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369th out of 680 books
—
2,758 voters
The Shell Collector: Stories
by
Anthony Doerr (Goodreads Author)
The exquisitely crafted stories in Anthony Doerr's acclaimed debut collection take readers from the African coast to the pine forests of Montana to the damp moors of Lapland, charting a vast physical and emotional landscape. Doerr explores the human condition in all its varieties-metamorphosis, grief, fractured relationships, and slowly mending hearts-and conjures nature i...more
Paperback, 224 pages
Published
February 15th 2003
by Penguin Books
(first published 2001)
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Man, this guy can write like he's an octogenarian. Bastard. Seriously. Like an octogenarian of the Wallace Stegner-class. Who does he think he is, writing timeless stories that will hold up way past the superficial, self-conscious Study of Self dreck that seems to stream from writing workshops these days. If I have to wallow through one more witless and hapless protagonist who washes his or her grief in some kind of pop culture balm, I will merely think of one of Doerr's stories to refrain from...more
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This is a collection of short stories from a pretty young author--really beautiful stuff. Sharon, this is the book I told you about with the story about the hunter's wife who touches the dying animals to feel their pain and their life. It stems from there to get even more dramatic and metaphysical but seriously.....the stories in here absolutely changed me and made me want to become a writer. There's a story in here about a homeless man who cuts out the hearts of beached whales and buries them a...more
Wow. What a great collection of stories. It's one of those books that I keep getting absorbed in, to the exclusion of what I probably ought to be doing. My kids keep asking me about the stories now, because I keep talking about them.
Even though there are similar themes to the stories, each one seems fresh and unique. The writing is beautiful, and the stories are magical. Those parts that are tragic are written with care, so the reading is not painful, but provides insight. And I feel uplifted by...more
Even though there are similar themes to the stories, each one seems fresh and unique. The writing is beautiful, and the stories are magical. Those parts that are tragic are written with care, so the reading is not painful, but provides insight. And I feel uplifted by...more
1 like · like · see review
review will follow - bit hectic at the moment (in a good way)...
still haven't got time to do it justice, and had to take the books (this one and Winter's Bone) back to the library, so I'll try and sum up what I remember feeling about this book.
It is exquisitely written, full of nature - fish,sea, mountains, animals feature heavily. There is some humour but maybe the stories take themselves a little too seriously, and not normally my kind of stuff - a blind shell collector becomes a sought out he...more
still haven't got time to do it justice, and had to take the books (this one and Winter's Bone) back to the library, so I'll try and sum up what I remember feeling about this book.
It is exquisitely written, full of nature - fish,sea, mountains, animals feature heavily. There is some humour but maybe the stories take themselves a little too seriously, and not normally my kind of stuff - a blind shell collector becomes a sought out he...more
2 likes · like · see review
In recent years, the short story has fallen on hard times. As evidence of that, I need only point to the websites of literary agents, which indicate that the only kind of writing less in demand is poetry.
I'm sure someday the genre will regain its rightful place, but until then rare collections like this one do a fine job of keeping it alive.
If I have any bone at all to pick with this one, it would just be the title. "The Shell Collector" is the opening story, and a wonderful story indeed; but it...more
I'm sure someday the genre will regain its rightful place, but until then rare collections like this one do a fine job of keeping it alive.
If I have any bone at all to pick with this one, it would just be the title. "The Shell Collector" is the opening story, and a wonderful story indeed; but it...more
This collection starts strong, then it starts to seem like this guy's instrument doesn't have too many strings and then he tries to write about Africans.
The first three stories are memorable and rewarding, pleasantly removed from day-to-day circumstances and romantically committed to unlikely pairings and second shots--"So Many Chances" I might read again just for pleasure. But, Doerr is hung up on female characters who aren't human (or female)--one dimensional fantasy objects for boy poets who...more
The first three stories are memorable and rewarding, pleasantly removed from day-to-day circumstances and romantically committed to unlikely pairings and second shots--"So Many Chances" I might read again just for pleasure. But, Doerr is hung up on female characters who aren't human (or female)--one dimensional fantasy objects for boy poets who...more
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I liked his more recent collection, Memory Wall, better, perhaps because the stories in Shell Collector were a bit more bizarre, or perhaps because his writing became refined over the years. However, even these stories from early in his career were well written, innovative and full of intriguing metaphor. At times dark, at times whimsical, at times even downright uncomfortable, these stories certainly took me to a place I wouldn't have gone on my own. Some common threads in his work seem to be h...more
A new, fresh highly focused voice in American literature
Anthony Doerr is an amazing talent. His chronological age (28) does not match his literary acumen, for here is a new writer who knows his craft so well that he is destined to be one of the more important authors of his generation ... and beyond.
In THE SHELL COLLECTOR Doerr has assembled short stories that are wide ranging in locale and in content. How he is able to convey with such clarity the terrain and atmosphere of Liberia, Finland, Bav...more
Anthony Doerr is an amazing talent. His chronological age (28) does not match his literary acumen, for here is a new writer who knows his craft so well that he is destined to be one of the more important authors of his generation ... and beyond.
In THE SHELL COLLECTOR Doerr has assembled short stories that are wide ranging in locale and in content. How he is able to convey with such clarity the terrain and atmosphere of Liberia, Finland, Bav...more
Dude can write. True, his tone is often a bit detached. Even though he's capable of great imaginative riffs, his voice doesn't vary much from one story to the other. He doesn't inhabit the voice of his characters. In the first two stories, the protagonists are called "the shell collector" and "the hunter." Not too intimate.
But his narration, which almost always carries with it a sort of omniscience even when he remains in 3rd limited, allows him to do some great things with landscape and with p...more
But his narration, which almost always carries with it a sort of omniscience even when he remains in 3rd limited, allows him to do some great things with landscape and with p...more
There’s more fish guts than dialogue here. Not that that’s a bad thing.
But I’m fairly certain you won’t read an issue of Field & Stream, let alone a short story collection, that references the viscera and evisceration of fish half as often as here in Anthony Doerr’s The Shell Collector. Which is merely Exhibit A. He also clearly has a thing for binomial nomenclature.
Nature is definitely this man’s muse. Not unlike Hemingway, I suppose, but less confrontational, less testosterone-fueled.
The...more
But I’m fairly certain you won’t read an issue of Field & Stream, let alone a short story collection, that references the viscera and evisceration of fish half as often as here in Anthony Doerr’s The Shell Collector. Which is merely Exhibit A. He also clearly has a thing for binomial nomenclature.
Nature is definitely this man’s muse. Not unlike Hemingway, I suppose, but less confrontational, less testosterone-fueled.
The...more
If you enjoy short stories try reading this. I found this a delightful collection of stories whisking me from beach front Kenya to frozen pine forests of Montana and beyond. Nature plays a key role in each piece. His characters are richly developed. They deal with issues ranging from dealing with fractured relationships to self-discovery. And many have a mystical connection to the earth. In this way, Doerr weaves together the human condition and the miraculous wonders of nature. His characters i...more
This is one of my all-time favorite short story collections. I bought the paperback back when I had very little income. I was browsing in the bookstore (my cheap entertainment) and found this book. I read the first sentence: "The shell collector was scrubbing limpets at his sink when he heard the water taxi come scraping over the reef. He cringed to hear it . . ." and I just had to buy it. The only new book I had purchased for some years. But I couldn't pass it up, and wanted to own it.
It did no...more
It did no...more
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I don't know what I was expecting from this book, but I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did. I am usually wary of literary fiction that dwells so much on nature; sometimes these stories feel like they abandon story and human resonances for their description and exultation in unqualified nature. But Doerr didn't have this problem, and I think these stories taught me better how to exist. Most of the stories were thoughtful and intricate, and I found myself getting lost in these meditation...more
Calling Anthony Doerr's The Shell Collector a paen to the natural world doesn't quite do justice to Doerr's startling and insightful commentary on the way that humans interract with the environment--these stories are fierce, complex, and thoroughly imagined things, original and powerful.
The best comparison I can come up with, I suppose, would be Andre Dubus' short stories, but even that fails to capture exactly what is being done here. I mention Dubus because I think both authors have a nearly s...more
The best comparison I can come up with, I suppose, would be Andre Dubus' short stories, but even that fails to capture exactly what is being done here. I mention Dubus because I think both authors have a nearly s...more
I read this book earlier this year, and wish I stayed more on top of this website so I could write with more clarity about it. I can tell you that normally I prefer a novel to a book of short stories, unless I am looking for pure escape (there are entertaining short story writers, Augusten Burroughs or David Sedaris for example, but I tend to not get as involved in these as a story that is developed through-out an entire book).
That being said, you get involved in Doerr's short stories. They hoo...more
That being said, you get involved in Doerr's short stories. They hoo...more
Nov 26, 2008
Jennifer
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Erin, Pat
Recommended to Jennifer by:
Trina, Dana
Short stories sometimes don't engage me enough to finish the collection, but I loved these moving, memorable stories that dealt so eloquently with recurring themes: loss, searching, nature, taking chances, empathizing, understanding, and the mysteries of life, love and nature. They seemed each so distinct and yet together created an almost tangible mood of mystery, nature, wonder. Bravissimo!
Maybe not all the stories in this collection are as brilliant as "The Caretaker" and "Mkondo" (a perfect ending to the book), or maybe it only seems that way because these two set the bar so high. In any case, all of them are beautifully crafted and lovely to read, some taking you to remote worlds you most likely will never go to yourself.
Along with the much larger theme of the force of life in both nature and mankind, other subtle threads run through each story, such as different manifestations...more
Along with the much larger theme of the force of life in both nature and mankind, other subtle threads run through each story, such as different manifestations...more
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Had Doerr recommended by a friend. Remembered that I'd previously read the title story when I read the short description of it. Realized that I'd read in in the 2003 edition of Best American Short Stories. Figured that it must be a pretty good story if I remembered it after 7 years from among 20 winning stories. Enjoyed it the second time also. When I started the second story, "The Hunter's Wife," I realized that I'd also read that when it had been published in the "Atlantic Monthly". What are t...more
This is an amazing collection of short stories. Anthony Doerr can set a scene that is vivid with great economy. "A cloud stretched across the moon." The book cover says the stories are "steeped in the mysterious connection between human and nature". But these stories are also about staying in place or leaving and returning. There are several stories about maturing love--understanding and accepting the other person.
My favorite is "Mkondo". But I was laughing aloud reading "July Fourth." These ar...more
My favorite is "Mkondo". But I was laughing aloud reading "July Fourth." These ar...more
I read this book for my book club, and I came to it with reservations. When it comes to reading collections of short stories, I've always struggled with them. As a reader, I am rarely swept up quickly in a novel, and therefore, it is even more difficult to sheep hook me into a short story. That being said, I really enjoyed "The Shell Collector."
Most of the stories in "The Shell Collector" use nature as mysterious, unpredictable, and often deadly force--but Doerr's writing is, by contrast, soothi...more
Most of the stories in "The Shell Collector" use nature as mysterious, unpredictable, and often deadly force--but Doerr's writing is, by contrast, soothi...more
In each of these stories, we find characters who have deep and unusual connections with nature. There's a blind man who collects poisonous creatures from the ocean. A woman who basically "feels" nature the way a clairvoyant would see someone's dead loved ones (and I actually liked the story!). A young girl who moves to Maine and experiences the sea for the first time. A love story between a paleontologist and a woman who loves to run through the forests. A cross-continental fishing contest. The...more
Wow! I loved this collection of stories. Each one was meticulously crafted, richly told, and reached me on an emotional level. I can't tell you how many times I cried out when something bad happened, like a hawk was shot. It is an amazing collection. I liked "A Tangle by the Rapid River" the least and it was the shortest one. I don't know if that is correlated. When I was younger, I didn't like short stories because they always seemed to end too soon and in a mysterious way, like the story wasn'...more
This collection of stories reminded me of the Jhumpa Lahiri's work in its ability to transport me as a reader into the mind of another person whose life is utterly removed from my own realm of existence. Doerr weaves his stories from the lives of places and people as diverse as an island shell collector, a Montana hunter, a Hispanic girl who aspires to learn to fly fish, a Liberian refugee turned hotel janitor, and an Ohio museum curator turned Tanzanian archeologist.
The stories all explore hum...more
The stories all explore hum...more
A friend recommended this author and I have to say I am so happy I took the advice. I read the title story when I bought the book, enjoyed it very much, and then set is aside. Well, last night was sleepless so I took it down and finished it. This is a stunning collection of long short stories. Witty and dark and full of light and emotion and so revealing. I didn't love them all, but I liked them all. My favourite was the story of Griselda. Just blown away by it. Really quirky characters, but ric...more
A magnificent first story, packed full of metaphors
of nature for the delicate balance of life.
And no one understands this precious balance
better than the blind protagonist, the shell
collector.
Doerr follows up this story with another taciturn
protagonist, much more at home amid the
rhythms of the snowy wilderness where he comes
from, than the city which eventually pulls
the woman he loves away from him for good.
The author has a way of exploring the deep
connection between man and nature in a w...more
of nature for the delicate balance of life.
And no one understands this precious balance
better than the blind protagonist, the shell
collector.
Doerr follows up this story with another taciturn
protagonist, much more at home amid the
rhythms of the snowy wilderness where he comes
from, than the city which eventually pulls
the woman he loves away from him for good.
The author has a way of exploring the deep
connection between man and nature in a w...more
The second book of Doerr's that I've read, and it didn't disappoint. He reminds me of Rick Bass with stories rooted deeply in nature -- green-leafed and human -- and with a slow but comfortable pace that doesn't get slow. I think The Caretaker was the most exceptional story, or at least the one that gripped me the most. But every single story was excellent and entertaining, and I rarely feel that way about a short story collection. The writing itself makes me eager to pay a little more attention...more
I have to agree with the publisher and others that many of these stories are exquisitely crafted. Doerr's prose is gorgeous; his writing at its best is breathtaking, describing poignant relationships between these characters and the natural world. In my favorite stories, Doerr deals here with the almost-magical, those unexpected and inexplicable occurrences that move these stories from typical themes of human vs. nature into another realm. In my opinion, "The Hunter's Wife", "The Shell Collector...more
I didn't read all of these stories, just The Caretaker, but I really liked it. It fully contradicted my general feeling that short stories go nowhere, are unsatisfying, and use sadness as a quick and easy way to reach a reader in the short timeframe of the format. True, it was long for a short story, but it was a really quick read. Doerr managed to pack in a real sense of the few characters, which is rare for the genre, and a real sense of movement and growth. I really appreciated it and just mi...more
Jul 01, 2008
Marguerite
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Short-fiction skeptics, travelers
Shelves:
short-stories,
contemporary-fiction
Usually, I don't like short stories, because either there isn't enough character development or plot development to suit me. Doerr's stories are an exception. Maybe it's because nature is the main character across all the stories. It's a beautiful, savage, overwhelming force in Kenya, Montana, Maine, Idaho, Eastern Europe, Liberia, Oregon, Ohio and Tanzania. Human nature is also beautiful, savage, overwhelming, unpredictable and unstoppable in Doerr's stories. There's a touch of suspended realit...more
Oct 26, 2007
Katherine
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
aspiring marine biologists, armchair travelers, hemingway lovers
When I came across this collection at the bookstore and started to flip through, I was in shock to discover that Lamu is the backdrop for the first, and most artful, of the stories in this collection. I'm a geography nerd, and a travel junkie, and I dream of visiting the East Coast of Africa. My Zanzibar fantasies have been made more serious, and more embellished, by a globe-trotting friend who visited Lamu years ago and put it on the map for me.
As a former novice marine biologist (thanks oceano...more
As a former novice marine biologist (thanks oceano...more
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Anthony Doerr is the author of four books,
The Shell Collector
,
About Grace
,
Memory Wall
and
Four Seasons in Rome
. Doerr’s short fiction has won four O. Henry Prizes and has been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories, The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories, and The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Fiction. He has won the Barnes & Noble Discover Prize, the Rome Prize, the...more
More about Anthony Doerr...
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“You ever hope for something so much? So much you can't sleep, so much your skull hurts? But the thing is, you don't even know if the thing you're wishing for is possible? You don't even know if it could happen? And it's all out of your control?”
—
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“Hope was a sunrise, a friend in the alley, a whisper in an empty corridor.”
—
6 people liked it
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