Books I Want To Talk About discussion

American Salvage

Do you like the short story format?
Which of the stories do you wish were longer?
Which might have lost something if the story had continued?
In which characters was it particularly hard for you to see their "core of platinum"?
Which was your favorite story?

I generally do not like short stories. Not because they can't be as well written as a novel, but I'm generally frustrated by the lack of story or the abruptness in the ending. If the story is really good, the shortness in length always leaves me with that sense of wanting more but knowing you'll never get it.

That said, I think that a short story has it's place. And I've read a lot of novels that probably could have/should have used that paring knife.

I just finished Olive Kitteridge: A Novel in Stories, which is a collection of short stories that somehow include the title character. And I found I really enjoyed it because the collection gave you an impression of this person that a novel will give, but each story was its own story in and of itself. So perhaps within this format, I could come to better appreciate the short story style.

[I haven't read this book so I can't comment to anything else.:]