Cheating at Canasta: Stories

Very well written but the lack of much hope or joy makes for non-uplifting reading, , September 11, 2009 By Aquinas "summa" (celestial heights, UK) - See all my reviews These stories are very well written and Trevor's reputation is deserved. My one reservation is the fact that the stories are somewhat down beat and one just longs for a story illuminated by joy and peace but alas there are none of that type in this collection. I will make some observations on each of the stories, really to try and distill down my own reactions to stories: (I) The Dressmaker's Child: a very strange story about a bond beginning to form between a man who accidentally knocks down and kills a wild child (daughter of an off-beam mother) and the subsequent incipient relationship that begins to form betweem the man and the mother. Really not sure I understood this story. (II)The Room: a disturbing story about a woman married to a man, who was accused but not convicted of murder and her suspicious of his part in the murder and her trying to come terms with this over many years. The story resonates and disturbs. (III) Men of Ireland: A tramp returning from England to Ireland after 23 years and his attempt to capitalise on the scandals in Ireland by soliciting money from a retired priest through insinuating the priest had tried to press drink on him when he was a young altar boy. The priest gives in through a kind of shared shame. A disturbing story. (IV) Cheating at Canasta: a man returning to venice in response to a wish made by his wife before dementia took hold of her. I was failry neutral about this story. (V) Bravado: another distrubing story, this time about a lad trying to impress his girlfriend by beating another lad on the way home from a party with fatal consequents. One comes away with a sense of utter pointlessness (VI)An Afternoon: I did not like this story at all: a young girl and a predatory young man on probation. (VII) At Olivehill: A catholic ascendancy familiy having fallen on hard times decides to sell their farm to be converted into a golf course. This was moving - a sense of change and a sense of loss. (VIII) A Perfect relationship: the ending of a relationship between a young woman and an older man. A kind of moving story, particularly the ending where there is no real resolution of what is causing the relationship to end. (IX) The Children: A recently widowed man taking up with a divorced lady and their decision to marry and the impact on their repsective children - a moving story. (X) Old flame: An elderly couple and the husband's continuing to keep in contact with a woman for whom he had once intended to leave his wife. This is a puzzling story of how a couple and can live with such duplicity and how the wife is being crushed by the husband's old attachment. (XI) Faith: This was one of my favourites about a Church of Ireland clergy man and his dominant sister. He appears to lose his faith whilst serving his country parish

I was convinced long ago that William Trevor is a master of the short story. I so enjoy luxuriating in his collections that I now intentionally pass by the occasional story in "The New Yorker" in favor of the delayed but ever-so-greater gratification of an entire volume of stories every three or four years. The latest collection of a dozen Trevor short stories is CHEATING AT CANASTA. After reading the first three stories, I feared that perhaps Trevor was slipping a tad. While quite accomplished technically, they did not touch my inner being. But the remaining stories put any such fears to rest. Once again, Trevor proves himself a master of the short story in English. And once again, I marvel over how Trevor seems to be able to write about anything, about anyone -- to weave a story out of the unlikeliest stray rags and scraps of yarn. Here, many of the characters are from the working class or lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder. Those who are not nonetheless are not among society's glamorous or smug. None of Trevor's characters (here or as far as I remember from his other works) would ever have expected their lives, public or private, to be worthy of the attention of a great writer or legions of sensitive readers. They are common, yet in Trevor's renderings they become uncommon. A theme shared by all these stories is deception, even between two seemingly very close people. Yet the tone rarely is one of anger. Instead, it is one of gentle ruefulness, tinged with melancholy, at times approaching a world-weariness. The narrative is sparse, almost minimalistic. Yet Trevor's voice is so assured, so authoritative, but without ever being overbearing. In truth, I can't imagine anyone who appreciates literate short stories not relishing the stories of William Trevor, including CHEATING AT CANASTA.

Life as it was lived before the ubiquitous use of anti-depressants. No Prozac in the water system here. Read and be enveloped by the emotion, the heart-wrenching reality of life in the raw. You can feel the sorrow, the embrace of an ineluctable reality, the inescapable path of Destiny. Feel the bleak damp in your bones, the drizzle on your skin. Smell the peat. These stories will linger with you for a long time. Another masterpiece by Ireland's favorite son.

The last story in this wonderful collection has a French title, "Folie à Deux," but it is about an Irishman who happens to spend a few days in Paris in pursuit of his hobby, philately, stamp collection. The philatelist is also a bit of a philanderer, but that is no more than part of the backdrop. Our hero has a modest meal in a bistro, and perhaps more than a modest amount of alcohol. More backdrop. And then it happens. His childhood reappears. I would not dream of giving away just how this occurs, but I can say that the hour or so that I spent reading this marvelous story cast a spell over my day. And so it is with the rest of this new collection. Readers of the "New Yorker" will no doubt rediscover old friends among the other stories, but this will hardly diminish the intense enjoyment of rereading. This volume confirms it once again: there is no greater writer in our day than William Trevor.

I'd never read this author before. For one I am more of a light reader mystery/thrillers, and have never really gotten into better literature and have not been a reader of short stories. My brother however left me this book after a weekend visit and I finished it over the next week. The stories are all very well written and intriguing in different ways. This writer is able to say a lot with few words. I would imagine many things about his characters through inference. I also liked the how each story had a point, there are universal truths here. I especially liked the story of the old man who has lost his wife, and how he overhears a young couple fighting and anguishes over the time they are wasting. Each story made me think about life and motives and the choices we make. I also liked being able to read a story every night before going to bed, so maybe I do like short stories?