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You Won’t Remember This
by
The twelve stories in Kate Blackwell’s debut collection illuminate the lives of men and women who appear as unremarkable as your next-door-neighbor until their lives explode quietly on the page. Her wry, often darkly funny voice describes the repressed underside of a range of middle-class characters living in the South. Blackwell’s focus is elemental—on marriage, birth, de
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Hardcover, 248 pages
Published
May 7th 2007
by Southern Methodist University Press
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I just reread Kate Blackwell’s “you won’t remember this,” a treasure of a short story collection. If you are from the South, it will instantly take you home and if you’re not, you will be at home, eavesdropping on characters in their intimate dramas. You will be on the screened porch on a summer evening gossiping about small and giant issues of family and friends with characters who are often pining for
something beyond the life they are living but uncertain what that is. Kate’s prose is invariab ...more
something beyond the life they are living but uncertain what that is. Kate’s prose is invariab ...more
A collection of well-crafted, satisfying stories. The dialogue rings true, the characters are authentic--I'm sure I've met some of them before. I rotated these alongside stories by Cheever, Toibin, Ben Fountain, and whatever I was putting my hands on at the time, and these stood their ground. Ms. Blackwell is a real short story writer.
I feel like I just learned some deep truths that I am now unable to articulate. This must be what it's like to get high and discover the meaning of life, write it down, and the next day find a piece of paper that just says "Oranges are green." Anyway, these stories were just like, whoa, and yeah, so much.
Aug 27, 2008
Elizabeth
rated it
it was amazing
Recommends it for:
Short story readers and readers of better Chick Lit
Recommended to Elizabeth by:
review
Shelves:
womens-fiction
One of those few short story collections you can open and immediately fall into, forgetting everything else. Black's characters are curious, rich and rounded, and the stories are complex but believable, centering around the subtleties of southern life and culture.
Beautifully crafted stories, intimate and searching. Contemporary Americans striving for coherent, sustaining narratives within a fickle mainstream world.
I loved this lovely book of short stories. It's almost a complete mystery to me - I'm sure I bought the eBook ages ago because I can't remember where I read the description. I can't remember purchasing it. I was walking on my lunch break at work one day and saw it just sitting there in my queue. I started reading it, believing the first story was just another sweet, endearing love story (as it started off talking about family memories of a past a wedding). I thought I'd put it down as soon as my
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I spent a long time thinking about what to write about this book. Let me start by describing it. This book is full of very short stories. Stories with no ending. As if they are a collection of chapters from different stories. Each story was a snippet of the intricacies of relationships, marriages (or break down of marriages) for the most part. I wasn't sure if I liked it. They seemed to have no end. It felt incomplete. But then one evening I found myself lying in bed, having just finished one of
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Intriguing Stories
I am not usually a reader of short stories, but this collection was intriguing. Kate Blackwell is quite a wordsmith, and her understanding of various types of relationships is apparent. If, however, you like stories with no questions left unanswered, you will find many of these frustrating!
I am not usually a reader of short stories, but this collection was intriguing. Kate Blackwell is quite a wordsmith, and her understanding of various types of relationships is apparent. If, however, you like stories with no questions left unanswered, you will find many of these frustrating!
I found all of the stories to be interesting with one exception - Pepper Hunt - I had to stop reading this one as it was too upsetting to me. I enjoyed the story lines and the characters in most of the stories. Good short read.
Enjoyed the short stories
Very good writer. Will be looking forward what she will come up with in the future. A lot of thought provoking stories for sure
Very good writer. Will be looking forward what she will come up with in the future. A lot of thought provoking stories for sure
I like collections of short stories that I can carry around and check into during the unplanned downtimes that occur. The more varied the themes, the better. I don’t feel I have to go back to re-establish the threads of several connected themes. “You Won’t Remember This” satisfies this function. When there was a story I just did not get, I just jumped to the next one. Maybe I will go back and try the few I did not get at a later time. Below are my instant first impressions and what I believe to
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About the Book:
The twelve stories are about characters who are outwardly unremarkable, but whose fraught inner lives are exposed, nerve by nerve, by the situations they must deal with, along with the strange—but entirely believable—actions they must choose. A young husband deals with his charged, erotic feelings toward his dying wife. A bride composes a list of books to get her through her marriage,” saving Proust for her forties. A married couple is reunited with the man who almost tore apart t ...more
The twelve stories are about characters who are outwardly unremarkable, but whose fraught inner lives are exposed, nerve by nerve, by the situations they must deal with, along with the strange—but entirely believable—actions they must choose. A young husband deals with his charged, erotic feelings toward his dying wife. A bride composes a list of books to get her through her marriage,” saving Proust for her forties. A married couple is reunited with the man who almost tore apart t ...more
This is a very intelligent literary collection.
A diverse collection of subjects and situations, many taking place in North Carolina.
She has made me want to visit the area.
Beautiful word pictures that give the reader much to think about, even when I did not particularly care
for one of the stories, I still had to admire the author's descriptive talent.
My first impression was that these short stories reminded me of the stories published in my mother's magazines,
(Ladies Home Journal, Redbook, G ...more
A diverse collection of subjects and situations, many taking place in North Carolina.
She has made me want to visit the area.
Beautiful word pictures that give the reader much to think about, even when I did not particularly care
for one of the stories, I still had to admire the author's descriptive talent.
My first impression was that these short stories reminded me of the stories published in my mother's magazines,
(Ladies Home Journal, Redbook, G ...more
This book was certainly a lot more literary than I usually read and I think that hurt my enjoyment of the stories. Some of them I did enjoy and even became invested in the characters of some of the longer ones. But I did love any of them and I didn't really understand the point of many of them. Most profiled periods of people's lives without really making any impact of me.
I guess the major theme for me was just the every day struggles of life. But many of these struggles turned out to be fairly ...more
I guess the major theme for me was just the every day struggles of life. But many of these struggles turned out to be fairly ...more
There isn't anything worth remembering in this book. Yes, it is stories about people but they all end abruptly with no real conclusion. If I wanted that I would read blogs. I rarely only give 1 star but this book truly disappointed me. It took me a long time to read. I kept trying one more story hoping it would get better but it didn't. I downloaded this based on many good reviews. It wasn't for me.
There isn't anything worth remembering in this book. Yes, it is stories about people but they all end abruptly with no real conclusion. If I wanted that I would read blogs. I rarely only give 1 star but this book truly disappointed me. It took me a long time to read. I kept trying one more story hoping it would get better but it didn't. I downloaded this based on many good reviews. It wasn't for me.
A glimpse of people’s lives. These stories are just ordinary life. They celebrate the still life. Where nothing gets resolved and nothing extraordinary ever happens. There are no real twists or surprises. And, yet, the stories are mesmerising. Read more at kryppticbooks.wordpress.com.
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What an unexpected pleasure!
I enjoyed this book of short stories very much. Rather than stories with a beginning, middle and end, what we get are twelve thin slices of life. In each story, the author puts us inside the mind of=sharply drawn character. get a sharp view from inside someone example, in "The Obi Tree"
The stories don't have a beginning, middle, and end.
I enjoyed this book of short stories very much. Rather than stories with a beginning, middle and end, what we get are twelve thin slices of life. In each story, the author puts us inside the mind of=sharply drawn character. get a sharp view from inside someone example, in "The Obi Tree"
The stories don't have a beginning, middle, and end.
I downloaded this book as a freebie on my Kindle and, based on past experience, wasn't expecting much. The first story didn't catch my interest, but after that, I was hooked. Each story is a little window into the lives and relationships of its characters. Some stories are sad and some uplifting, making this a great collection.
Excellent collection of contemporary short stories. Very well written, descriptive and full of interesting characters and their thoughts. Sometimes I like short stories as a break from novels but this collection stands very well in its own.
I love short stories and this book didn't disappoint...Blackwell made the stories come alive for me. I especially liked the title story and the last story, about tourist in Crete...flawed but real characters.
A wonderful collection of short stories so well crafted that you are immediately drawn in. You want to stay and learn more about the characters and their lives. Each story is superb and a pleasure to read~treasures to be read over and over.
Aug 23, 2015
Marie (UK)
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
own-and-read,
2015-reading-challenge
I am not a short story lover. Having said that these were well written and at least led somewhere. I enjoyed some more than others of course and some were truly unmemorable as the title suggests. Overall though the book was an easy and appealing read
I usually don't like short story collections, but these are all by the same author and semi-connected thematically albeit not through characters. We start mid-thought and finish semi-resolved. Snapshots of southern life. A good read.
I read this book of short stories, not being familiar with the book or the author. What a great surprise! This book was great! Each little short story left me hanging on the edge of my seat, not wanting the story to end. I will search to see if Kate Blackwell has other books!
The stories are beautifully written and the characters are very deep and complex. The only drawback I found is that the stories had no real conclusion. It was as if you walked into a movie 30 minutes after it started and left after 20 minutes.
Slightly old-fashioned stories but well done. I particularly liked My First Wedding - a blend of hilarity and sadness that struck home. The story was told from the POV of a child, a hard thing to do well.
Effortlessly readable
Each story a cohesive whole, yet each linked cleverly to the next like a strand of pearls. I'm off to find more by Kate Blackwell. P.s. Totally memorable.
Each story a cohesive whole, yet each linked cleverly to the next like a strand of pearls. I'm off to find more by Kate Blackwell. P.s. Totally memorable.
downloaded for free
just ok
some stories were great
some were ok
some were wth?
did not get that they tied together as one reviewer wrote
just ok
some stories were great
some were ok
some were wth?
did not get that they tied together as one reviewer wrote
Interesting stories written by a North Carolinian. She managed to capture some of the quirks about people in that area that I've never seen in print.
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