This Life She's Chosen

by Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum

"An impressive debut" by "a promising young writer" (The New York Times Book Review), this intimate collection of stories illuminates the pivotal moments in family life, particularly between mothers and daughters. The "still and hauntingly ambiguous" (Boston Globe) stories are "written with an admirable restraint that throws into sharper relief the emotional turmoil of the characters" (Tacoma News Tribune). This Life She's Chosen is a powerful and finely tuned fiction that continues to resonate.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published February 10, 2005

About the author

Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum is the author of the novel Elita (2025) and three collections of short stories: What We Do with the Wreckage (2018), Swimming with Strangers (2008), and This Life She's Chosen (2005). She has been the recipient of a PEN/O. Henry Prize and fellowships from Sewanee, MacDowell, and the Jack Straw Writers Program. Her short fiction has appeared in the journals The Sun, Ploughshares, Conjunctions, One Story, Prairie Schooner, McSweeney's, and The American Scholar, among others. She teaches in Seattle.

Reviews

[Cathy Serpico · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to read this because I loved the author's second story collection, SWIMMING WITH STRANGERS. I think you can really see her growth between the two books. These stories of latently unhappy relationships and suspended personal moments were haunting and beautifully written, though sometimes they verged on the edge of too-quiet and nuanced for my taste. Many of them left me with a... feeling of complicated emotion, but I wasn't quite sure what had happened that left me feeling as I did. I'd give this 3.5 stars if the star function would let me do that.

[Keight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Link to booklog

[Abby Peck · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this collection on a whim (I like the cover) and read it eventually and wished I had read it as soon as I bought it.

[Jeni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short stories.

[Lydia · Rating 5 out of 5]

i loved her stories!

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories. Well-written, but each story feels the same. Unhappy people resigned to their fate.

[Jocelyn Lugo · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a great collection of stories. recommend it:)

[Vivienne Strauss · Rating 5 out of 5]

My second book by this author - the most compelling and heartfelt stories. Marital discord, aging, and loss but still managing to end on a hopeful note.