The Curse of the Appropriate Man

by Lynn Freed

These fourteen short stories, written over the past ten years but never before collected, deal with the struggles between mothers and their wayward daughters, the often preposterous bonds that tie men and women together, and the complex games masters and servants play with one another. In spare, elegant prose, Freed delivers surprise after surprise as she shakes the truth from life. Whether it's her portrayal of a mother mired in senile dementia in "Ma," a young girl experiencing her first sexual encounter with an itinerant knife-sharpener in "Under the House," or a young woman incapable of loving conventionally in "An Error of Desire," Freed portrays the absurdity, the delusions, the dramas, and the dignity of her characters' lives. These masterful stories reinforce her reputation as one of our most fearless and sophisticated explorers of sexual and filial love.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

188 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Lynn Freed is a South African novelist and academic.

She came to the U.S. first as a foreign exchange student, and then went on to receive an M.A. and Ph.D. in English Literature from Columbia University. She taught at Bennington College, Saint Mary's College of California, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Oregon, the University of Montana, and the University of Texas in Austin.
Ms Freed's short fiction, memoirs and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's,[1] The Atlantic Monthly, Southwest Review, The Georgia Review, the Michigan Quarterly Review, Tin House, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsday, Mirabella, House Beautiful, House & Garden, and Vogue Magazine.
Her work is widely translated and anthologized, and has been listed in Best American Short Stories and in The O. Henry Award Prize Stories.
Ms. Freed is Professor of English at the University of California, Davis, and lives in Northern California.[2]

Reviews

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

So....I got to chapter 3. And I was totally f-ing confused. Until I realized it was stories. Short Stories. What's wrong with me?

Frankly, not so impressed. The jacket says that they are "subtly erotic stories." Well, I guess...if you consider beastiality erotic. Or subtle.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this collection of stories in one sitting. Freed writes of the lives of women - in the U.S. and South Africa, primarily - who struggle to reconcile their scrabbling toward desire and happiness with the fact they have to live in the world. It seems to be an older world, although most of the stories were initially published in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

[Alīna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nav jau tā, ka slikti vai neinteresanti uzrakstīts... Nav jau tā, ka nebūtu kādas interesantas domas vai idejas vismaz daļā no stāstiem... Nav arī tā, ka kāds no stāstiem nelika par kaut ko aizdomāties... Tomēr šoreiz nebija priekš manis. Varbūt nelāgu priekšstatu atstāja pirmie stāsti, kas noteikti nebija manai gaumei un kuros aprakstītās sajūtas man ir svešas. Stāsti bija emocionāli, bet tā arī nesaskatīju tajos to liktenīgo vīrieti (tas varbūt arī labi, bet rada manī neizpratni par grāmatas nosaukumu). Kopumā stāsti ir par sievietēm, nelaimīgām sievietēm. Rodas iespaids, ka labi un laimīgi dzīvot sieviete vienkārši nespēj vai nav radīta (bet ņemiet vērā - tas ir tikai mans idejas traktējums, un es mēdzu kļūdīties daudz un būt subjektīva bieži). Stāstus caurvij skumjas, nepiepildījums, nolemtība, neziņa, neizpratne, zaudēti sapņi un cerības... Var jau būt (un visticamāk), ka tieši ar to šie stāsti ir skaisti. Bet laikam nebija man īstajā brīdī vai vienkārši neesmu īstais lasītājs šai grāmatai. Par to, ka viss ir slikti un labi nevar būt, es varētu pastāstīt pati :) Bet, jā, protams, grāmatā ir jābūt kādai smeldzei, viss nevar būt viens "happy end" un "veiksmes stāsts". Vismaz radina lasītāju patiesajai dzīvei (kaut arī mana problēma ar šiem stāstiem bija tieši tajā, ka stāstos paustās sajūtas nespēju tā īsti izprast "savā realitātē").
Tomēr, kad dažiem draugiem biju pastāstījusi savus iespaidus par šo grāmatu, tie viņiem lika tieši pretēji man - ļoti ieintresēties par šo grāmatu. Kā rezultātā tā šobrīd tiek lasīta... Vismaz man varbūt būs, ar ko stāstus pārrunāt, un tas vien jau ir ļoti pozitīvi.

[Edward Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being an Appropriate Man myself I'm not sure if I should be insulted or not, but the premise is intriguing sometimes man or woman desires something that is not Politically Correct. Alberto Monrovia has been posing this question in his writing for a while.

I also agree with the Author on the place of Political Correctness in literature and in Art in general, that it has no place. It is our response to or disagreement with a stated position that allows us to grow and move forward.

I am looking forward to picking up another volume of Lynn's stories and/or essay's.

[jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dripping with language distilled down to fire water, Lynn Freed delivers here a collection of brilliant short stories, everyone raw and poignant. Whether the tale of the young woman molested by the traveling knife sharpener or the widow's daughter overwhelmed by the power and allure of her sexuality, or the narrator of the title story struggling with her attraction to all the wrong sort of men, each tale proves crafted with the care for which Freed is famous. As with many of her novels and short stories, each of these deals with issues faced by women, mostly sexual or emotional, that can dog the psyche for life.

As with most of her other work, most of these tales take place in Freed's native South Africa, a world in which she is both conflicted and achingly familiar. Yet it is not the milieu from which they derive their power, though her every detail stands as both telling and artfully selected. Instead the great power of Freed's work comes from her characters, each crafted as if by a sculpture, expert in his tools, chipping away every bit of excess to reveal the art within.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a deep sadness, like a thread, sewn through all of the stories in this collection. I was impressed by Freed’s ability to paint a picture of a character’s lifetime even when the story only described a series of moments. What this shows is that Lynn Freed knows which moments are the most important and most poignant.

[Lydia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection of literary short stories is an interesting mix, including a number of stories based iin the Jewish community and several based in the Black community. The title story is quite interesting, focusing not on the appropriate man, but what the likes of the adventurous man. I did not find them quite an interesting as I thought they might be.

[Richard Jespers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. I’ve never read anyone who tells such completely satisfying stories in such short spaces—“Ma: A Woman”—especially. The story reduces a deathbed and subsequent mourning to its barest features without losing power in the manner of more lengthy stories covering the same material.

[Sylvie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, enjoyable. Good read.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. The first story was enough to make me recoil, but I decided to keep going in the hopes that it was just a bad story in an otherwise wonderful book. Nope.