Shout Her Lovely Name

Feb 09, 2013 Deon Stonehouse rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: oregon-authors, short-stories

Shout Her Lovely Name is Serber’s debut short story collection and has a theme of mothers and daughters, family and the challenges faced in the age old struggle between generations. The title comes from the first story in the collection about a mother, her anorexic daughter and the searing conflict between them as the parent tries to heal her child. Ruby Jewel, second in the series, has a disappointed mother, Sally, waiting home for her daughter, Ruby. Dad picked Ruby up from the station and hea...more Shout Her Lovely Name is Serber’s debut short story collection and has a theme of mothers and daughters, family and the challenges faced in the age old struggle between generations. The title comes from the first story in the collection about a mother, her anorexic daughter and the searing conflict between them as the parent tries to heal her child. Ruby Jewel, second in the series, has a disappointed mother, Sally, waiting home for her daughter, Ruby. Dad picked Ruby up from the station and headed straight for the bar (not an unknown occurrence for the man), but now he has his daughter on the bar stool next to him and a secret on his lips. Free to a Good Home finds Ruby determined to keep her unplanned baby while the father walks away saying “Someone Else Can Do Right By Her”. In the story titled Manx a feral cat named Phil Donoghue after the talk show host is adopted into the family and leads to a date with the local vet. But Ruby is not readily able to fulfill the role of responsible mother much less pet owner. A daughter’s burgeoning sexuality is the subject of another story, an issue fraught with emotional baggage for mother - daughter relationships. Enduring the angst of the teen years is featured too. Ruby and Nora are in most of the stories, linked in a way that allows the reader to join the characters in various stages of their lives. Although Shout Her Lovely Name is a collection of short stories, with many of the entries sharing the same characters at different times this continuity gives it the feeling of a novel. Serber mines the pathos of family life to show the mistakes, caring, and betrayal that populate the minefield of our relationships. The stories are written with emotional resonance and beauty. Serber can be funny or heartbreaking, she keeps the reader wondering how the characters will surmount their challenges. Focus shifts between mother and daughter, allowing the stories to be told from varying perspectives and keeping the narrative lively. (less)

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Nov 11, 2012 Will rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, short-stories

I was turned off by the title story of this collection. It recounts the trials of a mother confronting and guiding her high school age daughter through a bout of anorexia nervosa--delicate subject--written in imperative sentences. The tone worried me; I thought I might be in for two hundred pages of sentimental whining. Not the case.

Most of the stories are linked to Ruby, the presumed anorexic girl mentioned above, and her daughter Nora, whose main challenges stem from the legacy of body image i...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Andy Miller rated it 4 of 5 stars

All but three short stories in this collection are about Ruby who we meet in a story where she is a student picked up on a college break by her drunken dad who insists on going to a bar before taking her home to her emotionally abused mom. Later stories focus on specific events of her life from her becoming pregnant, her being abandoned by her boyfriend shortly after she gives birth to their daughter and Nora. The stories then change voice, first person narratives by Nora. While those stories sh...more

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Oct 11, 2012 Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mainstream

I consider myself very much a thematic reader. I'm someone who draws parallels and connections and links wherever possible, and no matter how tenuous the relationships involved. And though it's been far too long since I've indulged my love of short fiction with a dip-in, dip-out collection, one of the reasons that I'm drawn to short stories is the thematic threads that inevitably emerge from seeing so much of an author's work collected all together, all in once place.

I love seeking sameness and...more

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Jul 23, 2012 Sally G. rated it 4 of 5 stars

I rarely read Short Story collections. I'm not exactly sure why this is - but I tend to prefer investing reading time to a novel rather than what can feel like only a chapter.

This book was brought to my attention via Oprah's Summer Reading List featured in the July issue of her magazine - and I almost passed it by (because it's a series of short stories) ~ and for whatever reason, I not only read through the book's summary, but also clicked through to First Pages Excerpt (I receive O Magazine v...more

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Jul 11, 2012 Book Him Danno rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, books-sent-by-author-publisher-for

I have to be honest, I tried to finish this book but I just couldn't do it. This book, albeit interesting and extremely real, dropped the F-word way too many times for me. I tried to ignore it, but after ignoring it over and over again, the F-word was paired up with taking the Lord's name in vain. I shut the book and was done. I honestly don't understand the need to include vulgarities such as this. It does nothing to further the story. I would love to finish this book sans the F-word. I was ta...more I have to be honest, I tried to finish this book but I just couldn't do it. This book, albeit interesting and extremely real, dropped the F-word way too many times for me. I tried to ignore it, but after ignoring it over and over again, the F-word was paired up with taking the Lord's name in vain. I shut the book and was done. I honestly don't understand the need to include vulgarities such as this. It does nothing to further the story. I would love to finish this book sans the F-word. I was taken in by the honesty of the book, the reality of her stating people’s deepest thoughts out loud. These thoughts that we would never want to admit to having. It is truly fascinating.

Thank you Heather for this review.

**As a response to a question from the publisher about my review of Shout Her Lovely Name, I decided I needed to clarify my post and why I rated it only One Star.

I should note that I read about a third of the book. The first story had language that bothered me a little bit. I thought that the stories themselves were very interesting and I honestly think I would have enjoyed them if it weren't for the language.

I rate the first story two stars. It was a fascinating look into a mother's perspective of her child's struggle with anorexia. It gave us a glimpse of her thoughts of this hardship and how she blamed herself for the hardships anorexia put the family in.

I give the second story three stars. I enjoyed the second story about Ruby and her struggle to accept an unwanted pregnancy. She smokes, drinks and basically tries to have a "natural miscarriage." We follow her intimate thoughts about whether she will keep the baby, stay with her absent boyfriend, or make her way on her own. It is a good story. I realize that this story is continued in the book, but I have not read the rest of it.

The third story I rate one star. Having suffered from post postpartum depression myself, I related to the woman in the third story about her thoughts as she boards an airplane with her newborn son. She thinks about dropping the baby over the banister and how she honestly doesn't care about what is going on around because all she can think about is her annoying sucking child and her hurting nipples. She thinks about these types of things, but doesn't voice them for fear of her husband overreacting. This is why I was so disappointed to have to put the book down. I felt connected to the women and wanted to get to know her more, but I could not ignore the vulgarity. I do not use or even think that kind of language, and I do not want to hear or read it.

As a general note about the book, while I appreciated the stories I read, I had a difficult time discerning when one story started and another ended. I would rather have had a more clear cut ending and start to the stories. I found myself flipping back to find out who the character was I was reading about only to realize I had started a different tale. It is possible that if I finished the book all the stories would come together nicely but with the difficulty I had from this as well as the vulgar language, I couldn't finish the book and I can only give the book (the 1/3 I read of it) one star.

-Heather(less)

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Jul 10, 2012 Virginia Campbell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: womens-fiction

A slim volume that packs a punch, "Shout Her Lovely Name", by Natalie Serber, explores the complexities of life with mothers and daughters. You'll recognize many people you know in these characters, and even if you don't admit it, you're in there too. There can be a very fine line between love and loathing--difficult circumstances, enforced constant company, unexpected hardships, emotional upheavals, and pointed, poignant humor--all these things can change "like" to "dislike". I lived with my mo...more

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Jun 26, 2012 Lori L (She Treads Softly) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shout Her Lovely Name by Natalie Serber is an exquisite collection of eleven short stories featuring mothers and daughters. All of the stories in this collection are poignant and impressive in the complexity and depth of emotion captured. With the exception of three stories, nine of them follow the same woman. The stories included are: "Shout Her Lovely Name," "Ruby Jewel," "Alone as She Felt All Day," "Free to a Good Home," "This Is So Not Me," "Manx," "Take Your Daughter to Work," "A Whole Wee...more Shout Her Lovely Name by Natalie Serber is an exquisite collection of eleven short stories featuring mothers and daughters. All of the stories in this collection are poignant and impressive in the complexity and depth of emotion captured. With the exception of three stories, nine of them follow the same woman. The stories included are: "Shout Her Lovely Name," "Ruby Jewel," "Alone as She Felt All Day," "Free to a Good Home," "This Is So Not Me," "Manx," "Take Your Daughter to Work," "A Whole Weekend of My Life," "Plum Tree," "Rate My Life," and "Developmental Blah Blah."

The first short story, Shout Her Lovely Name (see the link to it below), was so powerful and eloquent it literally took my breath away at times. A mother recounts in a second person narrative the struggles and frustration she experiences trying to get her daughter help in overcoming an eating disorder. I think this story can be appreciated by anyone, but for those mothers who have had a similar struggle with a daughter's mental health, it will be more heart-wrenching because you will understand what this mother is thinking.

Most of the following stories in the collection feature Ruby and, later, her daughter, Nora. The transition from the first story, "Shout Her Lovely Name," to the second, "Ruby Jewel," may feel abrupt at first, if reading the short stories back to back, but give Ruby some time. While the first story wrung my heart dry, I was captivated by and engaged in all of the Ruby stories. The connection between Ruby and Nora is fluid and complicated, as all mother-daughter relationships can be, but following it is worth the effort. Ruby and Nora are not as privileged as the mothers and daughters in the first and last story. Their complicated relationship is punctuated by a greater struggle in their day to day life. Serber deftly exposes their sacrifices as well as their faults as they grow up together. When they were done, I was left wanting more of the story of Ruby and Nora.

"This Is So Not Me" and "Developmental Blah-Blah," were the least successful stories for me, but Serber is a skillful, ingenious writer so even though they were less successful for me, they were still both excellent short stories. (I should also mention that I love the cover of her collection and found it very visually appealing.)

In Shout Her Lovely Name Natalie Serber has presented readers with an excellent, eloquent, perspicacious collection of short stories that left me longing for more.

Bravo Ms. Serber! I will be anxiously awaiting another collection of your short stories!
Very Highly Recommended http://shetreadssoftly.blogspot.com/

Disclosure:I received an advanced reading copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes
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Jun 22, 2012 Lilian Cheng rated it 3 of 5 stars

Originally Posted on A Novel Toybox:
Natalie Serber took me by surprise and sent me on a heartfelt journey of family ties in her debut short story collection, Shout Her Lovely Name . Serber's prose reads like beautiful poetry, inviting the reader to fill in the story with its clues. Through these eleven character-driven, poignant short stories about mothers and their children, Serber displays versatility, humor, and tears. I am fully enamored with her writing, and pleasantly surprised that this i...more Originally Posted on A Novel Toybox:
Natalie Serber took me by surprise and sent me on a heartfelt journey of family ties in her debut short story collection, Shout Her Lovely Name . Serber's prose reads like beautiful poetry, inviting the reader to fill in the story with its clues. Through these eleven character-driven, poignant short stories about mothers and their children, Serber displays versatility, humor, and tears. I am fully enamored with her writing, and pleasantly surprised that this is only her debut.
Writing
Serber experiments with writing structure in her first story about a mother struggling to help her daughter fight an eating disorder while her husband is in denial; it is written almost like an instructional manual combined with a monthly journal. I could imagine a mother documenting her exhausting journey with her anorexic daughter, whom she wants to hold on to. It is one of the brightest highlights, and one I would have to reread.

Ruby and Nora
Throughout the book, we also encounter recurring characters, Ruby and her daughter Nora. Ruby is a teacher and single mother, and not the best mother since she often leaves Nora home alone while she seduces men for dates and gifts. Nora admires her mother and we see their relationship grow as she becomes an adult through figments. I liked reading their stories because they are the characters I feel most developed. I found myself reading the other stories slightly faster, just so I can meet Ruby and Nora again. Plus, Ruby is kinda funny--even when she isn't sober half the time.

At the stop sign, Ruby tooted her horn, called a final "Bye, Beanie." Then she turned the wrong way. Nora cried out, "Right, go right!," but her mother with her terrible sense of direction was gone.

-page 179 of Shout Her Lovely Name (uncorrected proof)

Oh, and there's also this artist who has a crush on Nora and spews nonsense like he is the word's deepest person. I couldn't help smiling at his behavior.

And this satire class, it's so--lower division. It's like meta. Self-parody. My next piece is coming from that reductio ad absurdum talk. You know; like the lecture hall and the professorial professor, and you, so coed, and I'm this, like, visionary.

-page 180 of Shout Her Lovely Name (uncorrected proof)

Ending
Since Shout Her Lovely Name is a collection of stories, it ends with the story Developmental Blah Blah, which I felt was the book's lowest point. I have to say that this was one of the hardest books for me to finish because Developmental Blah Blah, just felt neverending. Every time I thought the story reaching its denouement I would turn the page to find more and more pages that seem to dwell on the minutiae. The tight, poetic prose I adored in the throughout the book backfired, and I felt the story dragging, pulling my energy down with it. I couldn't hold my interest in the characters either, forgetting who each one was as soon as they were introduced. Cassie, the mother, sounded like a paranoid train wreck: she feels her husband doesn't appreciate her, her children are growing up too fast, and she has romantic intentions towards her shrink. Every time I feel like I can grasp Cassie's character, she loses me on another tangent. Perhaps it was because it was the last story that made me want to race to the end, but I felt Developmental Blah Blah could've been better placed towards the beginning; it just ended the novel on a sour note.

In many short story collections, the main problems I run into as a reader is the indistinguishable blur of under-developed characters and awkwardly abrupt endings, both of which were (to my pleasure) not found in Serber's work. In the short span of a chapter, I could feel these characters beside me and their stories flow with every word. Surprisingly, each story seemed to be obliquely tied to next giving the reading an unexpected transition: a story that ended on a mother giving birth would lead to a story about a mother bringing her newborn son on an airplane, and a girl who liked baking in one story would lead to a scene about buying cupcakes in the next. It made me wonder if there was a hidden agenda in story order. Shout Her Lovely Name is one thought-provoking collection filled with complex, yet flawed characters waiting to be understood. It's a book I will soon be revisiting.
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Mar 11, 2012 Robin Black rated it 5 of 5 stars

I had the great pleasure of reading SHOUT HER LOVELY NAME pre-publication and it is easily one of my favorite short story collections of recent years. If you look at the quotes on the book's description you'll see my heartfelt rave there - but for here, let me just say that during the day in which I devoured it I literally could not, would not put it down. The title story is an absolute stunner, so raw and so moving I was shocked when I first read it in the journal Hunger Mountain. It just isn't...more

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Jun 13, 2012 Kiki rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review is based on an electronic advanced reader copy form NetGalley.

This book is written in a very different style than most structurally, but the content is such that I was immediately pulled in to reading the book in less than 24 hours. Each chapter stands on its own as kind of a short story about some mother and daughter, and their relationship. Now, the mother or the daughter may not even be one of the main players in that chapter, but the author has crafted these stories in such a way...more

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Jun 17, 2012 The Reading Countess rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult, short-stories, arc

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. *Netgalley ARC

Shout Her Lovely Name is a beautiful collection of short stories centering around one central theme: mother-daughter bonds. Intrigued by this idea due to my rather (ahem) complicated relationship with my own madre, I was immediately drawn in by the first page. Two stories that captured me were the college student who falls for her professor on her way to meet the in-laws, infant in tow, who exhibits an awe inspiring act of generosity towards another infant; and the middle aged, sta...more

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May 19, 2012 Bonnie Brody rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shout Her Lovely Name is a collection of short stories, many of them inter-connected and all of them dealing thematically with issues between mothers and daughters. Many of the stories are about Ruby and her daughter Nora. The stories about Ruby begin when she is in college and comes home to visit her parents in Florida. Shortly afterwards, she becomes pregnant and the plan is to give the baby up for adoption. At the last minute, Ruby changes her mind and keeps her little girl who she names Nora...more Shout Her Lovely Name is a collection of short stories, many of them inter-connected and all of them dealing thematically with issues between mothers and daughters. Many of the stories are about Ruby and her daughter Nora. The stories about Ruby begin when she is in college and comes home to visit her parents in Florida. Shortly afterwards, she becomes pregnant and the plan is to give the baby up for adoption. At the last minute, Ruby changes her mind and keeps her little girl who she names Nora. She raises Nora by herself as the father, Marco, is out of the picture. Many of the stories continue with the lives of Ruby and Nora as time progresses.

The title story of the book is about a mother who grapples with her daughter's anorexia, trying to tell herself that it's not about her and attempting to remain calm and supportive towards her daughter who is horrific with her.

In the stories about Ruby, we learn that her father and she both have drinking problems. When Ruby first comes home from college, Ruby's father shares a secret with her that is burdensome. The next story is about Ruby finding out that she is pregnant which she is not aware of until the second trimester. The father is a boyfriend who rejected her some months ago. In the third story featuring Ruby, she has her baby and would very much like to invest in a relationship with the father, Marco. Marco, however, is not at all interested in this and Ruby decides to raise her child on her own. As the year's pass, Ruby becomes a high school teacher and one day she brings Nora to school with her. She has a home room of all girls and the time is the 1970's, right at the start of the feminist movement. Ruby encourages her students to journal and to reflect on all the possibilities open to them. Their journaling impacts Ruby and Nora's lives. When Nora is fourteen, she meets Marco for the first time. Not only is it awkward despite all her hopes that it would be otherwise, but Nora realizes that she is a 'secret'. Marco has a family in Florida and no one knows anything about Nora's existence. As Nora gets to be of high school age, she begins to keep more and more secrets from Ruby. She changes tracks in high school from college-bound to secretarial. She begins hanging out with a drinking crowd that cuts school a lot and brings alcohol to school. Ruby continues with her teaching and drinks a lot when she's off work. Gradually, Nora turns a corner and begins taking college classes.

There are a lot of stories about Ruby and Nora and I found it difficult to relate to them. Their characters seem vacuous and stiff and I had a difficult time really caring very much about them at all. Ruby makes a great effort to provide a good home for Nora but ends up trying to make Nora her friend rather than caring for her as a child.

The best story in the book is 'This is So Not Me'. It is about a woman who marries her professor, 25 years her senior. When she gets pregnant, he becomes very controlling and this behavior continues after the baby is born. She is resentful but listens to most of his suggestions.

All in all, this is primarily a book about Ruby and Nora. It has a minimalist feel to it and the characters are not fleshed out in any depth. I am a lover of short stories and wanted to have a greater affinity to this book but that was not the case.
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Nov 18, 2012 Holly rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a quick but poignant and powerful read about the depth and complexities of mother - daughter relationships. Although you may not identify with all of the stories, I would guess that everyone could identify with at least a few elements of the various experiences within the book.

The book reads as a series of short stories. Eight of the eleven chapters (or stories) are about the same mother and daughter pair (Ruby and Nora) over the course of Nora's young adulthood. The characters in all o...more

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Nov 17, 2012 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a story about a mother and daughter, intercut with stories about other families. So it's a collection of short stories, and there is a sort of theme, but it's a bit like an interrupted novel at the same time.

The writing is lovely and some lines really rang true. As an exploration of familial (mostly female) relationships, I am not sure how I feel about it. There is plenty of truth in it. But I think the competition and spite that recurs in the relationships between women in this book is...more

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Jun 29, 2012 Emma Dries rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

This is a beautiful collection of short stories. Not only is it a love letter to mother/daughter relationships, but also a love letter to mothers and daughters individually and their intersecting paths in life.

While I normally shy away from books geared so specifically toward an audience, Natalie Serber truly surprised me and rose above the crowd that attempts to write eloquently about the complexities of families. As readers we are used to stories that trace the tumultuous path of familial rel...more This is a beautiful collection of short stories. Not only is it a love letter to mother/daughter relationships, but also a love letter to mothers and daughters individually and their intersecting paths in life.

While I normally shy away from books geared so specifically toward an audience, Natalie Serber truly surprised me and rose above the crowd that attempts to write eloquently about the complexities of families. As readers we are used to stories that trace the tumultuous path of familial relationships, and because of that, I think such narratives tend to follow familiar and obvious tropes.

Though the stand alone narratives in this book absolutely have merit, the suite of stories following the lives of Ruby and her daughter Nora is easily the most compelling. The suite begins with a story of Ruby returning from her first semester at a Florida college to her small southern hometown and getting drunk with her father at the local bar. While the majority of the time and space in that first narrative is spent on interaction between Ruby and her father, the quiet moment at the close with Ruby and her mother once the former returns home is easily the most heartbreaking and brilliant moment in the story. In fact, Serber's talent shines through most in those sad or tragic moments, writing beautifully through the kind of sadness in which most writers would slip into melodrama.

The stories in the suite do not read like chapters of a novel, but rather as short snapshots into a mother and daughter's relationship at various moments in their lives, often years apart. We see Ruby waitressing in Gainesville for a summer between years at college, Ruby attempting to collect furniture off the street for her New York apartment while seven months pregnant, Ruby and Nora living in the toxic smog of 1970s LA, and finally Nora working at a bakery in Santa Barbara as she works her way through school at UCSB. As a reader, you come to understand and accept the unpredictability of Ruby that eventually fades into wisdom as she urges her daughter to not make the same mistakes she did. And we leave Ruby and Nora with a certain uneasiness - two women who seem somewhat unaware of the profound influence they have had on one another's lives. We wish we could point out to them the beauty in their similarities, in their differences. We wish we could show them just how profound nurture and the ties that bind mother and daughter truly are. (less)

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Jan 22, 2013 Tracy Robertson rated it 3 of 5 stars

I picked up this book because I read that it was "short stories" which I usually like. There was a short story in the beginning of the book, then all of the short stories that followed through almost all of the rest of the book were basically a novella about a mother and daughter that ran in sequence, just like a novel. Though I was a little disappointed that it wasn't really a "short story collection" (at least by my definition) the main characters were interesting enough that they kept me read...more

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Mar 07, 2013 Korri added it

Shelves: short-stories, family, parenting-motherhood

Natalie Serber deftly portrays the intimacies and irritants of mother-daughter relationships and of growing up. Each of her stories did something I value in literature: they gave name to feelings or moments I thought I was the only one to experience, paradoxically connecting me to other people while I sit alone to read. That being said, the suite of stories about Ruby and Nora, which comprise most of the book, didn’t move me half as much as the stories about middle age that open and close the co...more

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Jul 05, 2012 Melissa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-tour, books-i-own, short-stories

"She named her cat Phil Donahue, hoping he'd greet her the way Donahue ran to the women in his audience, eager to hear anything they had to say about seat belts, war, or divorce." ("Manx," pg. 86)

Bam. Sold.

(Because like the character Nora above, I too as a young girl watched Phil Donahue with my mom back in the day and I loved him. Still do.)

Natalie Serber had me as a new fan of her writing, thanks to her debut collection of stories, but give me a character who names their cat Phil Donahue - aft...more "She named her cat Phil Donahue, hoping he'd greet her the way Donahue ran to the women in his audience, eager to hear anything they had to say about seat belts, war, or divorce." ("Manx," pg. 86)

Bam. Sold.

(Because like the character Nora above, I too as a young girl watched Phil Donahue with my mom back in the day and I loved him. Still do.)

Natalie Serber had me as a new fan of her writing, thanks to her debut collection of stories, but give me a character who names their cat Phil Donahue - after (yes) the one and only talk show host Phil Donahue - and that's someone who I absolutely want to spend time with.

Which is a good thing, because while reading the incredibly talented Natalie Serber's short story collection Shout Her Lovely Name, we're privileged to spend much time with young Nora (the Phil Donahue fangirl) and her mother, Ruby. Of the 11 stories that make up this collection, eight of them are interconnected and feature Ruby and Nora. (Alas, Phil Donahue the cat only appears in one of them). Beginning with "Ruby Jewel," these eight stories are chronological, taking the reader along on a ride through Ruby's return home after a semester of college and a stop at a bar with her father; Ruby's brief relationship with Nora's father and a fateful decision ("Free to a Good Home"); the ways women mother others ("Take Your Daughter to Work"), and Nora's own coming-of-age experiences ("Rate My Life").

I know many people aren't fans of short stories and even less so of collections of short stories like Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stout or Mrs. Somebody Somebody by Tracy Winn that are interconnected. If that's you, try to put that aside, because Shout Her Lovely Name is a fabulous short story collection that is not to be missed.

In this collection, Serber explores the oft-trod territory of mother-daughter relationships in all its messiness, complications, and joy - and while doing so, her writing twists on a dime with one phrase, surprising you in a way that grabs you when you're least expecting it. ("She shifted her gaze from the tapestry to his high cheekbones, full lips, the skin at his jaw line beginning to hammock in a trustworthy, I-will-still-be-here-in-the-morning way, and then of course to his unflinching eyes." (pg. 196) Serber's style is reflective of that of Lorrie Moore's, especially in the title story which is an emotional piece about a mother's response to her daughter's struggle with an eating disorder. She has a way of bringing the ordinary to life with a refreshing phrase, a searing detail or a poignant moment - or a combination of all three - that lingers long after turning the page.

"Shout Her Lovely Name," "This Is So Not Me," and the final story, "Developmental Blah Blah" are the only three stories in Shout Her Lovely Name that don't pertain to Ruby and Nora. At first, I questioned the rationale for even including these three at all, as the eight stories featuring Ruby and Nora are so strong and I felt jolted upon leaving them to enter the lives of these other, lesser-known characters after I'd connected so well with both of them. (I loved Nora, and vacillated between adoring and hating Ruby. A memorable character, for sure!) But the more I think about it, the more I think it works. I'm not sure if I can actually put into words why I think it works ... it just does. Perhaps it is a reinforcement of Serber's message that relationships take many forms; there isn't any one way to approach this parenting gig. There are elements of us in everyone, no matter what the circumstances.

This is a very minor quibble; I'm just happy to read as much of Natalie Serber's work as I can get - and I want more. Much more. (I'm thrilled to hear that she is working on a novel!) There's nothing more I love than discovering a new favorite author, even moreso through his or her short stories. Natalie Serber has just made that list. As a grateful and appreciative reader, she is an author I am going to be looking forward to watching as she is truly a remarkable literary talent.
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Jun 27, 2012 Donna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

"Shout Her Lovely Name" is the story of mothers and daughters, women and their lovers.

In the first story of the book, we find a mother who is very concerned for her daughter. Seems like this daughter has an eating disorder. It is hard to accept. The father does not want to admit that his daughter is anorexic. She barely eats anything: "Not on my diet any more". What to do? Counseling?

The next story deals with a daughter coming home from college for a visit. The father picks her up and they stop...more "Shout Her Lovely Name" is the story of mothers and daughters, women and their lovers.

In the first story of the book, we find a mother who is very concerned for her daughter. Seems like this daughter has an eating disorder. It is hard to accept. The father does not want to admit that his daughter is anorexic. She barely eats anything: "Not on my diet any more". What to do? Counseling?

The next story deals with a daughter coming home from college for a visit. The father picks her up and they stop at the grocers to pick up some steaks for supper. A side visit to the local bar by her father finds the two of them drinking. After "many more drinks", the daughter says they should get home to mother. Now at home, the father tries to smooth things over with the wife. He goes out to fire up the grill for the steaks. Mom sorts through the daughter's clothes to be washed and tells her daughter "that there are certain things in life you just have to put up with." They eat steaks at the table.

Next, in a genre of stories, we follow an ambitious single mother, Ruby, and her daughter Nora through their oft times tumultuous life: picking up stray men, stray animals and doing drugs. Ah, the 70's in California!! They move around a lot, living in different places. Ruby teaches school. Nora is trying to find her place in the world. So much goes on between the two of them.

Another story in the book deals with a woman and her husband's 50th birthday, in which she plans a party for him. The son informs mom that both he and dad will be getting tattoos of California on their arms. She is flabbergasted. She invites neighbors and friends and the party seems to be a hit. The tattoos turn out to be mud-flap girls, one of those big busted, big assed girls. Her husbands tattoo was a girl with a pixie haircut reading a book and he said it was paying homage to his wife.

The book was an enjoyable read. I enjoyed all the different genre of stories within.

As this book was a free book given to me by Goodreads First Reads giveaway program, I wish to thank them for giving me the opportunity to read this book. Thank you also, Natalie Serber. A real pleasure, indeed.(less)

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May 05, 2013 Alex Templeton rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book, mostly a connection of linked short stories involving a protagonist named Nora, got great notices. Unfortunately, I didn't love the stories as much as I had hoped. I just wasn't particularly taken with Nora's narrative; while I thought Serber did a very good job describing Nora's childhood and adolescence with what we might call a "colorful" mother, I felt like the story was a retread of something I had read many times before. I actually felt that the stand-alone stories were amongst...more

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Sep 15, 2012 Debbie Mcnulty rated it 3 of 5 stars

“Shout Her Lovely Name”, is a collection of short stories. All of them are about mother daughter relationships. Some of them I loved and others not so much. The first story was my favorite. I found myself frustrated when it ended. I wanted to know more about these characters and where their journey took them. This pattern continued on in the book. I was either bored by the story or irritated when it ended. With each new story I felt dropped in at the weirdest places and then yanked out when I le...more

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May 27, 2013 Lisa rated it 1 of 5 stars

I am amazed this book has so many good reviews and comes so strongly recommended. I truly dislike this book. The only good thing I can say for it, is that some parts left me wanting to know what would happen next, the characters were interesting, but I did not find them likable. Overall, the characters seem to me to be weak-willed, poor communicators, addicts, who's lives seem aimless and the only goal is the next high or drink. It started to look like Nora might have some kind of future, but th...more

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May 10, 2013 Sue rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shout her lovely stories. In her first book of fiction, Serber has given us a collection of short stories that share the theme of mothers and daughters. They are quirky tales of love, misunderstanding, frustration and growth. Many of the stories focus on Ruby and her daughter Nora as they go through the various stages of their lives. They are beautifully written, and my only quibble with this book is that I don’t want to leave Ruby and Nora for stories about other people. Serber’s writing is lus...more

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Jul 20, 2012 Tess rated it 3 of 5 stars

Lord knows mother/daughter relationships are complicated. I happen to have a mutually loving relationship with my own mother and found it hard to imagine one that is truly strained…until reading Natalie Serber’s debut book, Shout Her Lovely Name.

I may have appreciated it more if I was a mother myself, having gone through both the mother and daughter stages examined in this collection of short stories. Everything changes when you become a mother, in ways you can’t expect until you experience it,...more Lord knows mother/daughter relationships are complicated. I happen to have a mutually loving relationship with my own mother and found it hard to imagine one that is truly strained…until reading Natalie Serber’s debut book, Shout Her Lovely Name.

I may have appreciated it more if I was a mother myself, having gone through both the mother and daughter stages examined in this collection of short stories. Everything changes when you become a mother, in ways you can’t expect until you experience it, and I don’t mean stretch marks. (Or so I’ve been told by my Mommy friends.) Motherhood takes Ruby Hargrove by surprise and she does not take the unexpected changes in stride. Instead, she takes her daughter for granted and focuses on her need for male attention and love of wine spritzers.

I take back my previous statement. I think it was better to read this without having experienced motherhood because it gave me a new found appreciation of the burdens they shoulder and the responsibilities they undertake.

All but three stories in the collection are from Ruby’s perspective or from that of her daughter, Nora, who struggles to find the stability her mother lacks but can’t quite keep herself from making poor decisions. Like mother, like daughter. These two women are complex enough that the other three unrelated stories need not be introduced. Let me digest one dysfunctional mother/daughter relationship at a time. The other stories were beautiful on their own, but I would have preferred a collection of 11 completely separate stories or 11 loosely linked ones.

I’ve got my share of flaws, but these women are ridden with imperfection and their struggle is heartbreaking. I finished the book grateful to have a healthy relationship with my mother but also thankful to have had my frame of reference disturbed. Ruby vows ,“she couldn’t become someone whose life was defined by accidents,” but it seems her life is defined by a lack of true purpose. It is just one accident after another, a trait she carelessly passes along to her daughter. Watching the Hargrove women sink into Mistakeville served as a “Scared Straight” episode I will never live out with my own mother or future daughter.(less)

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Jun 10, 2013 Julie (julie37619) rated it 4 of 5 stars

My reading year so far has been chock full of short stories. The fact that the unifying theme of Serber's book is mothers and daughters just made it that much more appealing. Several standalone stories explore issues such as a daughter's anorexia and a young mother's position as the wife of her much older professor. The real highlight, however, is a suite of stories following the lives of two characters - Ruby, who has a troubled relationship with her own mother, and Ruby's daughter, Nora, who c...more

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Oct 26, 2012 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: short-story, women, social-commentary, for-review

As a book blogger, I'm fortunate to review all sorts of books. Popular books, (relatively) unknown books, controversial books, and many others. When I learned that I would get to review Shout Her Lovely Name by Natalie Serber, I was especially excited because this work had been generating a good deal of buzz and had even been reviewed by the New York Times. Additionally, it is a collection of short stories, which are a slight rarity here at Reflections. With this in mind, I dove right in!

In this...more As a book blogger, I'm fortunate to review all sorts of books. Popular books, (relatively) unknown books, controversial books, and many others. When I learned that I would get to review Shout Her Lovely Name by Natalie Serber, I was especially excited because this work had been generating a good deal of buzz and had even been reviewed by the New York Times. Additionally, it is a collection of short stories, which are a slight rarity here at Reflections. With this in mind, I dove right in!

In this collection of short stories Natalie Serber focuses on the often complex mother/daughter relationship as the common thread that links these tales. The majority of these stories involve a mother/daughter couple named Ruby and Nora. The pair live in California, and the stories chronologically follow their lives, beginning with Ruby as a college student and moving through her life, eventually detailing Nora's life as a teenager. Although they can be read alone, taken as a group the Ruby/Nora tales could also be read as a novella. Serber has us follow the two through teenage rebellion, love, angst, and a whole host of other emotions as these two women assert their identity. Three other short stories are dispersed throughout the work, following the theme of mother/daughter relationships, but expressing it in quite different tones than Ruby and Nora's tale. In all, the stories explore what is typically a complex and layered relationship in most women's lives, and it lays plain the high and low points that often result from such a relationship.

I must commend Serber on taking on such a complex and varied topic. As a daughter myself, I know that the relationship between a daughter and mother is extremely important, and I think it was interesting how Serber showed how much influence a mother can have over the choices a daughter makes in her lifetime. She excellently displayed the good times and bad, not pulling any punches and telling it like it is. My only complaint is over the flow of the novel; once I got invested in Ruby and Nora's story I thought it was odd that one of the short stories that didn't involve them was located smack dab in the middle of the Ruby/Nora stories. I think that relocation or perhaps an offshoot of solely Ruby/Nora stories would have been better. Nonetheless, Serber's works are spot on and definitely poignant and applicable to women around the world. If you haven't already done so definitely read this book, and take a good look at your own mother/daughter relationships. They'll be all the more better because of it.

Kimberly (Reflections of a Book Addict)
Originally Posted: http://wp.me/p18lIL-1ga (less)

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Nov 06, 2012 Juliet rated it 5 of 5 stars

For years, I was convinced that I didn't like short stories. One too many forced marches through weighty anthologies had left me believing that the genre was limiting and vaguely unsatisfying. Thank goodness I persevered and found out just how powerful the medium can be in the right hands. A perfect example of this is Shout Her Lovely Name, the stunning debut collection by Natalie Serber.

Serber's short stories are sometimes sad, sometimes sweet, but always truthful and achingly familiar. They'r...more For years, I was convinced that I didn't like short stories. One too many forced marches through weighty anthologies had left me believing that the genre was limiting and vaguely unsatisfying. Thank goodness I persevered and found out just how powerful the medium can be in the right hands. A perfect example of this is Shout Her Lovely Name, the stunning debut collection by Natalie Serber.

Serber's short stories are sometimes sad, sometimes sweet, but always truthful and achingly familiar. They're connected by the theme of mother-daughter relationships in all their fierce, messy, elemental forms. The rich details conjured up memory after memory for me, from both sides of that relationship.

Eight of the eleven stories center on a woman named Ruby, whom we meet as she is visiting her parents after being away at college for the first time. She's trying to break away from her parents' sad relationship and her mother's apparent resignation to it, at one point blurting proudly, "I have a boyfriend now. He buys me flowers." She's convinced that her mother's fate will not be her own.

As the connected stories progress, Ruby finds herself pregnant and raising a daughter, Nora, on her own. The stories follow Ruby and young Nora: first as a young girl idolizing her mother, then beginning to see Ruby's failings through the eyes of others, then as a teenager looking for validation, and finally as a college student looking to break away herself.

In the story Plum Tree, Ruby tries to share her hard-earned wisdom and experiences with her teenage daughter, but Nora isn't listening: "She wanted to make her own new and unique mistakes. She was nothing like Ruby."

While I loved the Ruby/Nora storyline, my two favorite stories in the collection were outside that narrative. In the title story, "Shout Her Lovely Name," a mother describes, in journal format, her daughter's heartbreaking descent into an eating disorder. Serber manages to convey the mother's fear, anger, guilt and helplessness with an astonishing compassion, and even humor, that moved me deeply. In "This is So Not Me," a young mother trying to meet the expectations of her older husband displays unexpected strength.

Serber is skilled at creating a palpable sense of place and time as the stories move across the country and across decades. The highest compliment I can give the author, though, is that I went to bed after reading each night worried about these characters, as if they were people I knew. There wasn't a single character that I wouldn't want to read more about. Whatever form her next work takes, I'll be first in line to read it.

This review was originally published at StoryCircleBookReviews: http://www.storycirclebookreviews.org...(less)

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Aug 25, 2012 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

I wouldn't call myself a Short Story person. I have this thing in my head where if I'm to open a book I want to be enveloped and in the knowledge that I'm going to be taken on a ride. I want a commitment. But like poetry where some speaks to you and you nod your head Yes- I get that, I know what the poet was feeling when she wrote that---You can sometimes read a short story and say wow- that packed a punch.

Shout Her Lovely Name did just that. Each story drew me in and made me feel like it was s...more

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Jul 22, 2012 Suzanne rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

DISCLOSURE: This book was won via the Goodreads First Reads giveaway program. The following is my honest review and opinion of the book.

This compilation of short stories shared a theme about the relationships between mothers and their daughters. The first story was written as if you are reading the thoughts of a mother going through the discovery of her daughter’s anorexia and the ongoing battle to save her from herself. Several of the stories revolved around the lives of Ruby Hargrove and her d...more

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