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Come to Me: Stories
National Book Award Finalist "Bloom writes about passion—shameful, blissful and perverse. . . . Her voice is sure and brisk, her language often beautiful; the result is humorous and well as heartrending fiction. . . . Her work has the power both to disturb and to console." — New York Times Book Review "A wonderful collection of stories by a writer of amazing skill, intelligence and compassion. Come to Me is a debut which leaves the reader begging for more." —Alice Hoffman This stunning collection of stories from New York Times bestselling author Amy Bloom takes us into the inner worlds of families, the hidden corners of marriages and affairs and friendships, and introduces us to people whose lives are shaken and changed by love. This is fiction that stays with you long after you've turned the last page, that celebrates the flawed dignity of the human and reminds us all of the fine venture of living in grace and hope in the worlds we are born to and make.
175 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
48 people are currently reading
3741 people want to read
About the author
Amy Bloom
66 books1,265 followersAmy Bloom is the New York Times bestselling author of White Houses; Come to Me, a National Book Award finalist; A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You, a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist; Love Invents Us; Normal; Away; Where the God of Love Hangs Out; and Lucky Us. Her stories have appeared in The Best American Short Stories, O. Henry Prize Short Stories, The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction, and many other anthologies. She has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, Vogue, O: The Oprah Magazine, Slate, Tin House, and Salon, among other publications, and has won a National Magazine Award.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 276 reviews
September 28, 2018
Bloom was a practicing psychotherapist, so it’s no surprise she has deep insight into her characters’ motivations. This is a wonderful set of stories about people who love who they shouldn’t love. In “Song of Solomon,” a new mother falls for the obstetrician who delivered her baby; in “Sleepwalking,” a woman gives in to the advances of her late husband’s son from a previous marriage; in “Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines,” adolescent Susan develops crushes on any man who takes an interest in her. My favorite was probably “Love Is Not a Pie,” in which a young woman rethinks her impending marriage during her mother’s funeral, all the while remembering the unusual sleeping arrangement her parents had with another couple during their joint summer vacations. The title suggests that love is not a thing to be apportioned out equally until it’s used up, but a more mysterious and fluid entity.
Linked short stories can be a useful halfway-house for readers who prefer novels and are still unsure about reading stories. Happily, then, the heart of this collection is five pieces that orbit around the same characters. In “Hyacinths” we meet David as a boy in Manitoba and get a glimpse of him as an adult. In the next story we encounter his second wife, Galen, and her lover, Henry. “Silver Water” is about a mental health crisis with David and Galen’s daughter, and the next two stories are about Henry, his wife Marie, and the other bonds they form.
Although I read the book quickly while on holiday and so haven’t marked out any particular quotes, convincing dialogue and insightful observations are on almost every page. I was reminded most of short stories I’ve read by Elizabeth McCracken and Carol Shields.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
Linked short stories can be a useful halfway-house for readers who prefer novels and are still unsure about reading stories. Happily, then, the heart of this collection is five pieces that orbit around the same characters. In “Hyacinths” we meet David as a boy in Manitoba and get a glimpse of him as an adult. In the next story we encounter his second wife, Galen, and her lover, Henry. “Silver Water” is about a mental health crisis with David and Galen’s daughter, and the next two stories are about Henry, his wife Marie, and the other bonds they form.
Although I read the book quickly while on holiday and so haven’t marked out any particular quotes, convincing dialogue and insightful observations are on almost every page. I was reminded most of short stories I’ve read by Elizabeth McCracken and Carol Shields.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
September 22, 2019
This 1993 collection of short stories has been on my to be read list since 2010, and once I started it for my tbr explode project, I couldn't put it down. All stories are focused on relationships, sometimes groups of stories from different perspectives, some are unusual types. Just like I'm used to from later works by this author, she has realistic insight into the inner workings of her characters.
January 18, 2021
This is my first book by Amy Bloom, so I really had no idea what to expect. Throw in the fact that I don’t read collections of stories very often and this is really new territory for me.
Come to Me is a collection of a dozen stories, a few of which are connected by a character or two in common. But in every case, the story has at its core a dysfunctional or inappropriate relationship. We have 18 year olds marrying 50 year olds, married couples taking lovers together, a married woman who has an affair with a transvestite hairdresser, parents who drive children away, even a father who threatens to kill his own child. It’s an odd collection of characters who are all struggling to make sense of their lives.
None of this is a surprise when you learn that Amy Bloom was a practicing psychotherapist when she wrote this book. She remained a therapist until about ten years ago. In fact, a couple of therapists feature in the stories. So her experience with people in therapy have supplied her with insights into humanity most of us can’t have.
Bloom has an uncanny ability to draw the reader into each new story in an amazingly quick fashion. Within a paragraph or two, the reader’s immersed in the new dynamic of each tale.
My only hesitation with this collection (other than the fact that everyone’s screwed up) is that on occasion Bloom adds an element extremely abruptly. And one story ends that way, so abruptly that it was jarring.
But if that’s my only real complaint with a debut work, I have to mark it a success. Bloom is unusual in that she’s written four collections of stories and four novels. Most fiction writers focus on one or the other throughout the bulk of their careers. I’m anxious, then, to read one of her novels as a comparison. Her most recent novel, White Houses, is historical fiction, so that one especially interests me. If her novels are as compelling as her short stories, I’ll be looking forward to reading them all.
Come to Me is a collection of a dozen stories, a few of which are connected by a character or two in common. But in every case, the story has at its core a dysfunctional or inappropriate relationship. We have 18 year olds marrying 50 year olds, married couples taking lovers together, a married woman who has an affair with a transvestite hairdresser, parents who drive children away, even a father who threatens to kill his own child. It’s an odd collection of characters who are all struggling to make sense of their lives.
None of this is a surprise when you learn that Amy Bloom was a practicing psychotherapist when she wrote this book. She remained a therapist until about ten years ago. In fact, a couple of therapists feature in the stories. So her experience with people in therapy have supplied her with insights into humanity most of us can’t have.
Bloom has an uncanny ability to draw the reader into each new story in an amazingly quick fashion. Within a paragraph or two, the reader’s immersed in the new dynamic of each tale.
My only hesitation with this collection (other than the fact that everyone’s screwed up) is that on occasion Bloom adds an element extremely abruptly. And one story ends that way, so abruptly that it was jarring.
But if that’s my only real complaint with a debut work, I have to mark it a success. Bloom is unusual in that she’s written four collections of stories and four novels. Most fiction writers focus on one or the other throughout the bulk of their careers. I’m anxious, then, to read one of her novels as a comparison. Her most recent novel, White Houses, is historical fiction, so that one especially interests me. If her novels are as compelling as her short stories, I’ll be looking forward to reading them all.
December 18, 2009
Pretty sure I had/read a first cover hard copy of this back in 94. Lent it out. Wish I had it, 'cause this little book of stories is haunting. Dirty laundry not quite aired. Interlocking lives and stories. Complications. I couldn't have told you before I reread this what the stories were about, but I've always remembered the book, the cover, the (w)holes it left. You can't say that about every book you never got back. And after rereading each little world, I remembered the lives, the unfinished-ness in them all.
Favorites:
"Love is Not a Pie"
the interlocking stories through the middle-which is like more than half the book!
and the last two: "When the Year Grows Old," and "Psychoanalysis Changed My Life"
Oh, hell. The whole damn thing.
Plus it's got a great cover.
Favorites:
"Love is Not a Pie"
the interlocking stories through the middle-which is like more than half the book!
and the last two: "When the Year Grows Old," and "Psychoanalysis Changed My Life"
Oh, hell. The whole damn thing.
Plus it's got a great cover.
May 31, 2016
I am amazed or maybe stunned by this collection of short stories. They are all poignant and soul rending. I am especially impressed by the ones that show the same characters but at a different point in life and from a different point of view. Read Three Stories. You'll see what I mean. This is the third book I have read by Bloom; all have been impressive in some way - books I will not forget. Bloom is a psychotherapist who lives in CT. I certainly know my psyche has undergone a therapy of sort reading her books.
March 26, 2011
Really good collection of short stories. I found them to be compelling, well written and insightful. The content is emotionally raw. It goes to dark places. But, its fascinating. I was really quite taken with the collection. Amy Bloom has a way with story that gets right to the core of the emotional impact of a variety of life events. Despite the rawness of the content, there is balance within the collection as a whole. There is dark as well as light. I really enjoyed the collection.
April 4, 2015
i read this because of "Silver Water," which is a truly great story. didn't really like most of the other stories-- almost all of which seemed to be sad, vaguely icky dissections of strange or inappropriate relationships of one kind or other (mom/stepson, old man/young woman, two men/one woman, married woman/transvestite lover, etc). but then the last two stories in the book were great! "When the Year Grows Old," about a girl whose straight-laced mom has what i guess is a manic episode and starts furiously smoking, adopts a cat, and starts writing a book in the basement, and "Psychoanalysis Changed My Life," about a middle-aged woman who strikes up an odd friendship with her ailing 85-year old motherly psychiatrist. Both great stories! So, in the end, good book. Could've done without a few, but hey.
August 22, 2008
Amy Bloom- what an amazing author. She writes so beautifully, and so movingly, I read her and am jealous for a week that I lack this kind of talent. The short story "Silver Water" will knock your socks off, I promise. This is the book for people that don't like short stories. There is one story within this collection that didn't quite do it for me (incest is never a good read), but the rest are just transcendent.
July 2, 2010
Should a short story collection be graded on its best stories or should it be critiqued as a whole? I ask this question because there are maybe one or two stories in here that are superb, but the rest are good but not great. Silver Water's definitely in that first category. It differs from the other stories in that it's more poetic in its character descriptions and its narrative. Therefore, causing it to flow so well.
March 28, 2019
My mother was never one to have magazines that didn't involve art laying around the house. On rare occasions, I'd find a dog-eared Good Housekeeping or some other similar type of thing that she likely swiped from a Doctor's office and put in her purse to copy a recipe. I swear that once upon a time (say 20 years ago!) I picked up one of these magazines from our bathroom, pages torn and warped from the spray of the shower, and read a beautifully haunting short story that has stuck in my brain ever since. The story, a meditation by a young woman about to get married, on the unusual relationship between her mother, father and her mother's lover, played out over one family summer holiday at a lake when the young woman happens upon a scene that she neither understands entirely nor ever forgets. I fell into this story, struck by how perfectly the author captured the voice of the narrator as she struggled to understand something she knew and felt on the periphery of adulthood but couldn't quite grasp with her child's mind. It also struck so any notes - sad, hopeful, heartbreaking, sexy. I just had never forgotten the story but also could not, for the life of me, remember who wrote it. Imagine my surprise when I discovered it was the first story in Come to Me "Love is Not a Pie". I feel slightly idiotic as I have read quite a bit of Amy Bloom and never realized she was the author of the story that I never forgot over the span of two decades. Needless to say, I am happy to have it in my possession now, as well as, the rest of the stories in this collection. They are, for the most part, stunning. Each examines the actions that happen outside of the veneer of daily life - the things we may not want to own or admit - lusts and betrayals and crazies and utter and complete complications. But Bloom brings so much humanity and pathos and realness to the characters that it is difficult to put the stories down. They are beautiful stories despite their often not-so-beautiful subject matter.
February 19, 2012
Molly Bloom is one of my latest literary crushes. I had never heard of her, but Pam Houston put her on my reading list. I don’t just want to write like Bloom, I want to BE like her. If I had a therapist, I would want her to be my therapist, too. She divides her time between her therapy practice and her writing, and if I had to imagine the ideal fiction writer as psychotherapist, it would be her. She writes about perversions, obsessions, love and passion in its deepest, darkest crevices without any moral judgment. Her compassion humbles me, and her wit and nimble prose are a delight.
August 21, 2024
BRILLIANT collection!! One of the all-time great collections if you are interested in character psychology. Bloom writers characters that are struggling with their morals, anxieties, mental illness, and relationships. A mother having an affair, a relationship between a client and a psychoanalyst, a daughter struggling with her mother’s breakdown.
Super tight prose, very well paced, and honest insights.
Super tight prose, very well paced, and honest insights.
June 10, 2022
lots of beautiful stories abt love and belonging! i think "Love is Not a Pie" reigns as my fav still
December 24, 2016
A National Book Award Finalist, I'm not sure how to rate this book which is a series of 12 short stories, some of which are multiple tales of the characters at different times of their lives. In some, there is an interweaving of characters. Intense and somewhat interesting, the author brings her knowledge of psychology of people and their motivations.
The first story title Love is Not Pie, was, in my opinion, the best in the series, then some of the others fell flat. Ina few there was a creepiness I reacted against. In particular a story of an over weight, greasy haired young woman who allows a much older man to seduce her. Following her to and from school, enticing her to dress in hats and furs.
I've read one of Amy Bloom's other books and did not rate it highly. While she knows her field of psychology, I think I'll skip further books. But, I am hesitant to do so because it appears many like her works. Maybe I am missing something?
The first story title Love is Not Pie, was, in my opinion, the best in the series, then some of the others fell flat. Ina few there was a creepiness I reacted against. In particular a story of an over weight, greasy haired young woman who allows a much older man to seduce her. Following her to and from school, enticing her to dress in hats and furs.
I've read one of Amy Bloom's other books and did not rate it highly. While she knows her field of psychology, I think I'll skip further books. But, I am hesitant to do so because it appears many like her works. Maybe I am missing something?
March 10, 2011
You can tell this author is a (former) psychotherapist because many of these stories have a significant psychological aspect and with many characters with mental health problems. It was a enjoyable read. However I find short stories less than fully satisfying compared with longer works because there is not as much room for character development.
April 14, 2025
thanks to NetGalley and Speigel & Grau by Spotify Audiobooks for the advanced audio copy! highly recommend this short story collection.
--
not gonna lie, i saw amy bloom's name and asked to read this one because i remember marina and jenny talking about her on the l word. not joking.
i'm not sure if this short story collection was what i expected or not. originally pubbed in the 90's, it has that nostalgic, summer-sticky feeling invoked by old stephen king books. does that make sense? i really appreciated that aspect of the writing - it was truly transportive.
like most short story collections there was some good, some bad, some bizarre (looking at you, story where our main character had sex with her stepson after her husband dies, though her stepson was still calling her 'mom'). i suspect that other reviews will say that the crowning glory was the first in the collection, 'love is not a pie'. a woman attends her mother's funeral, thinks back to being young and realizing her mom loved multiple men freely and as such calls off her own wedding to a man that she suspected wouldn't fight for her.
there was a lot of stories about marriage, infidelity, maternity, and youth, but all felt like they shared a common thread of grief which is probably what made this collection feel like a life we've all already lived, despite not necessarily relating to the specific subjects. a great little collection and i suspect my experience with bloom's longer fiction will be even better for me.
--
not gonna lie, i saw amy bloom's name and asked to read this one because i remember marina and jenny talking about her on the l word. not joking.
i'm not sure if this short story collection was what i expected or not. originally pubbed in the 90's, it has that nostalgic, summer-sticky feeling invoked by old stephen king books. does that make sense? i really appreciated that aspect of the writing - it was truly transportive.
like most short story collections there was some good, some bad, some bizarre (looking at you, story where our main character had sex with her stepson after her husband dies, though her stepson was still calling her 'mom'). i suspect that other reviews will say that the crowning glory was the first in the collection, 'love is not a pie'. a woman attends her mother's funeral, thinks back to being young and realizing her mom loved multiple men freely and as such calls off her own wedding to a man that she suspected wouldn't fight for her.
there was a lot of stories about marriage, infidelity, maternity, and youth, but all felt like they shared a common thread of grief which is probably what made this collection feel like a life we've all already lived, despite not necessarily relating to the specific subjects. a great little collection and i suspect my experience with bloom's longer fiction will be even better for me.
January 22, 2021
I enjoyed this short story collection, particularly the stories which linked together and were told from different character's perspectives.
The standalone stories were a bit hit and miss which I often find to be the case with short story collections. But overall I liked Bloom's writing and how it felt like I got under the skin of the main character and exposed their struggles and emotions which were simmering under the surface.
The collection had themes which ran through all the stories such as love, loss, grief and loneliness and I thought these were handled well and examined through different perspectives.
The main issue with this book was that many of the stories had unsatisfying endings, almost like the author didn't know how to wrap them up, so either they ended abruptly and left questions or just fizzled out into nothing.
I would like to try one of Bloom's novels, as I do like her writing style, and would like to see how a full novel compares to her short stories.
The standalone stories were a bit hit and miss which I often find to be the case with short story collections. But overall I liked Bloom's writing and how it felt like I got under the skin of the main character and exposed their struggles and emotions which were simmering under the surface.
The collection had themes which ran through all the stories such as love, loss, grief and loneliness and I thought these were handled well and examined through different perspectives.
The main issue with this book was that many of the stories had unsatisfying endings, almost like the author didn't know how to wrap them up, so either they ended abruptly and left questions or just fizzled out into nothing.
I would like to try one of Bloom's novels, as I do like her writing style, and would like to see how a full novel compares to her short stories.
October 23, 2024
I read and loved her book : "In Love" which is a true story of how she accompanied her husband on his trip to Switzerland where he committed assisted suicide because he was ill. I have to admit, it would be hard for any other book of hers to equal that one, and this one doesn't come close. But it's a nice little selection of her short stories and most of them are pretty good. And if you're missing her voice, as I was, this may help you.
June 16, 2025
#matalankynnyksenpostaus
Uusi lempikirjailija on löytynyt! Ah, Amy Bloomin kokoelma oli todella todella hieno ja ostinkin heti kokoelmansa Rowing to Eden, josta ehkä kerron jossain kohtaa enemmän, mutta pikaisesti muutama sana tästä kokoelmasta, sillä tämän kokoelman novelleja on Rowing to Eden kokoelmassa mukana.
Upea hieno liikuttava taitava - nuo adjektiivit tulevat mieleen
Amy Bloom on tarkka havainnoitsija, tarkka kirjoittaja, psykologisesti syvä ja kirjoittaa Bloom osaa. Teksti on selvää, etenevää, tarvittavien sivupolkujen kautta varmasti kulkeutuvaa.
Ihana. Näitä tulen lukemaan usein.
Uusi lempikirjailija on löytynyt! Ah, Amy Bloomin kokoelma oli todella todella hieno ja ostinkin heti kokoelmansa Rowing to Eden, josta ehkä kerron jossain kohtaa enemmän, mutta pikaisesti muutama sana tästä kokoelmasta, sillä tämän kokoelman novelleja on Rowing to Eden kokoelmassa mukana.
Upea hieno liikuttava taitava - nuo adjektiivit tulevat mieleen
Amy Bloom on tarkka havainnoitsija, tarkka kirjoittaja, psykologisesti syvä ja kirjoittaa Bloom osaa. Teksti on selvää, etenevää, tarvittavien sivupolkujen kautta varmasti kulkeutuvaa.
Ihana. Näitä tulen lukemaan usein.
May 4, 2025
I read this book about 25 years ago, shortly after it came out. It's Amy Bloom's first book, a set of short stories built around very different and equally compelling characters. Because I've been reading her other books, I've recently read some of these stories, or related ones, that were incorporated into other books or novellas. Trained as a psychotherapist, you could imagine that Bloom has incorporated some things from her patients but, if so, it is carefully down. I highly recommend any of Amy Bloom's books.
October 1, 2020
Brilliant and mildly disturbing. Completely unputdownable. The author draws the reader in by his/her own humanity. Like trying to tear one’s eyes away from a gruesome accident. The writing is spectacularly seductive...
February 5, 2019
These are lovely and insightful short stories. The topics were more edgy when the book was published in the early 90’s, but they stand up well.
March 10, 2020
A remarkably well written collection of short stories that I couldn't not finish once I began the first story, though I usually have no interest at all in short story collections. I was mesmerized. That said, each story, save the very last one, is decidedly unwholesome. This is why I subtracted 1 star, because I really did not enjoy the content, but they sure do ring true. The writing is 5 star all the way!
February 26, 2025
This is a great selection of short stories. Love her work!
May 23, 2025
Loved the audiobook read by the author. She writes and reads beautifully.
August 5, 2025
Reading these short stories was like falling down a flight of stairs where you feel every step as you tumble down.
What I'm saying is that these stories were brilliant and provoked so many painful emotions..
Which I enjoyed.
What I'm saying is that these stories were brilliant and provoked so many painful emotions..
Which I enjoyed.
January 3, 2024
I read this collection of short stories published in 1993 because of an excellent essay I read in 2023 by Yiyun Li, "How to Raise a Warrior Queen" in the NYT Book Review. In it, Li wrote about her own life and loss anchored by teaching one of the stories in this book, "Silver Water." It was, hands down, the best story in "Come to Me." I did love others, too, and I especially liked reading stories of contemporary life when that life isn't yet obsessed with cell phones. It was so refreshing! Bloom gets inside characters, especially women, and writes about them unflinchingly. And also, the women are mostly married white ladies. After getting to know a few, I wanted her to stretch a bit more. "Silver Water" is more of a stretch. It's a remarkable story and I'd recommend checking out this book for it alone. But honestly: Yiyun Li's essay is possibly better and definitely more memorable. Li has written a couple of books since the suicide death of her son, which she also wrote about in the essay, and I have one of those books on my nightstand waiting. But go read her essay (linked below). You will not forget you did.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/04/bo...
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/04/bo...
April 22, 2013
So I guess Amy Bloom is kinda big in the short story world, and evidently I am not really in the know when it comes to short stories/essays because I had never heard of Amy Bloom when I picked this book up. And I now believe I could have carried on perfectly fine living a totally content life never having read anything by her and I wouldn't have been missing anything except maybe one story that's just disturbingly perverse, which is the only reason it ends up standing out at all.
"Sleepwalking" tells the story of a small family that is in the process of dealing with the aftermath of the death of the patriarch of the family. Lion is 19 years old and Julia's stepson, Buster is her son whom Julia had with Lionel, and Julia herself is the wife and only remaining parent for both Buster and Lionel who although he is 19 years old is still in need of parenting. The story starts off on a downer note as they piece together the pieces of what's left of their family and try and find a way to carry on; Julia scrambling to parent her son and step son the best she can while intermittently dealing with the unwanted encroachments of her mother in law into her life and parenting methods, and her own waves of grief that pass over her and threaten to pull her under. Julia trying to help her two children through their grief while handling hers as well. (I guess I will give Julia a little bit of a pass for that, I've never suffered a loss like that of a spouse or boyfriend I would imagine that if I had, I would be living on the edge, constantly in danger of having a break down. That totally helpless grief, that inability to accept the utterly hopeless truth. It would be hard, I will admit, and allowances should be made for behavior that may not be totally in line. But only to a certain extent. Always only to a certain extent) So in the midst of all this awkwardness and tragedy, the story takes a turn for the disturbingly perverse. Lion, her step son who up until this point she has mothered and taken care of, begins to out of the blue make passes at her. Julia who should be totally repulsed and horrified is instead strangely lulled into submission. She does nothing. She has thoughts that tell her she shouldn't be allowing herself to touched that way by HER SON, but the thoughts are way wayyy too quiet for the situation. He actually comes into bed with his step mother and fucks her! Amy Bloom kind of passes over the actual act, mentioning it only briefly, once, in a vague kind of way but the following acts/thoughts clarify and verify what has happened.
It is just totally gross and it weirds me out. And in turn, causes me to feel pretty wary of Amy Bloom and her stories. To me that feels like a taboo subject that should never be breached, and the fact that it IS breached and we as readers are forced to read the eerie, creepy, depraved details is just NOT COOL. I hated every single word of "sleepwalking" and while rest of the stories in the book are nowhere near as disturbing or shocking,( they're all kind of meh to me) I still prefer them to having to delve into a story with an icky subject matter.
I ended up giving this only one star. I guess maybe it deserves more stars than that but I will remind once again that I rate based on personal enjoyment, not on the level of writing overall, etc. I was not pleased with Bloom's stories, for a psycho analyst she should maybe have more insight into the human mind -- but maybe that's exactly the reason for the grossness of sleepwalking, maybe she's drawing from her personal well of experiences! Bottom line, I was not pleased with this book/these stories and am glad it was as short as it was, I wasted less than one reading day on Miss Bloom.
"Sleepwalking" tells the story of a small family that is in the process of dealing with the aftermath of the death of the patriarch of the family. Lion is 19 years old and Julia's stepson, Buster is her son whom Julia had with Lionel, and Julia herself is the wife and only remaining parent for both Buster and Lionel who although he is 19 years old is still in need of parenting. The story starts off on a downer note as they piece together the pieces of what's left of their family and try and find a way to carry on; Julia scrambling to parent her son and step son the best she can while intermittently dealing with the unwanted encroachments of her mother in law into her life and parenting methods, and her own waves of grief that pass over her and threaten to pull her under. Julia trying to help her two children through their grief while handling hers as well. (I guess I will give Julia a little bit of a pass for that, I've never suffered a loss like that of a spouse or boyfriend I would imagine that if I had, I would be living on the edge, constantly in danger of having a break down. That totally helpless grief, that inability to accept the utterly hopeless truth. It would be hard, I will admit, and allowances should be made for behavior that may not be totally in line. But only to a certain extent. Always only to a certain extent) So in the midst of all this awkwardness and tragedy, the story takes a turn for the disturbingly perverse. Lion, her step son who up until this point she has mothered and taken care of, begins to out of the blue make passes at her. Julia who should be totally repulsed and horrified is instead strangely lulled into submission. She does nothing. She has thoughts that tell her she shouldn't be allowing herself to touched that way by HER SON, but the thoughts are way wayyy too quiet for the situation. He actually comes into bed with his step mother and fucks her! Amy Bloom kind of passes over the actual act, mentioning it only briefly, once, in a vague kind of way but the following acts/thoughts clarify and verify what has happened.
It is just totally gross and it weirds me out. And in turn, causes me to feel pretty wary of Amy Bloom and her stories. To me that feels like a taboo subject that should never be breached, and the fact that it IS breached and we as readers are forced to read the eerie, creepy, depraved details is just NOT COOL. I hated every single word of "sleepwalking" and while rest of the stories in the book are nowhere near as disturbing or shocking,( they're all kind of meh to me) I still prefer them to having to delve into a story with an icky subject matter.
I ended up giving this only one star. I guess maybe it deserves more stars than that but I will remind once again that I rate based on personal enjoyment, not on the level of writing overall, etc. I was not pleased with Bloom's stories, for a psycho analyst she should maybe have more insight into the human mind -- but maybe that's exactly the reason for the grossness of sleepwalking, maybe she's drawing from her personal well of experiences! Bottom line, I was not pleased with this book/these stories and am glad it was as short as it was, I wasted less than one reading day on Miss Bloom.
February 21, 2021
I don't usually read collection of short stories. But I saw a few interviews of Amy Bloom in Coursera. So, I got interested reading one or two of her works. The thing with her writing is that the author can get much deeper level of the characters and their thoughts. It made them feel real. They feel relatable. It's not my usual read. But it was good.
April 19, 2015
Amy Bloom knows how to write a short story. For the most part, the stories are disturbing in that many of the characters have experienced or are experiencing difficult circumstances - death of a loved one, the playing-with-firearms death of a child, mental illness of their own or someone else, or inattentive/disinterested parents.
The first and last stories left, for me, a sense of hope, but others made me wonder how life will go on - how will the experience impact their lives?
One trio of stories concerns David. In the first story, his cousin dies when a gun that David and the cousin are wrestling over goes off. In the second story, David, his second wife and their two children are traveling to see the place where he grew up. On the way, one of his daughters almost dies. In the third, David's daughters are grown, but one has developed severe mental illness. All are beautifully written and all profoundly affected me.
One story - Sleepwalking - also appeared in Where the God of Love Hangs Out. I do not remember if the title was the same in that book or if it was told by the same key character, but the story is the same. It is a disturbing but understandable story that leaves you wondering how the key characters will make out. Luckily, there are more stories about Julia and Lionel in Where the God of Love Hangs Out, so you can find out.
I will be pondering these 12 stories for quite awhile.
The first and last stories left, for me, a sense of hope, but others made me wonder how life will go on - how will the experience impact their lives?
One trio of stories concerns David. In the first story, his cousin dies when a gun that David and the cousin are wrestling over goes off. In the second story, David, his second wife and their two children are traveling to see the place where he grew up. On the way, one of his daughters almost dies. In the third, David's daughters are grown, but one has developed severe mental illness. All are beautifully written and all profoundly affected me.
One story - Sleepwalking - also appeared in Where the God of Love Hangs Out. I do not remember if the title was the same in that book or if it was told by the same key character, but the story is the same. It is a disturbing but understandable story that leaves you wondering how the key characters will make out. Luckily, there are more stories about Julia and Lionel in Where the God of Love Hangs Out, so you can find out.
I will be pondering these 12 stories for quite awhile.
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