Other Electricities: Stories
by Ander Monson
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 129)
Read in September, 2008
This book is like "Winesburg, Ohio," with the characters scraped clean, like the story of the map at the beginning of that book. Anderson's book, like Monson's, attempts to piece together a community through "stories," but where Anderson focuses on the "life" of the small town, its people, Monson's theme is death, or absence of life, absence of people.
Which is not to say that Monson doesn't populate his fictions with characters, only that those characters make w...more
Which is not to say that Monson doesn't populate his fictions with characters, only that those characters make w...more
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Read in June, 2007
Monson's stunning stories move 'from a world of hard but sparse facts to a storyscape of soft, fulfilling fictions.' He writes with distinctive whimsy and obsesssion, earning moments of inevitable, surprising beauty. At the center of everything is the ‘radio amateur,’ a meditative youth in Michigan’s upper peninsula, whose father is withdrawn into a world of ham radio, whose mother has vanished, and whose older brother is armless and aphasiac. Around him gather stories of friends and town...more
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Read in March, 2007
recommends it for:
People searching for a connection
It's been a really long time since I've read a book that has connected with me in a way that this book has. Maybe it's because I'm from a Michigan small town (albeit Lower Peninsula) and can recall, if not somewhat relate to the many characters in these series of seperate, yet intertwined stories. Ander Monson has definitely picked up a new fan and I can't wait to read more from him.
Added note:
I was finally able to see Ander Monson at the Printer's Row Book Fair after a couple of previou...more
Added note:
I was finally able to see Ander Monson at the Printer's Row Book Fair after a couple of previou...more
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1 comments
Read in April, 2007
recommends it for:
poets and midwesterners
this book of short stories/pieces left me verbally imprinted with loneliness and grief. don't read this if you are depressed. Monson is from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Funny, because I once had a long distance boyfriend who lived in this strange little town and I often took the greyhound up to visit him. Such a weird place! It is like being in some 1950's Finnish town and I love that the acronym for the university there is F U. I spent a year 2000 New Year's eve there, far away from techno...more
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I bought this in preparation for a trip to Michigan where I thought I might look up Ander, a friend of a friend. I had just bought a new bike helmet, but I was also *wearing* a helmet, and the two-helmet deal was almost too much for the bookstore clerk. "What, you're wearing *two* helmets now?" she asked. "Is that supposed to be *safer*?"
I went to Michigan, didn't manage to look up Ander, and failed to read the book until a few months later.
All of this is by way of put...more
I went to Michigan, didn't manage to look up Ander, and failed to read the book until a few months later.
All of this is by way of put...more
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Read in March, 2008
My favorite part of Other Electricites was the form--short stories told from differing perspectives and centered around the deaths in a Northern Michigan town. I found Monson's writing most interesting when it was at it's most poetic and his forms were more experimental. I truly liked the index of themes at the end.
I definitely felt the characters were always real and never being looked down on. My only criticism was that there are few light spots in the dark/wintery tone that permeates t...more
I definitely felt the characters were always real and never being looked down on. My only criticism was that there are few light spots in the dark/wintery tone that permeates t...more
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Read in May, 2006
The cover declares Other Electricities "stories," but I think of it as a story cycle, or a novel in stories. What connects the stories is their location, which is not just a small town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but a small town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in midwinter: snow and ice fill the book, or empty it out, blank as empty pages, empty spaces, loss; lost girls and women, murdered or drowned by misadventure or simply gone away.
Full review at: http://coffeeandink.livejourna......more
Full review at: http://coffeeandink.livejourna......more
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Read in November, 2006
A series of interrelated, experimental short stories. The best stories in this collection (even though they are often bleak) make me excited about reading and living. There are several that are just alright and there are one or two things I thought he could have handled much better. I am probably a little more generous than others might be, but I give him a lot of credit for trying new things and because the good stories are that good.
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Read in May, 2008
Monson's Other Electricities is collection of delicate and moving short stories, or rather "shorts" that piece together the life of a group of friends and families who are coping with death, love loss, boredom, malaise. The best story in this book remains the title piece, that to me seems the heart of the entire book.
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I need to re-read this one, to look at how it works too, like I'm doing with Austerlitz and did with Impossible Object. It's similar to Impossible Object, because it's seemingly made up of short stories, but they're actually part of one narrative, sort of splintered and seen from different angles.
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First story is well worth a read by anyone.
The rest of the book is a bit more peculiar. It's filled with schematics, diagrams, and other odd structure devices. None are overly distracting, but might not be to everyone's taste.
Definitely, a unique voice in short stories.
The rest of the book is a bit more peculiar. It's filled with schematics, diagrams, and other odd structure devices. None are overly distracting, but might not be to everyone's taste.
Definitely, a unique voice in short stories.
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Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
Linguists
Creative and powerful use of the written word to convey deep emotions and connections outside the typical realm of word choice and structure. Dark but meaningful relationships and means to deal with life in all it's absurdity. Sparse presentation, dense content. I loved it!
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Read in January, 2007
I could not put this down until I was finished, and then I wanted to start it all over again. There's something about the tension, and the space, in this book that made me happy to be receptive.
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I was lucky enough to take a workshop with Ander. He is a genius, and one of the most down to earth people I know. I admire him greatly.
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Very interesting collection of short stories that have some links, and some of which are told in very unique ways.
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such a great book and no one talks about it. a lesson in brevity while still being lyrical. inventive.
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Read in June, 2008
So dark and cold and lonely. I don't know if I'll have time to read all of this. Maybe later.
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Read in May, 2007
recommended to Adam Joseph by:
Meagan
Why wasn't I made aware of this book sooner? Like a cold walk down memory Lain.
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Read in March, 2008
very good writing - interconnected stories. Excellent, creative format
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