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Here Until August: Stories
The stories in Here Until August follow the fates of characters who, by choice or by force, are traveling beyond the boundaries of their known worlds. These are people who move with the seasons. We meet them negotiating reluctant or cowardly departures, navigating uncertain returns, or biding the disquieting calm that so often precedes moments of decisive action.
In one story, an agoraphobic French émigré compulsively watches disturbing footage from the other side of the world as she attempts to keep a dog named Chavez out of trouble. In another, a young couple weather the interiority of a Montreal winter, more attuned to the illicit goings-on of their neighbors than to their own hazy, unfolding futures. Other stories play out against the fictional counterparts of iconic Australian and American locales, places that are recognizable but set just beyond the brink of familiarity: flooded townships and distant islands, sunlit woodlands or paths made bright by ice, places of unpredictable access and spaces scrubbed from maps.
From the Catskills to New South Wales, from the remote and abandoned island outports of Newfoundland to the sprawl of a North American metropolis, these transformative stories show us how the places where we choose to live our lives can just as easily turn inward as outward.
In one story, an agoraphobic French émigré compulsively watches disturbing footage from the other side of the world as she attempts to keep a dog named Chavez out of trouble. In another, a young couple weather the interiority of a Montreal winter, more attuned to the illicit goings-on of their neighbors than to their own hazy, unfolding futures. Other stories play out against the fictional counterparts of iconic Australian and American locales, places that are recognizable but set just beyond the brink of familiarity: flooded townships and distant islands, sunlit woodlands or paths made bright by ice, places of unpredictable access and spaces scrubbed from maps.
From the Catskills to New South Wales, from the remote and abandoned island outports of Newfoundland to the sprawl of a North American metropolis, these transformative stories show us how the places where we choose to live our lives can just as easily turn inward as outward.
208 pages, Paperback
First published October 8, 2019
52 people are currently reading
2114 people want to read
About the author
Josephine Rowe
27 books75 followersJosephine Rowe is the author of three story collections and a novel, A Loving, Faithful Animal (UQP, 2016). She holds fellowships from the Wallace Stegner program at Stanford University and the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. She currently lives in Melbourne.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 88 reviews
December 12, 2019
Here Until August is a stellar collection from Josephine Rowe. I knew this would be a book for me from the very first story (‘Glisk’) when two adult siblings, in an emotionally-laden moment, defuse the tension by quoting lines from the film The Castle (of the many options, I love that Rowe chose ‘scooped it out of the punnet’ to include here!)
There were several moments when it felt like this book was speaking directly to me in spookily specific ways. Yet it is a collection with a broad sweep, stories ranging all over the world. These are snapshots of lives – usually focussed on just one central character per story – not in their most dramatic moments, but in emotionally confusing ones, and presented with a hushed poignancy. There is always water of some kind: an iced over lake, a submerged town, a rainstorm. Shades of blue and green and grey.
Rowe’s writing is elegant, lyrical but not showy, and these pieces feel expansive and unhurried in a way that it doesn’t seem possible for short stories to be, it’s like a magic trick. The final story, ‘What Passes for Fun’, is utter perfection. Extremely brief and almost devoid of action, it contains a singular image of an icy pond that will stay with me for a long, long time.
There were several moments when it felt like this book was speaking directly to me in spookily specific ways. Yet it is a collection with a broad sweep, stories ranging all over the world. These are snapshots of lives – usually focussed on just one central character per story – not in their most dramatic moments, but in emotionally confusing ones, and presented with a hushed poignancy. There is always water of some kind: an iced over lake, a submerged town, a rainstorm. Shades of blue and green and grey.
Rowe’s writing is elegant, lyrical but not showy, and these pieces feel expansive and unhurried in a way that it doesn’t seem possible for short stories to be, it’s like a magic trick. The final story, ‘What Passes for Fun’, is utter perfection. Extremely brief and almost devoid of action, it contains a singular image of an icy pond that will stay with me for a long, long time.
July 6, 2020
*** Shortlisted for the 2020 Stella Prize ***
"But of her family, only Chavez is real to me. Maria adopted him when he was very small. He was snuffling outside a bakery like a bad cartoon of a lost dog, and she brought him home for company and also protection. Of course she was thinking forwards, because at that size he could not have protected so much as a brioche."
- Chavez
Ten stories. Ten emotive and personal pieces of loss, bewilderment and heartache.
I felt like I was reading this through some kind of a haze. Like I'd just skimmed the surface of the stories. There's a hollowness to them. We get a sense of the characters, and feel the disquiet in their lives. But we don't get to know them too well. There's an air of discontent that lingers. They all seem to be longing for something else. To be somewhere else. But I don't mean this as a criticism at all. I like that this collection evoked a feeling of unfinished business with me. That it wasn't all cut and dried. There was so much left unsaid. And herein lies the beauty of the writing. I had an ache from some of these stories. I had to pause and ponder before continuing.
Standouts are "Glisk" and "Chavez". They are spectacular. Paricularly "Chavez". It will be imprinted in my mind forever.
"...small-town intolerance, grudges borne longer than is fair or necessary, nourished by the kind of rural ozygen a larger city would have starved them of."
- Glisk
"I am an imposter here...I simply arrived in this city and, like Chavez, curled into the smallest space I could find."
- Chavez
This is a slow burn that brings to mind the emotive writing which Raymond Carver, Denis Johnson and Breece D'J Pancake are known for. And that is the greatest compliment I can give. An amazing feast of short stories to be savoured slowly. Enjoy.
Long listed for the 2020 Stella Prize. Good luck!
September 15, 2019
I love Rowe's writing - she's constantly surprising in her imagery and language and crafts these snapshots of lives on the cusp or or recovering from major upheavals. The stories glance off these big moments, but capture so much about the characters going through them and their lives. A delight.
November 3, 2019
Josephine Rowe is the most underrated Australian writer. Why is everyone not losing their minds over these stories? And don’t even get me started on Tarcutta Wake and A Loving, Faithful Animal. She should have won every literary prize in the country by now. Seriously. She’s one of the best we have and the stories in this collection are other level brilliance. Her sentences! Her details! Her observations! Her characters! My favourite stories were Anything Remarkable and Chavez but I loved them all.
January 5, 2021
4.5*
Jaunos australų autorės novelių rinkinys, išsyk patraukiantis kalbos grožiu ir sakinio taupumu. Viename Rowe sakinyje gali tilpti visas gyvenimas, o kita vertus, kartais pabaigus novelę lieka jausmas, kiek daug nepasakyta.
Plati novelių geografija – nuo realių vietų iki įsivaizduojamų; veikėjai keliauja per šalį automobiliu, keliasi į miestus ir namus, kuriems nepriklauso, leidžiasi gilyn į save. Jie atsiduria tarpinėje, liminalioje būsenoje, kai ankstesnioji būtis baigėsi, o naujoji – dar neprasidėjusi. Šią būseną atspindi ir jų priebėgos – nuomojami butai, viešbučių kambariai, automobiliai. Tose tarpinėse priebėgose veikėjai slepiasi, iškrenta iš įprasto gyvenimo ritmo, čia jie gali išgedėti traumą, kad ir kokia ji būtų – nutrūkusi santuoka, persileidimas, sutuoktinio mirtis. Sielvartas tekste iškyla švelniai, vos regimai, klojasi daugybe sluoksnių, kartais net paslepiamas ar perkeliamas. Rowe nesiūlo paprastų išeičių, jos novelių pabaigos daugiaprasmės, paliekančios daugiau klausimų, nei atsakymų. Tai proza, kurią reikia skaityti švelniai ir gal net ne vieną kartą.
Labiausiai įsiminė “Glisk”, “Real Life”, “Sinkers” – iš pastarosios man išliks mitinis, poetinis miestelio po vandeniu vaizdinys.
„There is a part of the self which is not yet caught up to the airplane age, part of the self which must journey as if by the sea, while the rest of the body and brain and soul? Fine, okay, I will say ‘soul‘ – might move at whatever absurd speeds we demand of them, at 500 knots amid prepackaged meals and magazine advertisements for singing toothbrushes. Or perhaps it is precisely the soul that is so slow, that travels at such a lag.“
Įdomus interviu su autore: https://lithub.com/josephine-rowe-on-...
Jaunos australų autorės novelių rinkinys, išsyk patraukiantis kalbos grožiu ir sakinio taupumu. Viename Rowe sakinyje gali tilpti visas gyvenimas, o kita vertus, kartais pabaigus novelę lieka jausmas, kiek daug nepasakyta.
Plati novelių geografija – nuo realių vietų iki įsivaizduojamų; veikėjai keliauja per šalį automobiliu, keliasi į miestus ir namus, kuriems nepriklauso, leidžiasi gilyn į save. Jie atsiduria tarpinėje, liminalioje būsenoje, kai ankstesnioji būtis baigėsi, o naujoji – dar neprasidėjusi. Šią būseną atspindi ir jų priebėgos – nuomojami butai, viešbučių kambariai, automobiliai. Tose tarpinėse priebėgose veikėjai slepiasi, iškrenta iš įprasto gyvenimo ritmo, čia jie gali išgedėti traumą, kad ir kokia ji būtų – nutrūkusi santuoka, persileidimas, sutuoktinio mirtis. Sielvartas tekste iškyla švelniai, vos regimai, klojasi daugybe sluoksnių, kartais net paslepiamas ar perkeliamas. Rowe nesiūlo paprastų išeičių, jos novelių pabaigos daugiaprasmės, paliekančios daugiau klausimų, nei atsakymų. Tai proza, kurią reikia skaityti švelniai ir gal net ne vieną kartą.
Labiausiai įsiminė “Glisk”, “Real Life”, “Sinkers” – iš pastarosios man išliks mitinis, poetinis miestelio po vandeniu vaizdinys.
„There is a part of the self which is not yet caught up to the airplane age, part of the self which must journey as if by the sea, while the rest of the body and brain and soul? Fine, okay, I will say ‘soul‘ – might move at whatever absurd speeds we demand of them, at 500 knots amid prepackaged meals and magazine advertisements for singing toothbrushes. Or perhaps it is precisely the soul that is so slow, that travels at such a lag.“
Įdomus interviu su autore: https://lithub.com/josephine-rowe-on-...
February 4, 2019
A collection of stories full of heartbreak, travel, and seduction from a young Australian author whose "gorgeous, precise language encourages inner storms" (Samantha Hunt, The New York Times Book Review)
January 6, 2020
Family drama, family trauma.
Families dig up and relive their past in order to make sense of their present. The reader gets to know these characters and tries to make sense of their past; we're searching for moral solutions for them, and then we're hit with a shocking climax. Will the past situation help us make sense of their current one? Probably not. The characters are just as unprepared for the future as we are.
Stylistically, the reader sees large amounts of sentence fragments. Often, the events of the story are written in a confusing manner that's poetic as opposed to straightforward. You'll be rereading frequently to make sure you understand the literal progression of events. I didn't feel as if it made the stories difficult; just more intriguing and willing to reread.
I frequently reread the last few pages or paragraphs. I wanted to nail the stories down (in terms of their morality and lesson), which led to further rereading.
You probably won't feel as if any matter is "settled"; you'll just replay scenes and character decisions repeatedly after you've put it down.
Families dig up and relive their past in order to make sense of their present. The reader gets to know these characters and tries to make sense of their past; we're searching for moral solutions for them, and then we're hit with a shocking climax. Will the past situation help us make sense of their current one? Probably not. The characters are just as unprepared for the future as we are.
Stylistically, the reader sees large amounts of sentence fragments. Often, the events of the story are written in a confusing manner that's poetic as opposed to straightforward. You'll be rereading frequently to make sure you understand the literal progression of events. I didn't feel as if it made the stories difficult; just more intriguing and willing to reread.
I frequently reread the last few pages or paragraphs. I wanted to nail the stories down (in terms of their morality and lesson), which led to further rereading.
You probably won't feel as if any matter is "settled"; you'll just replay scenes and character decisions repeatedly after you've put it down.
May 22, 2019
A layered / gritty / gold work. Rowe is, I reckon, Australia’s finest writer by far.
May 19, 2020
“There was no truth she meant to protect him from.
Look, kiddo, other people are going to lie to you. And some are going to do it out of what they think is kindness. Not me, though, I’m never going to. You might as well get used to it.”
#stellaprize // ok, I’m going to need to get onto Josephine Rowe’s backlist sometime in the future when it’s possible again. Her writing is dreamy and elegant, observant and laden with meaning. She doesn’t waste a single beautiful sentence in shaping the emotional state and backstories that belong to her characters. These stories are set outside of Australia, each with a sense of transience or limbo, of being on the precipice. I gobbled them right up 💕
Look, kiddo, other people are going to lie to you. And some are going to do it out of what they think is kindness. Not me, though, I’m never going to. You might as well get used to it.”
#stellaprize // ok, I’m going to need to get onto Josephine Rowe’s backlist sometime in the future when it’s possible again. Her writing is dreamy and elegant, observant and laden with meaning. She doesn’t waste a single beautiful sentence in shaping the emotional state and backstories that belong to her characters. These stories are set outside of Australia, each with a sense of transience or limbo, of being on the precipice. I gobbled them right up 💕
March 9, 2020
According to the publishers, the short stories in Josephine Rowe's collection,
Here Until August
, explore the point of change in people's lives. And yes, the collection delivers that - the ten stories examine thresholds, internal and external boundaries, and points-of-no-return. But there's also a theme of belonging in each of these carefully crafted stories, explored through memory; through people being in foreign places; and people returning 'home' (but not necessarily 'belonging').
The collection opens with Glisk, a story about the return of the narrator's older brother to a small town. There's a past trauma and a deceit, and when the deceit is revealed, it tips everything the narrator has known sideways.
Rowe's timing in this story is impeccable, as it is in Real Life, where a couple cocoon themselves inside their apartment during a Montreal winter, with the goings-on of their neighbours the main entertainment. The twist is delivered with little fanfare and so takes the reader by surprise.
Two stories stood out - Sinkers and A Small Cleared Space. In Sinkers, we find a mother and son, and the town that they once lived in, flooded for a hydroelectric scheme. Rowe's beautifully delicate descriptions of the underwater town contrast with the brutal reminisces of the flooding, and with a task the son is determined to complete.
In A Small Cleared Space, a woman grapples with the loss of her stillborn baby -
Rowe captures the isolation of grief, and gives it sharp focus by setting the story in a remote cabin, surrounded by frozen lakes. The woman reflects that while the baby was also her husband's loss, it was her 'failure' - the story is heart-wrenching.
There's a carefulness about Rowe's writing - every word seems considered. There's nothing overdone, and yet her descriptions are lush -
I think the most remarkable feature of this collection is the depth and complexity of the interwoven themes. Each story challenges the reader to consider how they might feel in a similar situation (and I say 'feel' rather than 'do' because the focus is on the emotional rather than action). Change represents a loss but it also marks a new beginning, and that is evident in each of the stories -
Here Until August was my first bit of 'active' Stella reading and I would consider it a worthy winner should the judges decide that it's the year for short stories.
4/5 Solid.
The collection opens with Glisk, a story about the return of the narrator's older brother to a small town. There's a past trauma and a deceit, and when the deceit is revealed, it tips everything the narrator has known sideways.
I'm waiting behind the flyscreen, feeling everything I'd neatly flat-packed springing up in me.
Rowe's timing in this story is impeccable, as it is in Real Life, where a couple cocoon themselves inside their apartment during a Montreal winter, with the goings-on of their neighbours the main entertainment. The twist is delivered with little fanfare and so takes the reader by surprise.
Winter lingered impossibly, and still we managed to squander it. I had thick Russian classics and some design software to master...
Two stories stood out - Sinkers and A Small Cleared Space. In Sinkers, we find a mother and son, and the town that they once lived in, flooded for a hydroelectric scheme. Rowe's beautifully delicate descriptions of the underwater town contrast with the brutal reminisces of the flooding, and with a task the son is determined to complete.
In A Small Cleared Space, a woman grapples with the loss of her stillborn baby -
The body has no memory for pain. She'd read that somewhere and believed it true. Now she knew it to be. The year had been an agonising parade of firsts, and at each her grief had astonished her. She wondered if it would be easier to have something definitive to point to, an instance of physical impact: slipping in a wet stairwell... But then there would just be different whys, equally useless, and there would still have been enough room for guilt, cunning shapeshifter that it is, to creep in at the edges.
Rowe captures the isolation of grief, and gives it sharp focus by setting the story in a remote cabin, surrounded by frozen lakes. The woman reflects that while the baby was also her husband's loss, it was her 'failure' - the story is heart-wrenching.
There's a carefulness about Rowe's writing - every word seems considered. There's nothing overdone, and yet her descriptions are lush -
Across the pond the trees looked soft, naked maple and dogberry with branches furred at the edges, like velvet antler fuzz.
I think the most remarkable feature of this collection is the depth and complexity of the interwoven themes. Each story challenges the reader to consider how they might feel in a similar situation (and I say 'feel' rather than 'do' because the focus is on the emotional rather than action). Change represents a loss but it also marks a new beginning, and that is evident in each of the stories -
Your whole life could be like this. Arriving always in darkness and waking to something extraordinary.
Here Until August was my first bit of 'active' Stella reading and I would consider it a worthy winner should the judges decide that it's the year for short stories.
4/5 Solid.
July 8, 2020
I’m really glad that Here Until August made the Stella longlist, because I don’t know that I would have been drawn to pick it up otherwise. I’ve mentioned before I struggle with short story collections, but I’ve been really impressed by all of the ones that made the longlist this year. I don’t know that I could pick a favourite because they’re all so different and play to their different strengths.
In terms of range, I think these stories are the most impressive, even including the non-Stella nominated short stories I’ve read recently. Each story takes you to a completely different place with a cast of new and interesting characters. This is not the kind of collection you speed through—each story demands that you give it time to mull over in your head before moving on.
If this collection is anything to go by, I think Josephine Rowe is well on her way to being one of our best writers.
In terms of range, I think these stories are the most impressive, even including the non-Stella nominated short stories I’ve read recently. Each story takes you to a completely different place with a cast of new and interesting characters. This is not the kind of collection you speed through—each story demands that you give it time to mull over in your head before moving on.
If this collection is anything to go by, I think Josephine Rowe is well on her way to being one of our best writers.
February 26, 2020
A brilliant collection. Rowe’s writing is tonally masterful – shifting adroitly between moods and perspectives, pressing into the tender spots of human connections. Every sentence is perfectly balanced and I read many of them twice for the sheer pleasure of great writing. Her style is pristine but never forced or pretentious. Her descriptions are original but authentic, and I love the way the very short final story, What Passes For Fun, literalises a metaphor.
May 31, 2020
I found Rowe's stories remarkable for their diversity of setting and character and their consistently brilliant writing. The most memorable for me were Chavez and Sinkers. Chavez is a dog that a traumatised woman, who has travelled far from her own country to recover (or perhaps merely survive), is looking after for an absent neighbour. Sinkers is set in the Australian Snowy Mountains where a town has been drowned for a hydro-electric dam. Boys dive with rocks to help them sink to the bottom to discover whatever they can from this lost town. A man, whose mother grew up in the town, takes a boat out on the lake. There is nothing predicable in these stories and others in the collection: just a subtle unfolding of character and situation. All the stories explore loss, grief, love and guilt in ways that move and surprise. Whatever the subject, there is a sensuous delight in reading every sentence, every page.
Four and a half stars.
Four and a half stars.
September 5, 2019
What a wonderful short story collection! A introspective and thoughtful read. Heartbreaking and endearing. Rowe's writing is lush and impressive! I loved how she used different locales to backdrop and shape around these stories and characters. It really added something different each one. And the characters within were realistic and layered. Some of the stories hit me harder than others but as a whole it's a solid collection. Definitely check this one out October 8th!
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Thank You to the publisher for #gifting it to me opinions are my own.
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For more of my book content check out instagram.com/bookalong
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Thank You to the publisher for #gifting it to me opinions are my own.
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For more of my book content check out instagram.com/bookalong
August 12, 2025
This is a collection of ghost stories.
Not in the practical, genre sense, but in the way each life we jump into exists in a space best described as haunting, peripheral. These are not people that the big thing has happened to, rather they are the ones who are left with the fallout of the happening—a happening in itself.
Rowe has taken a microscope to a particular, complex liminality. Secondary trauma, empathy, grief. Of course, with that comes anger and fear and injustice. The throughline is the unsolvable why.
A brother grapples with welcoming home an ostracised sibling. A woman must care for a dog after an event leaves her numb. A taxi driver agrees to ferry a drowned man across the border. Wives weigh up individual sacrifices in a bid to carry their child.
At once tonally coalescent and void of repetition. A subtlety and unravelling that is exactly my taste. Each story remains clear in my mind, perhaps the greatest compliment I can give a short story collection.
I picked this up after being taken by Little World, Rowe’s most recent work, a novella that follows—and sometimes delves into the perspective of—a canonised corpse of a little girl, across time and place. Reading her works has made me so freaking excited for the future potential full send into magical realism. PLEASE. Josephine Rowe magical realism novel manifestation circle at my house this weekend.
Severely underrated, cannot believe I had heard nothing about this.
Not in the practical, genre sense, but in the way each life we jump into exists in a space best described as haunting, peripheral. These are not people that the big thing has happened to, rather they are the ones who are left with the fallout of the happening—a happening in itself.
Rowe has taken a microscope to a particular, complex liminality. Secondary trauma, empathy, grief. Of course, with that comes anger and fear and injustice. The throughline is the unsolvable why.
A brother grapples with welcoming home an ostracised sibling. A woman must care for a dog after an event leaves her numb. A taxi driver agrees to ferry a drowned man across the border. Wives weigh up individual sacrifices in a bid to carry their child.
At once tonally coalescent and void of repetition. A subtlety and unravelling that is exactly my taste. Each story remains clear in my mind, perhaps the greatest compliment I can give a short story collection.
I picked this up after being taken by Little World, Rowe’s most recent work, a novella that follows—and sometimes delves into the perspective of—a canonised corpse of a little girl, across time and place. Reading her works has made me so freaking excited for the future potential full send into magical realism. PLEASE. Josephine Rowe magical realism novel manifestation circle at my house this weekend.
Severely underrated, cannot believe I had heard nothing about this.
February 25, 2020
I read this collection because it is long-listed for the 2020 Stella Prize.
Not my cup of tea at all. Short stories, for me, often don't hold enough character development and not enough of the three necessaries: A beginning, a middle and an end. This certainly applied for this collection.
The writing is good enough about these transient moments in time and any one of them would adapt well into part of a longer story. There is probably even some good metaphor here but I was so bored by the lack of plot that I couldn't be bothered investing any further into it.
All these stories ended with a whimper, not memorable at all. Apart from maybe a wildcat that crosses the ice with one of it's kittens carried in it's mouth. Metaphorical perhaps.
I hope anyone else who reads this get's a lot more from it than I did.
Rating is rounded up from a 2.5 to a three because the writing is good enough, to only just prevent me from dnfing it.
Hoping the other short story collections on the Stella long list hold more entertainment.
Not my cup of tea at all. Short stories, for me, often don't hold enough character development and not enough of the three necessaries: A beginning, a middle and an end. This certainly applied for this collection.
The writing is good enough about these transient moments in time and any one of them would adapt well into part of a longer story. There is probably even some good metaphor here but I was so bored by the lack of plot that I couldn't be bothered investing any further into it.
All these stories ended with a whimper, not memorable at all. Apart from maybe a wildcat that crosses the ice with one of it's kittens carried in it's mouth. Metaphorical perhaps.
I hope anyone else who reads this get's a lot more from it than I did.
Rating is rounded up from a 2.5 to a three because the writing is good enough, to only just prevent me from dnfing it.
Hoping the other short story collections on the Stella long list hold more entertainment.
December 18, 2019
What an incredible collection of stories. Rowe’s writing is exquisite, her characters, her phrasing, the way she conjures emotions and places. I am in absolute awe.
I was once a great lover of silence, or at least certain silences. In the time when silences were still promises. A hush, I suppose, is the better word for what I loved - a quietness that looks forward to a particular moment but is in no particular hurry to get there.
I was once a great lover of silence, or at least certain silences. In the time when silences were still promises. A hush, I suppose, is the better word for what I loved - a quietness that looks forward to a particular moment but is in no particular hurry to get there.
November 1, 2019
Perfection in the realist short story mode. Read the language of this and just be in awe.
February 2, 2020
Beautiful in the slow motion glass falling from a car crash kind of way.
September 9, 2025
2.5… this took me so long and it wasn’t even worth it. The short stories were all depressing and were like the things we read in English. Some were entertaining but most bits were boring. Idk why I put my self through that.
June 11, 2023
This collection started off promising with Glisk but unfortunately the majority of the other stories just fell a bit flat.
February 23, 2020
Did I forget to review this? I think I did. I could check. Regardless, this is as brilliant and beautiful and heartbreaking as everything else JR has published, and that's saying something.
February 21, 2020
A very intriguing short story collection; I would happily read a full-length novel about each of these people.
October 9, 2020
‘It strikes me that this is what strangers do. Make offerings before stepping over the threshold of another’s house. That is what we are now.’
Ten short stories about time. About living and remembering, about recounting events. Set across the world: different locations, different people with different experiences. I read each story, take it in, imagine what came before or what might happen next. The people (and events) become real.
How does Ms Rowe do this?
‘Sinkers’ took me to the Snowy Mountains, where the drowned town of Adaminaby lies under Lake Eucumbene. And reminded me of the other drowned towns of Jindabyne and Talbingo. But it is not the landscape which held my attention in this story (familiar as it is) but the impact on people.
‘Chavez’, a longer story, took me into the world of an agoraphobic woman looking after her neighbour’s dog. It is meant to be for a short period only, but events elsewhere in the world have an impact.
Returning to the first story, ‘Glisk’, I learn that a ‘glisk’ is a Scots word meaning glance or a twinkling. And in this story, there are two events which take place in an instant and which are important in the life of Fynn, whose story is being narrated by his half-brother Raf. Lives are changed, defined, and sometimes destroyed by such moments.
People move across the world, into and out of the lives of others. Relationships and perceptions evolve. Time is not static, nor is it linear. I have mentioned three stories and perhaps they are my favourites for now. But when I reread these stories, and I know I will, my focus may shift.
‘This is not what we do. This is not how we get close to each other, by making ourselves seem defective enough to safely befriend.’
If you enjoy beautifully written self-contained short stories that invite you to think, then you may enjoy this book as much as I did.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Ten short stories about time. About living and remembering, about recounting events. Set across the world: different locations, different people with different experiences. I read each story, take it in, imagine what came before or what might happen next. The people (and events) become real.
How does Ms Rowe do this?
‘Sinkers’ took me to the Snowy Mountains, where the drowned town of Adaminaby lies under Lake Eucumbene. And reminded me of the other drowned towns of Jindabyne and Talbingo. But it is not the landscape which held my attention in this story (familiar as it is) but the impact on people.
‘Chavez’, a longer story, took me into the world of an agoraphobic woman looking after her neighbour’s dog. It is meant to be for a short period only, but events elsewhere in the world have an impact.
Returning to the first story, ‘Glisk’, I learn that a ‘glisk’ is a Scots word meaning glance or a twinkling. And in this story, there are two events which take place in an instant and which are important in the life of Fynn, whose story is being narrated by his half-brother Raf. Lives are changed, defined, and sometimes destroyed by such moments.
People move across the world, into and out of the lives of others. Relationships and perceptions evolve. Time is not static, nor is it linear. I have mentioned three stories and perhaps they are my favourites for now. But when I reread these stories, and I know I will, my focus may shift.
‘This is not what we do. This is not how we get close to each other, by making ourselves seem defective enough to safely befriend.’
If you enjoy beautifully written self-contained short stories that invite you to think, then you may enjoy this book as much as I did.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
September 29, 2019
Beautiful, memorable stories, with the kinds of endings that knock the wind out of you.
October 17, 2019
I’ll admit that I picked up this book because I was entranced by its cover. Thankfully the collection of short stories within were just as marvelous. I haven’t read anything by Josephine Rowe before, but Here Until August makes me eager to read more of her work.
This book holds ten short stories that all center around characters that have experienced an event which deeply changes their lives. Most of these stories center around loss. Not in the sense of death, although some stories do focus on that topic, but loss of a previous life that brought comfort and familiarity. These characters are trying to learn how to make do with the life changing event that they had little to no control over.
Reading Rowe’s words felt like I was recalling a dream. Her writing provides such vivid imagery and a real connection to the characters as they try to process everything going on in their life. These aren’t cheerful stories, but certainly ones that make readers wonder how they would cope with such drastic life changes.
Not every story in this collection was for me, but I loved a majority of them. Here are my top three from the collection:
1. The Once Drowned Man
2. Chavez
3. Horse Latitudes
This book holds ten short stories that all center around characters that have experienced an event which deeply changes their lives. Most of these stories center around loss. Not in the sense of death, although some stories do focus on that topic, but loss of a previous life that brought comfort and familiarity. These characters are trying to learn how to make do with the life changing event that they had little to no control over.
Reading Rowe’s words felt like I was recalling a dream. Her writing provides such vivid imagery and a real connection to the characters as they try to process everything going on in their life. These aren’t cheerful stories, but certainly ones that make readers wonder how they would cope with such drastic life changes.
Not every story in this collection was for me, but I loved a majority of them. Here are my top three from the collection:
1. The Once Drowned Man
2. Chavez
3. Horse Latitudes
January 11, 2020
I suppose I’m in the great minority here, and that’s alright. I didn’t find Rowe’s style of writing particularly evocative or emotional, nor did I connect with any of the characters in any of the stories. While some the descriptions were done well, beyond that there was little enjoyment for me in this collection. ‘What Passes For Fun’ was probably my favourite of the bunch as it sets out an iced pond in winter and the short snapshot surrounding it. With that being said, I don’t find the segments of human life particularly entrancing, I find it devoid of story.
February 7, 2020
SWOONSVILLE. The kind of work that makes writers (okay, me) fall into despair because apparently at the cosmic buffet table some of us were serving themselves great heaping platters full of genius while I was busy scooping a fallen Circus Peanut off the floor. Every single one of these stories is pitch-perfect & captivating. Damn.
August 15, 2020
A very generous three stars. Sometimes she turns an amazing phrase; sometimes it’s completely overwritten, like a writers’ workshop showcase piece designed to impress other writers but not actual READERS. “Real Life” and “Anything Remarkable” were excellent stories; others, particularly later in the collection, are just a little too turgid and a bit tough to slog through.
February 26, 2020
2.5 - Just confirming that I don’t like short stories. I would rather sink my teeth into a good novel or trilogy. I don’t see the point of something half finished or left to the reader’s imagination...
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