Poached Egg on Toast: Stories

by Frances Itani

Representing over 20 years of Frances Itani’s remarkablewriting, Poached Egg On Toast gathers her best work, plus sevennew stories, instantly revealing why she is among the top ranks of contemporaryfiction writers. Combining precise, subtle observation with a clear andunflinching eye for the human condition, this collection moves through manylocales―from a Quebec village to Bosnia, Japan and Austria. Wickedly funny,unbearably sad, these stories leave us with a renewed sense of humanity.

Genres: Short Stories, Canada, Fiction, Book Club

271 pages, Hardcover

First published August 30, 2004

About the author

Frances Susan Itani is a Canadian fiction writer, poet and essayist.

Itani was born in Belleville, Ontario and grew up in Quebec. She studied nursing in Montreal and North Carolina, a profession which she taught and practised for eight years. However, after enrolling in a writing class taught by W. O. Mitchell, she decided to change careers.

Itani has published ten books, ranging from fiction and poetry to a children's book. Her 2003 novel Deafening, published in 16 countries, won the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Canada and Caribbean Region) and the Drummer General’s Award for Fiction and was a finalist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Her short story collection, Poached Egg on Toast, won the Ottawa Book Award and the CAA Jubilee Award for Best Collection of Stories. She was recently awarded the Order of Canada. Frances Itani lives in Ottawa.

Reviews

[Deanna McFadden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a lot of good books. Books I'd recommend heartily to friends and family. Books I push on strangers at various events. Books I try to sell. Books with good writing, a solid story, and that provide a solid experience from start to finish. Good writing is good writing. But great writing, well, that brings an emotional depth that resonates and goes beyond the story itself. Poached Eggs on Toast is, simply put, great writing. Frances Itani's Deafening was a glorious novel, but I think that when she's faced with the short story, her work packs a punch that the format allows--there's no doubt that the pieces in this collection benefit from their length. They are focussed, sharp, intense, and brilliantly characterized.

It's true. I had often devalued the short story in my own reading. Preferring the length of a novel, I grew tired of the collections I was coming across that depended on "twee" (ugh, I despise 'twee') and "quirkiness" to get them to the end. But here, the basis for all of Itani's work are the very rich and very real experiences of life. Real life. Lives that are shared, and put under pressure. Disease, war, destruction--they provide the backdrop, the impetus for her characters to do something, but Itani writes about life like nobody's business, and that I appreciated.

A few of the stories take place in war-torn countries, wives of soldiers, diplomats, peace-keepers themselves in a very different way, leave the comfort of their homes to exist on bottled water and food in packets to keep their lives safe. One story that has resonated with me, "Marx & Co.", which is about two friends, one of whom is dying of breast cancer, remains one of the strongest portrayals of female friendship I've ever read in print. Overall, I read these stories in short bursts, subway rides, before bed, moments when I'm frayed and exhausted and burnt out from the grind, and found them to be inspiring, achingly so, and I didn't want the collection to end.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed how most of the stories were written, as well as their subject matter. Among my favourites were: "Truth or Lies", "Separation", "Scenes from a Pension", "Accident", "Foolery", "Man Without Face", "The Thickness of One Sheet of Paper" and "What We Are Capable Of". I found the last story with the same title as the book to be pretty funny, but it did not impress me as much as the other ones.

As I'm reading now another book, the prologue to it describes what I found in this book: "thanks to her special way of understanding the art of writing, (she) transforms the daily reality - the everyday acts, so worn out by repetition - into something new and full of mystery... (She) satisfies, not because of the solving of the enigma, but because (she) helps us assimilate the idea that in the things I normally do, the people I deal with, there is a mysterious dimension. So it is a satisfaction not due to a reduction of the daily reality, but for an amplification to the daily reality" (Fernando Moran).

[Rocklee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fancy that. My husband and I had the same little argument over poached eggs. He thought they were a gift from heaven. For me? Well, they give me the gift of heartburn. Three minutes, thirty seconds for his perfect poached egg - actually two of them on a toasted English Muffin.
He died recently.
Frances Itani, you brought him back to me for a bit. Thanks for your wee story. It made me smile. And, your story telling flows. BTW, I also loved The Company We Keep.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Earlier work. I was not as captured as I have been with her novels.

[Thebruce1314 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did I miss something here? Clearly other people enjoyed this book, but I think the only story I kind of liked was the title tale - the very last one in the collection. And maybe that was partly because I knew I was almost done.
I just find this kind of self-indulgent, reflective, plotless short-story writing a bit elitist. Not my thing.

[Mrsgaskell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed these short stories very much! Frances Itani was already one of my favourite Canadian writers and this collection just confirms her position there. Short stories aren't my preferred reading but there are exceptions. These stories are set in various parts of Canada as well as Europe and Japan and the author has a gift for bringing places to life - felt I was there. The stories that stood out for me were Marx & Co., P'tit Village, and What We Are Capable Of.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories with repeating themes (seaside environment, twins, war in Afghanistan, Eastcoast of Canada, travels in Europ, alcoholism in families). Her writing is always so clear, setting the scenes beautifully.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting ideas and immediately drawn in to the characters.

[Ted Dettweiler]

Dropped. Read some of the stories. Didn't grab me like Leaning Over Water.

[Susan Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good read from Itani. Loved some if the stories in this collection, and found many others interesting windows on relationships.