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The Cost of Living: Early and Uncollected Stories
Book by Mavis Gallant
368 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
95 people are currently reading
1579 people want to read
About the author
Mavis Gallant
89 books256 followersCanadian journalist and fiction writer. In her twenties, Gallant worked as a reporter for the Montreal Standard. She left journalism in 1950 to pursue fiction writing. To that end, always needing autonomy and privacy, she moved to France.
In 1981, Gallant was honoured by her native country and made an Officer of the Order of Canada for her contribution to literature. That same year she also received the Governor General's Award for literature for her collection of stories, Home Truths. In 1983-84, she returned to Canada as the University of Toronto's writer-in-residence. In 1991 Queen’s University awarded her an honorary LL.D. In 1993 she was promoted to Companion of the Order of Canada.
In 1989, Gallant was made a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2000, she won the Matt Cohen Prize, and in 2002 the Rea Award for the Short Story. The O. Henry Prize Stories of 2003 was dedicated to her. In 2004, Gallant was awarded a Lannan Literary Fellowship.
With Alice Munro, Gallant was one of a few Canadian authors whose works regularly appeared in The New Yorker. Many of Gallant’s stories had debuted in the magazine before subsequently being published in a collection.
Although she maintained her Canadian citizenship, Gallant continued to live in Paris, France since the 1950s.
On November 8, 2006, Mavis Gallant received the Prix Athanase-David from the government of her native province of Quebec. She was the first author writing in English to receive this award in its 38 years of existence.
In 1981, Gallant was honoured by her native country and made an Officer of the Order of Canada for her contribution to literature. That same year she also received the Governor General's Award for literature for her collection of stories, Home Truths. In 1983-84, she returned to Canada as the University of Toronto's writer-in-residence. In 1991 Queen’s University awarded her an honorary LL.D. In 1993 she was promoted to Companion of the Order of Canada.
In 1989, Gallant was made a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2000, she won the Matt Cohen Prize, and in 2002 the Rea Award for the Short Story. The O. Henry Prize Stories of 2003 was dedicated to her. In 2004, Gallant was awarded a Lannan Literary Fellowship.
With Alice Munro, Gallant was one of a few Canadian authors whose works regularly appeared in The New Yorker. Many of Gallant’s stories had debuted in the magazine before subsequently being published in a collection.
Although she maintained her Canadian citizenship, Gallant continued to live in Paris, France since the 1950s.
On November 8, 2006, Mavis Gallant received the Prix Athanase-David from the government of her native province of Quebec. She was the first author writing in English to receive this award in its 38 years of existence.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
May 21, 2016
This is the great Canadian short story writer who did not stay in Canada, literally or, well, literally. Let's not compare her to or with Alice Munro. Which is not to say Gallant is lesser. It's just that there is more of an edge to her work often indistinguishable from the stories of Elizabeth Taylor or Joy Williams. What happiness exists in these dissonant pieces is in a character's acceptance of disjointedness.
As might be expected from an expatriate, the stories here are populated by geographical wanderers and the psychologically unmoored. The narrator of the title story, The Cost of Living, tells us:
It happened that at the late age of twenty-seven I had run away from home. High time, you might say; but rebels can't always be choosers. At first I gave lessons so as to get by, and then I did it for a living, which is not the same thing.
The story, though, is about her sister who follows only when it is safe to do so, when the parents have died, and the significant estate is in order. She keeps an account book which is more like a diary, balancing those costs which are necessary with those that are unnecessary. As a friendship and an inchoate love prove to be not what she imagined, purchases move from one side of the ledger to the other.
Perhaps because I read it first, out of order like I do, Thieves and Rascals was my favorite. Subtle, minimalist maybe, a man needs to talk to his wife about their daughter, about why she is being expelled from a select school. The wife's measured response is wonderfully crafted. Thieves and rascals, that is what men are. Except me, says the husband. Except me. Except me. Except me.
If you read this you will meet characters like this teenage girl in One Morning in May:
"I was only five when he went away, so I don't remember much. He was killed later, when I was seven. It was right before my birthday, so I couldn't have a party." She presented, like griefs of equal value.
The Rejection is a story of a father talking to his six and one-half year-old daughter. Gallant tells us that. The only thing I'm sure of is that it is not a story of a father talking to his six and one-half year-old daughter.
Rose is another story which did not bother to leave me with a plot. Yet, long after I forget the other storylines, I will remember the cadence, a kind of haiku, or maybe a jazz poem. Like this:
Childhood recollection is often hallucination; who is to blame?
and...
Christmas is a special season for us. We are atheists.
and...
The overshoes are the first excitement; who is there?
The Burgundy Weekend was the longest, and last in the collection. I read it last, so I'm not completely disorderly. Gallant uses her literary talents of misdirection, showing not telling; sleight of hand. What is here? Memory. Class. Countries. The War. Human relationships, circling like planets just out of reach.
The running girl did not see anything, certainly not Lucie. She made for Jérôme; stopped; remembered her manners. It was Lucie who received her French coldness, her French handshake (a new-born white mouse was what it felt like).
and....
Every marriage is different, she said, and ours is like this. It can't be helped. I don't know of any that can be called better--only different.
and...
Late in the night she woke. He was smoking, walking around the room. She thought of the white organdy curtains and of the lighter, but she was not awake enough to speak, only to hear her own mind saying, No, no, he never does the worst thing.
I'll have some more Gallant, please.
As might be expected from an expatriate, the stories here are populated by geographical wanderers and the psychologically unmoored. The narrator of the title story, The Cost of Living, tells us:
It happened that at the late age of twenty-seven I had run away from home. High time, you might say; but rebels can't always be choosers. At first I gave lessons so as to get by, and then I did it for a living, which is not the same thing.
The story, though, is about her sister who follows only when it is safe to do so, when the parents have died, and the significant estate is in order. She keeps an account book which is more like a diary, balancing those costs which are necessary with those that are unnecessary. As a friendship and an inchoate love prove to be not what she imagined, purchases move from one side of the ledger to the other.
Perhaps because I read it first, out of order like I do, Thieves and Rascals was my favorite. Subtle, minimalist maybe, a man needs to talk to his wife about their daughter, about why she is being expelled from a select school. The wife's measured response is wonderfully crafted. Thieves and rascals, that is what men are. Except me, says the husband. Except me. Except me. Except me.
If you read this you will meet characters like this teenage girl in One Morning in May:
"I was only five when he went away, so I don't remember much. He was killed later, when I was seven. It was right before my birthday, so I couldn't have a party." She presented, like griefs of equal value.
The Rejection is a story of a father talking to his six and one-half year-old daughter. Gallant tells us that. The only thing I'm sure of is that it is not a story of a father talking to his six and one-half year-old daughter.
Rose is another story which did not bother to leave me with a plot. Yet, long after I forget the other storylines, I will remember the cadence, a kind of haiku, or maybe a jazz poem. Like this:
Childhood recollection is often hallucination; who is to blame?
and...
Christmas is a special season for us. We are atheists.
and...
The overshoes are the first excitement; who is there?
The Burgundy Weekend was the longest, and last in the collection. I read it last, so I'm not completely disorderly. Gallant uses her literary talents of misdirection, showing not telling; sleight of hand. What is here? Memory. Class. Countries. The War. Human relationships, circling like planets just out of reach.
The running girl did not see anything, certainly not Lucie. She made for Jérôme; stopped; remembered her manners. It was Lucie who received her French coldness, her French handshake (a new-born white mouse was what it felt like).
and....
Every marriage is different, she said, and ours is like this. It can't be helped. I don't know of any that can be called better--only different.
and...
Late in the night she woke. He was smoking, walking around the room. She thought of the white organdy curtains and of the lighter, but she was not awake enough to speak, only to hear her own mind saying, No, no, he never does the worst thing.
I'll have some more Gallant, please.
January 25, 2025
What's the difference between Mavis and Maeve? Ok, one is Gallant, the other is Brennan. Both are forgotten today, both fine writers. Both getting some resurrection. Brennan did a tragic burnout, Gallant held it together until her death at age 91, (20014), and left more than 100 stories. Gallant, especially, honored "the New Yorker-style" of story: atmosphere, character, detail and nothing happens. She grazes current events (of her day) and noodges with a moral elbow. Maeve Brennan, with caustic humor, is not adverse to "plot" and emphasizes the social contract. Read The Rose Garden collection. I prefer Maeve, but Mavis is damn good too.
June 22, 2015
Mavis Gallant is, I believe, a most under appreciated writer. Her bread and butter is the short-story from which she made a several decades long career. These aren't feel good pieces, nor are they driven by plot or character development. Rather, each story is a vivid description of a point in time, the mood and psyche of the characters and their disconnection from each other. Disconnection, parental neglect, sham marriages, poverty these are the conditions lived by Ms. Gallant's characters yet none of them are despairing; all are in various stages of carrying on.
What I enjoy so much about Gallant's writing are the splendid sentences she writes to describe less than splendid people. Of the older sister in the title story she writes "She was as careful in her human judgements as she was in her accounts. Unable to squander, she wondered where to deposit her treasure of pity, affection and love." Of a failed actor from a background of degradation and deep poverty who masquerades as an English gentleman we learn "Like many spiteful, snobbish, fussy men, or a certain type of murder, Wishart chose his friends from among among middle-age, solitary women...He lived on his hostesses without shame."
It almost seems wasteful to have such precise, glittering writing lavished on such dependent, neurotic, defended and disconnected people; but that is our reward for accompanying her characters on their dates with disappointment and defeat.
What I enjoy so much about Gallant's writing are the splendid sentences she writes to describe less than splendid people. Of the older sister in the title story she writes "She was as careful in her human judgements as she was in her accounts. Unable to squander, she wondered where to deposit her treasure of pity, affection and love." Of a failed actor from a background of degradation and deep poverty who masquerades as an English gentleman we learn "Like many spiteful, snobbish, fussy men, or a certain type of murder, Wishart chose his friends from among among middle-age, solitary women...He lived on his hostesses without shame."
It almost seems wasteful to have such precise, glittering writing lavished on such dependent, neurotic, defended and disconnected people; but that is our reward for accompanying her characters on their dates with disappointment and defeat.
July 8, 2020
This is my first experience of the Canadian writer, Mavis Gallant, but hopefully not my last. In short, these stories are excellent. The very best of them feel like novels in miniature; the kind of tales where everything is compressed, only for the narratives to expand in the reader’s mind on further reflection.
The Cost of Living comprises twenty stories from 1951 to 1971 – rather helpfully, the pieces are dated and arranged in chronological order.
Several of Gallant’s protagonists – typically women – seem lost; cast adrift and unmoored in the vast sea of uncertainty that is life. Here we have stories of terrible mothers and self-absorbed fathers, of isolated wives and bewildered husbands, of smart, self-reliant children who must learn to take care of themselves.
The collection opens with Madeleine’s Birthday, Gallant’s first story, published in The New Yorker in 1951. Seventeen-year-old Madeleine is self-sufficient and strong-minded, traits she has had to develop in response to her rather thoughtless mother – now living in Europe following her divorce from Madeleine’s father.
At her mother’s request, Madeleine is spending the summer at a country house in Connecticut, a property owned by Anna Tracy, a longstanding friend of the family. However, Anna simply cannot understand why Madeleine doesn’t seem particularly pleased to be there, especially as Anna views her Connecticut summers ‘as a kind of therapy to be shared with the world’. In truth, Madeline would much rather be on her own in her mother’s vacant New York apartment, amusing herself with trips to the movies and the like. To complicate matters further, the Tracys are also housing another guest for the summer – a German boy named Paul, whom Anna hopes will be a friend for Madeleine. Madeleine, however, resents having to share a bathroom with Paul, viewing him as yet another imposition on her freedom…
“I cannot cope with it here,” Madeleine had written to her father shortly after she arrived. “One at a time would be all right but not all the Tracys and this German.” “Cope” was a word Madeline had learned from her mother, who had divorced Madeleine‘s father because she could not cope with him, and then had fled to Europe because she could not cope with the idea of his remarriage. “Can you take Madeleine for the summer? she had written to Anna Tracy, who was a girlhood friend. “You are so much better able to cope.” (p. 7)
Things come to a head on the morning of Madeleine’s birthday, particularly when Anna tries to chivvy her along with patronising cheer and gaiety. In effect, Anna is treating Madeleine like a child – no different to her daughter Allie, who is six.
This is an excellent, nuanced story, one that taps into the heartache of adolescence, the emptiness of false happiness and domesticity, and ultimately, a sense of isolation and abandonment.
To read the rest of my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2020...
The Cost of Living comprises twenty stories from 1951 to 1971 – rather helpfully, the pieces are dated and arranged in chronological order.
Several of Gallant’s protagonists – typically women – seem lost; cast adrift and unmoored in the vast sea of uncertainty that is life. Here we have stories of terrible mothers and self-absorbed fathers, of isolated wives and bewildered husbands, of smart, self-reliant children who must learn to take care of themselves.
The collection opens with Madeleine’s Birthday, Gallant’s first story, published in The New Yorker in 1951. Seventeen-year-old Madeleine is self-sufficient and strong-minded, traits she has had to develop in response to her rather thoughtless mother – now living in Europe following her divorce from Madeleine’s father.
At her mother’s request, Madeleine is spending the summer at a country house in Connecticut, a property owned by Anna Tracy, a longstanding friend of the family. However, Anna simply cannot understand why Madeleine doesn’t seem particularly pleased to be there, especially as Anna views her Connecticut summers ‘as a kind of therapy to be shared with the world’. In truth, Madeline would much rather be on her own in her mother’s vacant New York apartment, amusing herself with trips to the movies and the like. To complicate matters further, the Tracys are also housing another guest for the summer – a German boy named Paul, whom Anna hopes will be a friend for Madeleine. Madeleine, however, resents having to share a bathroom with Paul, viewing him as yet another imposition on her freedom…
“I cannot cope with it here,” Madeleine had written to her father shortly after she arrived. “One at a time would be all right but not all the Tracys and this German.” “Cope” was a word Madeline had learned from her mother, who had divorced Madeleine‘s father because she could not cope with him, and then had fled to Europe because she could not cope with the idea of his remarriage. “Can you take Madeleine for the summer? she had written to Anna Tracy, who was a girlhood friend. “You are so much better able to cope.” (p. 7)
Things come to a head on the morning of Madeleine’s birthday, particularly when Anna tries to chivvy her along with patronising cheer and gaiety. In effect, Anna is treating Madeleine like a child – no different to her daughter Allie, who is six.
This is an excellent, nuanced story, one that taps into the heartache of adolescence, the emptiness of false happiness and domesticity, and ultimately, a sense of isolation and abandonment.
To read the rest of my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2020...
December 11, 2009
I can't believe I've never read her before. Chilly and delicious.
February 13, 2010
Short story fans: run, do not walk, to your nearest bookstore or library and get a copy of this book. You will not be disappointed. This is a wonderful collection of short stories by a writer who should be much better known. Mavis Gallant was a Canadian who has spent much of her life in Paris, and many of the stories reflect this expat existence. My favorites include "The Cost of Living", about two sisters living in a hotel in postwar Paris, and "Autumn Day", about a woman who joins her husband (a soldier) who is stationed in rural France. Most of her characters are a little bit lost, and the stories themselves are a bit melancholy, but in a good way. The writing is fantastic - I will definitely be looking for more of her stories. Thank goodness that the NYRB keeps publishing them!
March 31, 2016
I'm ashamed to say I'd never heard of Gallant until her name appeared in a few Books of the Year lists with this collection. What a find! I love her ability to unsettle with the minutest observation or comment. She manages to throw a situation completely off kilter and portray a sense of dread even in a sunny room on a lovely day. The stories range from Quebec to New York to Paris to Burgundy, and she captures the essence of all of them, while retaining a sense of exile and estrangement. She can do that rarest of things - create a world in a story of just a few pages. I shall definitely be looking for more of her work.
August 10, 2016
Luminous, uncomfortable, and tough-minded: there's usually no center of sympathy. Characters start out seeming normal and subtly establish their insanity bona-fides. I expect some of these will stay with me, especially some of the unforgivable mothers.
July 3, 2014
I decided to read the collection representing her early career, spanning 1957-71, as my introduction to Gallant's work. These 20 short stories are less about plot and more about intelligence, language, and milieu. Each is about expats, despondency, and bad relationships (of all kinds, not just romantic). The depression of dependency is pervasive as I learned more of the social norms of the time period. I already was grateful for having been born at a time not to have been heavily influenced by the world wars and at a time that I could take advantage of (if still not equitable) the women's liberation movement but her book made me even more appreciative of the timing of my birth. Women had it much worse in those dead marriages she depicted, fostering dependence on men even when the women had family money. The author's biographical information heavily influenced the themes in these stories. Her father died and her mother remarried when she was 10, moved from Quebec to NYC, and left her with a guardian. She was quoted as saying her mother should never have become a mother. That sums up many of the plots.
December 22, 2016
I often do not like short stories, but Gallant is a stunningly good author, and this collection is particularly satisfying because it spans twenty years of her long career (she died only 2 years ago, in 2014) from her very first published story ("Madeline's Birthday", 1951) to a novella written after the publication of her second novel ("The Burgundy Weekend", 1970-71). The stories are arranged in chronological order, and it is easy to see how she grew as an author. Her earliest works in this collection are well-crafted but thin, very clear views but without much depth, and then over time the stories grow denser and she does more with the language and eventually begins to experiment with form. There were a number of stories I loved -- "Travelers Must Be Content," "Acceptance of Their Ways," "Night and Day" -- but I think my favourite is "Thieves and Rascals" from 1956, which is a cry of grief and rage made all the more powerful by the fact that the viewpoint character is unable to hear or understand it.
I am going to read much more Gallant; I think I will start with her earliest collection & go from there.
I am going to read much more Gallant; I think I will start with her earliest collection & go from there.
January 31, 2019
Mavis Gallant's short story collection The Cost of Living allows readers a glimpse at the evolution of a writer over twenty years. These stories are intricately pretty on the surface, hinting at murky depths below. Each story in the collection provides plenty of material for study and contemplation. In Thieves and Rascals from the July 1956 issue of Esquire, Gallant endows a woman with a powerful monologue on the physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion of dealing with inappropriate men, which could have been cut and pasted from a recent think piece on #MeToo. The power of Gallant's craft is indisputable throughout this collection.
May 4, 2010
Short stories are my favorite things to read, so I was overjoyed to see that Mavis Gallant is an absolute master. From the first story on, she managed to tell snippets of lives in a crisp, concise manner that went down like a cool drink of water. The stories were often somewhat sad, the problems of people's lives murmured about through a lovely tale by a master of language. Sometimes the prose was fantastically beautiful, in other spots it was plain, but only because necessary. I thought, after reading this book, Mavis Gallant writes the types of stories that I've been trying to. Amazing.
August 28, 2016
Every story in here is painstakingly beautiful, and a wonderful example of post-WWII writing style. Reminds me of Salinger in the way Gallant's characters observe the world around them, particularly when surrounded by the bourgeoisie. Many say Gallant is underrated; while it sounds like she experienced a fair deal of success while alive, I am surprised her name doesn't fall from others' tongues too quickly or often.
"Going Ashore" is a story I find myself returning to again and again. A perfect point of entry for this collection.
"Going Ashore" is a story I find myself returning to again and again. A perfect point of entry for this collection.
December 5, 2009
"Madeline's Birthday" and "The Cost of Living" (which is the actual title of this collection, not "Going Ashore") are stupendous when read alone. Reading them to someone else, translates less. But in any case, this collection has definitely made me want read more of Ms. Gallant. She is a strange an beautiful bird from what I can tell so far.
August 25, 2010
This book was my introduction to Mavis Gallant. I can't believe I've never read her before. Her stories are masterful. These were her early collected stories, and a couple of the more experimental ones I wasn't as into, but my goodness. Even in her youth, she was already wise beyond her years and more talented then than I could ever hope to be. I am looking forward to reading more of her work.
May 15, 2020
Writing by a woman for women and for men who want to know what it’s like to think like a woman. Explaining it would rather obviate the point of the book, other than to say that the collection of stories dives into a multitude of female perspectives so entirely you wonder why we have spent so long thinking, judging and acting from a male, linear viewpoint.
January 15, 2020
Well, I just couldn't get into this collection of short stories.
Nothing was jumping out at me.
They all felt disjointed and a little bit vacuous in nature.
I'm not feeling the love for Mavis Gallant.
Never mind.
Nothing was jumping out at me.
They all felt disjointed and a little bit vacuous in nature.
I'm not feeling the love for Mavis Gallant.
Never mind.
September 26, 2012
Gosh! Even when I'm thinking "this isn't Mavis Gallant's *best* story," it's a damn fine, excellent story.
Want to read
March 6, 2014RIP
July 26, 2019
Razor-sharp prose, limning the lives of people whom one would very much like not to know in real life, but people who are fully human, withal.
June 30, 2023
I decided to get this book because of the title, expecting a grim, sarcastic take on life or some criticism of capitalism. Well, after a little bit of digging and googling about this book… I was wrong. Reading the introduction by
This is, apparently, a collection of stories about misplaced people –mostly women–and how they navigate their lives in new places, roles, and others. Most of the men here are useless and although seemingly holding a lot of power in society (a marshall, general, colonel, rich lawyer, or just broke activist that holds power but is completely powerless in helping their spouses to lessen their burdens or just simply ignoring them).
Loss, misplacement, and alienation seem to be repeated themes, with a little touch of classism and racism. And in addressing these delicate issues, Gallant proved her amazing penmanship. Her narratives are so subtle yet powerful, a true embodiment of “show don’t tell.” For example, this one part from a story about a French noblewoman hosting an American family in her house:
Or the self-importance and pretentiousness of an American lady towards her black house servant”
Gallant is a magnificent writer, that’s all I can say. Although, unfortunately, the stories get pretty boring as we’re nearing the last page, it’s still a great read. For writers who seek to improve their writing, this, trust me, is a great book to have on your shelf and revisit from time to time.
This is, apparently, a collection of stories about misplaced people –mostly women–and how they navigate their lives in new places, roles, and others. Most of the men here are useless and although seemingly holding a lot of power in society (a marshall, general, colonel, rich lawyer, or just broke activist that holds power but is completely powerless in helping their spouses to lessen their burdens or just simply ignoring them).
Loss, misplacement, and alienation seem to be repeated themes, with a little touch of classism and racism. And in addressing these delicate issues, Gallant proved her amazing penmanship. Her narratives are so subtle yet powerful, a true embodiment of “show don’t tell.” For example, this one part from a story about a French noblewoman hosting an American family in her house:
“She disliked foreigners; she had told the Marshall children so. But they, unfortunately, did not consider themselves foreign, and had pictured instead dark men with curling beards.”
Or the self-importance and pretentiousness of an American lady towards her black house servant”
“She will keep on working,” Nora said. “I’ve told her to leave that hard work for the char, but she insists. I suppose it’s her way of showing gratitude, because we’ve treated her like a human being instead of a slave. Don’t you agree?”
“I suppose so.”
“I’m so tired,” Nora said. She lay back in her chair with her eyes closed, the picture of total exhaustion. She had broken one of her nails clean across, that morning, helping Bernadette with something Bernadette might easily have done alone.
Gallant is a magnificent writer, that’s all I can say. Although, unfortunately, the stories get pretty boring as we’re nearing the last page, it’s still a great read. For writers who seek to improve their writing, this, trust me, is a great book to have on your shelf and revisit from time to time.
May 8, 2024
Borrowed this because Tessa Hadley mentioned that she was instrumental in influencing her own writing in a positive way. I love Tessa Hadley, but I did not enjoy Gallant. She was an early and rigorous publisher in the The New Yorker and her fiction did remind me of all those stories that I used to read with absolute incomprehension, i.e. "what is the point of this?" Touted as brililant and one of the best short story writers ever, I found each character not only unrelatable, but often dissafected andunlikeable, and I obviously was missing the point of most of the stories. They were mostly alienating. Once she got her chops going, there was one story I felt where I understood Tessa's admiration, but I unfortunately am not a fan.
February 3, 2017
Well-written stories. Full of photographic details. Characters are opened, analyzed to death, reminding me of Henry James' stories, e.g. Aspern papers. Much is explicitly said, and this at times kills the mystery. Could be that Gallant couldn't write a decent play: she would not have a way to load every word and action with colorful, twisting description. I couldn't connect with persons and places in these stories.
Want to read
March 29, 2021#1
“Do you know what I hate more than anything?” Madeline said to Paul on the morning of her birthday. “I hate older men who look at girls and insult them.” It was an unusually chatty remark for Madeline, but Paul was not listening.
#15
The coffeepot spitting water brought Jim to the kitchen. He got to the stove before Veronica knew what he was doing there. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I was thinking about shoes.”
“Do you know what I hate more than anything?” Madeline said to Paul on the morning of her birthday. “I hate older men who look at girls and insult them.” It was an unusually chatty remark for Madeline, but Paul was not listening.
#15
The coffeepot spitting water brought Jim to the kitchen. He got to the stove before Veronica knew what he was doing there. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I was thinking about shoes.”
July 23, 2021
Beautifully written with quotable phrases, but it is the same story over and over again. Narcissistic people in depressing marriages neglecting their kids; dust, boredom and shabbiness; everywhere is disappointing and nobody, not even children, actually enjoys anything, they just pretend to for show.
September 23, 2017
Eh mate, pretty good collection.
Reminded me of "Nine Stories" by Salinger. Men and women don't know how to communicate, 1950s Paris was kinda shit, and in the end you're all on your own against the world.
Oh and I like her description of people's kitchens.
Reminded me of "Nine Stories" by Salinger. Men and women don't know how to communicate, 1950s Paris was kinda shit, and in the end you're all on your own against the world.
Oh and I like her description of people's kitchens.
August 4, 2019
It seems to have taken me five years to read my way through this collection, but Gallant is a fine writer. My blog on the book with some prickly, funny quotes:
https://richardswsmith.wordpress.com/...
https://richardswsmith.wordpress.com/...
July 7, 2020
I do love her writing. The stories are a bit depressing though. Life seems so hopeless and people are clueless.
November 2, 2020
Wherever you go, there you are, etc.
July 21, 2021
I loved these stories once, their pointlessness and blandness and too-coolness.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews