collection is difficult, and reviewing one is even more so. That said, here’s what I know - this is an easily accessible collection of short stories, most of which have clear plots and meanings - something I find lacking, and detrimentally so, in many collections of short stories. These stories are contemporary, likable, and honest, dealing largely with the mundanities of everyday life for women, mothers, and daughters. I only felt particularly moved by and connected to about half the stories. The collection starts strong, peaks in the middle, and ends strong, leaving the rest of the stories by the wayside. That said, each of Walbert's stories was entertaining, honest, and I was easily able to identify with many of them. While I only connected with a handful, I enjoyed each. If you're a fan of short stories with less complicated nuance but just as much depth, I do recommend this collection to you!
August 11, 2019
Such a good story-line that leaves you wanting more. This is definitely a page turner, I couldn't get enough of it!!!
October 25, 2019
These are just rough starts to several short stories with some good bits and parts thrown around. I don't think authors should be going around putting half-baked ideas into a book and calling them short stories. I was surprised by the great review this got in the Times, but I just didn't really enjoy it--perhaps because it did not deliver what the Times said would be a contemplation of motherhood.
October 11, 2019
DNF at 164 pages
There wasn’t a single short story that I liked. Sometimes I didn’t even understand what was happening in multiple stories, how can that be possible when a story is only 12+ pages long?? So disappointed I wasted a week of reading.
There wasn’t a single short story that I liked. Sometimes I didn’t even understand what was happening in multiple stories, how can that be possible when a story is only 12+ pages long?? So disappointed I wasted a week of reading.
April 1, 2020
Reseña rápida:
+ Historias de mujeres del día a día.
- Excesivamente descriptivo.
- Cambios temporales confusos.
- Historias demasiado parecidas.
Reseña:
Cogí el libro con muchas ganas de adentrarme en un estilo y género que no suelo leer, pero he acabado decepcionada. Nunca he sido mucho de historias cortas, pero me pareció que estas podrían estar bien para ir leyendo a lo largo del mes. Gran error.
La primera historia me gustó. Era una escena cotidiana, entre costumbrista-realista, de una madre en New York. Me costó centrarme porque había subestimado el nivel de inglés que necesitas para leer el libro, pero igualmente me transmitió todos los sentimientos muy bien así que seguí con ganas. En la segunda historia me entretuvo, pero no más. A partir de ahí comenzó un enfrentamiento entre la dificultad del idioma y el aburrimiento del libro para ver quién me hacía leer menos.
En todo el libro apenas aparecen diálogos, es muy descriptivo y, aunque a veces está bien, es muy agotador. Además, como he dicho necesitas un buen nivel de inglés si lo vas a leer en ese idioma y puede que ese haya sido en parte mi problema. Pero eso no quita que los cambios temporales fueran un lío: lo mismo que indicaba cambio de escena servía para saltar al pasado y muchas veces no tenías claro a qué pasado. Intenta jugar con la intriga varias veces, pero solo consigue confusión.
La idea de historias de mujeres cotidianas me gustaba: madres que pierde a su hija en una multitud, mujeres hastiadas de su vida como la esposa perfecta, mujeres que quieren divorciarse... Al principio estaba bien, pero al poco tiempo me dio la sensación de que estaba retratando todo el rato a una misma mujer con diferentes contextos, lo que rompía con el realismo por la falta de variedad. Además, que el hastío de las protagonistas acabó por trasladarse a mí y ya me vale con estar encerrada de cuarentena.
¿Lo recomendaría? Tal vez para que leas una de las historias, la que más llame tu atención, por disfrutar un poco del estilo pausado y la descripción realista. Pero si tratas de leer varias lo encontrarás repetitivo.
+ Historias de mujeres del día a día.
- Excesivamente descriptivo.
- Cambios temporales confusos.
- Historias demasiado parecidas.
Reseña:
Cogí el libro con muchas ganas de adentrarme en un estilo y género que no suelo leer, pero he acabado decepcionada. Nunca he sido mucho de historias cortas, pero me pareció que estas podrían estar bien para ir leyendo a lo largo del mes. Gran error.
La primera historia me gustó. Era una escena cotidiana, entre costumbrista-realista, de una madre en New York. Me costó centrarme porque había subestimado el nivel de inglés que necesitas para leer el libro, pero igualmente me transmitió todos los sentimientos muy bien así que seguí con ganas. En la segunda historia me entretuvo, pero no más. A partir de ahí comenzó un enfrentamiento entre la dificultad del idioma y el aburrimiento del libro para ver quién me hacía leer menos.
En todo el libro apenas aparecen diálogos, es muy descriptivo y, aunque a veces está bien, es muy agotador. Además, como he dicho necesitas un buen nivel de inglés si lo vas a leer en ese idioma y puede que ese haya sido en parte mi problema. Pero eso no quita que los cambios temporales fueran un lío: lo mismo que indicaba cambio de escena servía para saltar al pasado y muchas veces no tenías claro a qué pasado. Intenta jugar con la intriga varias veces, pero solo consigue confusión.
La idea de historias de mujeres cotidianas me gustaba: madres que pierde a su hija en una multitud, mujeres hastiadas de su vida como la esposa perfecta, mujeres que quieren divorciarse... Al principio estaba bien, pero al poco tiempo me dio la sensación de que estaba retratando todo el rato a una misma mujer con diferentes contextos, lo que rompía con el realismo por la falta de variedad. Además, que el hastío de las protagonistas acabó por trasladarse a mí y ya me vale con estar encerrada de cuarentena.
¿Lo recomendaría? Tal vez para que leas una de las historias, la que más llame tu atención, por disfrutar un poco del estilo pausado y la descripción realista. Pero si tratas de leer varias lo encontrarás repetitivo.
January 9, 2020
Short stories about women - "Her characters question the definitions assigned to them as wives, mothers, and daughters."
Favorite story was the last in the book - Radical Feminists. Bernice runs into an old boss while taking her sons ice skating at Bryant Park. The boss who said "You understand the issue with mothers....Birthday Parties. Trips to the dentist. That sort of thing." The boss who, during a job interview, asks her if she plans on getting pregnant any time soon . Bernice imagines a trial and other scenarios where he is actually held accountable.
Favorite line (from The Blue Hour)
"It was the part of the day I would later come to know as the blue hour....She said it seemed to describe that time of early evening when the world seemed trapped in melancholy and all its regrets for all its mislaid plans for the day were spelled in the fading clouds."
Favorite story was the last in the book - Radical Feminists. Bernice runs into an old boss while taking her sons ice skating at Bryant Park. The boss who said "You understand the issue with mothers....Birthday Parties. Trips to the dentist. That sort of thing." The boss who, during a job interview, asks her if she plans on getting pregnant any time soon . Bernice imagines a trial and other scenarios where he is actually held accountable.
Favorite line (from The Blue Hour)
"It was the part of the day I would later come to know as the blue hour....She said it seemed to describe that time of early evening when the world seemed trapped in melancholy and all its regrets for all its mislaid plans for the day were spelled in the fading clouds."
September 26, 2019
Fans of short stories know that it's often best to dip in and out of the volume so as not to overwhelm one's self and to let each one shine on its own. That's certainly the case here. I suspect many women will feel a connection or at least identify with at least one of the women Walbert has written about. The generalized anxiety of our age is focused down on each of them. Losing track of a child in a store inspires panic, running into a creep inspires all sorts of emotion, diffusing tension (haven't we all tried to do this), and dealing with the devastation of a life changing diagnosis all figure here. Thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC. I'm a fan of Walbert, who I think has an uncanny talent of capturing sensation in a sentence.
October 18, 2019
This is the second book I have read by Kate Walbert. Exactly last year, I read His Favorites. I gave the book 4 stars but can’t remember anything about the book. Even the blurb can’t elicit more details. Clearly, I overrated her last book. I have a feeling the same thing would happen with this collection of short stories. They are good, but not what I find great. The stories weren’t dark or deeply depressing, the characters read as miserable. The author doesn’t directly state it, I am left to wonder how 30-40 something women are able to afford to live in NYC, have “help”, or belong to a suburban country club. All the stories left me thinking, but I am fairly certain a year from now I won’t recall anything from this book.
June 11, 2021
Won via a giveaway. Really enjoyed this--a series of short stories about different women struggling through life and family drama.
I always say in reviews that I hate "telling" styles of narration, and Walbert definitely avoids that here, which makes me have a soft spot for it--the reader knows there is more beneath the surface, and you keep reading to discover what that is.
While this makes me love the book, I can also see why it would be frustrating to some readers--you fumble around in the stories for a minute before figuring out what's happening. I think that might be behind some of the lower ratings.
I loved this, however.
I always say in reviews that I hate "telling" styles of narration, and Walbert definitely avoids that here, which makes me have a soft spot for it--the reader knows there is more beneath the surface, and you keep reading to discover what that is.
While this makes me love the book, I can also see why it would be frustrating to some readers--you fumble around in the stories for a minute before figuring out what's happening. I think that might be behind some of the lower ratings.
I loved this, however.
January 28, 2020
The writing is great. I don’t often read collections of short stories. I feel like they take a lot of work because you are thrust into what is essentially the middle of a story and left to read between the lines to fill in the gaps and figure out what is really going on. And then they end, leaving you wondering how it turns out. Even so, taken in small doses, I enjoyed these stories. It was good to stretch myself.
I received this autographed hardcover free from an Adriana Trigiani Facebook Live giveaway.
I received this autographed hardcover free from an Adriana Trigiani Facebook Live giveaway.
March 28, 2020
This collection of short stories, while not bad, was just not for me. The writing felt disjointed and jumpy, which is not quite my style. The biggest hurdle for me with this book was that I had a difficult time relating to any of the characters. They were mostly city-dwelling mothers and I'm a childless twenty-something who really wished she could afford to live on 20 acres of forested hills, well away from the hustle and bustle of any major city. I couldn't relate to their motives or their experiences.
August 21, 2020
This is a good collection for young mothers trying to balance marriage, children, and career. I prefer novels to short stories, but the author's skilled writing was enough to keep me reading. My favorites were: "The Blue Hour," "To Do," Paris, 1994," "A Mother Is Someone Who Tells Jokes," "Slow the Heart," and "Do Something." Favorite quote: "I can tell you that there will be times when you have to choose between beginning again in a cold and lonely place or making do with whatever fragile shelter you have already built." (p. 37)
June 3, 2019
A friend of mine gave me the advanced readers edition a few days ago and I've not put it down yet.
I really love kates writing.
The way she describes her surroundings is incredible, I haven't even been to many of these places and she makes me feel like I am living them.
So far I have laughed, and cried silently next to my partner in bed who was lost in the NYT crossword puzzle.
This is a great plane read, beach read, or before you fall asleep read. Whatever you do, just read it, okay?!
I really love kates writing.
The way she describes her surroundings is incredible, I haven't even been to many of these places and she makes me feel like I am living them.
So far I have laughed, and cried silently next to my partner in bed who was lost in the NYT crossword puzzle.
This is a great plane read, beach read, or before you fall asleep read. Whatever you do, just read it, okay?!
November 11, 2019
I won a giveaway for this book, and I usually really enjoy short stories, but for most of these stories I just felt lost. Obscure endings are fine sometimes, but that seems to be the author's style, and I usually ended a story feeling like I wasn't sure what was going on...not just at the end but throughout. A couple of the earlier stories were fine...enough to keep me reading, but near the end I was definitely ready to be done. I prefer short story writers like Jhumpa Lahiri and Alice Munro.
January 30, 2022
Thank you to Goodreads for the opportunity to review this book. Unfortunately, this book was just not my cup of tea. I had hoped for some relatable stories as this is geared towards moms my age. However, these stories are disjointed and at times hard to follow. Rather than taking anything positive away from reading this one I was left wondering why I wasted my time finishing this. Very disappointing.
January 6, 2024
Not a fan of the style in which these stories were written. As a woman, reading stories centered around women and the "vulnerability of women's lives" (as proclaimed on the back cover) sounded intriguing. Not so. Doesn't cover a wide variety of women, but rather all stories about middle-aged mothers. (But, in hindsight, maybe that's why I couldn't identify with most of it.) Ugh, was a chore to get through, though. Boring, sometimes confusing, glad to finish.
April 17, 2025
NYT Notable Books 2019: 68/100
I felt very vindicated when I opened the reviews for this and found that other people disliked it as well. I found this to be a boring and largely forgettable short story collection. It felt like Walbert thinks she's a lot deeper and more clever than she is and created a bunch of stories that were just kind of there. I'm usually not a fan of short story collections and this one was just proof that I'm on to something with that.
I felt very vindicated when I opened the reviews for this and found that other people disliked it as well. I found this to be a boring and largely forgettable short story collection. It felt like Walbert thinks she's a lot deeper and more clever than she is and created a bunch of stories that were just kind of there. I'm usually not a fan of short story collections and this one was just proof that I'm on to something with that.
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