I, Rhoda Manning, Go Hunting with My Daddy: And Other Stories

If you have ever read even one book or short story by Ellen Gilchrist, then you have had a special experience that will never leave you. She is simply unique--there is absolutely nobody else like her. This collection of short stories, which span several decades in no particular order, are full of heart-rending, exquisitely written, slices of life that have such pathos, such reality, such a truly human essence, that we can even love Rhoda Manning's Daddy, who is a racist to the extreme. Impossible, you say? Yes, with any other author, it would be impossible, it would be repugnant. But it is not...not that we FORGIVE him, but we see him through the loving eyes of his daughter from the age of 5 well into adulthood. Other stories cover a wide range of different experiences including, eerily, a story about Middle Eastern terrorists who plan to murder several people on their leader's request. Gilchrist explains at the end of the book that this story was written BEFORE 9/11, which is truly scary. She had no clue that something REAL would happen. The difference is that in her story, there is a happy ending.

Rhoda Manning loves her daddy. She invariably disobeys him, but she loves him as a five-year-old in the first story of this collection, getting in trouble with a gun. She still loves him as a 60-year-old, getting in trouble climbing a tree to retrieve a golden bough so she can descend into the underworld and commune with him. Along the way we too get to know her daddy, Big Dudley. In one story, he takes charge of her wayward, pot-smoking teenaged sons in 1970s New Orleans. In another, he ups and moves to Wyoming and teaches the whole family to ski. In yet another, he sends middle-aged, newly sober Rhoda down the Wind River with her 12-year-old son in a canoe. He's frequently racist, often stubborn, but he's also fiercely protective, forceful, strong, and sensible. "He was always turning out to be right, and when we abandoned the clear paths he wanted us to travel we were always sorry." Ellen Gilchrist fans may have some trouble recognizing this older, wiser Rhoda Manning, but underneath the sobriety and wisdom, our favorite smart aleck still holds court. "Watch nature videos. See who rules a group of chimpanzees and why. Then decide if you want your president to keep it zipped." Charmed as ever by Ms. Gilchrist's easy, droll storytelling, I realized that getting to know Rhoda over the years in these bite-sized vignettes makes Rhoda seem more alive and genuine than she would if I read an entire novel about her. This way we learn about her in bits and pieces, over time, the way we learn about people in real life. There are Rhoda-less stories, too. One of them is sufficiently prescient of the events of September 11, 2001, that the author notes in a foreword that it was written in the fall of 2000. That particular piece features new characters, but the last story is in the voice of Traceleen, one of my longtime favorite Gilchrist creations. A former maid and current friend of a white woman she still calls "Miss Crystal," the Creole Traceleen now studies yoga and Buddhism. These disciplines stand her in good stead as she confronts the nanny her niece has hired for her precious grandnieces and, later, this nanny's drug-crazed boyfriend. I've always loved Traceleen because she's so dignified and serious, such a wonderful counterpoint to the crazy, selfish behavior of her rich employers. "I sighed. Once again lack of understanding had caused a problem. Could I find a way to set things right? It would have to begin in my own heart, as Jesus taught and I sometimes know." These stories often have a fairy tale quality about them, and Ms. Gilchrist dispenses the lessons subtly and gently. There is real wisdom here, in simple, conversational prose. It's gratifying to see these characters settling down, to learn what they've learned. "Why in the name of God after all these years have I decided this is funny? Because everyone lived through it. Because no one died or was maimed or had their lives ruined." Nearly everyone in these stories is well-off,

Rhoda Manning is five years old when readers meet this recurring character in this collection of short stories by award-winning author Ellen Gilchrist. Rhoda Manning owns the stories and reveals them as a five year old child in the title story. She also reveals herself as a mature adult and divorced mother of three and as an elderly woman clinging to all that is good from the past. Parents of teens will have no problem identifying with Rhoda's tale of woe as she parents three teenage boys who are wreckless and wild, spending their days crafting ways to defy their mother and their authoritarian grandfather. It is a tale of pot and lies and the overwhelming job of parenting in the 70's. The brash and bold Rhoda is almost equaled by another Gilchrist regular, Nora Jane Harwood. In this tale written prior to September 11, the protagonist finds herself in the locker room of an athletic club in Berkley, Ca when an earthquake jolts Nora and her two year old, Little Freddy. ... ...This is a story that ends too soon with characters so real you want them to live on. Another story, "The Abortion", Gilchrist's characters reveal their courage and character ... Gilchrist's stories and characters are above all else real. Their trials and tribulations are woven loosely in some cases, but always with an echo of familiarity.