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How Far She Went: Stories
Mary Hood's fictional world is a world where fear, anger, longing―sometimes worse―lie just below the surface of a pleasant summer afternoon or a Sunday church service.
In "A Country Girl," for example, she creates an idyllic valley where a barefoot girl sings melodies "low and private as a lullaby" and where "you could pick up one of the little early apples from the ground and eat it right then without worrying about pesticide." But something changes this summer afternoon with the arrival at a family reunion of fair and fiery Johnny "everybody's kind and nobody's kin," forty in a year or so, "and wild in the way that made him worth the trouble he caused."
The title story in the collection begins with a visit to clean the graves in a country cemetery and ends with the terrifying pursuit of a young girl and her grandmother by two bikers, one of whom "had the invading sort of eyes the woman had spent her lifetime bolting doors against."
In the story "Inexorable Process" we see the relentless desperation of Angelina, "who hated many things, but Sundays most of all," and in "Solomon's Seal" the ancient anger of the mountain woman who has crowded her husband out of her life and her heart, until the plants she has tended in her rage fill the half-acre. "The madder she got, the greener everything grew."
In "A Country Girl," for example, she creates an idyllic valley where a barefoot girl sings melodies "low and private as a lullaby" and where "you could pick up one of the little early apples from the ground and eat it right then without worrying about pesticide." But something changes this summer afternoon with the arrival at a family reunion of fair and fiery Johnny "everybody's kind and nobody's kin," forty in a year or so, "and wild in the way that made him worth the trouble he caused."
The title story in the collection begins with a visit to clean the graves in a country cemetery and ends with the terrifying pursuit of a young girl and her grandmother by two bikers, one of whom "had the invading sort of eyes the woman had spent her lifetime bolting doors against."
In the story "Inexorable Process" we see the relentless desperation of Angelina, "who hated many things, but Sundays most of all," and in "Solomon's Seal" the ancient anger of the mountain woman who has crowded her husband out of her life and her heart, until the plants she has tended in her rage fill the half-acre. "The madder she got, the greener everything grew."
136 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1984
10 people are currently reading
269 people want to read
About the author
Mary Hood
46 books10 followersMary Hood (born September 16, 1946 in Brunswick, Georgia) is an award-winning fiction writer of predominantly Southern literature, who has authored two short story collections - How Far She Went and And Venus is Blue - and a novel, Familiar Heat. She also regularly publishes essays and reviews in literary and popular magazines.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
December 25, 2015
Depicting a seemingly natural even boring and stereotypical setting in the beginning, "How Far She Went" leaves you wondering how little, trivial incidents can potentially lead to great danger; how easily, stupid, repulsive, immature decisions, compel you to make tough, undesirable, life-changing ones afterwards. The three-dimensional, round characterization makes it easier to identify one's self with the protagonist, her emotions (fears, desires, sorrows, hatred, solitude, etc.), her choices and her decisions. It makes you ask yourself, what you would have done if you were in her shoes; to what extremes you would have fought to survive? Wouldn't you have done the same?
Casting doubt on decisions made in the occurrence of these (often believed as improbable) situations, this story vicariously discloses how fool of us it is to judge people and their decisions!
Casting doubt on decisions made in the occurrence of these (often believed as improbable) situations, this story vicariously discloses how fool of us it is to judge people and their decisions!
June 20, 2011
I enjoyed reading this so much, I went online mid-way through her stories and ordered two more of her books from Amazon. I first came across Mary Hood in Homeplaces: Stories of the South by Women Writers and enjoyed her short story, so I purchased this edition which won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. I wasn't disappointed. It's wonderful.
Her stories evoke a sense of place, and beg to be re-read. She makes me want to be a better writer ...
I'll keep this to re-read, again (and again).
Her stories evoke a sense of place, and beg to be re-read. She makes me want to be a better writer ...
I'll keep this to re-read, again (and again).
May 29, 2008
This continues my "Summer of Southern Writers" series. This, too, was a recommendation, and yet another writer I wasn't aware of. These are nicely written stories (Flannery O'Connor Award winning). I enjoyed them enough to want to read more of her work, but this colleciton doesn't rank among the best I've ever read. That doesn't sound nice, even though these are worth reading! I'll leave it at that.
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May 26, 2008Mary Hood is an obscure writer from the South, but she is a great writer. In fact, I am in awe of her writing.
January 26, 2024
A friend recommended this collection—I haven’t read Mary Hood before. These are some powerful stories. Echoes of O’Connor and Lee Smith.
April 19, 2013
The language in this is dazzling and some of the stories are real gems, although a few, particularly the longer ones, seemed a bit overcrowded and unfocused. Also, to my displeasure, quite a few dogs had to die in the telling of these stories. Each story did have moments of brilliance, though, which compels me to seek out more by this author.
July 20, 2013
We read the title story in high school and everyone reacted strongly to it (for better or worse). I stand in awe of Mary Hood's language: she picks details beautifully. Not every story in this collection worked for me, but those that did worked so well I'm giving it 5 stars anyway.
May 25, 2017
stopped reading it when she murdered the dog. Not worth finishing.
August 2, 2025
I first heard of Mary Hood when "How Far She Went" was included in an anthology I taught from. A few years ago, I came across the collection in a hard-to-find-books section of the Lemurian bookstore in Jackson, Mississippi.
From what I could find online, Hood has kept herself occupied by teaching creative writing in a Georgia university. She has two collections of stories, this being her first, from 1984, and one novel. Hood seems to be frequently confused with another Mary Hood who advocates for home schooling.
This is a fine collection of short stories. Some recurring themes are how loneliness and alienation give way to caring. I do have favorites among the stories.
"Lonesome Road Blues" tells of a woman widowed too young who has become enamored of a traveling singer and supposed she might be able to start a relationship with him.
For the story of a bad marriage, there's "Solomon's Seal." This couple never should have gotten together in the first place, but some fools never listen.
In "A Man Among Men," a kind person lives among people with conflicting values.
"How Far She Went" is certainly worthy of anthologizing. An overly-sullen teen (who has reasons for sullenness, though) has been sent against her will to live with her grandmother. The grandmother is the protagonist, and she certainly feels put upon by having to take care of her granddaughter. Until they are faced with danger . . .
"Manly Conclusions" might be the best story in the collection. It will stay with me for a while. A woman worries about her abiding, seething undercurrents of anger and authoritarianism. He reaches manly conclusions. So does another character. The story has a memorable conclusion. This is a story for our time.
If you read "Inexorable Progress," stick with it to the end. I will just say that it doesn't end as you will guess it will.
Only one story did not work for me, fortunately the shortest. "Doing This, Saying That, To Applause" is about a professor who seems to have been driven right over the edge. This reads like it was written for a grad school creative writing workshop.
I will confirm that dogs do not fare well in Hood's stories. But if their fates are unfortunate, I don't find the descriptions overly explicit.
If you like short stories and can find this collection, it's worth the time.
From what I could find online, Hood has kept herself occupied by teaching creative writing in a Georgia university. She has two collections of stories, this being her first, from 1984, and one novel. Hood seems to be frequently confused with another Mary Hood who advocates for home schooling.
This is a fine collection of short stories. Some recurring themes are how loneliness and alienation give way to caring. I do have favorites among the stories.
"Lonesome Road Blues" tells of a woman widowed too young who has become enamored of a traveling singer and supposed she might be able to start a relationship with him.
For the story of a bad marriage, there's "Solomon's Seal." This couple never should have gotten together in the first place, but some fools never listen.
In "A Man Among Men," a kind person lives among people with conflicting values.
"How Far She Went" is certainly worthy of anthologizing. An overly-sullen teen (who has reasons for sullenness, though) has been sent against her will to live with her grandmother. The grandmother is the protagonist, and she certainly feels put upon by having to take care of her granddaughter. Until they are faced with danger . . .
"Manly Conclusions" might be the best story in the collection. It will stay with me for a while. A woman worries about her abiding, seething undercurrents of anger and authoritarianism. He reaches manly conclusions. So does another character. The story has a memorable conclusion. This is a story for our time.
If you read "Inexorable Progress," stick with it to the end. I will just say that it doesn't end as you will guess it will.
Only one story did not work for me, fortunately the shortest. "Doing This, Saying That, To Applause" is about a professor who seems to have been driven right over the edge. This reads like it was written for a grad school creative writing workshop.
I will confirm that dogs do not fare well in Hood's stories. But if their fates are unfortunate, I don't find the descriptions overly explicit.
If you like short stories and can find this collection, it's worth the time.
March 1, 2018
Southern literary triumphs in its demarcation of liminal spaces, of the waxing of triumph and waning of defeat. While Mary Hood succeeds admirably in capturing the Southern decline of the second half of the 20th century, her moving prose fails to capture the significance behind this abjection and while she draws close, she fails to achieve the magnificence of Faulkner, Mitchell, or O'Conner.
Hood's depiction of the South expertly chronicles the intersection of screen porches and formica, of rattling window air conditioners in pine barrens and outlaw rock-and-roll echoing through graveyards. Her stories have a striking verisimilitude, and some, including Lonesome Road Blues, Solomon's Seal, A Country Girl, approach brilliance.
Others, however, never extend beyond the grotesque, presenting lurid and engaging images but with little substance. Readers are left to draw their own conclusions from these stories, and while this approach may offer greater power to the reader, it also means that Hood is not conveying the insight into Southern culture which she so expertly reveals in her best stories.
I would recommend How Far She Went to anyone who enjoys contemporary fiction, especially fiction which centers on the American South.
Hood's depiction of the South expertly chronicles the intersection of screen porches and formica, of rattling window air conditioners in pine barrens and outlaw rock-and-roll echoing through graveyards. Her stories have a striking verisimilitude, and some, including Lonesome Road Blues, Solomon's Seal, A Country Girl, approach brilliance.
Others, however, never extend beyond the grotesque, presenting lurid and engaging images but with little substance. Readers are left to draw their own conclusions from these stories, and while this approach may offer greater power to the reader, it also means that Hood is not conveying the insight into Southern culture which she so expertly reveals in her best stories.
I would recommend How Far She Went to anyone who enjoys contemporary fiction, especially fiction which centers on the American South.
March 28, 2018
If you are a smart and outspoken and silly little girl in the South, or were, you will have ladies of a certain age shake their heads at your antics or words or songs and say you're "something else." I'm not sure this was meant as a compliment, but I mean it as one-- Mary Hood is something else.
I wanted to start reading these almost as soon as I stopped-- and I know I'll be back over and over. Fans of Nadine Gordimer, Christy Crutchfield, Roxane Gay, Danielle Evans, Phillip Roth-- this is the single best example of my generation's southern gothic writing--it's soooo good.
I wanted to start reading these almost as soon as I stopped-- and I know I'll be back over and over. Fans of Nadine Gordimer, Christy Crutchfield, Roxane Gay, Danielle Evans, Phillip Roth-- this is the single best example of my generation's southern gothic writing--it's soooo good.
May 27, 2025
I really really wanted to love these and for some of them I did, but some of them didn't quite hit the way I wanted them to (again these are probably a literary feast but some of them just didn't move me so shoutout mary hood she seems great and any stories that didn't work for me were still probably really good)
Favorites: How Far She Went, Manly Conclusions, Lonesome Road Blues
Pretty good: Solomon's Seal, Doing This, Saying That, to Applause, Inexorable Progress
Could not tell you what it was about and I just finished the collection: A Man Among Men, A Country Girl, Hindsight
Favorites: How Far She Went, Manly Conclusions, Lonesome Road Blues
Pretty good: Solomon's Seal, Doing This, Saying That, to Applause, Inexorable Progress
Could not tell you what it was about and I just finished the collection: A Man Among Men, A Country Girl, Hindsight
June 21, 2022
I have to admit: this one really sneaked up on me. The cumulative effect of all the stories was greater than any single one in the collection. I especially enjoyed the title story, Manly Conclusions, and Inexorable Progress.
January 21, 2021
While not poorly written, I always ask myself what was I supposed to learn? I learned about love, but I hate animal cruelty. Kristi & Abby Tabby
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 14, 2021
**short essay class**
FUCK ME UP
FUCK ME UP
January 31, 2023
WHY DID I HAVE TO READ ABOUT A GIRL DROWNING HER DOG FIRST PERIOD. THIS IS NO WAY TO START MY DAY. I WANTED TO CRY. DAY IS RUINED. i think the story was pretty good.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 10, 2024
The others are good, but How Far She Went is an amazing story. Horrifying, but amazing.
February 7, 2025
The first story in this collection made it worthwhile. The rest were what most people call Southern Gothic. Like a Flannery O'Connor story, the worst-case scenario was predictable.
June 28, 2007
Mary Hood taught me two weeks worth of micro-fiction in Athens. Southern Gothic to the core, I'm reading this again now because it's about hot summer, and nobody does that better than Georgia in July.
August 12, 2016
A story collection that stands out among others. Mesmerizing stories, in many of which the characters' dialects are captured flawlessly without distracting from the flow. I'd like to see more of this author's work.
November 13, 2013
winner of the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. Really good short stories by a Georgia author (born in Brunswick and attended Georgia State).
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews