A Bunch of Fives: Selected Stories

by Helen Simpson

Since the publication of Four Bare Legs in a Bed , her first collection, Helen Simpson has been hailed as one of the best short story writers at work today. These are wickedly funny, heartfelt, and sensuous stories that deal with the full stretch, from birth to death and everything in between.

A Bunch of Fives is a selection of five stories drawn from each of Simpson's five collections; Four Bare Legs in a Bed (1990), Dear George (1995), Hey Yeah Right Get a Life (2000), Constitutional (2005), and In-Flight Entertainment (2010).

Genres: Short Stories

448 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2012

About the author

Helen Simpson is an English novelist and short story writer. She was born in 1959 in Bristol, in the West of England, and went to a girls' school. She worked at Vogue for five years before her success in writing short stories meant she could afford to leave and concentrate full-time on her writing. Her first collection, Four Bare Legs in a Bed and Other Stories, won the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award while her book Hey Yeah Right Get A Life, a series of interlinked stories, won the Hawthornden Prize.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. (In particular, the mystery author Helen de Guerry Simpson is a different author.)

In 1993, she was selected as one of Granta's top 20 novelists under the age of 40.

In 2009, she donated the short story The Tipping Point to Oxfam's 'Ox-Tales' project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the 'Air' collection.

Reviews

[Katya · Rating 3 out of 5]

3-3,5/5.

твори в останніх двох збірках оповідань різняться темами від попередніх, у яких авторка описує проблеми материнства та шлюбу. ось ці, фінальні, оповідання мені сподобалися.
також хочу відзначити, як гарно перекладена книжка, дуже красива українська мова.

[Rowena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came across this collection at an opportunity shop and liked the cover ... but loved what was on the inside even more - the realism of domestic life was brilliant. I wished I'd read some of these stories when I had a newborn. She uncovers what some of us feel so alone in thinking and feeling. I'll be seeking out more of her short stories.

[Iryna Chernyshova · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Відчуття наче прокопала тунель крізь Боржаву, юху, я зробила це, я прочитала!)

По-перше, я не сильна фанатка формату оповідання.

По-друге, я б воліла щоб ця збірка була в рази коротше і якось різноманітніше по змісту. Бо десь в середині вже здавалося що я читаю одне й те саме і слабо відрізняю героєв і героїнь. Ми взагалі незнайомі з авторкою і не повинні знати всі її доробки, тому як презентація-знайомство - ой, скоріше б закінчилося.

По-третє, сумна жіноча доля, звичайно, потребує оспівування, але хотілося б якось інакше, ніж як суцільна битва з чоловіками-володарями-долі-а-ти-сидиш-на-узбіжжі-дурепа і дітьми-важким-грузом.

(А тепер я хочу зануритися в якийсь жирний родинний роман.)

[Oksimoronka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I didn't understand all but for me often these pages were strange.
Maybe it's because of the format that I'm not used to.
Some points were very realistic. I felt compassion and sadness.
I missed something good of bright. I believe that it exists in women's life.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really did like this a lot; thought there wasn't a dud among them, plenty- a far higher percentage than usual I thoroughly enjoyed. I had already sought and put on my wishlist, Helen Simpson's newest book, 'Cockfosters'. Then I got to the final few, from In-flight-entertainment, which dealt with the post-apocalyptic and left me irritable.
Not sure why, but suspect there has to be a percentage of identifiable with for a story to work properly for its reader. although I don't really believe that.
But I'm surely grateful for having been lent it.

[Meera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just ok. Some of the stories were good, and witty, but too often I felt that Simpson gets bogged down in a hectoring style of feminism that put me off (how women are hard done by in relationships, and men are selfish and put too many burdens of housework and childcare on them). But it does give a nice summary of Simpson's writing and her development as a writer, as 5 stories are selected from each of her 5 previous collection of short stories.

[Bettie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Made for 4 Extra.

[Nata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Не мала особливих очікувань щодо цієї книжки, адже в анотації було зазначено, що це історії про жінок, а мені таке зазвичай не заходить. До того ж не можу назвати себе прихильницею жанру короткої прози. Але, на диво, читати було цікаво, незважаючи на те, що переважно тут йдеться про досвід, який мене не стосується, – шлюб і материнство. Написано непогано. Єдине, що чоловіки в цих історіях здебільшого зображені в негативному світлі, або, як в парі історій, нейтрально. Але це право авторки. Так само, як моє - поставити чотири, а не п’ять зірочок)

З усіх історій найбільше мені сподобалися «антична» п’єса про пологи, постапокаліптичний «Щоденник цікавого року» та ідеальна для завершення будь-якої збірки новела «Фестиваль безсмертних».

Припускаю, що навіть колись певні історії мені захочеться перечитати.

[Sharen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent...especially enjoyed the last two stories.

[Nick Davies · Rating 5 out of 5]

This anthology of short stories (five sets of five stories from the author's acclaimed collections) was picked up on a whim from a charity shop, and turned out to be an unexpected pleasure.

Simpson, in this gathering of stories published between 1990 and 2010, writes mainly about women and their roles. One of the quotes on the blurb from a reviewer recommends that all men read these stories to better understand the women in their life, and I would concur that there is some truth in that good advice. We are treated to some beautiful and intelligent prose, never over-flowery, but evocative. We are introduced to some likeable, flawed and real characters - female and male. We are encouraged to think about varied themes addressed.. from childhood to motherhood, morality and mortality, love and hatred. I was particularly enamoured of how the themes gently change as the author gets older - it's interesting to see how early stories are about young love and courtship, later stories about parenthood/marriage, death/illness and wider aspects of existence and the environment (admittedly some of the stories about ecological disaster were less to my tastes).

So yes, an absolute pleasure, despite the fact I often find short stories as a genre a little unsatisfying due to them leaving me hungry for more.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this after listening to Helen Simpson read one of her stories at the Isle of Wight literary festival. Loved the first stories but not so keen on those in the last section. Have a short story phase at the moment as I can't seem to get going with the reading enough to keep momentum for a novel.

[Tweedledum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helen Simpson is, in my opinion the current queen of the short story in the UK. Long may she reign. Some of this collection have been adapted for radio and pack a powerful punch as the title indicates.

[Gardenia Plant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great short stories of domestic life. An acerbic wit, and imaginative and intelligent writing. Fantastically edited too, not one word out of place. I haven't read every story in the book yet, rather I am savouring them, reading them slowly, filling gaps in time.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this quite a lot. It's five stories from each of her five collections to that point. It's been a while since I read it, but it's worth having a look at.

[Юра Мельник · Rating 2 out of 5]

Стилістично складна книжка. Авторка запозичила багато від Джойса, прикрасила все болючими особистісними проблемами британської сучасності. Таке чтиво сподобається далеко не кожному.