Brady Meyer’s Reviews > Kew Gardens and Other Short Fiction > Status Update

"Slater's Pins Have no Points", a Sapphic story that unfolds like a musical fugue.

"The New Dress", which is all about the entirely relatable feeling of being a fish out of water at a social function due to one's appearance.

"A Woman's College From Outside", where I'm pretty certain the only things the main character says for the entire story is "They? She... Ah... Oh."

Such is the ways of Virginia Woolf.

"In The Orchard", where Woolf tells the same very short story three times in a row, but in each repetition the narration style seems to shift slightly.

"A Society", where a group of women get together and try to decide to figure out what makes a man good. Funny, satirical, and full of wonderful ironic dialogue.

A smattering of stories, but nothing stands out like "The String Quartet", where the narrator gets suddenly tossed back into her memories and imagination during a string quartet concert. Woolf's visionary prose elevates a seemingly simple moment into a rich sensory experience.

"Solid Objects", where a man gives up his career in order to nurture a growing interest in collecting tchotchkes.

"An Unwritten Novel", in which the narrator decides to imagine the life of someone sitting near her on the train.

"Kew Gardens" which alternates between picturesque closes up of a flower bed and humans walking around the garden. Even by Woolf's standards, this felt highly experimental and difficult to 'get'.