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Tourist Season
In Tourist Season, award-winning author Enid Shomer offers ten brilliant, richly detailed unforgettable stories of resilient women, aged seventeen to seventy, each at a pivotal point in her life. Their journeys cross distances of place and mind: A middle-aged Floridian who learns that she is the reincarnation of a Buddhist saint takes daring steps on her path to enlightenment; a long-buried secret forces one woman to leave the daughter she deeply loves; a Radcliffe student faces shocking family truths and taboos during the summer of 1966; an unexpected kinship forms between two women who land in a county jail after an excursion to Las Vegas. These travelers wander through shifting emotional landscapes of love, sex, and relationships, and often miss the destinations they’d wished to reach–of insight, connection, and understanding. Whether journeying to new geographical locales or exploring uncharted personal terrain, Tourist Season offers a provocative, engaging, and often humorous road map of the heart and soul.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
254 pages, Paperback
First published March 27, 2007
23 people are currently reading
166 people want to read
About the author
Enid Shomer
24 books33 followersEnid Shomer is an award-winning American poet and fiction writer. She is author of six poetry collections and two short story collections largely set in, influenced by, and life in the State of Florida.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
November 12, 2007
This is book is overall good- like any collection of stories, there are some that are 'artistic' but lack a point. But the good ones are really really good. The book opens with one of the best, "Chosen" where a Jewish suburbaitte woman discovers she is a Buddhist saint. I also loved 'Laws of Nature' and 'Fill in the Blank'. You'll have to read it to find out what they are about. :)
January 30, 2011
Not sure about this one. I may finish reading it, but it's not catching my attention. I feel like the author is trying too hard to be interesting.
September 23, 2014
I had read this book once before and found the stories so haunting I had to read it again, so I did that this weekend. Shomer is a brilliant story writer and I am surprised she does not have a wider reputation. She writes about key transitions in women's lives with such insight and grace. My two favorites are "Rapture" and "Laws of Nature." Both push the envelope of plausibility, yet both are credible in their own, slightly surreal terms.
April 7, 2019
The power was out, so I pulled this up from my saved books to read. An easy, light series of stories touching on some aspect of travel, that was fine and fun to read.
January 23, 2012
I feel like Tourist Season was written as a beach read. Nothing serious, nothing profound, some odd moments...just a collection of short stories to read for entertainment value. You're bound to love at least one story, but some of them are bound to leave you questioning what you just read (incest, love affairs between high schoolers and retired police officers). I thought that the order and placement of the stories were fantastic: you are taken on a roller coaster of emotions, with the most serious and devastating tales in the middle and the end leaving you almost laughing at the lunacy of the characters. I liked the length of the stories; it made for an easy read. Overall it was a cute collection, worth a read if you have a lot of time in our hands.
January 10, 2008
This book reminded me why I don't like short stories. After reading the first one, I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue. There were a few good ones and after discussing it with the book group, I think I came to appreciate them a little more. Though, I still found myself wanting more from each of the stories.
January 9, 2023
#1
They rose and bowed, moving toward Iris like shy boys at a dance. Kneeling at her feet, they gently pried loose her hand clamped on the armrest of the chair and kissed it, closing their eyes reverently. When they opened them, they were full of tears.
#2
It probably wasn’t entirely legal, but Sheila didn’t care about that anymore. She stood in the kitchen, snipping the stems, inserting them into a globe of floral foam in tall clusters like rays. If some girl in Georgia was desperate enough to give up or sell her baby, Sheila was going to take it.
#3
Linda and Garland smoked a little dope to chill out before taking the train uptown. Dressed in nondescript wool slacks and a sweater, Garland was feeling confident. Linda, in denim, wore reflective sunglasses. Garland knew that behind them, Linda’s eyes brimmed with excitement. Each girl carried an empty tote.
#4
Frieda put on her glasses to get her lipstick straight, dropped the tube into her purse, and jangled the car keys. “I’m going,” she called to Milt, who was sitting at the breakfast table with three different newspapers spread out before him, as if he were compiling a concordance of the day’s news. It took him a good two hours to read them all.
#5
“All I know is I’ve spent our entire marriage trying to second-guess you, to please you,” he muttered. She had never seen Gordon cry, but now a few tears ran down his cheeks. “Instead of being pleased, you’ve lost respect for me.” So each of them had come to some kernel, some version of the truth of their lives.
#6
“No problem.” The officer trudged across the parking lot and returned promptly with the bag swinging from his shoulder. As he handed it over to Jill in the paddy wagon, it flipped upside down and everything tumbled out. Kirk and Spock landed on top. The officer lifted the packet and paged through it, his eyes widening.
#7
The dog swayed under their blithering hands, his eyes half-closed. Garland wanted to touch the papery warmth of the sheriff’s hands, but fondled the dog’s ears instead. “I’ll vote for you next time you run. I’m old enough now,” she volunteered. Oh, God, that was so suck-uppy.
#8
The young man lit a cigarette. “You should be afraid of me. I know you are. That’s why I let you out of the car.” He inhaled, exhaled. “You know, I don’t give a shit about anything. I could cut your face. I could kill someone if I needed to.” He blew smoke at her. She fanned it away.
#9
Pop Goldring was talkative, with a heavy Russian accent. He wore silk suits, a Stetson, and paisley ties with matching handkerchiefs. Mr. Withers looked Edwardian by comparison, his face tucked inside a starched white collar. A plain gold stickpin pierced his tie beneath a tight Windsor knot.
#10
Though as an anthropologist Helen was familiar with animal totems and spirit guides, she was certain she didn’t quite grasp what Benita was saying. Surely there was a degree of metaphor involved. Surely the wolf- and pig-women didn’t stalk small animals or forage for garbage, then hurry home to cook dinner. “Do they ever turn back into human beings?” she asked.
They rose and bowed, moving toward Iris like shy boys at a dance. Kneeling at her feet, they gently pried loose her hand clamped on the armrest of the chair and kissed it, closing their eyes reverently. When they opened them, they were full of tears.
#2
It probably wasn’t entirely legal, but Sheila didn’t care about that anymore. She stood in the kitchen, snipping the stems, inserting them into a globe of floral foam in tall clusters like rays. If some girl in Georgia was desperate enough to give up or sell her baby, Sheila was going to take it.
#3
Linda and Garland smoked a little dope to chill out before taking the train uptown. Dressed in nondescript wool slacks and a sweater, Garland was feeling confident. Linda, in denim, wore reflective sunglasses. Garland knew that behind them, Linda’s eyes brimmed with excitement. Each girl carried an empty tote.
#4
Frieda put on her glasses to get her lipstick straight, dropped the tube into her purse, and jangled the car keys. “I’m going,” she called to Milt, who was sitting at the breakfast table with three different newspapers spread out before him, as if he were compiling a concordance of the day’s news. It took him a good two hours to read them all.
#5
“All I know is I’ve spent our entire marriage trying to second-guess you, to please you,” he muttered. She had never seen Gordon cry, but now a few tears ran down his cheeks. “Instead of being pleased, you’ve lost respect for me.” So each of them had come to some kernel, some version of the truth of their lives.
#6
“No problem.” The officer trudged across the parking lot and returned promptly with the bag swinging from his shoulder. As he handed it over to Jill in the paddy wagon, it flipped upside down and everything tumbled out. Kirk and Spock landed on top. The officer lifted the packet and paged through it, his eyes widening.
#7
The dog swayed under their blithering hands, his eyes half-closed. Garland wanted to touch the papery warmth of the sheriff’s hands, but fondled the dog’s ears instead. “I’ll vote for you next time you run. I’m old enough now,” she volunteered. Oh, God, that was so suck-uppy.
#8
The young man lit a cigarette. “You should be afraid of me. I know you are. That’s why I let you out of the car.” He inhaled, exhaled. “You know, I don’t give a shit about anything. I could cut your face. I could kill someone if I needed to.” He blew smoke at her. She fanned it away.
#9
Pop Goldring was talkative, with a heavy Russian accent. He wore silk suits, a Stetson, and paisley ties with matching handkerchiefs. Mr. Withers looked Edwardian by comparison, his face tucked inside a starched white collar. A plain gold stickpin pierced his tie beneath a tight Windsor knot.
#10
Though as an anthropologist Helen was familiar with animal totems and spirit guides, she was certain she didn’t quite grasp what Benita was saying. Surely there was a degree of metaphor involved. Surely the wolf- and pig-women didn’t stalk small animals or forage for garbage, then hurry home to cook dinner. “Do they ever turn back into human beings?” she asked.
August 1, 2019
I very much enjoy short story collections, because I feel you get a deeper insight to an author's talents by the stories they craft. This collection, with a Florida connection running through each, was so satisfying to read, as I have lived in the state since July 1994. I haven't been everywhere in this state, but the idea of being able to explore other parts of it is still exciting. The characters in each story, with a primary female protagonist, are all of different ages and backgrounds, so it is easy to identify with each in some small (or large) way.
February 23, 2022
I can't put my finger on it. The author has won a lot of prizes and I've not read her before. Just not my cup of tea even if some of the characters were quite good - I couldn't get in a groove with the stories.
December 30, 2018
Never really been a fan of short stories, but something about this one kept my interest.
June 23, 2019
I don’t know why I continued reading after first few short stories.
April 23, 2020
It just wasn’t for me. The short stories felt underdeveloped and the characters unrelatable. There’s no point or arc.
July 1, 2018
In Tourist Season, award-winning author Enid Shomer offers ten brilliant, richly detailed unforgettable stories of resilient women, aged seventeen to seventy, each at a pivotal point in her life. Their journeys cross distances of place and mind: A middle-aged Floridian who learns that she is the reincarnation of a Buddhist saint takes daring steps on her path to enlightenment; a long-buried secret forces one woman to leave the daughter she deeply loves; a Radcliffe student faces shocking family truths and taboos during the summer of 1966; an unexpected kinship forms between two women who land in a county jail after an excursion to Las Vegas. These travelers wander through shifting emotional landscapes of love, sex, and relationships, and often miss the destinations they’d wished to reach–of insight, connection, and understanding. Whether journeying to new geographical locales or exploring uncharted personal terrain, Tourist Season offers a provocative, engaging, and often humorous road map of the heart and soul.
“[When reading Enid Shomer’s stories,] the thing one quickly senses is the will and the voice, someone saying, in effect, ‘Relax, be comfortable, I’m going to take good care of you.’ These are very fine stories.”
–James Salter, in Imaginary Men
“Beautifully made, surprising and inevitable, wonderfully inventive and deeply true, these stories are full of small, irreverent, straight-faced miracles. They will lead women of all ages to suspect that the best may be yet to come.”
––Pam Houston, author of Cowboys Are My Weakness and Sight Hound
From the Trade Paperback edition.
**
February 4, 2008
It’s a collection about tourists, but uses the meaning in the broadest sense. All the stories are about women in various stages of their lives where they become tourists in their own lives. Some are more of a stretch than others to fit into this theme, but overall it works.
Shomer has range and depth in her collection. “Fill In The Blank” was a story told on two levels, and even though I didn’t really like the protagonist Garland, I like how the story unfolded. What I disliked the most about the collection is the fact that Garland shows up in another story towards the end called “Sweethearts,” a story that in my opinion isn’t fleshed out as the rest. As much as I like connections, this was one character I didn’t want to read more about. I would have rather read about Zen and her baby Bud from “The Hottest Spot on Earth” or the life of the biological mother from “The Other Mother.”
My favorite story is “The Hottest Spot on Earth.” It’s about two Slash writers going to a conference in Las Vegas and wackiness ensues. It was downright hilarious, and a great portrayal of the relationship between writers at conferences who don’t really know each other outside of them. I can see why it won the Glenna Luschei award.
Tourist Season begins and ends with two stories that tie for my second favorites in the collection. The collection begins with “Chosen,” a story in which Iris Hornstein, a lapsed Jew, is visited by two Buddhist monks to tell her she’s the reincarnation of some famous Buddhist saint. I love the way the story sets the readers expectations to be open minded and ready for stories to take them places they might not expect. The ending story, “Laws of Nature” was most unexpected and pleasantly so. I got the impression in the beginning that Shomer was open to fantastical ideas, and “Laws of Nature” was pure magical realism, and delightfully so.
Overall, I enjoyed this collection, and would definitely recommend it especially to writers of realistic fiction who are a bit inclined to the fantastical.
Shomer has range and depth in her collection. “Fill In The Blank” was a story told on two levels, and even though I didn’t really like the protagonist Garland, I like how the story unfolded. What I disliked the most about the collection is the fact that Garland shows up in another story towards the end called “Sweethearts,” a story that in my opinion isn’t fleshed out as the rest. As much as I like connections, this was one character I didn’t want to read more about. I would have rather read about Zen and her baby Bud from “The Hottest Spot on Earth” or the life of the biological mother from “The Other Mother.”
My favorite story is “The Hottest Spot on Earth.” It’s about two Slash writers going to a conference in Las Vegas and wackiness ensues. It was downright hilarious, and a great portrayal of the relationship between writers at conferences who don’t really know each other outside of them. I can see why it won the Glenna Luschei award.
Tourist Season begins and ends with two stories that tie for my second favorites in the collection. The collection begins with “Chosen,” a story in which Iris Hornstein, a lapsed Jew, is visited by two Buddhist monks to tell her she’s the reincarnation of some famous Buddhist saint. I love the way the story sets the readers expectations to be open minded and ready for stories to take them places they might not expect. The ending story, “Laws of Nature” was most unexpected and pleasantly so. I got the impression in the beginning that Shomer was open to fantastical ideas, and “Laws of Nature” was pure magical realism, and delightfully so.
Overall, I enjoyed this collection, and would definitely recommend it especially to writers of realistic fiction who are a bit inclined to the fantastical.
August 27, 2016
When I finished this collection and tried to organize my thoughts, I initially focused on the lack of cultural diversity represented in these stories. You get the feeling throughout that these are white women of a certain socioeconomic status who are generally accepted/respected in society. Not that they're all extremely wealthy or well-known, but they don't seem to have many real struggles or problems (except maybe some "first world problems"). I'm still giving this 3 stars because I enjoyed the bizarre aspects of many of these stories, and most of the events described are not things that the average woman would deal with - either because they're fantastical, or just a little "out there". Enid Shomer adds a twist to many of the common turning points or significant events in women's lives, which makes it an overall intriguing read with several unique, surprising, and (sometimes) dark elements.
July 20, 2016
Such intriguing short stories by an author with some FSU connections - apparently she was once a member of the English faculty. There's a definite Florida tinge to many of them. These stories are little sketches of women, deftly outlined, almost plotless - just moments in time from pretty desperate lives. Well-written, a bit depressing - a quick and easy read.
December 23, 2016
A great collection of stories, unrelated for the most part, and each quite different in tone and texture, though there were some themes of anthropological congruity between cultures common to several of them.
My favorite was "Laws of Nature". It reminded me of some of the mythology I read avidly as a young reader.
My favorite was "Laws of Nature". It reminded me of some of the mythology I read avidly as a young reader.
May 28, 2016
Uneven
Some stories seemed more thoughtful and adhesive than others. All in all it was a pleasant reading experience. Nothing earth shattering, although a couple of the stories seemed to end rather abruptly and required the reader to supply the resolution.
Some stories seemed more thoughtful and adhesive than others. All in all it was a pleasant reading experience. Nothing earth shattering, although a couple of the stories seemed to end rather abruptly and required the reader to supply the resolution.
January 3, 2008
Not that great of a book. I liked the story entitled Rapture but most of the stories had no plot or general point. It is probably a love it or hate it type book.
January 1, 2015
Okay, so far some of these stories are odd. However, they are way better than the last book of short stories I read!
January 18, 2008
If you're a fan of short stories, this is a great read...I prefer getting to know my characters...
Want to read
August 2, 200808/01/08 rec via pbs
November 12, 2008
very competent stories by a good poet--relationshippy and in South Florida.
April 19, 2009
marvelously wrought details, magically transformed into life and truth.
May 28, 2009
Short stories about ten different women of varying ages who are all at turning points in their lives.
August 21, 2012
The author is good at making each character very different from the next.
June 30, 2016
Very nice collection of stories-- original and well written.
July 2, 2016
I tried to like it, but I couldn't get through most of these and I can read almost any short story. Just not for me.
July 29, 2016
Meh. Couple of the stories were pretty. LOVED the title story. But I'm an old woman, and I'm not a huge fan of the sparse narrative that leaves too much unanswered. Easy read though.
September 7, 2017
I didn't care for this book at all. I found the characters underdeveloped and the stories uninteresting and at times simply silly.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews