Brian's review
My Mistress's Sparrow Is Dead: Great Love Stories from Chekhov to Munro
by Jeffrey Eugenides
Brian's review
My Mistress's Sparrow Is Dead: Great Love Stories from Chekhov to Munro by Jeffrey Eugenides
Brian's review
rating:
This is, overall, a well-curated collection of love-related stories, or as Jeffrey Eugenides dubs it (to paraphrase), "stories about when the sparrow is alive, and stories about when the sparrow is dead." While most of the pieces address dead sparrows, I had to skip a few on account of general (as well as birthday) (oh, as well as pre-V-day) malaise. I'm glad I was reminded of authors like Raymond Carver, whose unsettling "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" addresses moribund domestic love, and introduced to authors like George Saunders, whose "Jon" (teenagers enslaved in a consumer marketing camp fall in love, but are forced to give up sentience for it) dragged its bow so expertly across my heartstrings. I'd say the book is worth the cost of admission based on Eugenides's introduction, its charitable angle (all proceeds are going to 826Chicago), and the possibility of meeting a new voice.
