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4th out of 26 books
—
57 voters
Could You Be With Her Now: Two Novellas
by
Jen Michalski (Goodreads Author)
This collection of two novellas showcases Jen Michalski’s varying skills as a writer. In “I Can Make It to California Before It’s Time for Dinner,” Michalski examines the dangers of living in a world while having a compromised reality. In a first-person narrative, the reader follows Jimmy, a mentally challenged fourteen-year-old boy who accidentally kills a neighborhood gi...more
Paperback, 180 pages
Published
March 5th 2013
by Dzanc Books
(first published January 15th 2013)
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This book comprises two novellas, and although they were not what I was expecting, they were surprisingly sad and haunting. The first, "I Can Make It to California Before It's Time for Dinner," is about a mentally challenged boy named Jimmy who accidentally strangles a neighborhood girl he thinks is his favorite TV character, Megan. His older brother Josh helps him run away from the police, and Jimmy winds up getting a ride with Ed, a trucker. Although the reader knows that Ed is nothing but bad...more
Reviewed by C.L. Bledsoe
This review originally appeared in The Ampersand Review
Could You Be With Her Now is a book about love – not the greedy, angry, lost love so often written about, but (at least with the second novella) actual, heart-fluttering, heart-breaking love. It’s refreshing to read about love written honestly and faithfully, and Michalski’s prose is beautiful enough to capture it.
The first novella is I Can Make It To California Before It’s Time for Dinner, which is the story of Jimmy...more
This review originally appeared in The Ampersand Review
Could You Be With Her Now is a book about love – not the greedy, angry, lost love so often written about, but (at least with the second novella) actual, heart-fluttering, heart-breaking love. It’s refreshing to read about love written honestly and faithfully, and Michalski’s prose is beautiful enough to capture it.
The first novella is I Can Make It To California Before It’s Time for Dinner, which is the story of Jimmy...more
I have received a free copy of this book through a GoodReads First Reads giveaway.
This book consists of two novellas in one.
Reading "I Can Make It To California Before It's Time For Dinner" was like a punch to the gut that left me gasping for air, absolutely heartbreaking and a little bit disturbing. A modern day "Of Mice and Men", the author Jen Michalski shows immense talent writing from the perspective of a fourteen year old mentally challenged boy.
"May-September" is graceful and devastating....more
This book consists of two novellas in one.
Reading "I Can Make It To California Before It's Time For Dinner" was like a punch to the gut that left me gasping for air, absolutely heartbreaking and a little bit disturbing. A modern day "Of Mice and Men", the author Jen Michalski shows immense talent writing from the perspective of a fourteen year old mentally challenged boy.
"May-September" is graceful and devastating....more
from author/publisher
Read 1/15/13 - 1/16/13
3 Stars - Recommended to fans of the emotionally charged and slightly taboo
Pgs: 180
Publisher: Dzanc Books
While reading Jen Michalski's Could You Be With Her Now, I found myself oscillating between a slew of emotions, which, for me, is the mark of an talented writer. Unafraid of the strange and uncomfortable, Jen pushes and pounds against the walls that separate the acceptable from the unacceptable with these two novellas.
In I Can Make it to California...more
Read 1/15/13 - 1/16/13
3 Stars - Recommended to fans of the emotionally charged and slightly taboo
Pgs: 180
Publisher: Dzanc Books
While reading Jen Michalski's Could You Be With Her Now, I found myself oscillating between a slew of emotions, which, for me, is the mark of an talented writer. Unafraid of the strange and uncomfortable, Jen pushes and pounds against the walls that separate the acceptable from the unacceptable with these two novellas.
In I Can Make it to California...more
I must confess: I didn't read the back of the book first, as I knew that I wanted to read Jen Michalski's Could You Be With Her Now because she is my lovely editor over at jmww and kindly sent me her book. Could You Be With Her Now is two novellas, and I'm really pleased with that alone. I've read short story collections that end with a novella, but because collections are the majority in small press publishing right now, I've grown a bit tired of them; Could You Be With Her Now was a welcome de...more
Michalski does not disappoint with these two novellas. I can see how they relate, but they are such different stories. Michalski really has quite a range. I still struggle with which I like better. The first has a wonderful way of working with tension, but the second demonstrates wonderful emotional control. I guess I just have to decide that I like the entire thing equally.
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I need to stop reading books at the gym. I had to pretend my tears were sweat.
Jen Michalski embodies the voice of a story, emotionally invests the reader, then breaks her heart. Love is a nuanced experience expressed through action. Michalski is similar to Alice Munro in that she makes an ordinary struggle extraordinary.
Jen Michalski embodies the voice of a story, emotionally invests the reader, then breaks her heart. Love is a nuanced experience expressed through action. Michalski is similar to Alice Munro in that she makes an ordinary struggle extraordinary.
2 likes
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like
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Link to full review at PANK http://www.pankmagazine.com/pankblog/...
Looking forward to reading this one soon. Updated review will follow as soon as I finish reading :)
This book was 2 short stories. The first one was really good, but the ending felt a little abrupt. I know it is a supposed to be a short story, but it just felt like there was all this stuff leading up to the end and then.....nothing. But otherwise I really liked it. The second story was good, the only thing I was not fond of was that none of the conversations between people had the quotation marks around them, so at times it was a little hard to follow. But overall, it was a good story.
Jen Michalski’s Could You Be With Her Now, a book of two novellas, is one of the most writerly books I’ve come across in a while. What I mean is, she gave a lot of thought to how she wanted to write these stories and then executed them so beautifully that the result is a piece of art to be admired as it is absorbed.
Read more here: http://hellogiggles.com/jen-michalski...
Read more here: http://hellogiggles.com/jen-michalski...
The novellas stay with you long after you've finished. In fact, that is perhaps the quality that is so special about Jen's work. Her stories, her characters, become part of you; they don't release their grip. There is something so personal in her writing, so intimate. Reading these two novellas makes me very excited for her novel.
I almost threw this book away. A passage in the first Novella "I Can make it to California Before It's Time for Dinner" was much too graphic. It would have been much more powerful with implication and not literal detail. That said, it was a very original storyline that was otherwise hard to put down.
Good read.Well written novellas.
Full review forthcoming at HTMLGiant. Incredibly haunting pair of novellas that must be read.
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Jan 11, 2013 11:26am