Mid-Air: Two Novellas

by Victoria Shorr

Victoria Shorr’s remarkable gift for depicting the inner lives of complex characters shines in two powerful explorations of family, ambition, class, and status.

In “Great Uncle Edward,” a family gathers for dinner. At ninety-three, Great Uncle Edward commands the table in his three-piece suit; Cousin Russell attended both Harvard and Yale but is now reduced to selling off the family books; sisters Betty and Molly are caught between ghosts of a storied past and creeping destitution. These lives are signposts along the downward spiral of an old aristocracy. “Cleveland Auto Wrecking” introduces Sam White, an immigrant from eastern Europe. He cannot read but has a gift for math and an instinct for the value of junk. We follow his clan through the Depression to the postwar boom in the West, where their fortunes soar, creating new tests of loyalty.

Taken together, these two novellas might be the reverse images of the American dream in the twentieth century. They ask to what degree, in the face of such powerful forces as love, death, and social constraints, do any of us have control over our own lives.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Novella, Literary Fiction

192 pages, Hardcover

Published May 17, 2022

About the author

Victoria Shorr is a writer and political activist who lived in Brazil for ten years. Currently she lives in Los Angeles, where she cofounded the Archer School for Girls, and is now working to found a college-prep school for girls on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Reviews

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

My serendipity read for the month turned out to be nearly a 5 star. Mid-Air was an apt title too. One family is swirling down and the other going up. Both are in mid flights over the course of a century or two in economic and cultural senses.

Do I agree with the nuance and voices which do the telling and the showing? In some cases, not at all. But her characters and forms are way above average for fiction presently. She does a type of bordering run-on sentence which leaves the speaker or descriptive mode almost breathless. And yet somehow this cuts to the essence quick. Her context for nearly everything involved for the entire scenario also embedded. Not creating voids of "mystery" instead (real holes in information) as is the habit in this family epic telling that has become endemic in large majority of publications this last decade. Almost as much as the switch, switch, switch craze.

Knowing nothing at all beforehand was also something that made the experience enhanced. The less you know the better.

She also holds a considerable "snob" cornered distinctions within herself, I think. That's why, IMHO, the first novel was better because she knows FAR MORE about that course. I would have given it a 5 star if standalone. The other (Cleveland Wrecking Company) was almost exactly a 4 star. Wonderful carved characters but she doesn't know enough about small business growing and it showed. I do. In very similar fields, at that. Under worse "government is here to help" nasty too. And she puts much more emphasis on brothers' women's "side of the tracks" or drink choices etc. Rarely does that matter to that degree as assumed here. Nor in outcomes as much as pure time inputs and hunger for "more". Third generation is the crux point of that need and effort. But it was well written. And I'd bet the readership here likes it more than Great Uncle Edward.

I definitely would read her again. Gifted and a true wordsmith. Lots of narrating and fewer dialogues is usually not a favorite for me. But her writing style itself is very good with an excellent and different flow. Almost unique.

[Maureen Grigsby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would give this a 4.5. These two novellas create contrasting stories of an old money, WASP family on their last legs with a family that starts poor, but eventually creates serious family wealth. Well done!

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like novellas and I like stories about the immigrant experience (finding oneself in a place in-between two worlds, two cultures, mid-air), so this was a pretty easy selection for me.
Reading wise, it turned out to be a surprisingly mixed bag, wherein I didn’t much care for the first novella and quite enjoyed the second one. And this is weird because for all intents and purposes, the two are very much cut from the same cloth – heavily narrated, sparsely dialogued stories of generations of immigrants finding their feet in the country that apparently used to welcome such individuals once upon a time.
It might be just that reading the two stories on two different days changed my perspective, which just goes to show you how much experiences depend on moods. Either way, both stories were well written and featured some first-rate character crafting, so overall, it was a pretty good read.

[K. Daley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mid-Air is 2 novellas - the first chronicles the history of a patrician American family now in much reduced circumstances. The vehicle is a dinner party for the “survivors” hosted by young members of the family. The money came from a robber baron in the 19th century. The drive that accomplished that feat is much diluted over successive generations. But there is no entitlement or snark evident. The second tells the rags to riches story of an immigrant family of the early 20th century. Their patriarch made a fortune in the junk business, enlarged and improved on by his three sons. They figuratively cross paths in Mid-Air on their way up with the other family on its way down. Shorr’s style is clean and spare but paints a rich picture with a surprising amount of interiority. I rarely give 5 star reviews but I would have given this 4 3/4’s.

[Kidlitter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb. Don't miss it.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. The end of the first novella left me breathless and nostalgic and melancholy. It was a whole thing. Magical, sophisticated writing: not much happens but everything changes. The second story was not quite as spellbinding but I enjoyed it. I finished wanting Victoria Shorr to write the story of my family.

[Bonnie Stockwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mid-Air delivers a masterful balancing of two worlds in a pair of narratives, each tapping a distinctly deep vein of the American experience. In the first, characters gently collide in a gauze of New York City social refinement, their individual tragedies muted by memories of money and culture. In the second, a trio of immigrant brothers build a fortune in the 'junk trade' and their family's odyssey reflects the promise of America's great westward expansion. The unfolding of both stories feels completely authentic and somehow ‘fabulist'—a distillation of a certain class of people, of a particular time and place, living 'bigger than life' lives. You will fall in love with the faded debutantes, the fallen scion clinging to habits of former glory, the shtetl accountant, the diamond-in-the rough, grown-up boys and their ballsy women. Shorr writes with an openness and delicacy that is uniquely engaging. Like a great high wire act, Mid-Air is packed with wonder and onwardness, making for an exhilarating read.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw Victoria Shorr at the Southern Festival of Books and she mentioned that the first novella was modeled on Caroline Blackwood's Great Granny Webster, so I obviously had to read this. Great Uncle Edward was set in mid-century New York City and had exquisite period details--it reminded me a little of the world of Franny and Zooey. Cleveland Auto Wrecking was set in Ohio and California over a longer period of time and with more characters, so felt more diffuse and less crystalline than the first part, but together they were beautiful snapshots of a lost time. Shorr's writing also has an interesting rhythm that I liked.

[Tami Montano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Victoria Shorr’s cleverly crafted novellas feature the falling and rising of the American Dream. The first novella takes place during a dinner party allowing the narrator to shift among the characters to present their stories and how they related to the downfall of the family. In the second, Cleveland Auto Wrecking, begins as an immigrant story and the rise towards the American Dream. The title Mid-Air, was genius since the stories seemed to pass one another mid-air in both the midst of the descent and the rising of another.

[Carly Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written historical fiction. The first novella shows the decline of a wealthy WASP family and the second the rise of an immigrant Eastern European family. Wonderful sense of place and vivid characters tracing changing fortunes in 20th century America.

[Frank · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read a lot of books and I did not find much value in these two Novellas written by Shorr. Very disappointed!

[Rebecca Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting characters. Not people who would be southern.

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two excellent novella's...perfect for summer vacation..

[Virginia Henry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had a few insightful nuggets but I had to work to find them. I don’t care for this author’s writing style. It’s a bit scattered and flighty, almost glib at times.

[Sean Kinch]

My review at Chapter16.org:

https://chapter16.org/sunset-of-the-a...

[Jj Burch · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the middle is
where you meet those on the rise
and those coming down

[Claudia Walch · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only read the first novella, but it didn’t entirely impress me. It felt slow and like it needed more substance.

[Jeff Weyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5! Loved the 2nd Novella.

[Cara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little easy yo read novellas. I preferred the story of the family growing and heading West vs the declining dying East Coast family. Both interesting reads.

[Robin Kessler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty awful’

[MaryLucille · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alabama Booksmith subscription
3-1/2 Stars
“They were making their fortune, just as we were losing outd.
We must have passed at one point in mid-air, them on the way up, us free-falling.” Author’s epigram.
Old money declining; new money rising.
“Mid-Air is two American novellas and two very different, unique perspectives from which to consider the tug of America’s past and the pull of its opportunities.”
I appreciated Shorr’s depth of character depictions.
Proust referenced. Influenced me to add to TBR.

[Eric Chevlen · Rating 5 out of 5]

These two novellas by Victoria Shorr serve as bookends encompassing family dynasties of the 20th century. In "Great Uncle Edward" the family is descending, while in "Cleveland Auto Wrecking" the family is rising in the socioeconomic scale. Both novellas carefully and honestly display their characters, with episodic flashes of honesty by the characters or narrator. Shorr has a gift for invoking time and locale in her writing.