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377th out of 1,003 books
—
2,195 voters
Museum of the Weird
by
Amelia Gray (Goodreads Author)
Winner of FC2’s American Book Review/Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Prize
A monogrammed cube appears in your town. Your landlord cheats you out of first place in the annual Christmas decorating contest. You need to learn how to love and care for your mate—a paring knife. These situations and more reveal the wondrous play and surreal humor that make up the stories in Am...more
A monogrammed cube appears in your town. Your landlord cheats you out of first place in the annual Christmas decorating contest. You need to learn how to love and care for your mate—a paring knife. These situations and more reveal the wondrous play and surreal humor that make up the stories in Am...more
Paperback, 176 pages
Published
September 7th 2010
by Fiction Collective 2
(first published August 1st 2010)
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i think this is the kind of collection that it is best not to read all at once. i should have set a limit on them - three a day or something. i think they are too short to read all at one go - they are so short that it is hard not to read them all at once, but i think i would have enjoyed them more had i read them in tinier gulps.
the vanished was by far my favorite. to me, it read like an outtake from her full-length novel, threats, which i loved loved loved. this collection was what i expected...more
the vanished was by far my favorite. to me, it read like an outtake from her full-length novel, threats, which i loved loved loved. this collection was what i expected...more
first book of 2011!
This book suffers from a common problem of second books read. It isn't as good as the first book.
If this book had been written by nick hornby it would have been 4 stars, if it had been debut collection it would have been a high 4 stars perhaps a low five. But compared to Gray's other book this one just wasn't quite as enjoyable for me it's definitely like a 3.4 comparatively. On some level this is unfair, I'm expecting a level of perfection or an approach that I saw before an...more
This book suffers from a common problem of second books read. It isn't as good as the first book.
If this book had been written by nick hornby it would have been 4 stars, if it had been debut collection it would have been a high 4 stars perhaps a low five. But compared to Gray's other book this one just wasn't quite as enjoyable for me it's definitely like a 3.4 comparatively. On some level this is unfair, I'm expecting a level of perfection or an approach that I saw before an...more
In Calliope, a story in Neil Gaiman's Dream Country, Dream dicovers that the muse of the same name, his former lover and mother of his son, has been imprisoned and brutalized by a writer, Richard Madoc. When he insists that Richard free her and his lame excuse is that he can't yet because he needs the ideas, Dream scoffs, "You want ideas? You want dreams? Here they are." Cue Richard several hours later, scratching his hands bloody on the wall, trying desperately to write down the immense flood o...more
The biggest detriment to any overall short story collection is often that the stories are, more or less, highly similar to each other in many ways - style, tone, themes, etc. For a good collection, this is perfect, since you're guaranteed to like most, if not all the stories. For a bad collection, this is terrible, since you're guaranteed to hate pretty much all the stories.
Amelia Gray manages to defy expectations in Museum of the Weird by never dwelling in any one style or tone, jumping around...more
Amelia Gray manages to defy expectations in Museum of the Weird by never dwelling in any one style or tone, jumping around...more
I found this book to be a little hit or miss: for every story I loved, like the truly gruesome "Dinner," the playfully surreal "Javelina," or the short run of stories at the end of the book that were almost post-Freudian case studies, they were so flat and affectlessly interesting, there were others that meandered, repeated, and didn't do much but space out the collection. I'm not sure you need two stories about men who are obsessed with women who wait tables, for example. I liked "The Pit" as a...more
I read Amelia Gray's Museum of the Weird in about 5 hours. It was a collection of short stories about things that don't really happen, but I'm not sure if that makes them weird. What was weird was her obsession with food. Here is a partial list of things eaten:
pieces of chocolate
human tongue
toes
fish sticks
hair
tomato-cream bisque
prickly pears
packet of sunflower seeds
cottage cheese
banana bread
hair (again)
even more hair
lemon bars
2 goldfish
porterhouse steak
creamed peas
strawberry
warm bread
gelatin
balo...more
pieces of chocolate
human tongue
toes
fish sticks
hair
tomato-cream bisque
prickly pears
packet of sunflower seeds
cottage cheese
banana bread
hair (again)
even more hair
lemon bars
2 goldfish
porterhouse steak
creamed peas
strawberry
warm bread
gelatin
balo...more
There isn’t a bad story in this collection, and my innate hypergraphia is taking a nap at the moment, so I will just focus on the best of the bunch.
Let’s begin with “Waste.” This was one of those stories that, as I read it, made me feel like I was going a little insane. It’s a strange piece that I found compelling despite the fact that I find eating pig horrifying. Perhaps I liked the story because Gray’s characters explore the whole, “when does it stop being pig and become pork.” A man who work...more
Let’s begin with “Waste.” This was one of those stories that, as I read it, made me feel like I was going a little insane. It’s a strange piece that I found compelling despite the fact that I find eating pig horrifying. Perhaps I liked the story because Gray’s characters explore the whole, “when does it stop being pig and become pork.” A man who work...more
This review was first written for Stereo Subversion. You can find the original post here: http://stereosubversion.com/reviews/a...
Every so often, as I read through the stories in Amelia Gray’s Museum of the Weird, I flipped the book closed and stared at the photo of the author on the back cover. She sits with a half-smile on her face in a white, long-sleeved button-down, her left arm resting casually on a table or something conveniently table-sized that sits just out of the picture. I wouldn’t b...more
Every so often, as I read through the stories in Amelia Gray’s Museum of the Weird, I flipped the book closed and stared at the photo of the author on the back cover. She sits with a half-smile on her face in a white, long-sleeved button-down, her left arm resting casually on a table or something conveniently table-sized that sits just out of the picture. I wouldn’t b...more
wow. burned through this one. i'll be honest, there were two shorter pieces where i thought, that's clever but the conceits felt more weighty than the actual stories. HOWEVER, that's two out of twenty-four. that's way better odds than most story collections with their filler patties.
and no, if you're guessing, it's not the cottage cheese one. that one killed me. as did almost every story in here. amelia has this deft, careful hand where the craft (people cringe at this word, but c'mon, seriousl...more
and no, if you're guessing, it's not the cottage cheese one. that one killed me. as did almost every story in here. amelia has this deft, careful hand where the craft (people cringe at this word, but c'mon, seriousl...more
I'm always refreshed when I come a cross an author writing the weird and writing it well. To write it well, to me, means to make it serve a purpose beyond its own weirdness, and Amelia Gray uses the bizarre and the fantastical to highlight and reexamine parts of our every day existence. As readers, we tour the Childhood Home of Ronald Reagan because the tour reveals something beyond the late president. A plate of hair is served at a restaurant because it exposes the inherent absurdity of convent...more
I am ecstatic to see that all the exciting writing out there isn't just the province of overseas authors, that Americans are still in the mix and still doing exciting things. I adored this collection. Gray is definitely unique as a writer, but in her own way her writing shares some of the elements that most fascinate me about authors like Keret and Murakami. This collection is marvelously strange, turning the world on its head and finding wonders in places too familiar to ordinarily look. In the...more
The title is spot-on. Gray's collection is like wandering through a museum someone pasted together in their basement, full of objects with powerful significance for the curator, significance visitors can only begin to understand. Her stories are weird and wonderful, taking oddities in stride. A man calmly tourniquets the leg of a woman who cut off her own toes to eat. Parents debate the inscription on a mysterious giant iron cube while their children toss rocks into a nearby lake. A woman wonder...more
I finished this book last weekend but I've been away from the computer this week and am just getting around to updating.
This was my first time reading Amelia Gray, and I'm quite taken with her. Not swept off of my feet and breathless like I was when I read my first Aimee Bender collection (Willful Creatures: Stories), but definitely in the same ballpark. Many of the stories are flash fiction length; some I wished were longer (Babies), while others were perfect in their brevity (Unsolved Mystery...more
This was my first time reading Amelia Gray, and I'm quite taken with her. Not swept off of my feet and breathless like I was when I read my first Aimee Bender collection (Willful Creatures: Stories), but definitely in the same ballpark. Many of the stories are flash fiction length; some I wished were longer (Babies), while others were perfect in their brevity (Unsolved Mystery...more
It read the first half of this book in small chucks: a story or two at a time, so I could think about them. The second half a read almost all at once, but by then I had a feel for her storytelling style.
Some of these stories I feel like she is talking about something else and so I want to figure out what it is that she is really trying to show in a different light. Some of the stories seems to be written to present a strange image. A couple of them seem to be written mostly as lead in to the en...more
Some of these stories I feel like she is talking about something else and so I want to figure out what it is that she is really trying to show in a different light. Some of the stories seems to be written to present a strange image. A couple of them seem to be written mostly as lead in to the en...more
Mar 10, 2012
s.penkevich
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Your creative side
Recommended to s.penkevich by:
AM/PM
This collection is a strong shot of creativity. Gray has mastered the art of perfect phrasing and tone, and frames these strange and inventive tales in flawless language, using just the minimum amount of space to deliver the maximum effect. It is astonishing what she can do in just a few short pages. These stories, ranging from the funny or sad to the downright bizarre, will make anyone who has tried there hand at creative writing glow with admiration.
It is difficult to put into words how I feel...more
It is difficult to put into words how I feel...more
AMELIA GRAY & LINDSAY HUNTER ON THE BIG UGLY (first published 10/25/10 on Vol. 1 Brooklyn)
Say we’re trapped in a heart-shaped box where meanness, ignorance, dementia and brutality make up the walls around us. There’s no way out, no chance for escape. Even if we manage somehow to move through the world, this box defines our every thought and action, the smear from its walls an indelible imprint, soaked into the marrow of our bones. We pass it on to our children, our partners, everyone we meet...more
Say we’re trapped in a heart-shaped box where meanness, ignorance, dementia and brutality make up the walls around us. There’s no way out, no chance for escape. Even if we manage somehow to move through the world, this box defines our every thought and action, the smear from its walls an indelible imprint, soaked into the marrow of our bones. We pass it on to our children, our partners, everyone we meet...more
It's been too long since I read something from Amelia Gray. Glad to get back into it.
The stories in Museum of the Weird are everything you'd expect if you're familiar with Gray's work: weird, uncomfortable, touching, and wonderful. Whether it's a woman who has a new baby every day, or javelinas that are tasked with negotiating a hostage situation, the characters in this story are sympathetic because, like us, they suffer quiet tragedies and celebrate tiny, internal victories.
Gray does a good j...more
The stories in Museum of the Weird are everything you'd expect if you're familiar with Gray's work: weird, uncomfortable, touching, and wonderful. Whether it's a woman who has a new baby every day, or javelinas that are tasked with negotiating a hostage situation, the characters in this story are sympathetic because, like us, they suffer quiet tragedies and celebrate tiny, internal victories.
Gray does a good j...more
It's going to take me a while to fully digest these extremely well crafted stories, but one thing I'm sure of is that they will last and can hold up next to those of Kafka. Despite the cover, which I like, this collection seemed to hold more powerful darkness than AM/PM, which felt more lyrical and whimsical (though there was still a lot of great lighter shades of darkness). I now have to buy a second copy because I had to pass my first one on to my niece to spread the gospel of Gray.
I like Amelia Gray and I like weird stories, but this one just didn't deliver the panache I was looking for and had come to expect after reading AM/PM.
The stories that I liked which made this collection of short stories worth reading were:
1. Babies
2. Fish
3. There Will Be Sense
The things that all these stories had that made them more enjoyable than the rest of the collection was that they weren't weird for the sake of weirdness. They had a point and left me pondering some interesting nuances. Plu...more
The stories that I liked which made this collection of short stories worth reading were:
1. Babies
2. Fish
3. There Will Be Sense
The things that all these stories had that made them more enjoyable than the rest of the collection was that they weren't weird for the sake of weirdness. They had a point and left me pondering some interesting nuances. Plu...more
I liked this book. Surprisingly liked it. I wasn't sure I would when I started-- the first stories seemed to be trying too hard, as though conscious of their "weirdness." And not all of the stories worked. Some still managed to feel cliche. But overall, the impression left was of the woman blind to everything but a garden in forever-spring. I think there is a thread here, a curiosity about our deeply held, if irrational beliefs and why the status quo is just that. The gems were enough to make me...more
"you and your sleeves with the tricks in them and your special diet, the cottage cheese diet, the diet with cottage cheese, and as you eat the cottage cheese you hold very gently on your tongue the cottages and the people inside the cottages and the people are screaming"
I picked this up at my local library's "just in" shelf. The back cover's notes intrigued me, and I have thoroughly enjoyed this unexpected little treasure.
It's the kind of book that makes me want to meet the author--how does this brain function in real life?
It's the kind of book that makes me want to meet the author--how does this brain function in real life?
An unfortunate byproduct of being a writer is that stories lose that miracle-quality, that lovely mystery of how they do what they do. I can still love a short story, but I can also clinically pinpoint the pieces that construct that love. Except sometimes, very rarely, I can feel that story magic. I did in spades when reading Museum of the Weird. Most of these pieces are very short and many are very strange (in the best sort of way). I would reach their ends and find myself adoring them without...more
Short stories are incredibly hard to write well. These are written well. And strange. So strange. But not for the sake of being so, which makes them all the more enjoyable to read.
I enjoyed the quirky stories. They had a Kafka-esque feel to them. The interesting part for me was that, no matter how unusual the stories were, I could still see the basic human in them. We are weird, much as we might try to hide it.
This makes me believe magic and fist fighting others invisible friends is not only possible but a human destiny. After the brawl we will have some rose-hip tea together.
Not as in love with it as I was with her first book, AM/PM. Definitely weird. Favorite stories: "The Vanished", "This Quiet Complex", and "Trip Advisory: The Boyhood Home of Former President Ronald Reagan".
This book is full of tiny segments of writing that are not quite stories, but are very interesting and thought-provoking.
Nov 24, 2010
Niki Sorensen
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone who appreciates well-written short stories.
Shelves:
first-reads
This book is so much fun. I relished each story, and was pleasantly surprised at how indepth the stories were, as well as thought provoking. The stories are quirky, funny, and definitely weird. I really like weird. I highly recommend Museum of the Weird.
This is an interesting book - the short-short stories are all very inventive and clever, many of them hilarious, but something about them seems clipped off just before they're about to bloom. Too many times I found a big chunk of white space at the bottom of the facing page, letting me know that the story doesn't have time to do what it might have otherwise done.
That, and the eating. So much stuff about food - my wife is right to suggest that Ms. Gray may well be working through some serious fo...more
That, and the eating. So much stuff about food - my wife is right to suggest that Ms. Gray may well be working through some serious fo...more
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Amelia Gray is a writer living in Los Angeles, CA. She is the author of AM/PM (Featherproof Books), Museum of the Weird, (Fiction Collective 2) and THREATS (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). Her writing has appeared in American Short Fiction, McSweeney's, DIAGRAM, and Caketrain, among others.
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“They don't understand it. They're not old enough to know the first instinct of irritation should be avoided in order to keep an open mind.”
—
2 people liked it
“[Olive’s] left foot was bleeding through a wide swath of bandages onto the tarp it was resting on. The bowl next to her was full of blood.
Olive looked a little pale. “I don’t think I should move,” she said.
“What are you doing?” Roger shut the door behind him and stood with his back to it.
“I decided I might try to eat my toes,” Olive said, closing her eyes. “But now that I’ve started, I don’t think I should move.”
Roger pushed himself off the wall and knelt down next to her. He unbuckled her silver belt and reached with it under her dress. He looped the belt around the top of her leg and tightened it. His hands were not shaking.
“Sit on the loose end,” he said, pushing it under her. “I hope that works.”
“You brought flowers,” she said, blinking.
“Olive,” he said. “You cut off your toes.”
She looked down at the bowl. “Are they still toes?” she asked.”
—
1 person liked it
More quotes…
Olive looked a little pale. “I don’t think I should move,” she said.
“What are you doing?” Roger shut the door behind him and stood with his back to it.
“I decided I might try to eat my toes,” Olive said, closing her eyes. “But now that I’ve started, I don’t think I should move.”
Roger pushed himself off the wall and knelt down next to her. He unbuckled her silver belt and reached with it under her dress. He looped the belt around the top of her leg and tightened it. His hands were not shaking.
“Sit on the loose end,” he said, pushing it under her. “I hope that works.”
“You brought flowers,” she said, blinking.
“Olive,” he said. “You cut off your toes.”
She looked down at the bowl. “Are they still toes?” she asked.”
Apr 05, 2012 12:30pm
Apr 05, 2012 01:26pm