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A Vacation on the Island of Ex-Boyfriends
by
Stacy Bierlein (Goodreads Author)
Quirks of fate highlight this debut short story collection whose characters are women of dazzling ironies and introspections, always in motion and trusting in love—even when it remains out of reach. Two friends plan a visit to Nantucket, but find themselves on a different island completely, where the men they have loved are lined up on the beach in chronological order; a g...more
Paperback, 190 pages
Published
March 6th 2012
by Elephant Rock Productions, Incorporated
(first published February 29th 2012)
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The author takes us on a feminine exploration of love in this collection of stories. These stories examine the different forms that love can take and the different consequences. Two women reflect on their past loves while two other women reflect on forbidden love. There is also the love that a woman may never get the chance to have but yearns for, and the love that can lead to loss, hurt and regret.
The irony in most of the stories is what kept my attention and what makes them realistic. The rela...more
The subject matter isn't one I usually pick up but it was nice to see how the "other half" live - the girly girls, the promiscuous, those girls I (as a girl) call "silly females", wrapped up in little else besides men, clothes, and shopping. There is so much more to life than that, so I don't really relate to a lot of this, but it was decently written and I was able to finish the book. The stories I most enjoyed were the travel ones - she describes exotic locales quite nicely. I thought it a lit...more
Stacy Bierlein is a great writer - she displays amazing skill at flushing out complete characters and life moments plots in every short story. There is a huge array of characters and locations in this book and she deals with all so well. Should I see another book by her, I will definitely pick it up and see what she's up to.
So why only three stars, that's just my personal reflection. This was a collection of stories that were almost all about what seemed to me a characters lowest life moments b...more
So why only three stars, that's just my personal reflection. This was a collection of stories that were almost all about what seemed to me a characters lowest life moments b...more
I won this book through A LibraryThing giveaway and was really excited to check it out. I received it in the mail yesterday and finished it this afternoon.
This Book contains a collection of stories from different women about their encounters with their lovers,exs, one night stands.
I really enjoyed this book, I think the author did a great job. From the start it pulls you in and keeps you interested. The author does a very good job with description. The flow of The stories was great, I never lo...more
This Book contains a collection of stories from different women about their encounters with their lovers,exs, one night stands.
I really enjoyed this book, I think the author did a great job. From the start it pulls you in and keeps you interested. The author does a very good job with description. The flow of The stories was great, I never lo...more
In this collection of short stories, Stacy Bierlein examines women's relationships to their men, their children, their parents, each other, and the world at large. Her tales are sexually graphic, funny, philosophical, poignant, and -- to me -- somewhat annoying.
Maybe it's modern short fiction that bothers me. A piece in which a character muses about the things he sees while waiting at the bus stop, and then ends when the character gets on the bus is a writing exercise, not a short story. Not tha...more
Maybe it's modern short fiction that bothers me. A piece in which a character muses about the things he sees while waiting at the bus stop, and then ends when the character gets on the bus is a writing exercise, not a short story. Not tha...more
Interesting stories about female friendship, love, and grief. The characters are a mix of introspective and promiscuous, with some a combination of the two. The first and last stories nicely bookend this collection of short stories.
I will admit to being distracted in a few of the stories by sentences that didn't make sense due to an unnecessary word or the wrong word being used. Given that most of these stories were written before 2004 and published together in 2012, a good copy editor should h...more
I will admit to being distracted in a few of the stories by sentences that didn't make sense due to an unnecessary word or the wrong word being used. Given that most of these stories were written before 2004 and published together in 2012, a good copy editor should h...more
This is a wonderfully dreamy, fun (but also sad...fun-sad) collection of stories about the ways women relate to other women, and the ways women relate to men. (But it's also about travel, loss, communication, family, and sex.) Best read under warm blankets with a glass of wine.
I received a copy of this book through LibraryThing's early bird reader program.
It had been awhile since I read a collection of short stories. I had forgotten how much I enjoy this format of storytelling. Bierlein weaves intricate short stories and her language borders on poetic. These stories explore love, lust, sex, loss and friendship. I think my favorite of the stories is about four friends who meet in New Orleans as one of them is planning her wedding. The imagery of New Orleans mixed with...more
It had been awhile since I read a collection of short stories. I had forgotten how much I enjoy this format of storytelling. Bierlein weaves intricate short stories and her language borders on poetic. These stories explore love, lust, sex, loss and friendship. I think my favorite of the stories is about four friends who meet in New Orleans as one of them is planning her wedding. The imagery of New Orleans mixed with...more
I reviewed this book for Contrary Magazine...
http://blog.contrarymagazine.com/2012...
http://blog.contrarymagazine.com/2012...
This was a very interesting collection of short stories. Every story dealt with relationships, but some in a healthier way than others. My two favorites would probably be the first and last ones, “A Vacation on the Island of Ex-Boyfriends” and “An Interrogation at the Prison of Ex-Girlfriends”—fitting bookends as the titles imply—which had a sort of fantasy feel to them. I also liked “The Challenge of Acting Normal” which was perhaps the happiest of these rather somber tales.
Just when I thought I disliked short stories…
I was reading a DIFFERENT collection & found that the stories lacked closure - they felt like beginnings of stories. But this collection showed me what a good short story can do. They were pithy, provocative, unique, interesting. And yes, they each held their ground as a complete, resolved story. The common threads in the collection were love, sexuality, and loss. and there's a good dose of travel and friendship. Well done Stacey!
I was reading a DIFFERENT collection & found that the stories lacked closure - they felt like beginnings of stories. But this collection showed me what a good short story can do. They were pithy, provocative, unique, interesting. And yes, they each held their ground as a complete, resolved story. The common threads in the collection were love, sexuality, and loss. and there's a good dose of travel and friendship. Well done Stacey!
Well written and surprisingly touching.
A great collection of short stories, and a quick read. The whole collection is well written and enjoyable. The story about the photographer in Egypt was my favorite.
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STACY BIERLEIN is the author of the forthcoming story collection, A Vacation on the Island of Ex-Boyfriends (March 2012), and the editor of the award-winning fiction anthology A Stranger Among Us: Stories of Cross Cultural Collision and Connection. She is a coeditor of the new anthology Men Undressed: Women Writers and the Male Sexual Experience (October 2011). Bierlein is a founding editor of Oth...more
More about Stacy Bierlein...
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“So unfair, she thought. Her baby was going to grow up, and her husband wasn't.”
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“Her family was a relay team racing toward Tomorrowland, but her father died, and in their shock they kept losing the baton.”
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