Heavier Than Air: Stories (Awp Award Series in Short Fiction): Stories (Awp Award Series in Short Fiction)

by Nona Caspers

book data

22 ratings, 3.82 average rating, 9 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		22%
4		50%
3		13%
2		13%
1		0%

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published

November 30th 2006 by University of Massachusetts Press

binding

Hardcover, 186 pages

isbn

1558495568 (isbn13: 9781558495562)

description

Winner of the AWP Grace Paley Prize in Short Fiction The stories in this first collection deliver the reader into a world in which men, women, and chi...more

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 35)

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04/06/09

Nancy rated it:

bookshelves: april-2009, lgbt-books, short-stories

Read in April, 2009

Casper's stories reveal the deep inner lives of Midwesterners as they struggle not so much with the land, but with other eternal matters: life and death, first love perverted by the fear of others perceptions, madness, a sense of belonging to a greater world, madness, and the struggle to survive with hope in the face of all to the contrary. Many of these stories deal with children or teens facing the loss of innocence: the burgeoning love of Nora for her cousin Cynthia cut off by the fears of th...more

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06/21/07

Elaine rated it:

bookshelves: shortstorycollections

recommends it for: serious litfic writers and readers

From my review up at The Short Review.

www.theshortreview.com

The word I think of when I think of this collection is “cusp”. Every character in the eleven stories in this first collection is poised on the cusp of a terrifying or exciting edge, but make no mistake, he or she might fly or fall, but is rendered breathtakingly alive. Young adults on the verge of discovering what lies ahead, ride the cusp of adulthood only to sense that life and what it has to offer can mak...more From my review up at The Short Review.

www.theshortreview.com

The word I think of when I think of this collection is “cusp”. Every character in the eleven stories in this first collection is poised on the cusp of a terrifying or exciting edge, but make no mistake, he or she might fly or fall, but is rendered breathtakingly alive. Young adults on the verge of discovering what lies ahead, ride the cusp of adulthood only to sense that life and what it has to offer can make them flawed and desperately unhappy individuals (“La Maison de Madame Durard”). Lovers ricochet against the limits of love – a teenager discovers what she is willing to do as she traverses the line between desire and infatuation towards her cousin (“Country Girls”); a farmer skimming the fine balance between mental sanity and physical toil finds unexpected solace in nature’s offering (“Mr. Hellerman’s Vacation”); a middle-aged lesbian circles the rim of heartbreak after her lover leaves her for a man, finds comfort and rediscovers her own mother (“Mother”). One of the most stunning lines comes from this story, its utter debasement and humility laid bare, “This is what she’s come to, she thinks: a thirty-three year old woman who lies face down at her mother’s feet.”

These characters search for meaning, desperately, unremittingly. When they find meaning, it doesn’t always come in a palatable form. Take Manny, the sixth-grader in “Wide Like an Eagle’s Wings” who’d been elected secretary of the JFK campaign at her elementary school. Manny’s longing was existential; she craved meaning, to be bigger and more important than the existence she suspected lay before her, growing up on a farm in rural Minnesota. Her longing took a premonitory, hell-bound nose-dive when later that afternoon, her four-year-old sister drowned in the river and Manny was unable to save her. Manny’s existence was forever rendered meaningful, but poignantly and heartbreakingly not what she’d envisioned. Or Marc, dying of Aids in “The Fifth Season”, and his plaintive cry, “I haven’t done anything important yet and now I’m going to degrade myself [sic:] Oh god, it makes me feel sick – Lorrie, you’re not going to write about it, are you?”

Writing about it is the only antidote, it seems.

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02/07/08

Kellyobrien rated it:

Read in March, 2008

I'm biased. I knew Nona growing up; our mothers are great friends. She really captures life in our small, Stearns County town. If you also grew up in a small town, or felt like a weirdo, or just really wanted to escape, you will understand and enjoy this collection.

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06/30/07

Evelyn Shih rated it:

bookshelves: readandreviewed

Excellent first collection. She has me gasping for air with some of these stories, that's for sure.

My review:
[http://northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3JmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3MDQ2NDc4]

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12/23/07

Kim rated it:

bookshelves: 08books, short-stories

Read in January, 2008

Pretty uneven. The stories get better after the first two, and I was glad I didn't put it down when I did. But they don't soar. The book actually deserves 2.5 stars, but that's not an option here.

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