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Stories: The Collected Short Fiction
‘Garner is a natural storyteller.’ James Wood, New Yorker
This handsome edition of Helen Garner’s collected short fiction celebrates the seventy-fifth birthday of one of Australia’s most loved authors.
These stories—that delve into the complexities of love and longing, of the pain, darkness and joy of life—are all told with her characteristic sharpness of observation, honesty and humour. Each one a perfect piece, together they showcase Garner’s mastery of the form.
Helen Garner writes novels, stories, screenplays and works of non-fiction. In 2006 she received the inaugural Melbourne Prize for Literature, and in 2016 she won the prestigious Windham–Campbell Literature Prize for non-fiction. Garner won the NSW Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction for Postcards from Surfers , and the Victorian and Queensland Premiers’ Awards, as well as the Barbara Jefferis Award, for her novel The Spare Room . Everywhere I Look won the 2017 Indie Book Award for Non Fiction.
‘Garner’s stories share characteristics of the they flash before us carefully recorded images that remind us of harsher realities not pictured. And like postcards they are economically written, a bit of conversation is transcribed, a memory recalled, an event noted, scenes pass as if viewed from a train—momentarily, distinct and tantalising in their beauty.’
New York Times
‘A perfect introduction for first-timers who have not yet experienced the pleasures of Garner’s writing.’ Sydney Morning Herald
‘ Stories and True Stories are handsome companion volumes deservedly celebrating Helen Garner, our greatest contemporary practitioner of observation, self-interrogation and compassion. Everything she writes, in her candid, graceful prose, rings true, enlightens, stays.’ Joan London, Sydney Morning Herald ’s Year in Reading
‘Published in beautiful editions to celebrate life given shape in words.’ Drusilla Modjeska, Sydney Morning Herald ’s Year in Reading
‘Both of these books are concerned with moments of heartbreak and of hope, with loneliness and love, and with great cruelties, and the things that drive people to them. They are animated by a desire to understand what seems unfathomable, and to pay attention to the small pleasures of the everyday. Garner's precise descriptions, her interest in minute shifts of emotion, and the ways in which we reveal ourselves to others are always at work in these books, and make them a real joy to read.’ Age
‘As I leaf through the volumes, having just re-read both of them, I am still brought up short by another revelatory insight of the everyday…I could go on and on, but I am out of words. Many happy returns Helen Garner!’ Adelaide Advertiser
‘Her prose is wiry, stark, precise, but to find her equal for the tone of generous humanity one has to call up writers like Isaac Babel and Anton Chekhov.’ Wall Street Journal
This handsome edition of Helen Garner’s collected short fiction celebrates the seventy-fifth birthday of one of Australia’s most loved authors.
These stories—that delve into the complexities of love and longing, of the pain, darkness and joy of life—are all told with her characteristic sharpness of observation, honesty and humour. Each one a perfect piece, together they showcase Garner’s mastery of the form.
Helen Garner writes novels, stories, screenplays and works of non-fiction. In 2006 she received the inaugural Melbourne Prize for Literature, and in 2016 she won the prestigious Windham–Campbell Literature Prize for non-fiction. Garner won the NSW Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction for Postcards from Surfers , and the Victorian and Queensland Premiers’ Awards, as well as the Barbara Jefferis Award, for her novel The Spare Room . Everywhere I Look won the 2017 Indie Book Award for Non Fiction.
‘Garner’s stories share characteristics of the they flash before us carefully recorded images that remind us of harsher realities not pictured. And like postcards they are economically written, a bit of conversation is transcribed, a memory recalled, an event noted, scenes pass as if viewed from a train—momentarily, distinct and tantalising in their beauty.’
New York Times
‘A perfect introduction for first-timers who have not yet experienced the pleasures of Garner’s writing.’ Sydney Morning Herald
‘ Stories and True Stories are handsome companion volumes deservedly celebrating Helen Garner, our greatest contemporary practitioner of observation, self-interrogation and compassion. Everything she writes, in her candid, graceful prose, rings true, enlightens, stays.’ Joan London, Sydney Morning Herald ’s Year in Reading
‘Published in beautiful editions to celebrate life given shape in words.’ Drusilla Modjeska, Sydney Morning Herald ’s Year in Reading
‘Both of these books are concerned with moments of heartbreak and of hope, with loneliness and love, and with great cruelties, and the things that drive people to them. They are animated by a desire to understand what seems unfathomable, and to pay attention to the small pleasures of the everyday. Garner's precise descriptions, her interest in minute shifts of emotion, and the ways in which we reveal ourselves to others are always at work in these books, and make them a real joy to read.’ Age
‘As I leaf through the volumes, having just re-read both of them, I am still brought up short by another revelatory insight of the everyday…I could go on and on, but I am out of words. Many happy returns Helen Garner!’ Adelaide Advertiser
‘Her prose is wiry, stark, precise, but to find her equal for the tone of generous humanity one has to call up writers like Isaac Babel and Anton Chekhov.’ Wall Street Journal
208 pages, Hardcover
First published October 30, 2017
79 people are currently reading
568 people want to read
About the author
Helen Garner
51 books1,388 followersHelen Garner was born in Geelong in 1942. She has published many works of fiction including Monkey Grip, Cosmo Cosmolino and The Children's Bach. Her fiction has won numerous awards. She is also one of Australia's most respected non-fiction writers, and received a Walkley Award for journalism in 1993.
Her most recent books are The First Stone, True Stories, My Hard Heart, The Feel of Stone and Joe Cinque's Consolation. In 2006 she won the Melbourne Prize for Literature. She lives in Melbourne.
Praise for Helen Garner's work
'Helen Garner is an extraordinarily good writer. There is not a paragraph, let alone a page, where she does not compel your attention.'
Bulletin
'She is outstanding in the accuracy of her observations, the intensity of passion...her radar-sure humour.'
Washington Post
'Garner has always had a mimic's ear for dialogue and an eye for unconscious symbolism, the clothes and gestures with which we give ourselves away.'
Peter Craven, Australian
'Helen Garner writes the best sentences in Australia.'
Ed Campion, Bulletin
Her most recent books are The First Stone, True Stories, My Hard Heart, The Feel of Stone and Joe Cinque's Consolation. In 2006 she won the Melbourne Prize for Literature. She lives in Melbourne.
Praise for Helen Garner's work
'Helen Garner is an extraordinarily good writer. There is not a paragraph, let alone a page, where she does not compel your attention.'
Bulletin
'She is outstanding in the accuracy of her observations, the intensity of passion...her radar-sure humour.'
Washington Post
'Garner has always had a mimic's ear for dialogue and an eye for unconscious symbolism, the clothes and gestures with which we give ourselves away.'
Peter Craven, Australian
'Helen Garner writes the best sentences in Australia.'
Ed Campion, Bulletin
Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 105 reviews
July 10, 2021
4.5★
“At home I answered the phone. A young woman asked for my husband.
‘He’s not here,’ I said, ‘at the moment. This is his wife speaking.’ I told her my name.
‘Oh yes!’ said the young woman. ‘He told me he was involved with you.’
‘Involved!’ I said. ‘He’s MARRIED to me.’
‘Oh well,’ she said with an airy laugh. ‘Married… involved…’”
Oh, Helen Garner! You share such cringe-worthy moments that I’d be embarrassed if I met these people outside the pages of your work. Some seem so raw and uncomfortable.
The characters here range from lovers breaking up and friends reuniting to children trying to make sense of grown-up conversations and intertwined bodies they weren’t meant to see.
‘Postcards From Surfers’ is a particularly poignant story about an adult family – parents, adult daughter and auntie – holidaying as usual at Surfers Paradise. The women are knitting as always, and their conversation is exactly like those I have with one of my oldest friends (also a knitter).
“My mother and Auntie Lorna, well advanced in complicated garments for my sister’s teenage children, conduct their monologues which cross, coincide and run parallel.
. . .
Their two voices run on, one high, one low. If I speak they pretend to listen, just as I feign attention to their endless, looping discourses: these are our courtesies: this is love. Everything is spoken, nothing is said.”
Garner is an acclaimed Australian author, candid about the broken marriages behind her and the grandchildren she adores and for whom she’s discovered a whole new layer of love. She writes fiction and non-fiction, both long and short, and recently won the 2017 Walkley award for journalism. There seems to be nothing she can’t do. I am an admiring fan.
Many of these seem as if they could be from her own life and experience, but I would hesitate to point to any particular one. She is such a keen observer of people and their relationships, that she may well have invented something from watching a couple in an airport. I’ll never know. Whether Elizabeth was a real friend or invented, it doesn’t matter. She’s real to me.
“In the café Elizabeth told me her husband was dying of a tumour.
‘I used to think there was justice,’ she said, ‘and fairness. That there was a contract, that things meant something. Now I know your foot can go straight through the floor.’”
What people face, how people cope, this is the stuff of Garner’s work. It doesn’t always take a book. She can reach you with a story.
I’m very grateful to NetGalley and Text Publishing for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted.
“At home I answered the phone. A young woman asked for my husband.
‘He’s not here,’ I said, ‘at the moment. This is his wife speaking.’ I told her my name.
‘Oh yes!’ said the young woman. ‘He told me he was involved with you.’
‘Involved!’ I said. ‘He’s MARRIED to me.’
‘Oh well,’ she said with an airy laugh. ‘Married… involved…’”
Oh, Helen Garner! You share such cringe-worthy moments that I’d be embarrassed if I met these people outside the pages of your work. Some seem so raw and uncomfortable.
The characters here range from lovers breaking up and friends reuniting to children trying to make sense of grown-up conversations and intertwined bodies they weren’t meant to see.
‘Postcards From Surfers’ is a particularly poignant story about an adult family – parents, adult daughter and auntie – holidaying as usual at Surfers Paradise. The women are knitting as always, and their conversation is exactly like those I have with one of my oldest friends (also a knitter).
“My mother and Auntie Lorna, well advanced in complicated garments for my sister’s teenage children, conduct their monologues which cross, coincide and run parallel.
. . .
Their two voices run on, one high, one low. If I speak they pretend to listen, just as I feign attention to their endless, looping discourses: these are our courtesies: this is love. Everything is spoken, nothing is said.”
Garner is an acclaimed Australian author, candid about the broken marriages behind her and the grandchildren she adores and for whom she’s discovered a whole new layer of love. She writes fiction and non-fiction, both long and short, and recently won the 2017 Walkley award for journalism. There seems to be nothing she can’t do. I am an admiring fan.
Many of these seem as if they could be from her own life and experience, but I would hesitate to point to any particular one. She is such a keen observer of people and their relationships, that she may well have invented something from watching a couple in an airport. I’ll never know. Whether Elizabeth was a real friend or invented, it doesn’t matter. She’s real to me.
“In the café Elizabeth told me her husband was dying of a tumour.
‘I used to think there was justice,’ she said, ‘and fairness. That there was a contract, that things meant something. Now I know your foot can go straight through the floor.’”
What people face, how people cope, this is the stuff of Garner’s work. It doesn’t always take a book. She can reach you with a story.
I’m very grateful to NetGalley and Text Publishing for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted.
February 5, 2018
Reading Helen Garner's short stories is like glimpsing intimate snapshots of people's lives. For a brief time they are sharply in focus with a hint of backstory and character oozing out of their dialogue and feelings. This volume of Garner's short stories was put together to celebrate her 75th birthday in 2017 is a chance to re-discover favourite tales and and discover new gems.
I first read "Postcards from Surfers" more than twenty years ago and enjoyed re-reading this story from an older perspective. In it a young woman is visiting her aging parents who have moved to the Gold Coast and writing observations and memories on postcards to someone called Philip who is no longer part of her life. Garner most often writes about the everyday, particularly of love and loss. Her characters are usually unremarkable but recognisable as someone you might have once met and her prose is often sparse but full of meaning, often poignant but also humorous. Of the stories I hadn't read before, I loved "All those Bloody Young Catholics" where a man sitting at the bar in a pub greets an old mate who's just walked in and then proceeds to hold forth in a continuous monologue about the state of their friends and the world in general - I think we've all met someone like that in a pub or at a barbecue! I'm sure that everyone who reads this will find a story out of this very stylish collection that resonates with them.
With thanks to Netgalley, the author and Text Publishing for providing me with a copy of the book.
I first read "Postcards from Surfers" more than twenty years ago and enjoyed re-reading this story from an older perspective. In it a young woman is visiting her aging parents who have moved to the Gold Coast and writing observations and memories on postcards to someone called Philip who is no longer part of her life. Garner most often writes about the everyday, particularly of love and loss. Her characters are usually unremarkable but recognisable as someone you might have once met and her prose is often sparse but full of meaning, often poignant but also humorous. Of the stories I hadn't read before, I loved "All those Bloody Young Catholics" where a man sitting at the bar in a pub greets an old mate who's just walked in and then proceeds to hold forth in a continuous monologue about the state of their friends and the world in general - I think we've all met someone like that in a pub or at a barbecue! I'm sure that everyone who reads this will find a story out of this very stylish collection that resonates with them.
With thanks to Netgalley, the author and Text Publishing for providing me with a copy of the book.
November 2, 2025
I have only allowed myself two stories per week from this collection, which I generally savoured on a slow Saturday morning sitting on my balcony or at Cherry Moon. But yesterday morning, in the midst of my seroquel haze (fuck my chungus insomniac life), I felt that if I put Helen down I would prostrate myself and cry. And so for an extra hour or so she held a lamp for me to gently tread behind, enamoured by her eyes and mind and all they can capture.
Parasocial relationships with 82 year old women are so in !
Parasocial relationships with 82 year old women are so in !
April 18, 2025
‘ ‘Another twenty cents down the drain,’ said my son. We set out together towards the automatic doors. He was carrying my bag. I wanted to say to him, to someone, ‘Listen. Listen. I am hopelessly in love.’ But I hung on. I knew that I had brought it on myself , and I hung on until the spasm passed. And then I began to recreate from memory the contents of the fridge.’
And this, my friends, is why Helen Garner is simply one of the greatest stylists of the last century. She harnesses, in a few short sentences, the central forces that both move and sustain us throughout life.
Essential reading (and rereading) for romantics and the broken-hearted.
And this, my friends, is why Helen Garner is simply one of the greatest stylists of the last century. She harnesses, in a few short sentences, the central forces that both move and sustain us throughout life.
Essential reading (and rereading) for romantics and the broken-hearted.
December 23, 2017
Helen Garner is a versatile wordsmith. Should she ever require a curriculum vitae (though it seems unlikely), her résumé would include: novelist, short fiction writer, journalist, critic, translator and screenwriter among her superabundance of literary skills.
Born in the port city of Geelong, Australia, in 1942, Garner (neè Ford) worked as a high-school teacher from 1966 until she was sacked for "giving an unscheduled sex education lesson to her 13-year-old students” in 1972. She published her first novel, Monkey Grip, in that same year, since when it has become an important, though fiercely disagreed upon, part of the Australian canon. She is now widely regarded as one of the foremost Antipodean writers of her time.
Stories: The Collected Short Fiction - released to coincide with Garner’s 75th birthday - is a selection of neoteric tales from a hugely accomplished storyteller. Her characters are finely portrayed and believable, because flawed, and the narrative is wholly absorbing, often intense, although never to the point of seeming contrived.
Her protagonists tend to be lonely or desperate people who have Freudian-type dreams and bouts of anxiety, but an undercurrent of humour is detectable in each piece. Her stories never lack wit. Garner reaches her zenith in La Chance Existe and Dark Little Tales, but there are no weak parts to this collection – it is simply that some stories are more brilliant than others.
I started reading this book as a Helen Garner greenhorn. Appetite now whetted, I am keen to explore her substantial back catalogue, starting with The Children's Bach , which is held by many to be one of the greatest short novels ever written by an Australian.
A truly bonzer discovery!
Many thanks to Text Publishing for supplying an advance copy of this title.
Born in the port city of Geelong, Australia, in 1942, Garner (neè Ford) worked as a high-school teacher from 1966 until she was sacked for "giving an unscheduled sex education lesson to her 13-year-old students” in 1972. She published her first novel, Monkey Grip, in that same year, since when it has become an important, though fiercely disagreed upon, part of the Australian canon. She is now widely regarded as one of the foremost Antipodean writers of her time.
Stories: The Collected Short Fiction - released to coincide with Garner’s 75th birthday - is a selection of neoteric tales from a hugely accomplished storyteller. Her characters are finely portrayed and believable, because flawed, and the narrative is wholly absorbing, often intense, although never to the point of seeming contrived.
Her protagonists tend to be lonely or desperate people who have Freudian-type dreams and bouts of anxiety, but an undercurrent of humour is detectable in each piece. Her stories never lack wit. Garner reaches her zenith in La Chance Existe and Dark Little Tales, but there are no weak parts to this collection – it is simply that some stories are more brilliant than others.
I started reading this book as a Helen Garner greenhorn. Appetite now whetted, I am keen to explore her substantial back catalogue, starting with The Children's Bach , which is held by many to be one of the greatest short novels ever written by an Australian.
A truly bonzer discovery!
Many thanks to Text Publishing for supplying an advance copy of this title.
November 25, 2024
3.5/5
Helen Garner's writing in these stories is raw and direct. I liked her clipped sentences and unique vocabulary. She has a talent for showing the essence of a character through detailed snapshots of moments in their lives. To anyone from Melbourne the characters are recognisable and a little bit familiar.
These stories were also joyless. I can't remember anyone being happy in any of them.
It was in parts an enjoyable read, but some stories were just dull and couldn't capture my attention.
Helen Garner's writing in these stories is raw and direct. I liked her clipped sentences and unique vocabulary. She has a talent for showing the essence of a character through detailed snapshots of moments in their lives. To anyone from Melbourne the characters are recognisable and a little bit familiar.
These stories were also joyless. I can't remember anyone being happy in any of them.
It was in parts an enjoyable read, but some stories were just dull and couldn't capture my attention.
December 22, 2025
‘Her prose is wiry, stark, precise, but to find her equal for the tone of generous humanity one has to call up writers like Isaac Babel and Anton Chekhov.’
Wall Street Journal
‘Garner’s non-fiction is often driven by the question why. Ruthless and full-blooded, her journalism nevertheless displays the greatest nimbleness in its accommodation of ambivalence and uncertainty. Her short stories, on the other hand, have a tendency to rise seamlessly towards epiphany.’
Times Literary Supplement
‘As I leaf through the volumes, having just re-read both of them, I am still brought up short by another revelatory insight of the everyday…I could go on and on, but I am out of words. Many happy returns Helen Garner!’
Adelaide Advertiser
‘Helen Garner’s collections of fiction and nonfiction corroborate her reputation as a great stylist and a great witness.’
Peter Craven, Australian, Books of the Year 2017
Smoking dope and eating spaghetti, the abrupt ending of a happy marriage, the psychological effect of wearing stripes. Helen Garner takes slivers of daily life, sometimes the most mundane, and gently folds them into poetry on the page.’
Australian Gourmet Traveller
‘Memoirist, fiction writer, faction writer, journalist? Australian critics and booksellers have stopped trying to pigeonhole Melburnian writer Helen Garner and now just give her prizes…These stories and essays are the work of a natural storyteller, of an unsparing yet sympathetic eye…It’s all wonderful stuff: unstinting honesty, clarity and charm. Dive in.’
North & South
‘This is the power of Garner’s writing. She drills into experience and comes up with such clean, precise distillations of life, once you read them they enter into you. Successive generations of writers have felt the keen influence of her work and for this reason Garner has become part of us all.’
Australian
‘Stories and True Stories are handsome companion volumes deservedly celebrating Helen Garner, our greatest contemporary practitioner of observation, self-interrogation and compassion. Everything she writes, in her candid, graceful prose, rings true, enlightens, stays.’
Joan London, Sydney Morning Herald’s Year in Reading
‘Published in beautiful editions to celebrate life given shape in words.’
Drusilla Modjeska, Sydney Morning Herald’s Year in Reading
‘Both of these books are concerned with moments of heartbreak and of hope, with loneliness and love, and with great cruelties, and the things that drive people to them. They are animated by a desire to understand what seems unfathomable, and to pay attention to the small pleasures of the everyday. Garner's precise descriptions, her interest in minute shifts of emotion, and the ways in which we reveal ourselves to others are always at work in these books, and make them a real joy to read.’
Age
‘Her prose, as always, is honest, energetic, spare, and precise.’
Kirkus US
Wall Street Journal
‘Garner’s non-fiction is often driven by the question why. Ruthless and full-blooded, her journalism nevertheless displays the greatest nimbleness in its accommodation of ambivalence and uncertainty. Her short stories, on the other hand, have a tendency to rise seamlessly towards epiphany.’
Times Literary Supplement
‘As I leaf through the volumes, having just re-read both of them, I am still brought up short by another revelatory insight of the everyday…I could go on and on, but I am out of words. Many happy returns Helen Garner!’
Adelaide Advertiser
‘Helen Garner’s collections of fiction and nonfiction corroborate her reputation as a great stylist and a great witness.’
Peter Craven, Australian, Books of the Year 2017
Smoking dope and eating spaghetti, the abrupt ending of a happy marriage, the psychological effect of wearing stripes. Helen Garner takes slivers of daily life, sometimes the most mundane, and gently folds them into poetry on the page.’
Australian Gourmet Traveller
‘Memoirist, fiction writer, faction writer, journalist? Australian critics and booksellers have stopped trying to pigeonhole Melburnian writer Helen Garner and now just give her prizes…These stories and essays are the work of a natural storyteller, of an unsparing yet sympathetic eye…It’s all wonderful stuff: unstinting honesty, clarity and charm. Dive in.’
North & South
‘This is the power of Garner’s writing. She drills into experience and comes up with such clean, precise distillations of life, once you read them they enter into you. Successive generations of writers have felt the keen influence of her work and for this reason Garner has become part of us all.’
Australian
‘Stories and True Stories are handsome companion volumes deservedly celebrating Helen Garner, our greatest contemporary practitioner of observation, self-interrogation and compassion. Everything she writes, in her candid, graceful prose, rings true, enlightens, stays.’
Joan London, Sydney Morning Herald’s Year in Reading
‘Published in beautiful editions to celebrate life given shape in words.’
Drusilla Modjeska, Sydney Morning Herald’s Year in Reading
‘Both of these books are concerned with moments of heartbreak and of hope, with loneliness and love, and with great cruelties, and the things that drive people to them. They are animated by a desire to understand what seems unfathomable, and to pay attention to the small pleasures of the everyday. Garner's precise descriptions, her interest in minute shifts of emotion, and the ways in which we reveal ourselves to others are always at work in these books, and make them a real joy to read.’
Age
‘Her prose, as always, is honest, energetic, spare, and precise.’
Kirkus US
January 4, 2018
My opinion of this collection of short stories keeps wavering.
Yes, Garner can write. No one would ever question that idea. But being an intelligent and talented writer is only the beginning of a successful book. We all know you don’t need to be talented or produce anything intelligent to have readers fall in love with your works. (Case in point, the popularity of rubbish like the Twilight and 50 Shades series.)
I certainly loved the way she set the mood with each story. The settings in each story were instantly familiar, especially the Gold Coast one. I could taste the salt in the air, see the colour changes of the ocean’s horizon and the shimmering hazy outline of the Surfers Paradise skyscrapers in the north of the story's setting of Coolangatta. Often, it was like I was looking at postcards with a sepia tone instead of words on a page.
The mood too, is distinctly Australian. Even when the setting was overseas, it felt Australian.
I also had no issues with the characterisation. Given the brevity of each of the stories, the characters were fully formed within a few sentences. (Although, now that I reflect, quite a few of the leading females could have almost been perceived to be the same person. In fact, I think some have suggested many of the leading females could be Garner herself.)
There is plot in each story which, again, is very clever considering the short format.
There is no real joy in any of them, however. Rape, other sexual and physical assaults are all common themes throughout. Husbands cheat on wives, mothers are oblivious to the abuse directed towards their children. Everyone is alone, everyone is helpless and hopeless.
But taking away from my enjoyment more than the depressing nature of the stories is that I didn’t feel the stories were complete. I screamed out for just one resolution. Not only did I get no happy endings, I got no endings at all. Now, perhaps Garner has done this deliberately, as some type of intellectual impression we’re supposed to understand. But…
Actually, if I was cynical, I would say Garner had written scenes for books that had been cut and she’d hoarded them all in a folder until one day some friend suggested she shove them together and sell them to the public as short stories.
Another thing that annoyed me was the needless graphic terms used in some of the stories. I have a potty mouth myself, but found the way these words were used had more to do with Garner trying to sound edgy than adding to the narrative or characterisation in any way.
So you see, I’m still torn. I hate pretentious books, and I’m afraid I found this collection of stories fell into that category at times. I think if you want to read intelligent reading, this collection is perfect, but if you want to be entertained, not so much.
3 and ½ out 5
Yes, Garner can write. No one would ever question that idea. But being an intelligent and talented writer is only the beginning of a successful book. We all know you don’t need to be talented or produce anything intelligent to have readers fall in love with your works. (Case in point, the popularity of rubbish like the Twilight and 50 Shades series.)
I certainly loved the way she set the mood with each story. The settings in each story were instantly familiar, especially the Gold Coast one. I could taste the salt in the air, see the colour changes of the ocean’s horizon and the shimmering hazy outline of the Surfers Paradise skyscrapers in the north of the story's setting of Coolangatta. Often, it was like I was looking at postcards with a sepia tone instead of words on a page.
The mood too, is distinctly Australian. Even when the setting was overseas, it felt Australian.
I also had no issues with the characterisation. Given the brevity of each of the stories, the characters were fully formed within a few sentences. (Although, now that I reflect, quite a few of the leading females could have almost been perceived to be the same person. In fact, I think some have suggested many of the leading females could be Garner herself.)
There is plot in each story which, again, is very clever considering the short format.
There is no real joy in any of them, however. Rape, other sexual and physical assaults are all common themes throughout. Husbands cheat on wives, mothers are oblivious to the abuse directed towards their children. Everyone is alone, everyone is helpless and hopeless.
But taking away from my enjoyment more than the depressing nature of the stories is that I didn’t feel the stories were complete. I screamed out for just one resolution. Not only did I get no happy endings, I got no endings at all. Now, perhaps Garner has done this deliberately, as some type of intellectual impression we’re supposed to understand. But…
Actually, if I was cynical, I would say Garner had written scenes for books that had been cut and she’d hoarded them all in a folder until one day some friend suggested she shove them together and sell them to the public as short stories.
Another thing that annoyed me was the needless graphic terms used in some of the stories. I have a potty mouth myself, but found the way these words were used had more to do with Garner trying to sound edgy than adding to the narrative or characterisation in any way.
So you see, I’m still torn. I hate pretentious books, and I’m afraid I found this collection of stories fell into that category at times. I think if you want to read intelligent reading, this collection is perfect, but if you want to be entertained, not so much.
3 and ½ out 5
October 29, 2017
Finely crafted and beautifully observed with enough little jolts to continually delight; in other words, vintage Garner. Even if you already own the two collections that comprise Stories (Postcards from Surfers and My Hard Heart), it's well worth investing in this truly gorgeous volume.
January 24, 2018
‘Everything is spoken, nothing is said.’
This is one of two books published to celebrate Helen Garner’s seventy-fifth birthday in 2017. This book is by far the smaller book of the two (the other book, ‘True Stories: The Collected Short Non-Fiction’ is around 800 pages). This book, with its fourteen stories, contains just over 200 pages.
I’ve read this book twice. It takes me longer to read Ms Garner’s fiction: I need to work hard for my understanding of it. Not, I hasten to say, because of Ms Garner’s writing. No, it’s because most of these stories have many layers and in order to appreciate the whole story I need to identify the different parts.
There are no perfect characters, nor are there any stereotypes, in Ms Garner’s fiction. Each character has a past and a purpose. The future may be less certain, as in many stories the characters are anxiously navigating the present. We meet these characters, effectively described by Ms Garner, we journey alongside them for a while, witness an aspect or two of their lives, and then part company. There are no neat conclusions and no complicated backstories. And I think that is one of the reasons I find Ms Garner’s fiction harder work. Not because I need conclusions and backstories but because given an opportunity I will try to imagine them for myself. Ms Garner’s short story has finished on the page, but sometimes it is still taking place in my mind. Right now, I’m still in Surfers (‘Postcards from Surfers’) knitting, contributing my own monologue.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
This is one of two books published to celebrate Helen Garner’s seventy-fifth birthday in 2017. This book is by far the smaller book of the two (the other book, ‘True Stories: The Collected Short Non-Fiction’ is around 800 pages). This book, with its fourteen stories, contains just over 200 pages.
I’ve read this book twice. It takes me longer to read Ms Garner’s fiction: I need to work hard for my understanding of it. Not, I hasten to say, because of Ms Garner’s writing. No, it’s because most of these stories have many layers and in order to appreciate the whole story I need to identify the different parts.
There are no perfect characters, nor are there any stereotypes, in Ms Garner’s fiction. Each character has a past and a purpose. The future may be less certain, as in many stories the characters are anxiously navigating the present. We meet these characters, effectively described by Ms Garner, we journey alongside them for a while, witness an aspect or two of their lives, and then part company. There are no neat conclusions and no complicated backstories. And I think that is one of the reasons I find Ms Garner’s fiction harder work. Not because I need conclusions and backstories but because given an opportunity I will try to imagine them for myself. Ms Garner’s short story has finished on the page, but sometimes it is still taking place in my mind. Right now, I’m still in Surfers (‘Postcards from Surfers’) knitting, contributing my own monologue.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
July 20, 2018
A new author to me. I sometimes think you can get a good insight into a writer through their shorter fiction. Unfortunately, although she writes expressively with an interesting and stimulating vocabulary, with the eye of a poet I struggled with the prose.
With short sentences and a clipped observation narrative I felt at a distance, unable to engage with characters or be moved.
Maybe this is harsh and will set fans of Helen screaming at my review. I would welcome a fresh idea of how best to be won over and of course I will not give in. I will dip in to this diverse set of short stories and hope all things will click in that moment.
Suggestions and recommendations gratefully encouraged but I have more accessible authors to read just now.
With short sentences and a clipped observation narrative I felt at a distance, unable to engage with characters or be moved.
Maybe this is harsh and will set fans of Helen screaming at my review. I would welcome a fresh idea of how best to be won over and of course I will not give in. I will dip in to this diverse set of short stories and hope all things will click in that moment.
Suggestions and recommendations gratefully encouraged but I have more accessible authors to read just now.
November 17, 2021
3.5. First time listening to an audiobook - very exciting. Really loved some stories, had mixed feelings about others. Favourites were A Happy Story, In Paris, The Life of Art, The Psychological Effects of Wearing Stripes, and What We Say.
August 27, 2020
I listened to this collection as an audio book in the car.
Some of the stories were like old friends. But, some were new to me.
The greatest feature of this audio book was hearing the author read them herself.
Some of the stories were like old friends. But, some were new to me.
The greatest feature of this audio book was hearing the author read them herself.
April 20, 2020
How lucky are we that Garner celebrates her birthday with a book for us. While I often think short stories aren’t for me I love those from Garner.
August 16, 2024
I’m a huge fan of Helen Garner’s writing. She is so open and honest with her stories that it’s like sitting on a couch with your oldest (time wise) friend. She shares a lot of thoughts and opinions in an uncomplicated way that never feels like she is lecturing. In fact she is often not certain of how she has arrived with these thoughts herself. Her eye for observation and her ability to tie moments together is like a comedian on stage. Eventually it all comes together and nothing is wasted.
January 1, 2018
Stories is the short companion volume to the much longer True Stories, the compendium of Helen Garner's short non-fiction work.
Unsurprisingly, then, Stories are the short fiction. Except that Helen Garner's work is notoriously hard to categorise. These are not really stories, they are essays written from the point of view of someone who just happens not to exist. The quality is apparent in that you have to keep reminding yourself that it is not memoir or editorial. And it is not the life of Helen Garner portrayed by actors, in that the characters are so completely different: flighty women, abused women, strong women, a gay man, a nationalist drunk, ... Always Australian, though. Mostly the stories don't have what you'd think of as a narrative arc. They start with no preamble and the reader is required to piece together what it is they are reading, And the ends tend to just peter out rather than reaching any real resolution.
So this is not an easy read. Nor is it what would traditionally be called entertaining. It's not even that thought provoking. But there is a beauty in it when looked at closely, in just how perfectly some moments and some details are captured. Invariably uncomfortable moments.
Unsurprisingly, then, Stories are the short fiction. Except that Helen Garner's work is notoriously hard to categorise. These are not really stories, they are essays written from the point of view of someone who just happens not to exist. The quality is apparent in that you have to keep reminding yourself that it is not memoir or editorial. And it is not the life of Helen Garner portrayed by actors, in that the characters are so completely different: flighty women, abused women, strong women, a gay man, a nationalist drunk, ... Always Australian, though. Mostly the stories don't have what you'd think of as a narrative arc. They start with no preamble and the reader is required to piece together what it is they are reading, And the ends tend to just peter out rather than reaching any real resolution.
So this is not an easy read. Nor is it what would traditionally be called entertaining. It's not even that thought provoking. But there is a beauty in it when looked at closely, in just how perfectly some moments and some details are captured. Invariably uncomfortable moments.
June 7, 2018
The author Helen Garner is a versatile wordsmith. She is a great short story writer. Stories: The Collected Short Fiction was released to coincide with Garner’s 75th birthday. It is a selection of short eccentric tales that had me embarrassed at times.
The characters in this book are super believable. Which was one thing this story had going for it. The characters are quite flawed. The narrative is intense and very interesting.
Her characters tended to be lonely or desperate people. They have anxiety and depression and crazy dreams. They are quite hilarious though so that was fun.
Not sure if I will read another one though.
Disclaimer: I received this title from Netgalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
The characters in this book are super believable. Which was one thing this story had going for it. The characters are quite flawed. The narrative is intense and very interesting.
Her characters tended to be lonely or desperate people. They have anxiety and depression and crazy dreams. They are quite hilarious though so that was fun.
Not sure if I will read another one though.
Disclaimer: I received this title from Netgalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
June 7, 2018
Garner is an impeccable writer, in my opinion. She’s one of the few people who manages to have me laughing out loud at the absurdities of life one minute, and quietly pondering it’s meaning the next. These stories are fictional accounts from different times throughout her life, some stories I loved more than others, but I will certainly be reading them all again, it’s always a pleasure. Recommended for those who enjoy life’s lesser noticed quirks.
May 1, 2022
This solidified that collections of short stories are just not for me- even when they come from one of my favourite authors. Found it really difficult to get into this book. 2.5 stars.
January 27, 2020
3.5 stars rounded up
December 21, 2021
3.5 Stars!
Reading through this is like coming across an old shoe box filled with postcards from locations scattered around Australia from yester-year. I’d never come across Garner before, but yet she is one of those names who I am sure I have seen around before?...
Either way I was impressed by this short collection. There are no stinkers and most of them are really well constructed, bolstered by some crisp, pointed prose which at times really penetrates to a deeper level.
Her powers of observation are matched by her ability to articulate what she sees. Garner spins scenarios which can be as whimsical as they can be profound and you never quite know if they are going to fall on the dark or sunny side, or even somewhere in between?...This is definitely an author I will read more of.
December 31, 2020
I honestly didn't expect anything from this collection having chosen it at random but omg.... this is a hidden gem. Tore through it in a single night. I love this sort of sparse/precise prose and felt huge swells of sorrow, hope, and delight while reading. Was especially impressed by the consistently perfect dialogue and pacing.
December 31, 2018
I don’t really understand experimental style short fiction and I prefer the more traditional prose so my favourites were:
In Paris
Little Helen
La Chance Existe
Did He Pay?
What We Say
I am intrigued to pick up Helen Garner’s longer works.
In Paris
Little Helen
La Chance Existe
Did He Pay?
What We Say
I am intrigued to pick up Helen Garner’s longer works.
September 26, 2021
3.5 stars. A collection of 13 fiction short stories, previously published in 'My Hard Head' (1998) and 'Postcards from Surfers' (1985) short story collections. My favourite stories are 'Postcards from Surfers', about a young woman holidaying in Queensland and writing postcards to an old boyfriend, and 'All Those Bloody Young Catholics', which is about a man at a public bar speaking a little too outspokenly to a woman he hadn't seen in a long time. He does all the talking, not expecting the listener to do anything but listen! He is totally oblivious to that fact that he is embarrassing her by his recollections of her past behaviour.
I prefer Helen Garner's non fiction crime reportage and personal experience books such as 'A House of Grief', 'The First Stone' or Joe Cinque's Consolation'. These books are all memorable, thought provoking reading experiences.
This compilation of short stories was first published in 2017.
I prefer Helen Garner's non fiction crime reportage and personal experience books such as 'A House of Grief', 'The First Stone' or Joe Cinque's Consolation'. These books are all memorable, thought provoking reading experiences.
This compilation of short stories was first published in 2017.
February 1, 2020
3.71 The Complete Short Fiction, Helen Garner....some of them great and some slight....the thing I like the most about here is the way she works....like say for example, Lutz is a sentence writer, thats where his stories grow up from, and Salter too (although I think he has better vision), and Garner deals with blocks, scenes and they're put down near each other, its something real lively, primal, they feel real, the structure is essential...I look forward to reading the Children's Bach
December 31, 2022
Not as remarkable as I expected. The best stories, in my opinion, were Postcards from Surfers, Little Helen’s Sunday Afternoon, and My Hard Heart. I think all of the above were all more my style of story because they were more plot-driven, but in general I found the writing style to be stilted and too matter-of-fact for my taste.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
I think most of these stories were probably drafts or outlines for longer projects. Interesting to watch her experiment with style and chip away at her themes but nothing here really touched me the way her novels and nonfiction do
March 24, 2020
Master storyteller is our national treasure, Helen Garner. This one in particular was very quotable.
December 29, 2024
I liked some of these short stories but found others difficult to understand. I have not read many short stories and maybe that was part of my issue in that I am used to a longer plot
June 20, 2022
Wonderful collection of Helen Garner’s stories. I adore Postcards from Surfers, A Thousand Miles From the Ocean, and Little Helen’s Sunday Afternoon
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