The Mechanics of Falling and Other Stories by Catherine Brady
The Mechanics of Falling and Other Stories by Catherine Brady is a collection of eleven short stories set mainly in the San Francisco area and are an intimate portrayal of the characters relationships with each other and how those relationships are tested when faced with dilemma’s, change, discontent, responsibility, despair, self-doubt, and faith.
From the book jacket:
The characters – including a college student waitressing in a remote resort in the Sierra Nevada, a devout Christam man working in a shelter for the homeless, a privileged young woman seeking someone to blame for her inexplicable discontent – share a fundamental predicament, the struggle to name and embrace some faith that can break their fall. In equal measure, they hunger for and resist this elusive possibility and what it demads of them. What one is willing to reisk for the sake of transormation or the right to refuse it is a particularly tough dilemma for the women in these stories.
Two of my favorite stories were Wait for Instructions in which a woman struggles to care for her aging parents and abusive father and Slender Little Thing, a story of a nanny who works long hours as a nanny taking care of other children while her own daughter is put in daycare, so she can provide a better life for them both. I was struck with these two stories because one, the way in which they were told, and two, because I’m still sitting here wondering what happened to these characters. What happened to the wife whose husband was controlling. Is she all right? How could she put up with a monster of a husband? And the other ended so strangely, frankly, I’m not sure what to think.
Catherine Brady has a gift for fleshing out the characters in such a short amount of time and her writing style if distinct and memorable. But I must admit that I had a really hard time getting into the flow of the writing. Once I got over the fact that there are no apostrophes when people speak I was able to appreciate how the lack of them propelled the stories in a way that would have been hindered with them. But maybe this just shows my lack of expertise in being well read in short stories, a genre that I don’t read that often but am often curious to their appeal. Will I be running out to read more short stories? Maybe not, but I appreciate Brady’s story telling and excellent writing. Each story was so distinct and memorable from one another, a mark of a truly talented writer.
Catherine Brady’s website and you can follow Catherine Brady while she’s on tour with TLC book tours.
Do you read a lot of short stories? What is the mark of a great short story?
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Tags: A-D Author, blog tour, female author, Fiction, M-P Title, published 2009, short stories, TLC Book Tour
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I don’t read short stories – hardly at all. I read a fair amount in college, but for whatever reason I don’t go seeking them out.
on April 7th, 2009 at 9:45 amI don’t read short stories very often and I try to steer clear of reviewing them.
I do like the sounds of the two stories that you enjoyed the most. One of the problems with short stories is that it whets your appetite and usually leaves so many unanswered questions and feels like an unfinished story; it leaves me with and unsatisfied feeling that I normally don’t get from a full length book or novel.
Hi,
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((hugs))
Bobbie Crawford-McCoy
on April 7th, 2009 at 10:29 amI haven’t tried short stories for a while. At the start of the year, I said I hoped to try some this year, but the year’s a fourth of the way over, and I haven’t done it yet.
on April 7th, 2009 at 10:54 amI used to read a ton of short stories, but I think the novel is easier to read because it is much more forgiving. Everything has to be just so in a short story or they don’t work, and I feel like it can be really hard to find the good ones.
on April 7th, 2009 at 11:44 amThese sound interesting, especially the nanny one. I thought I was unusual in not liking short stories. I really like to get engaged when I’m reading, get into the characters heads, feel a part of their lives, etc. With a short story, that is really tough to do, and if it is possible, then it is disappointing to have it end so quickly! Once in awhile I’ll read one that is masterful in its own way, but I prefer longer books.
on April 7th, 2009 at 3:09 pmI liked this book as well. Nice review!
on April 7th, 2009 at 3:19 pmI loved this book…I don’t think you are alone with having difficulty with reading short stories. Check out my guest post by Catherine Brady re: how to read and get the most out of short stories – I thought she did a great job of sharing the differences between novels and short stories!!!
on April 7th, 2009 at 5:16 pmI enjoy short stories, and this sounds like a nice collection. If I read it, I’ll keep in mind the 2 you mentioned. I don’t know what I consider the mark of a good short story.. I’ll have to think on that – it’s a good question.
on April 7th, 2009 at 9:01 pmI do not normally read a lot of short stories. When I was a child I was in love with Aesop’s Fables and The Brothers Grimm. I didn’t really like the latest I read which was The Tales of Beedle the Bard, don’t know what I really expected there.
I do however want to read more short stories, I think they, if written right can pack powerful emotions in a short little package and that I love.
If you have any recommendations please send them my way!
on April 7th, 2009 at 11:05 pmI’m shamelessly behind in my blogging, but I wanted to let you know I left you a little award over at my blog.
on April 8th, 2009 at 5:29 amPersonally I enjoy short stories quite a lot but I like anthologies even more as I get to discover new authors. The mark of a great short story is very simple for me: it has to feel “complete” and not like the author simply rushed for an ending.
on April 8th, 2009 at 3:31 pmHa! Sorry Natasha, didn’t mean to steal your question. I’ve really been thinking about it a lot since reading An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.
on April 8th, 2009 at 9:53 pmI really enjoyed this collection too. I want to go back now and read the author’s earlier work. Great review, Natasha.
on April 9th, 2009 at 12:24 amI love short stories, and I buy and read many collections every year. One of my very favorite short stories is “Lives of the Saints” by Catherine Brady, which appears in her first collection, and also in my anthology Love You to Pieces: Creative Writers on Raising a Child with Special Needs. I also love the short stories of Lorrie Moore. Pam Houston, and Alice Munro.
on April 9th, 2009 at 9:59 pmIt took me a while to get used to the lack of quotation marks, too, but once I did, I really liked this book.
on May 1st, 2009 at 1:53 pm