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Indelible Acts: Stories
by
A.L. Kennedy
The love story (as well as the story of love lost, obsessed over, or longed for) gets a complete and thrilling renovation at the hands of the most virtuosic literary stylist to appear in the British Isles since Jeanette Winterson. A. L. Kennedy’s men and women huddle in foreign hotel rooms, immobilized by travel-sickness and betrayal. They plan seductions on the line at a ...more
Paperback, 208 pages
Published
December 18th 2007
by Vintage
(first published January 1st 2002)
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I haven't read much of Kennedy at all, but I don't think her style is like anyone else's: a combination of wit, reality, insight and sentence structure that is all her own. When I started reading this book, I was reminded of how much I previously admired, of all things, her use of colons! I don't think I've ever come across any writer who uses them so much and so well at the same time.
These are my favorite kind of stories: being inside the character's head, all inward looking out....more
These are my favorite kind of stories: being inside the character's head, all inward looking out....more
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Pretty hot and sultry in parts. Eloquently written across the board. Each story left a definite impression. I find with a lot of books of this nature -- though each story follows the same general theme such as love and relationships, a different character and perspective is used -- many writers give each story the same voice. Things begin to run together and you forget who you're reading about or what makes their experience with the particular theme so gosh darn interesting. But Kennedy kee...more
Jim
rated it
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review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Those who like their characters warts and all
"Grubby" is not a word I get the opportunity to use as a metaphor very often but it was how I felt when I started reading this book. The blurb on the back describes the stories as "powerful, intimate and angry" and I wouldn't disagree, but, rather than "intimate" some of the stories felt intrusive; I imagine there is very little this author would shy away from.
Many of the characters are not especially likeable. The opening story is about a man who start...more
Many of the characters are not especially likeable. The opening story is about a man who start...more
I picked this up on the recommendation of a travel guide book, as an example of good writing by a Scottish author. The writing is very good, but the Scottish nature of these stories is near to non-existent. What connects these stories together is their theme of adultery, a theme that is fairly common to mainstream literature these days (I've an aunt-in-law who used to complain that it was a criteria for Oprah's Book Club), but one that I had heretofore avoided in my own reading diet. Unfortunate...more
I'm halfway through this book, and it's wonderful. Each short story (and some are very short) holds a great deal of emotional meaning, without lurching into overstatement or cliche. I find I can't read many more than two stories at a time, or I start to lose the concentration this writing deserves.
I had never heard of A. L. Kennedy before, and this collection came out of nowhere and really dug into me. Her writing style is shamelessly poetic and dense, albeit sometimes too obtuse. She has a deep understanding of the contradictions in romance and relationships, and draws the pain, disappointment, and humor out of her characters in a way that makes us understand them most when they're silent, or even after when they've left the scene. It's almost too much smart writing at times, but it ends...more
Tangible and tactile. I can taste their drinks, I can smell their fires in the background, and feel their touch on my hands. Sexy. Magnetic. Heartbreaking. Magical.
Meh.
Elizabeth
marked it as to-read
Comments before reading: I'm not sure if I will enjoy this book or not. I'm not much of a short story reader. I am not sure how much I will like reading one story and then going right into another one in 20 some pages. Maybe the stories will end well so that I don't have any questions before starting the next one.
I put this book down for a while. This is going to be one that has to be read while I'm in a long car ride. I can't get in to short stories enough
Comments ...more
I put this book down for a while. This is going to be one that has to be read while I'm in a long car ride. I can't get in to short stories enough
Comments ...more
Kennedy is adept at refusing to allow her prose to steamroller her content. Yet the lapidary constraints of the short story sometimes put the steamroller far ahead of the newly flattened little people she creates.
This can be frustrating: in fact, many of these stories read like first chapters of attempted novels. You hunger for more, and wonder why she's giving us such a brief dreary glimpse into these dire life-slices.
Still: memorable, and often funny.
This can be frustrating: in fact, many of these stories read like first chapters of attempted novels. You hunger for more, and wonder why she's giving us such a brief dreary glimpse into these dire life-slices.
Still: memorable, and often funny.
I first read this book in my Scottish Fiction course at the University of St. Andrews and then chose to write my comps on the collection. I was mesmerized by her use of language which was concise yet very effective in creating vivid images and ideas. I loved the brutal beauty and reality in her observations of how all kinds of people interact within the many different spheres of personal relationships.
I've read many collections of short stories and to say one didn't impress me because I couldn't conjure up the book cover (or the stories by the book cover) isn't fair ... I read this collection a couple years ago and a couple of the stories have stuck with me ever since. I was happy to revisit them.
Bleak, beautifully constructed (and beautifully told) stories of stolen love, stolen confidences, hurt and hunger.
Not finished with this, but the stories I've read are beautiful and vulnerable.
heartbreakingly beautiful stories about longing.
Wolfseule
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Elizabeth
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Alison Louise Kennedy (born 22 October 1965 in Dundee) is a Scottish writer of novels, short stories and non-fiction. She is known for a characteristically dark tone, a blending of realism and fantasy, and for her serious approach to her work. She occasionally contributes columns and reviews to UK and European newspapers including the fictional diary of her pet parrot named Charlie.
More about A.L. Kennedy...
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“I can't help it either, the laughing: solemn gatherings, slow
ballads, pompous orations, any person or occasion that assumes I'll
offer my unreserved respect: I tend to find them all hysterical in the
end. Especially if someone similar is there to set me off. They don't
have to do much: I recognize what it looks like when somebody's
composure starts to strip itself away. They'll maybe cross their arms
with that twitchy, shaky, tension, or they'll grab down little wheezes
of embarrassed air, or they'll simply hood their faces under their
palm, trying to hide how fast they're slipping, how fast *we're*
slipping, because I'll be weakening with them by then, I'll be just as
lost, pulled equally tight against the moment when we both stop caring
and let it disgrace us -- when we laugh.”
—
3 people liked it
More quotes…
ballads, pompous orations, any person or occasion that assumes I'll
offer my unreserved respect: I tend to find them all hysterical in the
end. Especially if someone similar is there to set me off. They don't
have to do much: I recognize what it looks like when somebody's
composure starts to strip itself away. They'll maybe cross their arms
with that twitchy, shaky, tension, or they'll grab down little wheezes
of embarrassed air, or they'll simply hood their faces under their
palm, trying to hide how fast they're slipping, how fast *we're*
slipping, because I'll be weakening with them by then, I'll be just as
lost, pulled equally tight against the moment when we both stop caring
and let it disgrace us -- when we laugh.”
