The Lifeguard

by Mary Morris

The Lifeguard combines Mary Morris's consummate craft as a storyteller with her gift for dramatic travel writing. In the title story, a teenage lifeguard sees his mystique among the girls on the beach dissolve in a panicked moment when he cannot save a child. In "The Glass-Bottom Boat," a mother on her first trip abroad learns about trust from a solicitous stranger.

The Lifeguard is a powerful collection of ten short stories that shows Morris's great sensitivity to men and women at moments of turbulence, uncertainty, and crisis.

Genres: Short Stories

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

I was born in Chicago and, though I have lived in New York for many years, my roots are still in the Midwest and many of my stories are set there. As a writer my closest influences are Willa Cather and F. Scott Fitzgerald. I travel as much as I can and travel fuels everything I do. When I travel, I keep extensive journals which are handwritten and include watercolors, collage as well as text. All my writing begins in these journals. I tend to move between fiction and nonfiction. I spent seventeen years working on my last novel, The Jazz Palace. I think I learned a lot writing that book because the next one only took three years., Gateway to the Moon. Gateway which will be out in March 2018 is historical fiction about the secret Jews of New Mexico. I am also working on my fifth travel memoir about my travels alone. This one is about looking for tigers.

Reviews

[Mrs. Read]

I don’t know whether the book is good or bad - I didn’t read beyond the title page. What I DO know is that the book is not by Mary McGARRY Morris, as listed by GoodReads. She and Mary Morris are two different people.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not a huge fan of short stories, but this one had very vivid and descriptive places and characters. That said I did find the stories a bit flat. Overall it was an okay book and an easy and quick read.

[LB Hirsberg Kellar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not love this, absorb this, wrap myself into this as I did Gateway to the Moon. That story enveloped me. I was hoping such with this book.....

[hippiesquid · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Except for June, her transitions were always smooth.”

[Nicholas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to about half of the stories. The stories were well told, but mostly fairly depressing. Some had a magical realism quality.