The Collected Stories of Mavis Gallant

... this is a very cumbersome and hefty book. So maybe taking it on the airplane is not a great idea unless you want the shoulder strap of your carry-on grinding into your shoulder while the ten pounds worth of stylishly-cut pages carve a dent in your thigh. But it's the life's work of a genius, so let's not begrudge the size. Properly, this book is great for reading in a comfortable chair with a really big mug of tea at your side. Like any truly great writer, Mavis Gallant picks the right words and writes clean, lucid sentences. What touches me so much are her themes of international mentalities and exile. In this era of jets, work visas, and emigration, these themes are very real and comprehensible to many of us. Another theme is the effects of war and wartime: to this I turn with the eye of an innocent, who is merely intrigued. I want my writers to be good judges of human nature, to drop clues and let me wallow in a bit of mystery, to let into me into their world on precisely defined terms. Mavis Gallant is worth reading again and again and again, world without end, amen. But don't even think about taking this cumbersome book anywhere public, unless, like the Bible, they come out with an edition with transparent pages and whole words as small as mustard seeds.

This collection of wonderful short stories is THE book to take on vacation, or have at hand when you're stuck sick in bed, or sitting waiting for that delayed flight. Mavis Gallant tells readers they should read one of her stories, "[s]hut the book. Read something else. Stories can wait." And that's the best way to read a collection of short stories as good as this. Dip into one story -- then randomly let it fall open to another. This is not a cheap box of chocolates with hidden pink creme fillings: these stories are Godiva truffles. Perfect, beautifully balanced, each unique but equally satisfying. In this collection, written across 40 years of her life, Mavis Gallant gives us windows that allow us to really feel the inner worlds of her characters. A Swiss grandmother turns an obligatory visit into a revelation. A young Canadian girl discovers her self worth in the shallow reflection of expatriot Englishmen. A sophisticated couple on a foreign posting realize they value their lives on a yardstick of social invitations. A Spanish town weighs the value of a crushed arm. How can one writer know the hidden souls of so many different kinds of people? Well, all that matters is that she does. Treat yourself to a 10 lb. box of Godiva chocolates. Treat yourself to a modern de Maupassant. Treat yourself to the Collected Stories of Mavis Gallant.