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I Live with You
A sophisticated collection of fierce, tender fiction marked by absurdist humor, these striking short stories skillfully explore themes of war, seduction, and censorship. An Eden emerges from the wreckage and destruction of burning books in "The Library." "Boys" sets a weary general and his sons against a village of determined mothers, and "I Live with You" brings a chaos from an uninvited guest. Filled with originality and lyricism, this collection is a must for science fiction and adventure fans.
Contents
Introduction by Eileen Gunn: "Do Not Remove This Tag"
"Bountiful City"
"Boys"
"Cool People"
"Gliders Though They Be"
"I Live With You (and You Don’t Know It)"
"Josephine"
"My General"
"See No Evil, Feel No Joy"
"The Assassin or Being the Loved One"
"The Doctor"
"The Library"
"The Prince of Mules"
"WisCon Speech"
Contents
Introduction by Eileen Gunn: "Do Not Remove This Tag"
"Bountiful City"
"Boys"
"Cool People"
"Gliders Though They Be"
"I Live With You (and You Don’t Know It)"
"Josephine"
"My General"
"See No Evil, Feel No Joy"
"The Assassin or Being the Loved One"
"The Doctor"
"The Library"
"The Prince of Mules"
"WisCon Speech"
232 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
4 people are currently reading
203 people want to read
About the author
Carol Emshwiller
143 books91 followersCarol Emshwiller is an American writer of avant garde short stories and science fiction who has won prizes including the Nebula and Philip K. Dick Awards. Ursula K. Le Guin has called her "a major fabulist, a marvelous magical realist, one of the strongest, most complex, most consistently feminist voices in fiction." In 2005, she was awarded the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement. Her most recent novel, The Secret City, was published in April 2007.
She is the widow of the artist and experimental filmmaker Ed Emshwiller . Their son is the actor, artist, screenwriter, and novelist Peter Emshwiller .
She is the widow of the artist and experimental filmmaker Ed Emshwiller . Their son is the actor, artist, screenwriter, and novelist Peter Emshwiller .
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 3, 2019
The stories in this collection defy easy classification. Most produce a sense of the unreal, but only a few have an overtly fantastical element. Many are unsettling, some to the point that they become horror. All are fascinating and original, and I'm so glad to finally be acquainted with the late Emshwiller's work.
War is a major theme in the collection, and the characters in the war stories are all fighting perpetual conflicts with little understanding of what separates the two sides. In "Boys", even the colonel narrating only knows that it's necessary to keep stealing young boys from the villages to replenish the army. When the women in a village rise up against him, they reveal how long they've been undermining his efforts. In "My General", a woman takes in an enemy prisoner to work on her farm, and for a while it looks as though there might be a way out of the cycle of war.
The roles and expectations of men and women feature heavily throughout the collection. There's often a sentiment of Us versus Them, whether it stems from gendered assumptions, warring sides, or some other division. "Coo People" explains that another species of beings lives undetected among humans, differing mainly in the slight lift that provides an advantage in ballet and similar fields. All the characters in "Gliders Though They Be" are non-human creatures, and mutual hatred exists between those with the ability to glide from a great height and those without.
While these stories are dark, they usually contain love, but it tends to be an obsessive kind, based upon nothing. The narrator of "Bountiful City" so desperately wants to be in love that she randomly picks a target and pursues him before they've ever spoken. In "See No Evil, Feel No Joy", a woman in a strict religious sect begins to disobey after she briefly locks eyes with one of the men. I found these off-kilter love stories disturbingly compelling, and evoking this feeling seems to be Emshwiller's particular talent. If you're on board with that kind of reading experience, I hope you'll be as captivated by this book as I was.
War is a major theme in the collection, and the characters in the war stories are all fighting perpetual conflicts with little understanding of what separates the two sides. In "Boys", even the colonel narrating only knows that it's necessary to keep stealing young boys from the villages to replenish the army. When the women in a village rise up against him, they reveal how long they've been undermining his efforts. In "My General", a woman takes in an enemy prisoner to work on her farm, and for a while it looks as though there might be a way out of the cycle of war.
The roles and expectations of men and women feature heavily throughout the collection. There's often a sentiment of Us versus Them, whether it stems from gendered assumptions, warring sides, or some other division. "Coo People" explains that another species of beings lives undetected among humans, differing mainly in the slight lift that provides an advantage in ballet and similar fields. All the characters in "Gliders Though They Be" are non-human creatures, and mutual hatred exists between those with the ability to glide from a great height and those without.
While these stories are dark, they usually contain love, but it tends to be an obsessive kind, based upon nothing. The narrator of "Bountiful City" so desperately wants to be in love that she randomly picks a target and pursues him before they've ever spoken. In "See No Evil, Feel No Joy", a woman in a strict religious sect begins to disobey after she briefly locks eyes with one of the men. I found these off-kilter love stories disturbingly compelling, and evoking this feeling seems to be Emshwiller's particular talent. If you're on board with that kind of reading experience, I hope you'll be as captivated by this book as I was.
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May 1, 2023i really enjoyed this collection, and if anything ate it too fast.
i think it's kinda impressive to circle on the same basic, even overwrought idea ("men focusing on war over connection/family/love/peace/women is sad") and still have enough style and nuance to have it be interesting over and over. i think the repetition of this theme across almost all the short stories ends up "Lama Sabachthani" vibes, just sort of an unanswerable sadness in a way. some of the endings are happy and some are sad but most of them end in death either way.
the other repeated them is secretly and obsessively falling in love with, becoming fascinated by strangers. i thought that was kinda fun and interesting; this book's intro sort of suggests all of Carol Emschwiller's writing was transformed by her husband's death; and so this repeated people watching /other people embodying vibe i wanted to read as a sort of empowered loneliness. there's also this battle of the sexes element of a kinda-delusionary-but-sometimes-it-works woman like intentionally making themselves a certain way to trick men into liking them; again these have sad endings for the women, but the works themselves seem to be about exploring or expressing this obsessive, sad, plaintive quality inside wanting to do such a thing. idk !
stylistically she's just so... Style. her writing is just so Style and it's somehow concise and not concise at the same time, it fascinates and also just feels good to read.
my favorite story was definitely Josephine. (1) had a happy ending (2) we just love dopey men simps and their perfect powerful lovers.
read this series!
i think it's kinda impressive to circle on the same basic, even overwrought idea ("men focusing on war over connection/family/love/peace/women is sad") and still have enough style and nuance to have it be interesting over and over. i think the repetition of this theme across almost all the short stories ends up "Lama Sabachthani" vibes, just sort of an unanswerable sadness in a way. some of the endings are happy and some are sad but most of them end in death either way.
the other repeated them is secretly and obsessively falling in love with, becoming fascinated by strangers. i thought that was kinda fun and interesting; this book's intro sort of suggests all of Carol Emschwiller's writing was transformed by her husband's death; and so this repeated people watching /other people embodying vibe i wanted to read as a sort of empowered loneliness. there's also this battle of the sexes element of a kinda-delusionary-but-sometimes-it-works woman like intentionally making themselves a certain way to trick men into liking them; again these have sad endings for the women, but the works themselves seem to be about exploring or expressing this obsessive, sad, plaintive quality inside wanting to do such a thing. idk !
stylistically she's just so... Style. her writing is just so Style and it's somehow concise and not concise at the same time, it fascinates and also just feels good to read.
my favorite story was definitely Josephine. (1) had a happy ending (2) we just love dopey men simps and their perfect powerful lovers.
read this series!
September 22, 2020
Emshwiller is always daring in her storytelling. From the plot to the writing style, she is one of the most interesting writers in tone I've ever read. The Mount: A Novel is so fantastically weird and off-the-wall, and yet so familiar in underlying themes, that it became one of my favorite "read once and share with others" books.
That said, this collection of stories appears to be, for most of the stories, stuff that's far out even for this author. I'm not looking for nursery rhymes, but the "storyboard" for some of these is incomplete. It's almost like a beat writer. For creativity, this actually gets 5 stars. The ideas themselves are also original, and the way we are simply "dropped" into the stories (very little or no background provided) is something I often enjoy. I cant say, exactly, why this collection didn't ring my bell. Maybe I wanted more like The Mount?
Not a good intro to Emshwiller, but a good garnish if you're reading her novels.
That said, this collection of stories appears to be, for most of the stories, stuff that's far out even for this author. I'm not looking for nursery rhymes, but the "storyboard" for some of these is incomplete. It's almost like a beat writer. For creativity, this actually gets 5 stars. The ideas themselves are also original, and the way we are simply "dropped" into the stories (very little or no background provided) is something I often enjoy. I cant say, exactly, why this collection didn't ring my bell. Maybe I wanted more like The Mount?
Not a good intro to Emshwiller, but a good garnish if you're reading her novels.
July 21, 2019
I liked this book—certain stories resonated with a poetic quality I enjoy. But I think I picked the wrong collection of hers to begin with. Some of the themes seemed a little overdone here with narrators who seemed a little too needy or subservient for my taste. There were few stories that carried the right balance for me between being plot-driven and character driven and I wanted to feel more joy traveling through the narratives to balance them. That said, I liked this collection. I just didn’t love it. I’ll check out one more of her books in case this one in particular didn’t do her work justice.
January 3, 2018
She and her husband circulated in the avant garde of L.A., 1960s...she's been acclaimed enough that I figure these stories are not an accurate sample of her abilities. The theme of too-proud males subjugating women and warring to no one's benefit is right on, but got repetitive.
November 3, 2024
A mix of quirky little tales, some spooky, some feminist, some just strange. None clear! I enjoyed it.
March 1, 2016
Though Emshwiller calls herself a sci-fi writer, many people would classify these stories as magic realism: surreal things happen in an all-too-real background. The first few were interesting, but then the plots got repetitively annoying: woman will do anything to "get" a man, usually changing something essential about herself. Man is willing to betray his group to be with woman. But never both at the same time.
These stories are peppered with so many awkward turns of phrase and typos that I was sure they were translated (maybe from German?). Nope, just awkward.
These stories are peppered with so many awkward turns of phrase and typos that I was sure they were translated (maybe from German?). Nope, just awkward.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews