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Separate Kingdoms: Stories
From Valerie Laken, the Pushcart Prize–winning author of Dream House , comes a powerful collection of short stories charting the divisions and collisions between cultures and nations, families and outsiders, and partners and misfits searching for love. Set in Russia and the United States, these are boldly innovative stories—tales of fractured, misplaced characters moving beyond the borders of their isolation and reaching for the connections that will make them whole. A family, shaken by an industrial accident, is divided, its members isolated in their home and only able to understand one another from their separate rooms. A young gay couple travels to Russia to meet the child they're desperately trying to adopt, but the experience reveals an emotional divide between the parents-to-be. A recent amputee removes herself from her body to keep her husband at bay. And the idyllic village life of a blind Russian boy is disrupted by an American dentist and the wonders of racy Western magazines. Separate Kingdoms is a rich and satisfying collection that traverses the distances between people and places in each marvelously rendered story.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
224 pages, Paperback
First published March 29, 2011
6 people are currently reading
98 people want to read
About the author
Valerie Laken
5 books34 followersValerie Laken has an MFA in Creative Writing and an MA in Slavic Literature from the University of Michigan. Her work has been published in such journals as Ploughshares, Antioch Review, the Chicago Tribune, and Alaska Quarterly Review. She has received a Pushcart Prize, the Missouri Review Editors' Prize, two Hopwood Awards, and an honorable mention in the Best American Short Stories. She teaches in the creative writing program at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. Her first novel, Dream House (Harper, 2009), received the Anne Powers award and was listed among Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2009. Her short story collection, Separate Kingdoms, will be published March 29, 2011 by Harper Perennial.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
February 7, 2011
(I won a copy of Valerie Laken's Separate Kingdoms: Stories through the Goodreads First Reads program.)
If I had to boil my overall reaction down to but one word, the word I would choose would certainly be "poignant." The stories in this collection are in equal parts beautiful and tragic, a bittersweet blend of evocative, well-worded prose and haunting scenarios. These are not happy stories. They are not uplifting, and they did not make me feel good. But they certainly did make me feel, and they did so in a wholly authentic and un-gimmicky way.
Valerie Laken has painted a series of portraits - of individuals on the verge, running towards, fleeing from, longing for, hiding from, adjusting to, coming to terms with, avoiding, facing...Something. In each vignette, I watched - often uncomfortably - as characters wrestled with their demons, their insecurities, their realities, themselves. There was a feeling of having stepped into the private mindscapes of these characters, a sense of catching them naked, unshielded, and I could not help but experience a sort of anxiety.
The author has a real talent for eliciting feelings of unease and discomfort, of drawing you into the inner turmoils of her characters. She has her finger firmly on the pulse of the human condition, and she has the skill to choose just the right words to make her psychological panoplies feel real and believable. It might not have been fun, but it was definitely impressive and a reading experience I will not soon forget.
If I had to boil my overall reaction down to but one word, the word I would choose would certainly be "poignant." The stories in this collection are in equal parts beautiful and tragic, a bittersweet blend of evocative, well-worded prose and haunting scenarios. These are not happy stories. They are not uplifting, and they did not make me feel good. But they certainly did make me feel, and they did so in a wholly authentic and un-gimmicky way.
Valerie Laken has painted a series of portraits - of individuals on the verge, running towards, fleeing from, longing for, hiding from, adjusting to, coming to terms with, avoiding, facing...Something. In each vignette, I watched - often uncomfortably - as characters wrestled with their demons, their insecurities, their realities, themselves. There was a feeling of having stepped into the private mindscapes of these characters, a sense of catching them naked, unshielded, and I could not help but experience a sort of anxiety.
The author has a real talent for eliciting feelings of unease and discomfort, of drawing you into the inner turmoils of her characters. She has her finger firmly on the pulse of the human condition, and she has the skill to choose just the right words to make her psychological panoplies feel real and believable. It might not have been fun, but it was definitely impressive and a reading experience I will not soon forget.
April 21, 2011
A positively brilliant collection of short stories. My full review may be read on my book review blog Rundpinne.
February 28, 2012
Short story collections are the poorer cousins of novels in the fiction world. Publishers are very leery of them unless the author has already somehow proven himself as a saleable commodity, preferrably with a successful novel. And I must admit that I don't read many short stories myself. I heard of SEPARATE KINGDOMS from a writer friend, Don Lystra, who authored a much acclaimed first novel, SEASON OF WATER AND ICE. Now Don is looking for a publisher for (you guessed it) a group of short stories. I hope he finds one, because I'm eagerly looking forward to reading more of his fiction in whatever form.
I am extremely impressed with Laken's collection. Because she is obviously a writer who knows what she's about, and writes about what she knows. The thing that sets this book apart from other story collections is its use of alternate settings. Three of the eight stories here are set in the former USSR, in Moscow and its outlying suburbs and villages. Laken lived in the area back in the early 90s and has apparently made subsequent visits since then. Hence the title of the collection perhaps - the US and the USSR as 'separate kingdoms.'
But there are other possibilities too, and they are easy to find in each of the stories. The first one, for example, "Before Long," contrasts the world of the sighted with the blind, represented by Anton, a Russian boy who is nearing puberty, with all its normal awkwardness emphasized even more by his handicap. Childhood, adolescence and the adult world are all separate kingdoms too, of course - layers of interpretations here, I suppose, if you wanna do that kinda thing. Me, I was mostly caught up in the stories and their characters. They're all that good - and real - with dead-on perfect and believable dialogue, with occasional Russian words and expressions thrown in to add a little authenticity.
"Spectators" is one of the US stories, set in Illinois, about the often unexplored world of amputees, another 'kingdom' often ignored by 'normal' people. And
Another story, "Scavengers," looks at the odd dilemma posed by the collapse of the banking and financial community recently, which poignantly juxtaposes the plight of the homeless with whole neighborhoods of empty foreclosed houses - the haves and the have-nots, with the emphasis on the latter.
"The God of Fire" looks at the familial chasm (a ruptured relationship) between an adult daughter and her distant, difficult father, who is clinging to life in a hospital ICU, having suffered a ruptured aortic aneurism.
And in the title story, which might have been subtitled, "Look, Ma - No Thumbs," Laken subtly examines the perhaps not so significant distinction between man and the animal kingdom. This story is presented in a unique columnar format with two sides of the same story (a father and son) being told side-by-side, which presents the reader with the choice of either reading the stories piecemeal, the way one might concurrently read a couple of different news articles on the same page, or simply read one column all the way through and then go back and read the second one. In any case, it works whichever way you choose. And as a dog lover, I was especially pleased with Laken's descriptions of the two family dogs - small stuff, I know, but representative of the kind of detail that makes these stories come alive.
For me, however, the showcase piece of this stellar collection is "Map of the City," which is, I suspect, largely autobiographical. The unnamed narrator (at least I don't think she is ever named), an exchange student from a US state college who is caught up in the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, is utterly believable in her uncertainties and doubts, and particularly in her daily struggles with the intricacies of the Russian tongue and the difficulties and loneliness this dilemma brings with it. The dialogue in this particular story is understandably spare and minimal, reflecting the language barrier and the tortured syntax that often results. The American student and her Russian friends are perfect representatives of the 'separate kingdoms' of the book's title. As someone who worked with and studied the Russian language for over twenty-five years, I can attest to its difficulties. Fluency in such a language is hard-won, if indeed it is ever achieved.
Perhaps this is why I like these stories so much. Because Laken dared to write of a foreign, alien culture - the former USSR as a 'separate kingdom.' And yet she does it in the humblest most honest terms, acknowledging how little she really knows - indeed how little any of us can know - about the realities of life in a suddenly broken country. There are only intimations here of how quickly the Soviet union fractured and how old ethnic rivalries and hatreds of all the now separate republics suddenly flared again into wars and uprisings, separate kingdoms forming and reforming.
But every one of these eight stories, in both settings, is carefully crafted and faultlessly executed. Perhaps there is yet hope for the survival of the art of the short story. This is a fascinating and simply terrific book. My, how I ramble on. Good stuff, Ms. Laken. Enough said.
I am extremely impressed with Laken's collection. Because she is obviously a writer who knows what she's about, and writes about what she knows. The thing that sets this book apart from other story collections is its use of alternate settings. Three of the eight stories here are set in the former USSR, in Moscow and its outlying suburbs and villages. Laken lived in the area back in the early 90s and has apparently made subsequent visits since then. Hence the title of the collection perhaps - the US and the USSR as 'separate kingdoms.'
But there are other possibilities too, and they are easy to find in each of the stories. The first one, for example, "Before Long," contrasts the world of the sighted with the blind, represented by Anton, a Russian boy who is nearing puberty, with all its normal awkwardness emphasized even more by his handicap. Childhood, adolescence and the adult world are all separate kingdoms too, of course - layers of interpretations here, I suppose, if you wanna do that kinda thing. Me, I was mostly caught up in the stories and their characters. They're all that good - and real - with dead-on perfect and believable dialogue, with occasional Russian words and expressions thrown in to add a little authenticity.
"Spectators" is one of the US stories, set in Illinois, about the often unexplored world of amputees, another 'kingdom' often ignored by 'normal' people. And
Another story, "Scavengers," looks at the odd dilemma posed by the collapse of the banking and financial community recently, which poignantly juxtaposes the plight of the homeless with whole neighborhoods of empty foreclosed houses - the haves and the have-nots, with the emphasis on the latter.
"The God of Fire" looks at the familial chasm (a ruptured relationship) between an adult daughter and her distant, difficult father, who is clinging to life in a hospital ICU, having suffered a ruptured aortic aneurism.
And in the title story, which might have been subtitled, "Look, Ma - No Thumbs," Laken subtly examines the perhaps not so significant distinction between man and the animal kingdom. This story is presented in a unique columnar format with two sides of the same story (a father and son) being told side-by-side, which presents the reader with the choice of either reading the stories piecemeal, the way one might concurrently read a couple of different news articles on the same page, or simply read one column all the way through and then go back and read the second one. In any case, it works whichever way you choose. And as a dog lover, I was especially pleased with Laken's descriptions of the two family dogs - small stuff, I know, but representative of the kind of detail that makes these stories come alive.
For me, however, the showcase piece of this stellar collection is "Map of the City," which is, I suspect, largely autobiographical. The unnamed narrator (at least I don't think she is ever named), an exchange student from a US state college who is caught up in the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, is utterly believable in her uncertainties and doubts, and particularly in her daily struggles with the intricacies of the Russian tongue and the difficulties and loneliness this dilemma brings with it. The dialogue in this particular story is understandably spare and minimal, reflecting the language barrier and the tortured syntax that often results. The American student and her Russian friends are perfect representatives of the 'separate kingdoms' of the book's title. As someone who worked with and studied the Russian language for over twenty-five years, I can attest to its difficulties. Fluency in such a language is hard-won, if indeed it is ever achieved.
Perhaps this is why I like these stories so much. Because Laken dared to write of a foreign, alien culture - the former USSR as a 'separate kingdom.' And yet she does it in the humblest most honest terms, acknowledging how little she really knows - indeed how little any of us can know - about the realities of life in a suddenly broken country. There are only intimations here of how quickly the Soviet union fractured and how old ethnic rivalries and hatreds of all the now separate republics suddenly flared again into wars and uprisings, separate kingdoms forming and reforming.
But every one of these eight stories, in both settings, is carefully crafted and faultlessly executed. Perhaps there is yet hope for the survival of the art of the short story. This is a fascinating and simply terrific book. My, how I ramble on. Good stuff, Ms. Laken. Enough said.
April 21, 2011
Pushcart-Prize winning Valerie Laken has written a short story collection that explores the different territories we inhabit: geographical, cultural, intellectual, emotional, and otherwise. Set in either Russia or the United States, many of the characters of these stories are on the fringes of society, onlookers rather than participants. Others are cut off from family, friends, even themselves, through differences in circumstance or their own intentional will.
Spectators—The Sixth Annual Midwest Regional Amputee Golf Tournament-- a group of men and women play golf and commiserate over their lost limbs and their refusal to sink into grief over what they are missing. While Arnie listens to their stories, and laughs at all the appropriate moments, his mind lies elsewhere, with his wife, Marion. A participant in the tournament, the aloof Marion is put off and disturbed by the plethora of inspirational stories and teary gratefulness of the other golfers. Her experience is a much more private affair, one that she refuses to even share with Arnie. The divide between the two strangles any hope of communication, until Arnie finds out just what Marion is hiding from him.
In Family Planning, a lesbian couple travels to Moscow to adopt a young boy. From the outset, Meg and Josie are at odds. Meg is wary of the legal procedures and the mounting costs, while Josie dwells in the possibility of finally being a family. Though they are expecting to see the child whose picture was mailed to them, the agency tells them an infant girl is also available. Horrified to have to make a choice and all that making that choice implies, Josie also sees a side of Meg that she’d never known existed.
In God of Fire, an adult woman grapples with her father’s illness and the difference between the “fierce, invincible giant” he was during her childhood and the shrunken man he is today. Between her mother’s denial of her father’s impending death, the constant traffic of bodies moving in and out of the hospital, and Ellie’s faulty memory of her own transgressions, Ellie struggles to see her father wholly, and not just through the eyes of a daughter who has always felt the critically, unwavering stare of a father she feared rather than loved.
In Separate Kingdoms, an industrial accident lies at the heart of the story. Colt, who has lost his thumbs, disengages from his son and wife amidst a legal battle between himself and his employer. Laken writes this story in two columns, side by side, told from the viewpoint of both the father and the son. To tune out his embittered, angry father, Jack withdraws into his room and plays the drums. Colt immerses himself in Animal Planet episodes and fixates on the things he’s unable to do now: drink a beer, pull up his zipper, and hold a utensil. After years of working the night shift, of being the primary breadwinner, he feels beaten and emasculated.
There are more stories in Laken’s collection-- stories of overcoming isolation and self-inflicted exile, stories of being in the middle of a cultural revolution, stories of missing out on parts of life, stories of the human experience, all exquisitely rendered, and disquietingly lovely.
Spectators—The Sixth Annual Midwest Regional Amputee Golf Tournament-- a group of men and women play golf and commiserate over their lost limbs and their refusal to sink into grief over what they are missing. While Arnie listens to their stories, and laughs at all the appropriate moments, his mind lies elsewhere, with his wife, Marion. A participant in the tournament, the aloof Marion is put off and disturbed by the plethora of inspirational stories and teary gratefulness of the other golfers. Her experience is a much more private affair, one that she refuses to even share with Arnie. The divide between the two strangles any hope of communication, until Arnie finds out just what Marion is hiding from him.
In Family Planning, a lesbian couple travels to Moscow to adopt a young boy. From the outset, Meg and Josie are at odds. Meg is wary of the legal procedures and the mounting costs, while Josie dwells in the possibility of finally being a family. Though they are expecting to see the child whose picture was mailed to them, the agency tells them an infant girl is also available. Horrified to have to make a choice and all that making that choice implies, Josie also sees a side of Meg that she’d never known existed.
In God of Fire, an adult woman grapples with her father’s illness and the difference between the “fierce, invincible giant” he was during her childhood and the shrunken man he is today. Between her mother’s denial of her father’s impending death, the constant traffic of bodies moving in and out of the hospital, and Ellie’s faulty memory of her own transgressions, Ellie struggles to see her father wholly, and not just through the eyes of a daughter who has always felt the critically, unwavering stare of a father she feared rather than loved.
In Separate Kingdoms, an industrial accident lies at the heart of the story. Colt, who has lost his thumbs, disengages from his son and wife amidst a legal battle between himself and his employer. Laken writes this story in two columns, side by side, told from the viewpoint of both the father and the son. To tune out his embittered, angry father, Jack withdraws into his room and plays the drums. Colt immerses himself in Animal Planet episodes and fixates on the things he’s unable to do now: drink a beer, pull up his zipper, and hold a utensil. After years of working the night shift, of being the primary breadwinner, he feels beaten and emasculated.
There are more stories in Laken’s collection-- stories of overcoming isolation and self-inflicted exile, stories of being in the middle of a cultural revolution, stories of missing out on parts of life, stories of the human experience, all exquisitely rendered, and disquietingly lovely.
January 3, 2011
He turned his head from side to side, trying to shake the idea away. “What on earth is the matter with you? With us?”
Bridge laughed. “Nothing. This is just living.”
***********************************************************
“Just living” isn’t the easiest thing in the kingdoms of Valerie Laken. In her psychologically engrossing short story collection, there is always that gaping divide: between countries, cultures, or lovers, or even that schism within ourselves.
In one of the most engrossing of the stories, Family Planning, a gay couple – Meg and Josie – travel to Russia to adopt a baby, and are suddenly faced with a choice: the little boy they had expected to bring home or an unknown baby girl. And Josie realizes in a flash, “Someone had to give sooner or later. That was how families and lovers everywhere functioned. It was not just a business thing, it was a kindness people gave to those they loved.”
In another story, Remedies, Nick gets into a car accident as a result of losing small spells of time. “I’ll be going along like a regular person and then poof. It’s like the world has jumped ahead of me by a couple of minutes.” The future, the past, a vision of the flattest, basest reality all merge for him.
And then there’s Before Long, another story in which a twelve year old blind boy named Anton briefly leaves his orderly and idyllic village life to visit a new American dentist and discovers, “There was no one anywhere, not even the foreigners, who could fix this.”
Perhaps, though, the most inventive of the stories is the titled story, where a family strives to communicate after Colt – the father – loses his thumbs and his livelihood after he sabotages a machine at work. Ms. Lakin relies on a gimmick: a two-column, split-screen format to show the father’s viewpoint…and his young son Jack’s thoughts.
While disconcerting at first, the conceit actually works: the reader can visually see the schism caused by lack of communication and connection and the deep divide that ensues. Colt has confined himself to a “reject room”; his son, Jack, is yearning for connection, at least with his classmates. As Colt is confronted by his former boss (on one side of the screen), Jack is drowning out the sounds with his drum-playing (Guh Duh Guh Guh Duh.) And, as Colt cries out, “I am not one of you!” at the retreating back of the lawyer, Jack is indeed trying to be “one of you” by taping his thumbs back to experience what his father is going through. It is indeed powerful.
Ultimately, Valerie Laken – a Pushcart Prize-winning author – focuses her attention on the connections we need to make us whole by reaching out beyond our self-imposed borders. It’s a laudable achievement.
January 9, 2014
Full review at The Pluviophile Reader: http://wp.me/p3VFNP-1Y
3/5 Stars.
(ARC) Paperback, 224 pages.
Read from December 07 to 08, 2013.
I'd like to thank Goodreads for free ARC copy of this book. This is a refreshing collaboration of intricate and intriguing short stories. This book was a quick read and I enjoyed the similar themes of division, loss and love and the emotional depth that each story contained. The author played with the dynamics of how these themes affect us, in that no matter who you are, where you are from and who you are with we all share the same pursuit for love and will all be faced with our own losses and divisions in that pursuit. Some of the stories are heart-retching while others make you feel a bit uncomfortable but I believe that is the desired effect.
I found the story of the woman who lost her leg particularly touching. The story is narrated from the point of view of the husband as he struggles to reconnect with his broken wife who has yet to come to terms with the loss and actually embrace and love the body she now has. What was particularly effective was how you were able to get a perfect idea of the spite and hatred the wife had for her own position despite the story having been narrated from the husband’s point of view. It just details how well the husband knows his wife. It's torture to see what the husband has to deal with in terms of being mindful of his wife's turmoil but in also trying to address his own needs to reconnect with his wife and ultimately help her improve her well-being. The story's ending was, thankfully, hopeful.
The story involving the adoption of a child I found difficult. There was so much tension between these two very different women over the selection of which child they were going to adopt together. This story was narrated from just the one woman in the relationship so I felt the need to take her maternal side (despite having not children) as her partner seemed eager to have the process over with and didn't seem to be too bothered with which child they ended up taking home with them. The couple’s predicament felt very real and in a way and had a sense familiarity to it. The overwhelming urge the narrator had to adopt the one specific child, while the story never went there, was going to have explosive implications for the couple and Laken did an excellent job in depicting this.
Overall I enjoyed Laken's writing and would recommend this novel for anyone with an appreciation for well-written short stories.
***
Woo! Another book I've won through Goodreads!
3/5 Stars.
(ARC) Paperback, 224 pages.
Read from December 07 to 08, 2013.
I'd like to thank Goodreads for free ARC copy of this book. This is a refreshing collaboration of intricate and intriguing short stories. This book was a quick read and I enjoyed the similar themes of division, loss and love and the emotional depth that each story contained. The author played with the dynamics of how these themes affect us, in that no matter who you are, where you are from and who you are with we all share the same pursuit for love and will all be faced with our own losses and divisions in that pursuit. Some of the stories are heart-retching while others make you feel a bit uncomfortable but I believe that is the desired effect.
I found the story of the woman who lost her leg particularly touching. The story is narrated from the point of view of the husband as he struggles to reconnect with his broken wife who has yet to come to terms with the loss and actually embrace and love the body she now has. What was particularly effective was how you were able to get a perfect idea of the spite and hatred the wife had for her own position despite the story having been narrated from the husband’s point of view. It just details how well the husband knows his wife. It's torture to see what the husband has to deal with in terms of being mindful of his wife's turmoil but in also trying to address his own needs to reconnect with his wife and ultimately help her improve her well-being. The story's ending was, thankfully, hopeful.
The story involving the adoption of a child I found difficult. There was so much tension between these two very different women over the selection of which child they were going to adopt together. This story was narrated from just the one woman in the relationship so I felt the need to take her maternal side (despite having not children) as her partner seemed eager to have the process over with and didn't seem to be too bothered with which child they ended up taking home with them. The couple’s predicament felt very real and in a way and had a sense familiarity to it. The overwhelming urge the narrator had to adopt the one specific child, while the story never went there, was going to have explosive implications for the couple and Laken did an excellent job in depicting this.
Overall I enjoyed Laken's writing and would recommend this novel for anyone with an appreciation for well-written short stories.
***
Woo! Another book I've won through Goodreads!
July 7, 2015
3.5/5
Separate Kingdoms is a collection of eight very diverse short stories taking place in both Russia and the U.S. with a wide variety of characters and narrators. While I’m not much of a big short story reader, I was intrigued by the premise of many of these stories and am overall pleased that I gave this book a chance.
My favorite story was one titled ‘Family Planning,’ about an American lesbian couple over in Russia trying to adopt a baby. Meg is reluctant and indifferent about the experience, while her partner, Josie, is enthusiastic and overly hopeful. When they are shown two separate babies that are available for adoption, it is clear that they both want a different baby. I loved the dynamics in this story and the differences between the two women. You could really sense Josie’s desperation and Meg’s indifference.
I also really enjoyed the story called ‘Map of the City,’ which takes place in Russia in 1991, and is from the point of view of an American student abroad. It focuses a lot on the various relationships she forms while there, as well as the riots and big changes that are occurring in the city.
The writing throughout the book is eloquent and polished to near perfection. I must say, I both admire and envy Valerie Laken’s beautiful writing style and immense talent. She is able to perfectly capture so many different voices in this book in a simplistic but elegant manner. Her writing style is really astounding and these stories make you think. I can truly say I enjoyed all of these stories except for one of them, ‘Before Long.’ To me, that story didn’t seem to really go anywhere.
My only problem with this book lies in the endings of almost all of the stories, if you could even really call them endings. All of these stories just abrubtly stop, leaving too many questions unanswered which really frustrated me. I would become invested in the stories and the people in them, and then BAM, no more. Though they’re not necessarily my favorite, I can definitely appreciate ambiguous endings that leave things up to the reader, but these stories just didn’t seem finished to me. Because of that, my rating is slightly decreased.
If you’re a fan of short stories or multi-cultural books, I think you’d really like this one and I could highly recommend it.
Note: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Separate Kingdoms is a collection of eight very diverse short stories taking place in both Russia and the U.S. with a wide variety of characters and narrators. While I’m not much of a big short story reader, I was intrigued by the premise of many of these stories and am overall pleased that I gave this book a chance.
My favorite story was one titled ‘Family Planning,’ about an American lesbian couple over in Russia trying to adopt a baby. Meg is reluctant and indifferent about the experience, while her partner, Josie, is enthusiastic and overly hopeful. When they are shown two separate babies that are available for adoption, it is clear that they both want a different baby. I loved the dynamics in this story and the differences between the two women. You could really sense Josie’s desperation and Meg’s indifference.
I also really enjoyed the story called ‘Map of the City,’ which takes place in Russia in 1991, and is from the point of view of an American student abroad. It focuses a lot on the various relationships she forms while there, as well as the riots and big changes that are occurring in the city.
The writing throughout the book is eloquent and polished to near perfection. I must say, I both admire and envy Valerie Laken’s beautiful writing style and immense talent. She is able to perfectly capture so many different voices in this book in a simplistic but elegant manner. Her writing style is really astounding and these stories make you think. I can truly say I enjoyed all of these stories except for one of them, ‘Before Long.’ To me, that story didn’t seem to really go anywhere.
My only problem with this book lies in the endings of almost all of the stories, if you could even really call them endings. All of these stories just abrubtly stop, leaving too many questions unanswered which really frustrated me. I would become invested in the stories and the people in them, and then BAM, no more. Though they’re not necessarily my favorite, I can definitely appreciate ambiguous endings that leave things up to the reader, but these stories just didn’t seem finished to me. Because of that, my rating is slightly decreased.
If you’re a fan of short stories or multi-cultural books, I think you’d really like this one and I could highly recommend it.
Note: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Read
May 5, 2011Separate Kingdoms by Valerie Laken is a collection of eight short stories, three of which take place in Russia and the remaining five which take place in the United States. Although the stories are unrelated, Laken shows the distinct differences between these two 'kingdoms' and different aspects of living in each country is explored throughout the collection. Many of the characters in Laken's writing are somehow damaged, there is a boy who is blind, a man who looses his thumbs, and a woman who has had her leg amputated. Even those who are not physically impaired often have another barrier to overcome, for example a lesbian couple looking to adopt a child. None of the characters in Separate Kingdoms are perfect, instead they are all human.
Laken's writing is quiet yet satisfying and her perceptive way of looking at the word is both appealing and bleak. Although many of her stories end without a clear resolution, they manage to feel complete, each one a distinct moment in time. In "Family Planning" two women travel from the United States to Russia to adopt a child, but as same-sex adoptions are not allowed they must pretend to only be friends. When they arrive, they find there is a second child also available and they must choose between the two children and decided which one to take home. Each woman wants a different child, and the decision they are forced to make is heartbreaking. In the story, Laken writes "A family was a thing that stretched out beyond where you left off, made meaning of you." This is a perfect summary for the collection, which is full of Laken looking into ordinary lives and making meaning out of ordinary moments.
The characters in the collection are troubled and confused, and the premise behind the stories is frequently an unhappy one. Ultimately, Separate Kingdoms is a strong and memorable collection because of the realistic ordinary darkness it contains and Laken's strong and beautiful voice does an incredible job of telling these stories.
Laken's writing is quiet yet satisfying and her perceptive way of looking at the word is both appealing and bleak. Although many of her stories end without a clear resolution, they manage to feel complete, each one a distinct moment in time. In "Family Planning" two women travel from the United States to Russia to adopt a child, but as same-sex adoptions are not allowed they must pretend to only be friends. When they arrive, they find there is a second child also available and they must choose between the two children and decided which one to take home. Each woman wants a different child, and the decision they are forced to make is heartbreaking. In the story, Laken writes "A family was a thing that stretched out beyond where you left off, made meaning of you." This is a perfect summary for the collection, which is full of Laken looking into ordinary lives and making meaning out of ordinary moments.
The characters in the collection are troubled and confused, and the premise behind the stories is frequently an unhappy one. Ultimately, Separate Kingdoms is a strong and memorable collection because of the realistic ordinary darkness it contains and Laken's strong and beautiful voice does an incredible job of telling these stories.
April 19, 2011
My foray into short story compilations has been pretty limited, but I can still tell you that Separate Kingdoms stories pack a massive amount of emotion into such short pieces. These eight stories literally bleed tragedy and angst, but in the best way possible. Laken's writing is absolutely stunning. Well-worded prose, mixed with bittersweet stories and descriptive language create one deep read. This is not a set of stories that will raise your mood, let me warn you now. However Separate Kingdoms is so beautifully tragic and so realistic that it makes you want to keep reading, despite the somber tone of the stories.
What you'll find between these covers are portraits of individuals learning, or struggling, to cope. Each one of these stories contains someone who is battling inner demons, fleeing from reality, longing for something more, or simply avoiding everything in an effort to blend in. It is no surprise that sometimes I was uncomfortable while reading these stories. Watching these characters navigate their respective inner battles is heart wrenching and sometimes hits a bit too close to home. Laken's ability to write the bare, naked souls of her characters is admirable, to say the very least.
I truly don't think I will be rereading this compilation. Although I was drawn in at the time, Separate Kingdoms is most assuredly not a light read. I applaud Valerie Laken for her ability to shine a spotlight on the dark and gritty parts of all of us. These stories may not make you feel good, but they will definitely make you feel something. The only word I can truly think of to explain what you'll find between the covers of this book is "poignant", but even that doesn't seem like enough of a description. If you are a lover of short stories, or even a reader of great fiction for that matter, Separate Kingdoms is definitely something that you will want to check out.
What you'll find between these covers are portraits of individuals learning, or struggling, to cope. Each one of these stories contains someone who is battling inner demons, fleeing from reality, longing for something more, or simply avoiding everything in an effort to blend in. It is no surprise that sometimes I was uncomfortable while reading these stories. Watching these characters navigate their respective inner battles is heart wrenching and sometimes hits a bit too close to home. Laken's ability to write the bare, naked souls of her characters is admirable, to say the very least.
I truly don't think I will be rereading this compilation. Although I was drawn in at the time, Separate Kingdoms is most assuredly not a light read. I applaud Valerie Laken for her ability to shine a spotlight on the dark and gritty parts of all of us. These stories may not make you feel good, but they will definitely make you feel something. The only word I can truly think of to explain what you'll find between the covers of this book is "poignant", but even that doesn't seem like enough of a description. If you are a lover of short stories, or even a reader of great fiction for that matter, Separate Kingdoms is definitely something that you will want to check out.
March 15, 2015
My thanks to First Reads Giveaways for this ARC--I am not being compensated for my review.
Valerie Laken's collection of short stories, Separate Kingdoms, alternates between settings in the United States and Russia. In the eight stories, the people find themselves divided and separated--by disability, need, species, and past hurts. It's a slice of life, where there are no easy answers, no true plot, and not necessarily a "happily ever after".
I found the stories quite thought provoking and unique, especially the story for which the collection is named. It's been some time since I've read such fresh short stories; I think my only reason for subtracting a star would be wanting it to be longer and maybe a little less obvious reason for calling the collection "Separate Kingdoms". Make us think a bit more.
I definitely would recommend this book for someone wanting something that feels new and fresh, and gives an opportunity to see a different viewpoint on things.
Valerie Laken's collection of short stories, Separate Kingdoms, alternates between settings in the United States and Russia. In the eight stories, the people find themselves divided and separated--by disability, need, species, and past hurts. It's a slice of life, where there are no easy answers, no true plot, and not necessarily a "happily ever after".
I found the stories quite thought provoking and unique, especially the story for which the collection is named. It's been some time since I've read such fresh short stories; I think my only reason for subtracting a star would be wanting it to be longer and maybe a little less obvious reason for calling the collection "Separate Kingdoms". Make us think a bit more.
I definitely would recommend this book for someone wanting something that feels new and fresh, and gives an opportunity to see a different viewpoint on things.
December 5, 2014
These stories are well-written. And in her interview included at the end, Laken cites one of my all-time favorite short stories (Amy Hempel's "In the Cemetery a Where Al ?jolson is Buried") as her inspiration for one if the stories, so I gave to like her. But every story is gritty; I imagine them in 1800s sepia tones. Just when I thought I couldn't read one more less-than-happy ending, I was sucked into continuing by the longest story that didn't make me want to take a break from the book (like the ending of every other story). But the last two were just as less-than-happy. The final story was interesting to read as it was presented as two narrations written side-by-side. I appreciate her craftsmanship, and I don't like happily-ever-after endings, but I would have liked a couple there's-potential-that-things-will-work-out endings.
August 4, 2011
*free copy received through Goodreads First Reads
Mediocre to average tales presented in this collection.....The reason I requested a copy of this book was due to fact that I am a huge 'short story buff' and this contemporary set claimed to be a 336 page collection (so I figured there must be something out of the 300+ pages that will be worth my while!!)
What I got was an ARC edition of 199 pages and after trekking through this volume I can honestly say that none of these tales stand out.
The author is quite talented but her craft needs more polish IMHO......
*free copy received through Goodreads First Reads
Mediocre to average tales presented in this collection.....The reason I requested a copy of this book was due to fact that I am a huge 'short story buff' and this contemporary set claimed to be a 336 page collection (so I figured there must be something out of the 300+ pages that will be worth my while!!)
What I got was an ARC edition of 199 pages and after trekking through this volume I can honestly say that none of these tales stand out.
The author is quite talented but her craft needs more polish IMHO......
*free copy received through Goodreads First Reads
May 22, 2011
2011 Book 56/100
Based on her Pushcart Prize, I picked up this author's book of short stories and read all eight in one sitting. Valerie Laken's stories are set far from each other, in either Russia or the U.S., but share a common poignancy and tragic sense of family and loss throughout. These are not the stories to buoy your spirits, and many of them actually have no real closure to their angst (the loss of a limb, a blind boy's shocking trip to the city, a man who loses his thumbs, a wedge between a queer couple attempting to adopt) yet are very satisfying and left me with a distinct sense of completeness in their sadness and possibility for redemption just beyond reach.
Based on her Pushcart Prize, I picked up this author's book of short stories and read all eight in one sitting. Valerie Laken's stories are set far from each other, in either Russia or the U.S., but share a common poignancy and tragic sense of family and loss throughout. These are not the stories to buoy your spirits, and many of them actually have no real closure to their angst (the loss of a limb, a blind boy's shocking trip to the city, a man who loses his thumbs, a wedge between a queer couple attempting to adopt) yet are very satisfying and left me with a distinct sense of completeness in their sadness and possibility for redemption just beyond reach.
January 29, 2013
I love how the 8 stories in this collection are in conversation with one another. The author alternates "kingdoms" of location, and in so doing, the disabled and afflicted and blind come to share similar fates and speak the common language of loss. Even as Laken frames her characters as inhabitants of different realms, they eventually share stations of the same emotional cross. These well-observed, tightly knit stories focus on alienation, the inaccessibility of the American (and Russian) dream, and the unforeseen ways in which humans finally knit together their lives. Lovers of short stories should devour this collection.
August 20, 2011
Each story in "Separate Kingdoms" is as beautifully crafted as a gourmet chocolate and just as satisfying. My favorite stories were "Spectators," which is about a man and his wife (who has recently lost her leg in a car accident) attending a golf tournament for amputees, and "Family Planning," which is about a lesbian couple who travel to Russia to adopt a child from an orphanage. Laken has tremendous talent at revealing the fragility of our bodies, minds, and our relationships. A really lovely story collection!
August 26, 2016
I'll cop to being biased. About five years ago, I got to take a workshop with Valerie Laken for several weeks and I'm a big fan of her as a person. I'm also a big fan of her as a writer and I found this collection of short stories completely engaging. Some might find her trivia notes at the end, which include a musical track that evokes each story, to be a bit gimmicky, but I'll take it. I was fascinated to have the insight, just as I was moved by several of the stories' tales of people lost in different worlds. Terrific read.
Read
January 20, 2011This is a book of short stories, quirky short stories. At first glance, the characters seem to be ordinary people. In each story, Valerie Laken takes her seemingly ordinary characters adds a kink or quirk to the story and the reader gets to read something unusual. I would recommend this book for people who first like short stories and then for people who are intrigued by the extraordinary in the ordinary. This is an interesting read.
April 27, 2011
Separate Kingdoms is an affecting, daring collection, both artful and courageous. Some of Laken’s characters are lost in unfamiliar landscapes, and others become lost in once familiar landscapes that have suddenly changed. Laken is at her best in those difficult moments when people are at their most vulnerable and unexpected trauma forces them to look at loved ones in new ways. Every story is a revelation.
August 17, 2017
Separate Kingdoms is a collection of eight very diverse short stories taking place in both Russia and the U.S. with a wide variety of characters and narrators. While I’m not much of a big short story reader, I was intrigued by the premise of many of these stories and am overall pleased that I gave this book a chance.
I won this book via Goodreads giveaway
I won this book via Goodreads giveaway
July 16, 2011
Another fine collection restoring my devotion to short stories. To pick just one theme, I'd say these stories aim for the painful or sad as proof of how wonderful life is. If that makes sense to you, you will love these (with one exception). The titular story is phenomenal, but "Spectators" broke my little heart and was my favorite.
April 26, 2011
These stories are vivid, off-beat, shocking, sad, and true. I felt different after reading them. Though the book is short, it lingers in my mind long after I finished it. So happy when a truly excellent collection of stories comes along.
March 12, 2012
I am not a huge fan of the short story genre, so an author has to work hard to get my vote. I found laken to be a fairly talented writer, but the stories didn't really "speak" to me, and left me feeling unsatisfied, which is the abyss of all but the most talented of short story writers.
April 30, 2012
These stories were were entertaining and, as is typical with short stories, unexpected. Separate kingdoms is the last story in the book and is told in two voices, that of a father and son, living in their separate kingdoms.
Want to read
December 18, 2010Just won this in First Reads contest!
May 1, 2011
Kind of uneven collection. Couple of real good stories but others pretty ordinary. The title story seemed like a writer's workshop exercise.
June 18, 2011
More than a 3 but not quite a four for me.
August 22, 2011
Great short stories, set both in the United States & in Russia. Drawn from real life, the stories ring human and true.
January 29, 2013
It was a bit strange, of course I like strange, so it was a quick read.
June 14, 2013
An excellent contemporary story collection.
Read
April 14, 2016Dark Stories
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