I'm a fan of Tobias Wolff; his memoir, THIS BOY'S LIFE, is a favorite, and I very much enjoyed his novel, OLD SCHOOL. But his latest, OUR STORY BEGINS, a collection of short stories, is disappointing. In his "A Note From the Author," he informs us he's included stories that are new, and some that are decades old. No matter. I don't take issue with the writing -- it's lovely, and there is much to learn from him, stylistically.
But the endings of the stories I've read (there are 31 in all; I've read seven so far) have inspired some serious muttering. In one instance I turned the page to discover I'd come to the end, and simply sat, dumbfounded -- I thought the story was just warming up, so it was a shock to learn it was over. (Publishers Weekly gave this collection a starred review, saying, "In most (of the stories), there is a moment of realization, less a startling epiphany than a distant, gradual ache of understanding, that changes how the character looks at the world."
In my view, an occasional startling epiphany would help these stories, but having said that, I do look forward to reading his next novel, and perhaps his second memoir, IN PHARAOH'S ARMY. He's generally very appealing -- this collection is simply a miss.
2 comments:
I partly agree. I really enjoyed the journey of these stories, but when it came time for me and a story to part ways, I sometimes felt like I'd been ditched at a Greyhound station.
And interestingly, I checked out this book based on a reading by Wolff of "Her Dog," on Narrative.com. It's one of the stories I enjoyed. It's curious that he chose this for a reading -- maybe it wasn't only because it's short, but because he suspected readers would find the ending satisfying.
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