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Love Stories
Love Stories brings together a captivating assortment of short stories inspired by romantic entanglement in its many forms: first love, infatuation, obsession, unrequited love, marriage, adultery, jealousy, and the complicated bonds of those who have spent their lives together.
An array of writers evoke a variety of moods, from the raw, erotic passion of Lawrence and Colette to the wickedlycynical comedy of Dorothy Parker and Roald Dahl; from the agonizing madness of jealousy in Nabokov's 'That in Aleppo Once ...' to romantic illusions in Scott Fitzgerald's 'Winter Dreams'. Objects of passion range from a glamorous silent-movie star in Elizabeth Bowen's haunting 'Dead Mabelle' to a faithful ghost in Kawabata's 'Immortality' and a successful heart surgeon and serial husband in Margaret Atwood's 'Bluebeard's Egg'. Jhumpa Lahiri plumbs the depths of a couple sundered by tragedy while Lorrie Moore movingly portrays a husband and wife brought together by it.
Katherine Mansfield, Tobias Wolff and William Trevor explore the intricacies of long-term relationships, while Maupassant, Calvino and T. C. Boyle convey the elemental force of love in extremely different ways.
An array of writers evoke a variety of moods, from the raw, erotic passion of Lawrence and Colette to the wickedlycynical comedy of Dorothy Parker and Roald Dahl; from the agonizing madness of jealousy in Nabokov's 'That in Aleppo Once ...' to romantic illusions in Scott Fitzgerald's 'Winter Dreams'. Objects of passion range from a glamorous silent-movie star in Elizabeth Bowen's haunting 'Dead Mabelle' to a faithful ghost in Kawabata's 'Immortality' and a successful heart surgeon and serial husband in Margaret Atwood's 'Bluebeard's Egg'. Jhumpa Lahiri plumbs the depths of a couple sundered by tragedy while Lorrie Moore movingly portrays a husband and wife brought together by it.
Katherine Mansfield, Tobias Wolff and William Trevor explore the intricacies of long-term relationships, while Maupassant, Calvino and T. C. Boyle convey the elemental force of love in extremely different ways.
394 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 9, 2014
Love is a prism that refracts dull light and transforms it into kaleidoscopic shapes that filter through the cracks of existence. Love has as myriad manifestations as there are characters in the vast literary world and we are all characters in the novel we create for ourselves. So when picking this carefully selected assortment of short stories, one expects to become the reflection of every single character and to be helplessly dragged by emotional streams of first love and fluttering butterflies, vertiginous lethal attractions and endless seas of desire or spotless fake marriages and virulent true affairs. One expects to suffer from the wistful yearning of lost lives never lived or gone lovers never loved. One expects to turn the last page of each story and remain fixated on that invisible space between what was and what could have been while groping in the dark alleys of frenzied ardor.
I regret to say I was only lost in the current of seven out of the nineteen tales that compose this selection of short stories by many talented writers, whose names flash like neon in a pitch-black silent night, attracting gullible readers like moths to a bulb light.
From D.H.Lawrence, Nabokov or Colette, who evoke raw eroticism and obsessive jealousy to Elizabeth Bowen or Kawabata, whose characters are haunted by ghosts, passing by Dorothy Parker or Roald Dahl , who blend magic realism with wicked comedy. Traditional romanticism combined with lyricism and sophistication can be found in Fitzgerald and Maunpassant while metafiction blends in a sea of love and blood in Italo Calvino’s tale of intellectual delight. Much ado about nothing? Maybe. Although it wouldn’t be fair not to identify some of the enchanting delicatessen that can be found in this collection.
In “Claire De Lune” a prejudiced Abbé who mistrusts women for their sinful bodies and loving hearts marvels at the sublime spectacle of the caressing moonlight bathing his garden with delicious sweetness during an improvised stroll in the middle of the night. Without knowing how, he finds himself in love with the moon and its mysterious beams and his dry soul is filled with warm tenderness in an unexpected redeeming gift.
Obsessive infatuation for a dead actress is what ultimately manages to save the life of a wretched man, giving a power of being to the ethereal fiction in “Dead Mabelle”.
The ocean and the absence of the ocean locked in the tides of love is analyzed in “Blood, Sea”, where a fleeting second becomes an eternity and a hand rests on a bare knee and two hearts pump the same blood in a car wreck.
In “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter” a mundane woman, whose life lacks the passion of her beloved horses, finds her sensuality in the banks of a river where she resolved to drown herself to death in the hands of a timorous doctor who warms her wet body and her ravenous desire.
A middle-aged man whose appearance resembles that of an asparagus directs illusory orchestras in his dining room pretending to be Beethoven and Chopin in “Mr. Botibol”. Music brings a squat, stumpy and thick-legged little woman and a piano into this man’s tedious world and transforms it into a radiant scenario where symphonies are truly conducted and miracles performed.
A man serves a free dinner to a prostitute every day at six o’clock in “The Woman Who Came at Six o’Clock” except for one evening when she comes half an hour earlier breaking their comfortable routine and triggering unforgivable confessions that only the purest and unselfish form of love can embrace.
The briefest yet most striking blow is served in the two pages story Immortality in which an ancient man walks hand in hand with a young woman across a lawn listening to the sound of the silent ocean of memories. Life and death, love and loss, pain and yearning mingle in the last breath of a deaf man’s monologue with astonishing purity and rawness.
I didn’t find magic in all the stories yet I lived and died several times in seven of them only to be reborn from the ashes of consumed passion and rekindled by the beauty of doomed romance. Not the immortal chant to love that I expected but a soothing melody to brighten up the long nights and the endless days of those who walk through life with their hearts in their hands.
“The color of evening began to drift onto the small saplings behind the great trees. The sky beyond turned a faint red where the ocean sounded.” Immortality by Y. Kawabata (p. 192)
I regret to say I was only lost in the current of seven out of the nineteen tales that compose this selection of short stories by many talented writers, whose names flash like neon in a pitch-black silent night, attracting gullible readers like moths to a bulb light.
From D.H.Lawrence, Nabokov or Colette, who evoke raw eroticism and obsessive jealousy to Elizabeth Bowen or Kawabata, whose characters are haunted by ghosts, passing by Dorothy Parker or Roald Dahl , who blend magic realism with wicked comedy. Traditional romanticism combined with lyricism and sophistication can be found in Fitzgerald and Maunpassant while metafiction blends in a sea of love and blood in Italo Calvino’s tale of intellectual delight. Much ado about nothing? Maybe. Although it wouldn’t be fair not to identify some of the enchanting delicatessen that can be found in this collection.
In “Claire De Lune” a prejudiced Abbé who mistrusts women for their sinful bodies and loving hearts marvels at the sublime spectacle of the caressing moonlight bathing his garden with delicious sweetness during an improvised stroll in the middle of the night. Without knowing how, he finds himself in love with the moon and its mysterious beams and his dry soul is filled with warm tenderness in an unexpected redeeming gift.
Obsessive infatuation for a dead actress is what ultimately manages to save the life of a wretched man, giving a power of being to the ethereal fiction in “Dead Mabelle”.
The ocean and the absence of the ocean locked in the tides of love is analyzed in “Blood, Sea”, where a fleeting second becomes an eternity and a hand rests on a bare knee and two hearts pump the same blood in a car wreck.
In “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter” a mundane woman, whose life lacks the passion of her beloved horses, finds her sensuality in the banks of a river where she resolved to drown herself to death in the hands of a timorous doctor who warms her wet body and her ravenous desire.
A middle-aged man whose appearance resembles that of an asparagus directs illusory orchestras in his dining room pretending to be Beethoven and Chopin in “Mr. Botibol”. Music brings a squat, stumpy and thick-legged little woman and a piano into this man’s tedious world and transforms it into a radiant scenario where symphonies are truly conducted and miracles performed.
A man serves a free dinner to a prostitute every day at six o’clock in “The Woman Who Came at Six o’Clock” except for one evening when she comes half an hour earlier breaking their comfortable routine and triggering unforgivable confessions that only the purest and unselfish form of love can embrace.
The briefest yet most striking blow is served in the two pages story Immortality in which an ancient man walks hand in hand with a young woman across a lawn listening to the sound of the silent ocean of memories. Life and death, love and loss, pain and yearning mingle in the last breath of a deaf man’s monologue with astonishing purity and rawness.
I didn’t find magic in all the stories yet I lived and died several times in seven of them only to be reborn from the ashes of consumed passion and rekindled by the beauty of doomed romance. Not the immortal chant to love that I expected but a soothing melody to brighten up the long nights and the endless days of those who walk through life with their hearts in their hands.
“The color of evening began to drift onto the small saplings behind the great trees. The sky beyond turned a faint red where the ocean sounded.” Immortality by Y. Kawabata (p. 192)
February 13, 2016
Some of these stories were really good and some were boring and forgettable though there was never a case of bad writing.
This anthology contains stories from many famous authors like Nabokov, Dahl and Marquez and from some I just expected so much more, though I loved all the ones I thought I loved.
It was a lovely version, hardcover, smooth pages etc.
I will consider buying other Everyman Pocket Classics, though I just wanted/expected more from this.
This anthology contains stories from many famous authors like Nabokov, Dahl and Marquez and from some I just expected so much more, though I loved all the ones I thought I loved.
It was a lovely version, hardcover, smooth pages etc.
I will consider buying other Everyman Pocket Classics, though I just wanted/expected more from this.
March 5, 2023
Heartwarming, quick reads. Great for a beach in France.
June 9, 2017
Love Stories
presents a number of intriguing stories, many of them from writers outside the U. S. That said, I’ll confine this review to just two of them that I found particularly intriguing: T. C. Boyle’s “Swept Away” and Roald Dahl’s “Mr Botibol.”
I’ve always felt that Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” is one of the best American short stories ever written. And why (apart from the plot)? Because London wrote about the fact of cold so effectively, I actually felt it every time I read his story. (No small accomplishment, I feel, in putting mere words to a page!)
To his credit, T. C. Boyle manages the same effect in “Swept Away,” but with the wind. His setting is Scotland (as opposed to Alaska) but no matter. Wind is wind—wherever it blows—in, out, or between. What matters is only how effectively the author describes that wind, and how effectively (s)he makes you feel it as a reader. Boyle’s prose will make your hair, face and, yes—even your toenails—feel wind-swept even if your reading of his story is from inside a vacuum tube.
With regard to Roald Dahl, I must confess that I never read him as a child. My loss. I know now that he’s generally thought of as a writer of children’s stories. But let me assure you (at least from this one example): his adult readings are well worth your investment.
While perhaps not the “master of the surprise ending” that O. Henry was, he’s quite adept at that sort of thing if this story is any indication … not to mention that his sense of irony at the human condition is—if you will allow—ne plus ultra.
Perhaps this sense of irony is the thing I particularly like about both T. C. Boyle and Roald Dahl. If you enjoy the same, have at it—and find your pleasant way to both stories, wherever you may find them. You won’t regret it.
RRB
Brooklyn, NY
09 June 2017
I’ve always felt that Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” is one of the best American short stories ever written. And why (apart from the plot)? Because London wrote about the fact of cold so effectively, I actually felt it every time I read his story. (No small accomplishment, I feel, in putting mere words to a page!)
To his credit, T. C. Boyle manages the same effect in “Swept Away,” but with the wind. His setting is Scotland (as opposed to Alaska) but no matter. Wind is wind—wherever it blows—in, out, or between. What matters is only how effectively the author describes that wind, and how effectively (s)he makes you feel it as a reader. Boyle’s prose will make your hair, face and, yes—even your toenails—feel wind-swept even if your reading of his story is from inside a vacuum tube.
With regard to Roald Dahl, I must confess that I never read him as a child. My loss. I know now that he’s generally thought of as a writer of children’s stories. But let me assure you (at least from this one example): his adult readings are well worth your investment.
While perhaps not the “master of the surprise ending” that O. Henry was, he’s quite adept at that sort of thing if this story is any indication … not to mention that his sense of irony at the human condition is—if you will allow—ne plus ultra.
Perhaps this sense of irony is the thing I particularly like about both T. C. Boyle and Roald Dahl. If you enjoy the same, have at it—and find your pleasant way to both stories, wherever you may find them. You won’t regret it.
RRB
Brooklyn, NY
09 June 2017
September 27, 2020
I was looking forward to reading these as wholesome, feel-good tingly love stories and the entire collection has such a great host of authors - many of them the greats of English literature - but I feel like the title should be renamed as 'Tragic Love Stories' because so many of them were heartbreaking and sad. Maybe, for some, this goes without saying, but I wanted happy endings and hope and sweeping romance.
It's a lovely collection with many beautiful stories by some wonderful writers - but wish just a few more could've had happier endings.
It's a lovely collection with many beautiful stories by some wonderful writers - but wish just a few more could've had happier endings.
September 15, 2022
As another reviewer said, there was some excellent stories and others were boring. Again, as they said, it wasn’t a case of bad style, perhaps just a boring story itself. Both I’ll write the review to remember the ones that I really enjoyed: Clair De Lune (Maupassant); Blood, Sea (Calvino; my favorite story of the lot); Winter Dreams (Fitzgerald); Mr. Botibol (Dahl); A Temporary Matter (Lahiri; a close second).
April 13, 2021
A real mixed bag. Sublime, quirky and terrible in turn. There are lesser known gems from famous authors, masterpieces from little known writers, and pages best left unturned in otherwise successful careers. I would recommend it for the variety show, but not if you’re looking for love in your love stories.
January 30, 2018
Enjoyed most of the stories although a few were forgettable. The standouts for me were ‘Winter Dreams’ (F.Scott Fitzgerald), ‘Armande’ (Colette), ‘The Horse Dealer’s Daughter’ (D.H Lawrence) and ‘The Woman who came at Six o’Clock” (Gabriel Garcia Marquez).
July 20, 2018
You can read my full review of "Love Stories" at: https://thosesentences.wordpress.com/...
December 15, 2020
The standout stories were -
Mr Botibol 5/5 stars - its Roald Dahl so of course I loved it!
Clair de Lune 4/5 by guy de mouppasant
The rest were ranging from enjoyable to 1 star
Mr Botibol 5/5 stars - its Roald Dahl so of course I loved it!
Clair de Lune 4/5 by guy de mouppasant
The rest were ranging from enjoyable to 1 star
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews