My Mistress's Sparrow Is Dead: Great Love Stories from Chekhov to Munro

by Jeffrey Eugenides

book data

525 ratings, 3.93 average rating, 177 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		29%
4		41%
3		21%
2		5%
1		1%

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published

January 1st 2008 by HarperCollins

binding

Hardcover, 587 pages

isbn

0061240370 (isbn13: 9780061240379)

description

"When it comes to love, there are a million theories to explain it. But when it comes to love stories, things are simpler. A love story can never...more

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01/10/08

Steve rated it:

bookshelves: anthologies

Read in February, 2008

I'm so sorry I ever picked this stupid book up. Yeah, the writing's great but I'm finding myself driving around in the rain, listening to sappy music & entertaining the kind of thoughts that make me wish that human cloning was a viable technology so I could have the option of kicking my own ass for acting like a sickening adolescent.

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8 comments

02/20/08

selena rated it:

bookshelves: shortstories

Read in June, 2008

i have a hard time rating this book as a whole. some of the stories made me cry. others made me want to skip to the next one. some i had already encountered in another life.

i couldn't stop reading this book. i couldn't stop re-reading the stories. reading them aloud to my boyfriend. watching the look on his face to see if they resonated as strongly with him. it was beautiful. and it was heart-breaking. and it hurt. i felt so dreadful after reading some of them, like it was me this w...more

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06/26/08

Yulia rated it:

bookshelves: growers--not-showers

Read in August, 2008

Hmm, this is supposedly a great anthology, but is it safe to trust the tastes of an author I don't care for? I'll have to find out. Perhaps he's a better reader than he is a writer, which is too often the case.

It would seem not. Two stars for two happy introductions to writers I hadn't considered before: Miranda July ("Something That Needs Nothing") and David Bezmozgis ("Natasha").

As for the rest:

Erg, the obviousness of some of these...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

21 comments

03/06/09

Kate rated it:

bookshelves: fiction

I loved the variety of stories in this collection--and was happy to be introduced to some "classic" contemporary writers whose work I'd never actually read before.

Okay, I'll admit it. I hadn't read Harold Brodsky before, and for my money, "First Love and Other Sorrows" was worth the whole book. (However, I didn't like the other Brodsky story in the book.) The glacial movement through time and emotion in that story was deceptive; next thing you know, time has pa...more

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04/01/08

Sarah Jo rated it:

Read in May, 2008

It's ridiculously difficult for me to rate this book because there is such a vast difference between the stories that I relished and the ones that I had to trudge through. I adore Eugenides as an author, but his editing skills in regards to a collection of "great" love stories leaves something to be desired. There are certainly stories that, to me, expressed the epitome of love, such as Munro's "The Bear Came Over the Mountain," in which a husband begins to lose his wife of s...more

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4 comments

05/03/09

miaaa rated it:

bookshelves: ophelia-s-library

Read in June, 2009

recommends it for: lamya

Love stories, nearly without exception, give love a bad name.
- Jeffrey Eugenides

My late grandmother was quite ill the last time I met her. She confused me with her stories as she mixed up my late grandfather with one of my uncle. I did not have a chance to know either of my grandfathers as they died when I was few months old. So the only way to know them was through my grandmother's stories about my grandfather or my father's about his father. I don't know if she had loved her...more Love stories, nearly without exception, give love a bad name.
- Jeffrey Eugenides

My late grandmother was quite ill the last time I met her. She confused me with her stories as she mixed up my late grandfather with one of my uncle. I did not have a chance to know either of my grandfathers as they died when I was few months old. So the only way to know them was through my grandmother's stories about my grandfather or my father's about his father. I don't know if she had loved her husband, my grandfather, because my mother once told me she's quite young when she married my grandfather who lost his first wife. Or maybe it was love because she raised his two sons from his first wife as if they're her own sons.

During her few last years, she began to forget where she put her stuff, and as I said before, mixing people from the past with the present. I remember once I spent my school's holiday in my auntie's house and several cousins joined me. One morning, my grandmother had all of us jumped from whatever we're doing that time because she said she lost her money. So we're all busy looking for the money, we removed things and the house was a bit in chaos then. Suddenly one of my cousin asked, "Grandma how much did you lose?" and she indignantly said, "Three thousand rupiah!" And we're all burst out hysterical laughing.

Now that she's gone I've always miss her. We still have a good laugh any time we talked about her, about how she had had eaten ice creams in the middle of the nights and had never let us touched any of her ice creams. She's still a beauty even in her old years. Such a grandmother who had always taking care of us -me and my siblings- and talked to us gently not to chop down her plants for our cooking games.

And so I love her and it's for real.

Reading this collections of love stories reminds me that there are dozens, hundreds, even millions kind of love. You have to believe that love matters as the more it can hurt you the more you realise that you're alive.

***

Love stories, nearly without exception, give love a bad name.
- Jeffrey Eugenides

Beragam kisah cinta ada di sini, tidak selalu berakhir bahagia walau biasanya kebanyakan orang berharap demikian. Satu hal yang pasti kita membutuhkan cinta dan menyadari cinta itu penting. Terkadang cinta bisa begitu menyakitkan tapi bukankah dengan demikian kita juga sadar bahwa kita masih hidup?

Bersulang untuk cinta ... cheers(less)

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01/10/08

Brian Solem rated it:

Read in February, 2008

This is, overall, a well-curated collection of love-related stories, or as Jeffrey Eugenides dubs it (to paraphrase), "stories about when the sparrow is alive, and stories about when the sparrow is dead." While most of the pieces address dead sparrows, I had to skip a few on account of general (as well as birthday) (oh, as well as pre-V-day) malaise. I'm glad I was reminded of authors like Raymond Carver, whose unsettling "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" address...more

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04/17/08

MK is currently reading it

bookshelves: currently-reading

How could this book not be good? I saw it in the bookstore and thought the design was so kick-ass- no book sleeve! We all hate those anyways. The design is ON the hard back. Good decision #1.

#2- Jeffrey Eugenides edited it. I never finished Middlesex because I left it on a plane to Italy. But I was super enthralled during the first 80 pages. I also love the Virgin Suicides. Josh Hartnett, and Sophia Coppola.

#3. The stories, so far, are incredible. And they're not all Dave...more

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03/01/08

Emily rated it:

Read in March, 2008

What an unusual collection of "love" stories! A few were along the lines of what is expected upon hearing the term "love story", but many of the contributions defied tradition in some respect. I especially enjoyed the entries by Chekhov, Moore, Dybek, de Maupassant, and Saunders. I was never a big fan of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, but The Lady With the Little Dog piqued my interest in reading more of his short stories. Dybek's We Didn't, though frustrating for the narr...more

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02/01/08

Meri rated it:

bookshelves: literature

Read in March, 2008

This eclectic mix of love stories was well selected. They range from sad to tragic, as most great love stories do, but they are all well written and insightful. Some are by authors, like Nabokov and Munro, that every literature major will recognize. Others by lesser known authors, like "Another, better Otto" by Deborah Eisenberg, held their own among such august company. Overall a very satisfying read.

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1 comment

03/13/08

Zhiqing rated it:

How could you not love this stellar collection of short stories. I was pleased to find Eileen Chang's "White Rose, Red Rose" included here. James Joyce's "The Dead" I have read a few times before and it just moved me every time I read it. This collection proves love stories could be very depressing sometimes!!! Great selection.

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4 comments

02/21/08

Peg rated it:

Read in March, 2008

Thoroughly enjoyable collection of Love Stories. Have decided to buy a copy to be read at leisure. Not a book that I wanted to sit and read from cover to cover because it was due at the library. Want to be able to read a short story or two at a time and savor each one.

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02/18/08

Tamara rated it:

bookshelves: 2008, gen-fic, short-story-essay

Read in March, 2008

As with all short-story collections, there were some totally amazing stories and some complete duds, but overall they were good picks. My favorites were Anton Chekov and William Faulkner. I don't remember the authors of the ones I mostly skipped over.

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02/09/09

Jason rated it:

Read in March, 2009

For the most part, anthologies blow. I only picked this one up because of the diversity of the authors. They put Faulkner, De Maupassant, and Chekhov on the same bill as Saunders, Munro, and Miranda July. Sounds like one of Dave Barry’s loony debacles to unite the literary world. And I’m not so far off. Eugenides in his introduction attributes his focus on love stories to “the Bono of Lit,” himself. But despite my petty contrivances, this is a damn good collection.

There...more For the most part, anthologies blow. I only picked this one up because of the diversity of the authors. They put Faulkner, De Maupassant, and Chekhov on the same bill as Saunders, Munro, and Miranda July. Sounds like one of Dave Barry’s loony debacles to unite the literary world. And I’m not so far off. Eugenides in his introduction attributes his focus on love stories to “the Bono of Lit,” himself. But despite my petty contrivances, this is a damn good collection.

There are some stories that I have read before and forgotten, like “A Rose for Emily” and “The Necklace.” But isolating them, away from the author’s original anthologies gave a fresh approach. These are love stories. And he puts stories in new perspectives, like James Joyce’ “The Dead” and Denis Johnson’s “Dirty Wedding.” These are love stories too. This is a compilation of love stories, and you never even knew some of them were love stories!

I was surprised by writers I never heard of, David Bezmozgis and Robert Musil; because in “Tonka” and “Natasha” there is a Eastern-European female fragility they handle so well. It takes the role of slut as the indigent ragdoll, like Lars raping “the real girl.” But it shows also the pathetic atrophy of the Western male’s role as aggressor when his pride and his romance and his social roles conflict. It’s the emotional stoicism of mail-order brides versus Ken dolls:

Tonka lay there, with eyes shut and her face turned to the wall, for an endless age, in terrible lonely fear. When at last she felt him beside her, her eyes were wet with warm tears. Then came a new wave of fear, dismay at her ingratitude, a senseless word uttered as though in search of help, as though stumbling out some infinitely long, lonely corridor, to transform itself into his name—and then she was his.

I like the cutesy introspective experiments in Miranda July’s work, like when a girl, throws herself down on the bed and asked us if we were girlfriends or what? An appalling emptiness filled the room. I stared out the window and repeated the word “window” in my head, I was ready to window window window indefinitely, but suddenly, Pip answered.

Yeah.

I also respect the choice of Miranda July’s story, as it is the only homosexual story in the book—and this as an effective tool to shape the question of Love is great. Though I think her story “Birthmark” or "How to Tell Stories to Children" are better love stories. But this adds the distinct flare, the gay one, to the collection. It shall pass.

There’s also the inventive faux-authoritative approach of Lorrie Moore’s “How to be an Other Woman,” her how-to style has built in emotional invective, so to pull that off objectively, she just has to talk about action and reaction. It strangles the phrases.

And I have to say that “The Hitchhiking Game” by Milan Kundera is probably the best short story I’ve ever read. It’s so taut with emotional friction and careful, unintimidating analysis that it makes you feel like a CSI detective exploring the crime scene as it happens. It’s terrifying and pulsating, not as throaty as Brodkey’s “Innocence” which is one of the most vibrant, and laymenly scientific sexual explorations I’ve ever gone through or Saunder’s “Jon,” a love-story so paralyzed by the eugenics of consumer polarization it makes Brave New World look like Walden; but it’s good, they’re all good.

What this is, is good stories. Check it out. It won’t bite ya!

(less)

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01/20/08

brian tanabe rated it:

Disclaimer: I've only read 3 stories here. I am putting this book down, indefinitely -- love is far too heavy of a topic. (Which is not to say that I was hoping for a collection of Harlequin-esque bodice-rippers.)

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08/13/08

GraceAnne rated it:

Read in August, 2008

Uneven - as it was bound to be in such a collection - but well chosen and worth the time.

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03/05/08

Natalie rated it:

bookshelves: recentlyread

What a fantastic collection. Worth it for Eugenides's lovely introduction alone.

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12/29/08

Casey is currently reading it

bookshelves: currently-reading

Not only is this the most beautiful book I own (I just adore the cover), it is quickly becoming a favorite. I read a lot of short story collections, and I usually pick out only a couple of stories that I love, or maybe just like. So it is a very big deal that I LOVE this collection. I'm maybe halfway thru (I think--I jump around, I never read in order) and I have been disappointed with very few of the stories. In fact, I have flat out loved most of them. My favorites:

-First Love and...more Not only is this the most beautiful book I own (I just adore the cover), it is quickly becoming a favorite. I read a lot of short story collections, and I usually pick out only a couple of stories that I love, or maybe just like. So it is a very big deal that I LOVE this collection. I'm maybe halfway thru (I think--I jump around, I never read in order) and I have been disappointed with very few of the stories. In fact, I have flat out loved most of them. My favorites:

-First Love and Other Sorrows (Harold Brodkey), in which childhood innocence fights desperately against oncoming adulthood. A young man and his older sister fight the same battle in very different ways.

-Some Other, Better Otto (Deborah Eisenberg), about the bonds of family, uses a lot of big words and intellectual conceits that could come off as snobbish, that nonetheless create a charming, flawed, too-old-to-change-now main character.

-Lovers of Their Time (William Trevor) takes the seemingly ordinary story of an extramarital affair and follows it far past the ambiguous conclusions that end most stories of this kind.

-Mouche: Reminiscences of a Rowing Man (Guy de Maupassant) an unusual love story because it is between a woman and the five friends who share her, and you absolutely believe it.

-The Magic Barrel (Bernard Malamud): this classic about arranged marriage has long been a favorite of mine. It's just flat out good, charming writing.

-What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (Raymond Carver): I like stories like this, that present a slice of life, draw no judgments or conclusions, and leave you wondering.

-The Bear Came Over the Mountain (Alice Munro): not one of my favorites of hers (too sad) but still a good example of Munro's skill with character.

I was ambivalent about: The Lady With the Little Dog (Anton Chekhov), A Rose for Emily (William Faulkner), The Hitchhiking Game (Milan Kundera). Good, not great.

Only two so far have I disliked: Love by Grace Paley (obtuse just for the sake of being obtuse) and Something That Needs Nothing (although I must admit that I actually thought this was the best story from Miranda July's collection No One Belongs Here More Than You; I'm just not a fan).(less)

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08/03/08

Kaitlin rated it:

Read in February, 2009

recommended to Kaitlin by: my mommy
recommends it for: anyone who's ever been in love or at least thought about being in love

I FINALLY finished this book after like...over a year or something. A long time. And even though it took me so long, I recommend reading it the way I did - spaced out. This collection is so awesome that I wouldn't want the stories blurring together in my memory. They're all so different and amazing for very different reasons.

Out of all the stories in the book, there were probably only two that I didn't care for. And even those weren't terrible - they just didn't make me feel as much...more

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07/31/08

Tamra rated it:

bookshelves: 2008-shelved, fiction

Read in September, 2008

The premise of this anthology, edited by Jeffrey Eugenides, was to bring together stories that show the bittersweet nature of love, which Eugenides describes as a continuum "from voyeristic longing to disenchanted entanglement." As with just about any anthology, there were stories that I enjoyed, stories that mystified me, and stories that I had to grit my teeth to get through (Hey! Just like real love! How completely unexpected! Sigh.)

The choice of Nabokov's 'Spring in ...more

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