The Whore's Child: And Other Stories

I teach at a large university and had recently spent a lot of time among academics, learning and thinking about literary and critical theory. I love that stuff for the avenues of understanding it can make available to us and for the depth it can add to our favorite books. But spend enough time in Theory-Land and among the examples its inhabitants trot out, and you start to believe that there's no place anymore for a good story, well told. Well, Theory-Land is a nice place to visit, but I've no interest in living there, and thankfully The Whore's Child brought me back. These are, simply, great stories. And I use the word "simply" here paradoxically, because there is absolutely nothing simple about creating characters on a page that come alive with all the complexity and mystery of real people whose lives we can enter at their most revealing points. This is not to say that Russo does not experiment with form, because he does--the title story is essentially a story within a story, showing us large chunks of a student writer's manuscript; the last story is told through numerous facets of a young boy's consciousness in one of the best evocations of youthful understanding and misunderstanding I've ever read--but unlike so much "cutting edge" writing these days, Russo's experiments in form are always secondary to the story itself. One never gets the feeling that he's impressed at his own cleverness, winking over his shoulders at the other literary theorists also "in the know". Read Empire Falls for the evocation of a small town and the way that town's character intertwines with the characters of its citizens; read Straight Man for the send-up of Academia and the often caustic humor of the first-person voice, both obscuring and revealing a tender and surprisingly idealistic core. But for the range of genius possible in unself-conscious narrative, for the depth of feeling that good writing can provoke, for the precise niche of character that is the hallmark of literary fiction, I can think of no book I've read recently that matches The Whore's Child.

Why is it, do you suppose, that short story collections don't sell as well as novels? And why is it that critics and readers seem often to look down their noses at the short stories of established novelists? In this instance, as much as I admire Richard Russo's novels, and I admire them hugely, I will have to enter a minority report and say that these heartfelt, lapidary short stories trump Russo's denser, more complex novels. Not that I'd want to be without the larger books.Each story in this collection conjures up a world that seems real: one can see, feel, taste, hear the settings, and can get inside the minds and hearts of the characters. In a story like 'Monhegan Light,' we even come to understand probably the most elliptical character, the painter Trevor, in a few deft strokes of the storyteller's brush. As always, Russo's own great heart comes through in his tales.Make no mistake, Russo is an important writer. And his short stories are as breathtaking as his novels.

I am a huge Russo fan but I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical about this book going in. Russo's novels are huge, densely written affairs-with the possible exception of Straight Man, which is huge but more lightly written. I had my doubts that Russo would be able to pull of a consistently good series of short stories if only because his overall style seems so antithetical to the requirements of that genre.Russo, in fact, pulls this off with aplomb. I have to agree with a previous reviewer in that I still think his novels are much better-but this is a brilliant collection.The book consists of seven stories all told from a distinctly different point of view-a professor of literature, a ten year old boy, an aggrieved and put up father, and so on. There is no particular underlying theme that unites these efforts.The stories bear a distinct Russo style-fairly densely written, highly introspective, multiple, remarkably fully fleshed out characters (a particular Russo trademark) for short stories, a decidedly small town flavor throughout. The characters are engaging, the situations both dramatic and comical, the stories original and fresh.My only complaint is that in a couple of cases I simply didn't want the story to end-it was as if what I'd read was a chapter in a much larger novel-and the rest of the chapters were missing! Very frustrating! I personally think that if Russo wants to use the short for the novella would be a better choice-say three 100 page efforts. I believe this would afford the freedom (or tyranny, depending on your disposition) of the short story in a format more suited to the complexity of his writing style.On te other hand, it's pretty much gotten to the point that anything he writes works for me-I just wish he were more prolific.An excellent book!

I'll admit this right up front. I was a little disappointed when I heard that Russo's latest release was a collection of short stories. I believe his novels are some of the best fiction being produced these days. Still though, I ran right out and got this collection--and that's where the disappointment ended. These stories are powerful and will stay with you. Russo is simply a wonderful writer and these characters and their lives will inhabit your imagination for some time after reading this collection. Enjoy.

Feet to the fire, short stories often examine an author's ability to get to the core of a tale in a few pages. Russo is a hugely gifted author whose prior novels (like the Pulitzer Prize winning EMPIRE FALLS) are lengthy and packed with details that always illuminate every aspect of his characters and stories, but sprawl over the page like a river over the dam. Almost written (it would seem) to prove that he doesn't need a thick tome to capture his readers' imaginations, Russo here presents seven stories about wholy disparate subjects and manages to bring each tale to rich completion as though he had opened every door instead of just quietly peeking through the windows of the lives of ordinary folk and finding their secrets.The title story is a deft a portrait of a old nun, married to God more by last resort than by preordained commmitment. In Bouyance we see the results of a long marriage literally on the rocks of an island resort and how the polarities of a life of misunderstanding can actually find some resolution in a remote and bizarre setting. Joyride takes us on a Mother/Son journey from Maine to New Mexico - an attempt to escape an unhappy marriage that only such a played out fantasy can repair. In another story another family reveals its dysfunction only when a trauma brings everything into focus, opening a door for renewal. To single out individual stories is difficult as they are all so well constructed that the task becomes one of selecting your favorite chocolate from a box of the best.Russo writes so well that all of his characters are three dimensional. His technique of filling the interstices of background of each person, each event with bits and pieces of information placed throughout the story allows the reader to gradually and steadily become fully informed and completely involved with the short story genre. His characters and situations are painfully tangential to those we all live and observe and it is in this ability to hold a mirror to our own lives that he deftly yet tenderly engenders insight into life during the 21st Century. If you only know Richard Russo from his novel or the movies based on his novels, or even if you've never had these pleasures, READ THIS BOOK! One of the best of the year and one of the most reassuring followups from a man who has just won the Pulitzer!