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The Mechanics of Falling and Other Stories
"This book presents eleven new stories that are set in and around San Francisco by an award-winning author. The stories in this collection explore those moments when the seemingly fixed coordinates of our lives abruptly give way - when mother love fractures, a faithful husband abandons his family, a conscientious middle-class life implodes, or loyalty demands an excru...more
Hardcover, 248 pages
Published
February 28th 2009
by University of Nevada Press
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The Mechanics of Falling and Other Stories by Catherine Brady is made up of 11 short stories, set in or around the San Francisco area. As a former Northern Californian, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of familiarity when a place name was mentioned that I recognized.
I have come to appreciate short stories more and more in recent years. Once I realized that short stories are not supposed to me mini novels, I am better able to enjoy them for what they are. Short story writers have les...more
I have come to appreciate short stories more and more in recent years. Once I realized that short stories are not supposed to me mini novels, I am better able to enjoy them for what they are. Short story writers have les...more
Serena
rated it
Recommends it for:
gautami, those that like short stories
Recommended to Serena by:
Trish
Catherine Brady's had a lot of practice writing short stories, and it shines through in The Mechanics of Falling & Other Stories. In "Slender Little Thing," Brady modifies a poetic form, known as Pantoum, in which the second and fourth lines of the first stanza are repeated as the first and third lines of the next stanza. The Pantoum is a variation of the Villanelle, in which the first and third lines in a three line stanza poem are repeated as a refrain alternately throughout the poem...more
The turns in Brady's stories are so subtle and elegantly wrought that I find myself rereading them, simply to try and understand how it is a writer can render an entire life in only so few pages. Though the focus in these stories is usually on moments of people's lives, the reader can get a sense of the entire landscape of their experience. There's a reason Brady teaches in a master's program; she's mastered the short story.
I was particularly fond of the second (Or third?) story in t...more
I was particularly fond of the second (Or third?) story in t...more
I feel slightly guilty marking this as "read." In truth I did almost make it through the entire work and that's what it was-- work.
To be fair though, the title story was very good. She developed the characters so that I felt I was sitting on the porch watching them with the horses and each other.
But the rest of the book was weak-- I kept expecting something clever. I wanted to finish a story and think, "Now that's some excellent writing!" That nev...more
To be fair though, the title story was very good. She developed the characters so that I felt I was sitting on the porch watching them with the horses and each other.
But the rest of the book was weak-- I kept expecting something clever. I wanted to finish a story and think, "Now that's some excellent writing!" That nev...more
This book was alive with vibrant stories and robust characters. Each story left me with a sense of fully knowing the characters. And the writing wrapped itself around me - loved it!
This is a series of shortstories. Every story has characters that have very serious problems and there is no hope in any of their lives. I think this is what bothered me most. All the men in the book were either weak, losers or stupid. Just overall a very depressing book.
Maria Espinosa
is currently reading it
compassionate brilliantly crafted work
Catherine Brady reads her story "Slender Little Thing" on KQED The Writers' Block http://www.kqed.org/arts/programs/writer...
Meredith Jones
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