Four stories of comedy, deception, and revenge, including one previously unpublished, from the acclaimed author of Heir to the Glimmering World.Cyn...
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Mar 29, 2010
B
rated it: 
I've been stuck in short story land lately. Ozick pretty much left me whelmed. I enjoyed reading each story in the moment of reading it, but none of them particularly resonated with me as being incredibly clever or weird or awesome. I didn't think about them after I finished reading them, even the one about the actor. I really wanted the stories to be great because her book jacket photo is the happiest kookiest author photo ever. It makes me want to have her over for tea and talk about preposter
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Jan 16, 2009
Audrey
rated it: 
Perhaps I've lost my taste for self-conscious literature or perhaps I never recognized this characteristic in the "upscale" literature that I have liked best. Whichever the case, I did NOT like this book. I admire the craftsman's touch here--Ozick puts together words beautifully--but I did not like the characters and I did not find the stories edifying or meaningful. I felt like the stories all tried too hard to be something bigger than they were. And... well, I just personally dislike
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Jan 31, 2012
Deb
rated it: 
I have long loved Cynthia Ozick's writing--there are few writers that offer such pure pleasure from their sentences. But my response to this collection of four long stories is split: I adored the first story ("Dictation," about a hypothetical encounter between the typewriter/secretaries of Henry James and Joseph Conrad and their bid for an immortality of their own), admired the second ("Actors," about a "difficult" actor who gets rather too absorbed in his role), an
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Apr 05, 2009
Beth
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Four novella length separate pieces. The signature piece features the meeting of Henry James' and Joseph Conrad's secretaries and some secretary-induced infusion of each man's work into the other's. Can't remember the second story. In the third a young man marries his Italian chambermaid for obscure reasons. The last involves a young woman's elderly second cousin who harbors a secret about his dead child. Beautiful prose --- little plot --- probably some important message in each about the
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Jan 31, 2009
Rick
rated it:
Four amusing novellas from one of our better writers that don’t reach the level of her best work. They seem more clever exercises, expertly turned, like extended jazz riffs in a live performance on cute themes that don’t warrant a studio session. The first is about the typists for Henry James and Joseph Conrad getting together and for different reasons conspiring to transpose bits of each of the writers prose into the soon to be published novel of the other. So a bit of Conrad snuck into James i
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Dec 14, 2008
Suzanne
rated it:
Dictation is a collection of character studies as short stories. Cynthia Ozick falls far from practicing her 'technique'. Every character is fully realized and very human. The style of writing for each story breathe life into the characters and are all completely different. One is even completely Victorian English. The other stories are typically New York, but with very different voices. Thanks to Ms. Ozick for the reading pleasure.
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Dec 01, 2008
Patricia
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This one is a hard one for me to review. I loved the first story and the last story...but had trouble with the second and third stories. But one thing is for sure: Cynthia Ozick is a beautiful writer, and her work is so...interesting...that even when it's hard going it's still somehow worthwhile in the end. She's not going for casual, fun reads...she's trying to be thought-provoking, too. Sometimes, however, the stories can wind up being more confusing than thought-provoking.
Mar 11, 2011
Jennifer
rated it:
This is a collection of four short stories, which makes it hard to review as a whole. Each of the four stories is different in tone and style, and each marks Ozick as a master of language (I needed my dictionary for the first story, in particular). The stories were all interesting, though often without revealing any growth or change in the main characters. I'd like to try More Ozick.
Nov 16, 2008
El
rated it:
After reading The Puttermesser Papers I have been looking forward to reading something more by Cynthia Ozick; so when I saw this short story collection of four long stories I was eager to get to it. While I was not wholly disappointed, I also did not finish the book with a complete sense of satisfaction.
All four of the stories left me mostly wanting more. Sometimes this is a sign of a great story, so good I just want more, I don't want it to end. That wasn't quite the case with Oz More...
All four of the stories left me mostly wanting more. Sometimes this is a sign of a great story, so good I just want more, I don't want it to end. That wasn't quite the case with Oz More...
Mar 13, 2010
Chantel
rated it:
Love Cynthia Ozick. I'd give the stories, individually, five stars. Especially the first, "Dictation." Together, they don't seem to hold thematically in any way I can sort out. Perhaps there's something there about leading double lives, but that's stretching. Still, a fine quartet of stories. Cynthia Ozick is masterful.
Feb 04, 2011
jennifer
rated it:
I bought this because it was a signed copy on sale for $4.98 at Half Price Books. Also, read Ozick stuff in some Jewish lit classes in college. This "quartet" of stories was good the way Blue Bunny ice cream in a gallon bucket is good. The title story was much better than the other three and should have just been the book.
Aug 04, 2008
Sally
rated it: 
I ran into this title by clicking through on my "Word of the Day" email that I get from Dictionary.com. I think it was the word "amanuensis," that was quoted from this book. The quote was compelling enough that I ordered the book from my library.
It's very interesting so far: it tells the story of the secretaries (dictation-takers) of Henry James and Joseph Conrad as the two writers meet together. Story begins in 1901. The writing is very subtle: "Awed an More...
It's very interesting so far: it tells the story of the secretaries (dictation-takers) of Henry James and Joseph Conrad as the two writers meet together. Story begins in 1901. The writing is very subtle: "Awed an More...
Oct 25, 2008
Ann
rated it:
A lovely quartet of short stories by a talented author. The first story is the namesake of the book, and considered the strongest. I guess I agree with that, even though I felt more than a little irritation with the characters and the pacing. The second story, about the aging actor who thinks he has made the big time at last was finely done and very painful at the end. The third story, about the religious scholar who goes to a conference in Italy and ends up marrying his pregnant teenage chamber
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Jan 07, 2010
Lauren
rated it:
The first two stories were "two's" and the second two stories were "three's." The first two were slight and dated. The best of the stories was "What Happened to the Baby" although I don't think it a total success.
May 18, 2011
Joanna
rated it:
Cleverness, cruelty, creepiness, cunning... The four stories in this "quartet" share a certain mood of literate tension. The protaganists display a stunning lack of agency and are uneasily prodded into action by various antagonistic characters. In "Dictation" a strong willed woman prevails upon a weaker one in an imaginative tale about Henry James and Joseph Conrad. A snippet: "... she wore her hair in a softly sculpted chignon (a chignon as unlike Lilian's unreliable f
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Nov 28, 2010
Cooper
rated it:
Three stars is maybe a little too generous. The title story is a lot of fun--about Henry James, Joseph Conrad and their amanuenses--but the other three are pretty much just conventional contemporary lit.
Jan 02, 2009
Mary
rated it:
First reading of Ozick. I recognize the skill but
won't be looking for more unless I run out of
things that hold my attention better and do linger
in my mind.
won't be looking for more unless I run out of
things that hold my attention better and do linger
in my mind.
Oct 19, 2009
Katherine
rated it:
“His cheeks were a waterfall of rubbery creases” (70).
“…the silver thumb ring reddening in the light of the Exit sign whenever he glided past it” (77).
“Who would not choose an ocean, with its heaven-tugged tides, over a single drop?” (95).
“The wine was the color of light, immaculately clear, and warm, and wonderfully sour. He had never before rejoiced in such a depth of sourness—after you swallowed some and contemplated it, you entered the second chamber of the sourness, and he More...
“…the silver thumb ring reddening in the light of the Exit sign whenever he glided past it” (77).
“Who would not choose an ocean, with its heaven-tugged tides, over a single drop?” (95).
“The wine was the color of light, immaculately clear, and warm, and wonderfully sour. He had never before rejoiced in such a depth of sourness—after you swallowed some and contemplated it, you entered the second chamber of the sourness, and he More...
Dec 01, 2008
Jia-yi
rated it:
A quartet of four beautifully written short stories. Not exactly my cup of tea, but Ozick's mastery of the form is amazing to behold.
Mar 03, 2010
Marsha
rated it:
Witty, concise, and precise...this quartet is quintessential Ozick at her best. Try it and you won't be disappointed.
Apr 07, 2010
Clara
rated it:
I loved the title story of this collection, but the others became increasingly disappointing after the standout experience of "Dictation." As is usually the case, Ozick is, despite herself, a nonfiction essay writer. Her fiction is idea-driven, turning entirely on novel concepts that almost always fail to carry a story to a fulfilling conclusion. When it works, as it does in "Dictation," the result is fabulous, but more often than not I wish I were reading her nonfiction inst
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Sep 18, 2008
Michelle
rated it:
I either love Ozick or can't read her. This was a "love" match, particularly the first story, which concerns a fictional meeting between the type-writers (as in real women who typed their texts) of Henry James and Joseph Conrad. The last story, What Happened to the Baby?, is excellent as well. The two in between aren't bad. I definitely recommend it. The Puttermesser Papers is still my favorite, but this is a worthy addition.
Oct 11, 2008
Lauren
rated it:
I am mixed about these four stories. I was delighted by the first one, ambivilent about the second, disliked the third and was blown away by the fourth.
Ozick really has a gift for capturing place - the Catskill bungalow, the London tearoom, the Italian country road, the musty apartment of an elderly relative. Even the stories I didn't care for have a resounding sense of place.
Ozick really has a gift for capturing place - the Catskill bungalow, the London tearoom, the Italian country road, the musty apartment of an elderly relative. Even the stories I didn't care for have a resounding sense of place.
May 10, 2008
Bryan
rated it:
Another excellent collection of stories by Cynthia Ozick. The first story/novella (a curious friendship that develops between the secretaries of Henry James and Joseph Conrad) is among the most imaginative writing I've come across in a good while. Ozick's writing has never been more authoritatize; you truly feel as though you're reading a chapter from a biography. Simply put: amazing book.
Apr 04, 2009
Dawn
rated it:
So this is actually 4 longish stories. I read the first one - about the secretaries to Henry James & Joseph Conrad. Not great. I read the first pages of the subsequent 3 stories and then scheduled a trip to the library. :(
Jul 27, 2008
Rachel
rated it:
Each story is different which is something I really liked and the details were amazing for a short story. I felt like I was in each story. Though I definitely feel like I should read the book again because each story deserves to be read slowly and thoughtfully. Very different from most of the stories that are being published these days and it is refreshing.
Sep 01, 2008
Lori
rated it:
There's no arguing that Dictation is beautifully written: Ozick had me marveling at her turns of phrases, chuckling at her cleverness and seeing the world in a new way. But I never gave a damn about the stories. And if the book had been much longer than 179 pages, I'd have never made it through.
Aug 27, 2008
Tuck
rated it:
though not as good as some ozick i have read, these are fine stories, with Dictation being the best. you should read it for yourself, if you don't know ozick, this book would be the perfect introduction.
3 of the 4 stories have already appeared in the new yorker and atlantic monthly.
3 of the 4 stories have already appeared in the new yorker and atlantic monthly.
