Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
302nd out of 1,169 books
—
879 voters
Come to Me
by
Amy Bloom
Amy Bloom's 1993 collection, Come to Me, is filled with yearning mysteries of romantic and familial love that are far more complex than the phrase "love story" allows. The first sentence of the first story, "Love Is Not a Pie," evinces the contradictions, layers, and interconnections of her narrator's existence--and hooks the reader entirely. "In the middle of the eulogy a...more
Hardcover, Macmillan Paperback First
Published
by Macmillan _
(first published 1993)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
2,280)
Oh, jeez, Silver Water. one of the best short stories ever written. such amazing charecter. unforgettable. the big fat schizophrenic sister who makes everyone in the family insane with her, the even fatter phycotherapist, the only one that can not only help them, but peg them for who they really are. it follows my favorite equation for a good story:
1. be as brutal as possible
2. leave no stone uninsulted, especially your own!
4. make people wonder why they are reading this
5. make your characeter...more
1. be as brutal as possible
2. leave no stone uninsulted, especially your own!
4. make people wonder why they are reading this
5. make your characeter...more
Ugh. Sleepwalking in particular is one of the worst short stories I have ever read. Considering that Amy Bloom is a psychotherapist you would think that she'd have more insight into the way that people actually live their lives rather than just writing out her own fantasies. No believable dialogue. Irritating. Cheap. Just awful.
This is an insightful, lyrical collection of short stories by a psychotherapist.
Having read her other books, Love Invents Us, and A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You, I think "Come To Me," is Amy Bloom's finest by far.
Each story broaches delicate issues of life and death, love and loss, and definition of family with humor and humility. Nothing is taken for granted, including the way she carefully chooses each word, each turn in the story.
Enter the beginning story with Ellen at her mother's...more
Having read her other books, Love Invents Us, and A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You, I think "Come To Me," is Amy Bloom's finest by far.
Each story broaches delicate issues of life and death, love and loss, and definition of family with humor and humility. Nothing is taken for granted, including the way she carefully chooses each word, each turn in the story.
Enter the beginning story with Ellen at her mother's...more
This is a lovely book of twelve stories featuring love, relationships and the moments of heartbreak that threaten to pull us under. Bloom’s writing is easy going even when you hit upon the grittier more disturbing components of a few of the stories.
I’m impressed with how well she developes the characters and makes us feel for them and it is done in such a way that I don’t feel inundated with detail, just gently brought along for the ride.
The occasional startling revelation never seems out of pl...more
I’m impressed with how well she developes the characters and makes us feel for them and it is done in such a way that I don’t feel inundated with detail, just gently brought along for the ride.
The occasional startling revelation never seems out of pl...more
You would think that I would have gotten my hands on an Amy Bloom book by now. I mean, when I think of "great modern-day short story writers," her name is one of the first that comes to mind.
I've read a handful of Amy Bloom's stories before - in the various Best Of and O.Henry collections, one or two in A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You (one of the best book titles ever), as well as her work in O Magazine (I think it was O) - but never sat down with one of her books in its entirety.
So I...more
I've read a handful of Amy Bloom's stories before - in the various Best Of and O.Henry collections, one or two in A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You (one of the best book titles ever), as well as her work in O Magazine (I think it was O) - but never sat down with one of her books in its entirety.
So I...more
Nov 10, 2010
Brandon
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
short story writers
Recommended to Brandon by:
Terry Hertzler
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I'm really glad that I read this book. I didn't always know what to make of A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You—I really enjoyed the writing in some places and enjoyed the number of LGBT characters but sometimes felt bored with her style of writing. I really enjoyed this collection, though. My favorites were the stories found in the sections "Three Stories" and "Henry and Marie." Maybe I'm just a big fan of collections of short stories with stories told from different points of view of reocc...more
I really love the way Amy Bloom writes: spare, straightforward, to the point. She focuses on the right details, but doesn't allow you to linger too long on them. At first I felt that the stories in this, her first collection, were fairly dark. And while there is some tragedy here, she's not afraid to look beyond the tragedy and show us that life carries on. The darkness is accompanied by light. The heartache balanced by hope. But the intensity of both darkness and light is real. What people expe...more
I found this collection of short stories to be very engaging. I was tempted to read the book straight through in one sitting, but forced myself to slow down to savor them a bit. I actually liked all of the stories, but my absolute favorites were "Silver Water", "When the Year Grows Old", and "Psychoanalysis Changed My Life". I'll be on the lookout for more from this author.
She is an excellent author. Each story vividly brought to life the characters, their emotions, etc. The story lines for the most part did not shed the best light on relationships..some yes, most no.
I do want to read Even a Blind Man Can See I Love You, because you recommended Kit and also because I do think she is an excellent writer.
I do want to read Even a Blind Man Can See I Love You, because you recommended Kit and also because I do think she is an excellent writer.
Really really good collection of short stories. I'd say 4.5 stars -- I'm only rounding down because of up for my own tracking purposes.
I think Amy Bloom is a really excellent writer. The arc of her stories was always spot on for me. And even if I didn't always identify with the characters,I could feel them . The two things I enjoyed most about this collection were:
1. Recurring characters -- never the same main characters, but for example, the kids from one story would show up in another, except...more
I think Amy Bloom is a really excellent writer. The arc of her stories was always spot on for me. And even if I didn't always identify with the characters,I could feel them . The two things I enjoyed most about this collection were:
1. Recurring characters -- never the same main characters, but for example, the kids from one story would show up in another, except...more
Pretty sure I had/read a first cover hard copy of this back in 94. Lent it out. Wish I had it, 'cause this little book of stories is haunting. Dirty laundry not quite aired. Interlocking lives and stories. Complications. I couldn't have told you before I reread this what the stories were about, but I've always remembered the book, the cover, the (w)holes it left. You can't say that about every book you never got back. And after rereading each little world, I remembered the lives, the unfinished-...more
Amy Bloom is not just a fiction writer--she's a practicing psychologist. There are two gems in this collection-Silver Waters and Love is Not a Pie. Silver Waters is about a sister's memories of Rose both before and after she became psychotic: "she opened her mouth unnaturally wide and her voice came out, so crystalline and bright that all the departing opera goers stood frozen by their cars, and then they cheered like hell. That is what I like to remember. I wanted them to know her , to know tha...more
I love the way she writes, and that she writes about the little things in life - the normal relationships and grind and hurts and joys - and makes them readable, and makes me feel them.
I really like what she can make you feel. You don't want her to, but she'll do it, and you thank her later. She will make you get stuff that you can not comprehend before you read her. SOOK
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Molly Bloom is one of my latest literary crushes. I had never heard of her, but Pam Houston put her on my reading list. I don’t just want to write like Bloom, I want to BE like her. If I had a therapist, I would want her to be my therapist, too. She divides her time between her therapy practice and her writing, and if I had to imagine the ideal fiction writer as psychotherapist, it would be her. She writes about perversions, obsessions, love and passion in its deepest, darkest crevices without a...more
People have been known to trade their immortal souls for all kinds of things. Assuming I have an immortal soul, if I were offered the chance to trade it for Amy Bloom's gift of writing, I'd have to think hard.
Come To Me is an astonishing collection of stories about love: for husbands, wives, lovers, children, parents, mentors, forbidden objects of desire. Some of the stories are linked into mini-novellas. Some stand alone.
I didn't actually love all the stories, some of whose plots I thought were...more
Come To Me is an astonishing collection of stories about love: for husbands, wives, lovers, children, parents, mentors, forbidden objects of desire. Some of the stories are linked into mini-novellas. Some stand alone.
I didn't actually love all the stories, some of whose plots I thought were...more
So I guess Amy Bloom is kinda big in the short story world, and evidently I am not really in the know when it comes to short stories/essays because I had never heard of Amy Bloom when I picked this book up. And I now believe I could have carried on perfectly fine living a totally content life never having read anything by her and I wouldn't have been missing anything except maybe one story that's just disturbingly perverse, which is the only reason it ends up standing out at all.
"Sleepwalking" t...more
"Sleepwalking" t...more
Originally posted on my blog, http://thereaderscommute.blogspot.com
Amy Bloom is a storyteller I turn to again and again; whether it's because I want a good cry or I want sentences so beautiful that they make me cry, Bloom does not disappoint. This summer I had the opportunity to read her 1993 short story collection, Come to Me.
The winning story in this collection was certainly "Silver Water," a piece that explores that relationship between a girl and her mentally-handicapped sister. As the narr...more
Amy Bloom is a storyteller I turn to again and again; whether it's because I want a good cry or I want sentences so beautiful that they make me cry, Bloom does not disappoint. This summer I had the opportunity to read her 1993 short story collection, Come to Me.
The winning story in this collection was certainly "Silver Water," a piece that explores that relationship between a girl and her mentally-handicapped sister. As the narr...more
Apr 16, 2012
Athena Kennedy
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
national-book-award-nominee
Have to admit I was not wild about this collection of short stories by Amy Bloom. The first story, Love Is Not a Pie, about a family dealing with the death of her mother, and her unusual relationshiop with two men, did move me to tears. But it was by far the best in a collection filled with phychologically troubled protagonists.
Bloom's characters suffer from every physchological trouble in the book - which is understandable since she spends most of her time as a practicing phychologist. Her cha...more
Bloom's characters suffer from every physchological trouble in the book - which is understandable since she spends most of her time as a practicing phychologist. Her cha...more
I read this collection years ago and liked it and decided to pick it up again (or check it out again)after a conversation with my friend Angel about "Silver Water," a commonly assigned story in writing workshops.
Even though I'd read it before, these stories were fresh and startling. In my constant search for love and understanding in life, these stories presented different versions of love, often larger than anything I'm used to encountering. And they're just so well-written! I highly recommend...more
Even though I'd read it before, these stories were fresh and startling. In my constant search for love and understanding in life, these stories presented different versions of love, often larger than anything I'm used to encountering. And they're just so well-written! I highly recommend...more
I loved her Away so when I saw this short collection of her short stories, I was anxious to get right into them. Disappointment from the first story which is about a mother who ends up in bed with her stepson who she has raised as her own son with her own child for many years after the death of the boys' father???? Not a scenario that made me want to read more! And, the other stories did nothing to cleanse the bad taste from my mouth - can't recommend it, but do highly recommend AWAY!
2007 Notes:
Amy Bloom is the literary equivalent of Norah Jones. Her stories are soulful, sexy, and bittersweet.
* * * * *
2011 Notes: From reading and rereading this book, I slowly felt more loved and learned how to better accept and love others. In one story, a mother remarks how beautiful her teenage daughter is; her words healed the part of my heart that broke when my mom made me feel ugly. And reading about intelligent, kind characters who fall in love with the wrong people made me more tole...more
Amy Bloom is the literary equivalent of Norah Jones. Her stories are soulful, sexy, and bittersweet.
* * * * *
2011 Notes: From reading and rereading this book, I slowly felt more loved and learned how to better accept and love others. In one story, a mother remarks how beautiful her teenage daughter is; her words healed the part of my heart that broke when my mom made me feel ugly. And reading about intelligent, kind characters who fall in love with the wrong people made me more tole...more
Aug 13, 2010
Milo King
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
contemporary-american-fiction,
short-stories
Unusual stories of both ordinary and unusual characters, many damaged in some way, most not without their charm...Bloom, a psychotherapist by profession, plumbs the psychological depths of these folks in touching a revealing ways. These stories are emotionally compelling, sometimes horrifyingly painful, but never so foreign that one cannot relate to the fears and desires of the lives Bloom depicts so artfully.
With each work by Amy Bloom, I fall more and more in love with her story-telling abilities. Come To Me is a fabulous collection of short stories. Once again, some of the stories are interconnected, which I find to be a fascinating literary device wherein stories can be told over many years, and through multiple perspectives. Song of Solomon is the love story of a single mother, and the man who delivers her baby. Hyacinths is about a young boy involved in the accidental shooting of another boy, a...more
Should a short story collection be graded on its best stories or should it be critiqued as a whole? I ask this question because there are maybe one or two stories in here that are superb, but the rest are good but not great. Silver Water's definitely in that first category. It differs from the other stories in that it's more poetic in its character descriptions and its narrative. Therefore, causing it to flow so well.
If it is true that a writer writes about what they know and that their first work is often semi-biographical, then Amy Bloom's life is a soap opera. He's sleeping with her who is sleeping with him, but he doesn't know that she is also sleeping with her who is sleeping with him, her, and her...
Despite the constant theme of "Relationships Gone Wild", Bloom's stories are lyrical and engaging. I breezed through this collection in a couple of days. Several of the stories are interconnected, with diff...more
Despite the constant theme of "Relationships Gone Wild", Bloom's stories are lyrical and engaging. I breezed through this collection in a couple of days. Several of the stories are interconnected, with diff...more
I haven't read this book yet, but Melissa Lion who is the author of Swollen and Upstream has a great review of this book and *A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You* by Bloom.
"Amy Bloom's Come to Me and A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You. These two collections capture longing and loving and sex so beautifully. Many of her stories center around lovers, people in unhappy or simply fulfilling marriages who seek another's touch. In our culture, where breaking from a monogamous relationship des...more
"Amy Bloom's Come to Me and A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You. These two collections capture longing and loving and sex so beautifully. Many of her stories center around lovers, people in unhappy or simply fulfilling marriages who seek another's touch. In our culture, where breaking from a monogamous relationship des...more
This is Bloom's first collection and the stories are beautiful and polished, though I didn't have that "gem after gem" reaction that I did with her most recent book. "Love is Not a Pie" is the first story in the book and my favorite: a woman reflects on the relationship between her father and her mother's lover.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Amy Bloom is the author of "Come to Me," a National Book Award finalist; "A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You," nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award; "Love Invents Us"; and "Normal." Her stories have appeared in Best American Short Stories, O. Henry Prize Short Stories, The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction, and many other anthologies here and abroad. She has wri...more
More about Amy Bloom...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“I do not say what I feel, and people often take that for shyness, even kindness.”
—
12 people liked it
“they danced as though they'd been waiting all their lives for each song.”
—
6 people liked it
More quotes…
May 11, 2012 01:57pm