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Sorry for Your Trouble: Stories
In Sorry for Your Trouble, Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author Richard Ford presents a stunning meditation on memory, love and loss.
“Displaced” returns us to a young man’s Mississippi adolescence, and to a shocking encounter with a young Irish immigrant who recklessly tries to console the narrator’s sorrow after his father’s death. “Driving Up” follows an American woman’s late-in-life journey to Canada to bid good-bye to a lost love now facing the end of his life. “The Run of Yourself,” a novella, sees a New Orleans lawyer navigating the difficulties of living beyond his Irish wife’s death. And “Nothing to Declare” follows a man and a woman’s chance re-meeting in the New Orleans French Quarter, after twenty years, and their discovery of what’s left of love for them.
Replete with Ford’s emotional lucidity and lyrical precision, Sorry for Your Trouble is a memorable collection from one of our greatest writers.
“Displaced” returns us to a young man’s Mississippi adolescence, and to a shocking encounter with a young Irish immigrant who recklessly tries to console the narrator’s sorrow after his father’s death. “Driving Up” follows an American woman’s late-in-life journey to Canada to bid good-bye to a lost love now facing the end of his life. “The Run of Yourself,” a novella, sees a New Orleans lawyer navigating the difficulties of living beyond his Irish wife’s death. And “Nothing to Declare” follows a man and a woman’s chance re-meeting in the New Orleans French Quarter, after twenty years, and their discovery of what’s left of love for them.
Replete with Ford’s emotional lucidity and lyrical precision, Sorry for Your Trouble is a memorable collection from one of our greatest writers.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published May 12, 2020
426 people are currently reading
1948 people want to read
About the author
Richard Ford
237 books1,654 followersRichard Ford, born February 16, 1944 in Jackson, Mississippi, is an American novelist and short story writer. His best-known works are the novel The Sportswriter and its sequels, Independence Day, The Lay of the Land and Let Me Be Frank With You, and the short story collection Rock Springs, which contains several widely anthologized stories. Comparisons have been drawn between Ford's work and the writings of John Updike, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway and Walker Percy.
His novel Independence Day won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1996, also winning the PEN/Faulkner Award in the same year.
His novel Independence Day won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1996, also winning the PEN/Faulkner Award in the same year.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 265 reviews
June 18, 2020
“Good choices don’t make very good stories,” she said.”Have you noticed that?”...”I haven’t,” he said. “I thought they did.” No matter which side you take here, there’s no mistaking that Richard Ford writes a good story, whether his characters make good choices or not. I’ve enjoyed a number of Ford’s novels and still have others I’d like to read, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to read this collection of stories. While I can’t say that I equally enjoyed every story in the collection, I certainly appreciated the writing, how he takes the things that impact people’s lives all of the time and makes the story captivating because we can relate or at least recognize what people go through with divorce, death, grief. A feeling of sadness permeates the stories making the commonly shared events of life more poignant because they happen to everyone in a unique way. This is not a collection of connected stories. Characters don’t reappear, but common themes such as self reflection that comes when you are at a crossroads looking back and trying to decide how to move forward serve to create a sort of cohesiveness. We are taken to multiple locations - Maine, New Orleans, Ireland, Paris, Mississippi; there are no geographic boundaries for death, loss or grief.
A few of my favorites:
“Nothing to Declare”, where former lovers meet after decades. I loved the literary mentions here and also in a few other stories. “Displaced”, a coming of age story as a teenage boy deals with his father’s death. “The Run of Yourself”, a grieving man trying to move forward after his wife’s suicide.
“Reading late into the night was a luxury.....With grief and thoughts of Mae crashing about, he read to replenish time, not for pleasure or a hunger to learn....Though being bookish meant that whatever you read , the mind went to the places it needed to go.” One could say this after reading Richard Ford.
I received a copy of this book from Ecco through Edelweiss.
A few of my favorites:
“Nothing to Declare”, where former lovers meet after decades. I loved the literary mentions here and also in a few other stories. “Displaced”, a coming of age story as a teenage boy deals with his father’s death. “The Run of Yourself”, a grieving man trying to move forward after his wife’s suicide.
“Reading late into the night was a luxury.....With grief and thoughts of Mae crashing about, he read to replenish time, not for pleasure or a hunger to learn....Though being bookish meant that whatever you read , the mind went to the places it needed to go.” One could say this after reading Richard Ford.
I received a copy of this book from Ecco through Edelweiss.
February 22, 2020
Richard Ford never disappoints. Each of these stories, two long enough to be considered novellas, explores individuals who find themselves usually after a trauma-- each could be the genesis of a complete novel but are wisely presented in this form. Mostly taking place in Maine, New Orleans, and Ireland, they are not "linked" but might as well be since the characters traverse the same landscapes but never cross over. His writing is mature, articulate, immersive. Highly recommended.
February 1, 2021
This was a nice collection of short stories from Pulitzer laureate Richard Ford. I have to say that I preferred the collection related to his famous protagonist Frank, Let Me Be Frank With You as well as his novels The Sportswriter and Independence Day. These stories all feature people in middle age struggling with life crises of various sorts. Most of the male characters are lawyers originally from New Orleans and the women and divorcees or lovers in New York, New Jersey, Dublin or Paris. The stories are interesting and have some interesting moments. I think my favorite was the very first one. But, as for a Pulitzer hopeful for 2021, I don't think this one has the umpf to go the distance.
I'd recommend this to those who are already Richard Ford fans. Otherwise, start with his novels to see if you enjoy them!
My List of Pulitzer 2021 Hopefuls: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
I'd recommend this to those who are already Richard Ford fans. Otherwise, start with his novels to see if you enjoy them!
My List of Pulitzer 2021 Hopefuls: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
February 22, 2020
I'll preface this by saying you kind of have to be a Richard Ford fan to like this - and I am - and I did. Seven or eiqht short stories - 2 novella length. Some typical - some not. But the writing is to be savored. This man writes so well. The stories are melancholic - most take place in Maine or New Orleans (not the beloved New Jersey of Sportwriter). People aging - second chances (or second takes) - lost illusions - mature compromises. A wise book. He's won the Pulitzer and many other awards - inspired by Faulkner, Welty and Carver. When's this guy winning a Nobel Prize for literature! Thank you #netgalley for an advanced copy
September 13, 2020
“The best stories are about bad choices.” Richard Ford has always been a weighty writer with a dry wit. Now, at 76, every word has a purpose. He began his writing career somewhat late, gathering life experience and making observations about the American way. It has enabled Ford to write about every region of our country like he’s lived there. He is the first major writer I discovered on my own. To me, he’s the Fitzgerald or Hemingway of my generation. No one recommended him. I wasn’t assigned him to read for class. I happened upon his first book, Wildlife, in the early 90’s. Initially, I thought it was unremarkable, but something peaked my curiosity enough to pick up his second, The Sportswriter, and with it the debut of the character, Frank Bascombe. What a gift. A Pulitzer Prize of a gift. Independence Day still ranks as one of my favorite books of all time.
I actually met Richard Ford in 2012 when he was on tour for his novel, Canada. Someone asked him how long he planned to continue writing. He replied that he didn’t know, but added he was quite aware that he was running out of time. Now, 8 years later, you can’t help but feel the the bittersweet melancholy in every story of the collection, “Sorry For Your Trouble.”
These are stories that a lot of readers under 50 will have trouble relating to. It takes most of a lifetime to realize that regret and loss are wounds not easily earned. Their scars act as guardrails to navigate what’s left. Though once accepted, even your own mortality can be quite clarifying. Sorry For Your Trouble will help solidify Ford as an American icon. Of course, some of the stories are better than others. Leaving for Kenosha and The Run of Yourself were exceptional. But the novella Second Language was a hallmark love story of 21st century alienation. I loved it. Regardless, if you have never read Richard Ford before, you need to make some time for his unmistakable voice.
I actually met Richard Ford in 2012 when he was on tour for his novel, Canada. Someone asked him how long he planned to continue writing. He replied that he didn’t know, but added he was quite aware that he was running out of time. Now, 8 years later, you can’t help but feel the the bittersweet melancholy in every story of the collection, “Sorry For Your Trouble.”
These are stories that a lot of readers under 50 will have trouble relating to. It takes most of a lifetime to realize that regret and loss are wounds not easily earned. Their scars act as guardrails to navigate what’s left. Though once accepted, even your own mortality can be quite clarifying. Sorry For Your Trouble will help solidify Ford as an American icon. Of course, some of the stories are better than others. Leaving for Kenosha and The Run of Yourself were exceptional. But the novella Second Language was a hallmark love story of 21st century alienation. I loved it. Regardless, if you have never read Richard Ford before, you need to make some time for his unmistakable voice.
October 3, 2022
“C’era, bisogna ammetterlo, la vaga sensazione di essere un semplice spettatore della vita. Ma era l’America. Erano tutti spettatori.”
Scusate il disturbo è una raccolta di dieci racconti che riflette su altrettante scene di vita americana , con i chiaroscuri , le particolarità e le miserie , attraverso personaggi ritratti nel tempo e nello spazio osservandoli nelle loro reazioni, ricerche domande , insicurezze , errori e dolori; sono interpreti imperfetti della natura caotica e imprevedibile dell'essere umano.
Ognuna di queste storie (ambientate per lo più a New Orleans ), in cui nulla sembra accadere, Ford ci mette di fronte alla grandezza della quotidianità, ai riesami della vita che arrivano con la maturità, ai ricordi inspiegabili e perfino all'inevitabile dimenticanza.
Le cose, come spesso succede, avrebbero potuto essere diverse, ma si finisce poi per accettarle perché in qualche modo hanno sconvolto o influenzato sull’esistenza.
(come nel racconto Seconda Lingua, il più bello e commovente secondo me, che celebra la forza delle connessioni)
Puntando sulla borghesia disincantata che poco ha a che vedere con il decantato sogno americano e spinto dalla suo straordinaria capacità di osservazione e senso critico, Ford presenta situazioni apparentemente banali in cui non mancano elementi autobiografici, capaci di conferire ai racconti verosimiglianza e autenticità innegabili.
Ford non giudica né interpreta, si limita a descrivere frammenti di vita che il più delle volte si esauriscono in nulla di concreto, perché “la vita è una superficie "che raccoglie gli alti e i bassi, le speranze e lo smarrimento, gli imprevisti e le deviazioni, le parole e silenzi.
Tutto vissuto nell’attesa, forse, di un tempo migliore.
Scusate il disturbo è una raccolta di dieci racconti che riflette su altrettante scene di vita americana , con i chiaroscuri , le particolarità e le miserie , attraverso personaggi ritratti nel tempo e nello spazio osservandoli nelle loro reazioni, ricerche domande , insicurezze , errori e dolori; sono interpreti imperfetti della natura caotica e imprevedibile dell'essere umano.
Ognuna di queste storie (ambientate per lo più a New Orleans ), in cui nulla sembra accadere, Ford ci mette di fronte alla grandezza della quotidianità, ai riesami della vita che arrivano con la maturità, ai ricordi inspiegabili e perfino all'inevitabile dimenticanza.
Le cose, come spesso succede, avrebbero potuto essere diverse, ma si finisce poi per accettarle perché in qualche modo hanno sconvolto o influenzato sull’esistenza.
(come nel racconto Seconda Lingua, il più bello e commovente secondo me, che celebra la forza delle connessioni)
Puntando sulla borghesia disincantata che poco ha a che vedere con il decantato sogno americano e spinto dalla suo straordinaria capacità di osservazione e senso critico, Ford presenta situazioni apparentemente banali in cui non mancano elementi autobiografici, capaci di conferire ai racconti verosimiglianza e autenticità innegabili.
Ford non giudica né interpreta, si limita a descrivere frammenti di vita che il più delle volte si esauriscono in nulla di concreto, perché “la vita è una superficie "che raccoglie gli alti e i bassi, le speranze e lo smarrimento, gli imprevisti e le deviazioni, le parole e silenzi.
Tutto vissuto nell’attesa, forse, di un tempo migliore.
July 9, 2020
Este volumen es una colección de relatos que te colocan en medio de la vida de los protagonistas. En la mayoría de ellos te sientes como si hubieras viajado en una máquina del tiempo y por sorpresa hubieras aparecido en una reunión en la que no conoces a nadie y no sabes que está pasando. No puedes hacer otra cosa que observar a tu alrededor y tratar de comprender porqué esa gente está allí, qué está haciendo y qué va a ocurrir. Y así es como Ford te lleva de la mano por sus historias. Algunas de ellas están ambientadas en Irlanda porque Ford estuvo becado allí mientras escribía este libro pero, en realidad, da igual donde sucedan, todas tienen un carácter universal: el amor, el desamor, el reencuentro. Eso sí, todas están protagonizadas por gente mayor, gente que recuerda historias, anécdotas, otros encuentros, otros amores y que se pregunta cosas como ¿Por qué me gustó está persona? ¿Por qué no seguí con ella? ¿Debería haber hecho algo? Para mí, los dos mejores relatos son el primero Nada que declarar y el último Perder los papeles pero los he disfrutado todos.
Y Ford sigue siendo el autor que mejor refleja en pocas palabras el desamor, el desapego que produce el final del amor:
«En algún momento alguien lo había encontrado atractivo y luego lo había lamentado».
No se puede decir más con menos palabras.
Y Ford sigue siendo el autor que mejor refleja en pocas palabras el desamor, el desapego que produce el final del amor:
«En algún momento alguien lo había encontrado atractivo y luego lo había lamentado».
No se puede decir más con menos palabras.
June 22, 2020
I became acquainted with Richard Ford’s novels in the outstanding Frank Bascombe series (“The Sportswriter,” “Independence Day,” “The Lay of the Land,” and “Let Me Be Frank With You”.) Because I’ve liked his novels so much, I’m not sure why I haven’t read any of his short stories until the recently published “Sorry For Your Trouble.” As with his novels, many of the characters in this story collection are damaged, lonely people trying to come to some understanding of how their lives turned out the way they did.
“No matter how patented life’s course seems when you are leading it day to day, everything could always have been much different.”
The stories are elegiac and delve deeply into the character’s thoughts. Ford continues to excel at writing very realistic dialogue and presenting profound and thought-provoking ideas in a new light. While current events may make readers hesitant to read this somber, poignant collection, I would encourage them to dip into the stories whenever they are ready to take a deep dive into the mysteries and missteps inherent in the human condition.
Thank you to Harper Collins and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.
“No matter how patented life’s course seems when you are leading it day to day, everything could always have been much different.”
The stories are elegiac and delve deeply into the character’s thoughts. Ford continues to excel at writing very realistic dialogue and presenting profound and thought-provoking ideas in a new light. While current events may make readers hesitant to read this somber, poignant collection, I would encourage them to dip into the stories whenever they are ready to take a deep dive into the mysteries and missteps inherent in the human condition.
Thank you to Harper Collins and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.
May 9, 2020
I "friended" Richard Ford in 1986 when he introduced Frank Bascombe in The Sportswriter . Frank is a character you may love or hate but who gets under your skin so that each new book must be read. His short story collection Women With Men in 1997 led to comparison with Philip Roth, a writer you may love or hate, but, like Ford, is best approached with an open mind. Both men are open and raw in portraying the man woman conundrum and are dismissed by some readers for that. Sorry for Your Trouble is a mature Ford - he's 76 now, almost exactly a year older than me. The world and that ever present conundrum have evolved with some surprising results, But Ford's stories have the depth of thought and feeling that are won from long life. I've been savoring a story at a time while reading longer fiction.
January 12, 2023
Ford is always hanging somewhere between decent en masterfull. Yet, at times I found these stories a bit dull, common, too similar and narrow. Essentially it contained a summing up of too many biographical background facts of the characters instead of just jumping in a story or scene. So there was too much effort not enough gain.
Please read his other short story collection Rock Spring instead!
Please read his other short story collection Rock Spring instead!
Read
October 28, 2019No he conectado con Richard Ford. Un par de relatos me han gustado mucho, otro bien pero sin entusiasmo, otros no me han gustado, básicamente no los he entendido, no sé a dónde hemos llegado ni para qué. De todas formas, no descarto leer otro libro del autor pero esta vez será una novela no relatos.
January 27, 2021
Classy, as usual. Art collectors, writers, lawyers from New Orleans or New York meeting in second homes in Maine or travelling to Ireland or Paris. On second marriages, or divorces going through. Civilised, charming prose: hardly any social media so like stepping back. Complex characters. A bit fabulous.
May 21, 2022
Magnificent stories from the masterful Ford. His ability to nail a moment - of tenderness, awkwardness or otherness - remains as strong as ever. Possibly stronger.
Will somebody please give this man a Nobel Prize!? Lesser writers have received one.
Will somebody please give this man a Nobel Prize!? Lesser writers have received one.
February 24, 2020
The collection seems mainly united by a common thread of characters exhibiting an ambivalent state of desire; it's almost as if many of them are internally asking themselves, "Do I want this? Should I try it and find out?" And then much of the tension comes from when a character (or two or three) travels that road, unsure.
For me, this tension was strongest in the story "Displaced," wherein Henry (a teen boy who has recently lost his father) "sort of" believes he wants the attentions of (18? 20? year-old) Irish immigrant Niall MacDermott (working class, transient, also of ambiguous and seemingly restless desires) but when Henry receives Niall's attentions, both Henry and the reader squirm with nervous discomfort as Niall runs hot and cold, his mood and actions swinging between friendly, irritated, bullying, even predatory. It struck me as the kind of encounter wherein you believe you want someone's friendship, but later in retrospect, realize the person made you uncomfortable and can't quite decide what you think of him (even if your gut kind of KNOWS).
The stories are set in New England, the American South, and Ireland. The setting in terms of time period is funny, though; of the ones set in contemporary times, you sometimes forget and think they are set in the past until some plot detail reminds you, and I think this is a function of style and tone (which are in keeping with those writers heavily influenced by Hemingway/Fitzgerald/Faulkner/etc).
As a member of the Literary establishment with a capital "L," I don't think Richard Ford is the kind of author that needs to be "discovered," but in the outside possibility, I would recommend this story collection to readers who enjoy stories by John Updike, Ann Beattie, and James Salter.
p.s. - a little aside: Early in the second story, I found it shocking/hilarious that Ford describes a character who wrote a first novel and took a job as an editor "only until his second novel launched him toward celebrity... [w]hich never came close to occurring. There wouldn't be a second novel or a pretense even at a smattering of stories. Editing was dumb easy, he realized. So much easier to bring along talent than to wield it."
I was like... LOL, what does his editor think about this line? Is he taking a cheeky dig or what?
(btw, my feelings on editors: editors actually have a very specific skill set not everyone possesses, they work hard and don't get much of the glory... so I'm kinda hoping this is a wink and/or a case of attached POV, and not a true dig -- yowza!)
For me, this tension was strongest in the story "Displaced," wherein Henry (a teen boy who has recently lost his father) "sort of" believes he wants the attentions of (18? 20? year-old) Irish immigrant Niall MacDermott (working class, transient, also of ambiguous and seemingly restless desires) but when Henry receives Niall's attentions, both Henry and the reader squirm with nervous discomfort as Niall runs hot and cold, his mood and actions swinging between friendly, irritated, bullying, even predatory. It struck me as the kind of encounter wherein you believe you want someone's friendship, but later in retrospect, realize the person made you uncomfortable and can't quite decide what you think of him (even if your gut kind of KNOWS).
The stories are set in New England, the American South, and Ireland. The setting in terms of time period is funny, though; of the ones set in contemporary times, you sometimes forget and think they are set in the past until some plot detail reminds you, and I think this is a function of style and tone (which are in keeping with those writers heavily influenced by Hemingway/Fitzgerald/Faulkner/etc).
As a member of the Literary establishment with a capital "L," I don't think Richard Ford is the kind of author that needs to be "discovered," but in the outside possibility, I would recommend this story collection to readers who enjoy stories by John Updike, Ann Beattie, and James Salter.
p.s. - a little aside: Early in the second story, I found it shocking/hilarious that Ford describes a character who wrote a first novel and took a job as an editor "only until his second novel launched him toward celebrity... [w]hich never came close to occurring. There wouldn't be a second novel or a pretense even at a smattering of stories. Editing was dumb easy, he realized. So much easier to bring along talent than to wield it."
I was like... LOL, what does his editor think about this line? Is he taking a cheeky dig or what?
(btw, my feelings on editors: editors actually have a very specific skill set not everyone possesses, they work hard and don't get much of the glory... so I'm kinda hoping this is a wink and/or a case of attached POV, and not a true dig -- yowza!)
April 14, 2020
Rich with Ford's emotional lucidity and lyrical precision, Sorry for Your Trouble is a memorable collection from one of our greatest writers....
May 3, 2022
I’ve read four or five of Ford’s novels and have enjoyed them all. Recently read Canada. Richard Ford is a first rate writer in my view. I have seen him described as a writer’s writer. Born down south, I think Mississippi, but has books & stories set in NJ, Montana, Canada & other locales. These short stories are set in places like New Orleans, Maine, Ireland, Paris. One of the reviewers made the comment that if one is already a Ford fan he/she might be more inclined to enjoy these short stories. I agree with that assessment. I would say these stories might appeal more to an older crowd, baby boomers. Stories of death, divorce, disillusionment etc. I probably liked the longer story about the older man who had lost his wife. He returned to their Maine vacation site looking for something. He didn’t really know what. Ford will always make you think and comes up with some great prose. I plan to read these stories again. 3+ stars for now.
December 16, 2019
Como siempre, masterpiece.
May 20, 2024
Lamento lo ocurrido, podría ser el título de cada cuento. Como de costumbre, excelente.
October 31, 2020
Sorry for Your Trouble” is a collection of nine short stories by one of my favorite authors, Richard Ford. In each story there is some connection to Ireland and there is always a lawyer. Most of the stories involve a man in late middle age who has a connection to New Orleans or some other town in Louisiana. And each story has an existential end of life feel to it.
In the first story, “Nothing to Declare”, Sandy McGuiness is 54 years old, a lawyer and sitting in a bar with some of his law partners. There is a woman present who he finally recognizes as a woman he spent a week with in Iceland when he was in college. McGuiness is married now, but goes on a walk with the woman where they speak in fragments. She means nothing to him and he ponders what that means. “As his father had said, we have little to pride ourselves in. Which argued for nothing in particular, yet would allow a seamless carrying forward into the evening now, and the countless evenings that remained.”
In “Displaced”, 16 year old Henry Harding’s father has died and his school mates treat him as though he is invisible. He and his mother live alone and across the street from their house is a boarding house filled with characters, including the MacDermott family, from Ireland. Mr. MacDermott drives a cab. Their son, Niall, is a year older than Henry and their daughter younger. Niall and Henry strike up a tense friendship and at Henry’s mother’s urging, Niall takes Henry to a drive in movie. The experience is peculiar, to say the least. Niall ultimately returns to Ireland. Henry realizes that life is much more complex than what appears on the surface.
In “The Crossing”, a newly divorced attorney, originally from Louisiana, is on the ferry near Dublin. He sees a group of American women on the ferry and begins reminiscing about his failed marriage. He believes the marriage started to fail when he and his wife witnessed a child hit by a bus. “A moment can come from nowhere and life is reframed. Stupid. But we all know that it can.” One of the women approaches him and he tells her of his divorce and sheds a tear.
One of the more disturbing stories (and to be honest, they are all a tad depressing) is “The Run of Yourself”. In this story, Peter Boyce, an attorney from New Orleans, is renting a small house in Maine for a month. He and his wife, Mae (originally from Ireland), rented a different house in Maine each year, where Mae had committed suicide. Peter spends a great deal of time thinking about Mae and having unnatural encounters. At the end of the book, he allows a young woman he does not know to spend an evening in the house (it is not salacious if you were wondering). “He wished he had something to tell her. Call upon his years and years of legal experience. But he had nothing. Life, he thought, would now be this—possibly even for a long while—a catalog. This, and then this, and then this, and then this…”
The last and longest story, “Second Language” involves Jonathan Bell, from Chicago and Charlotte Porter. Charlotte Porter, a realtor, had been married to Francis Dolan for many years, until he decided he wanted to restore a wooden boat and sail it to Ireland. He never returned. Jonathan’s wife of many years died of cancer and Jonathan, an extremely wealthy gas and oil man, pulled up stakes and moved to Manhattan. Jonathan met Charlotte when she was showing him a property and three months later they were married. But after two years, and maintaining separate residences at Charlotte’s suggestion, Charlotte simply decides they should no longer be married. She realizes that Jonathan wants a deep intimate connection and that she is simply satisfied to just be. For Charlotte, life was like a surface. “Life was that and only that. A surface. That was what you could rely on it to be.” But Jonathan was different. “Jonathan was a man who apparently believed in greater and greater closeness, of shared complications, of difficult to overcome frictions leading to even deeper depths of intimacy and knowledge of each other.” They split up and then a couple of years later, Charlotte asks Jonathan to go with her to visit her mother in Hospice. While they are there Charlotte’s mother dies and basically the story ends.
Richard Ford is a wonderful writer and each story is beautifully told. As a reader, he makes you feel each character’s personalities, both their flaws and their positive attributes. This is Richard Ford’s strength. But beware, these stories are not cheerful and the general theme is that life is what it is and then it is over.
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In the first story, “Nothing to Declare”, Sandy McGuiness is 54 years old, a lawyer and sitting in a bar with some of his law partners. There is a woman present who he finally recognizes as a woman he spent a week with in Iceland when he was in college. McGuiness is married now, but goes on a walk with the woman where they speak in fragments. She means nothing to him and he ponders what that means. “As his father had said, we have little to pride ourselves in. Which argued for nothing in particular, yet would allow a seamless carrying forward into the evening now, and the countless evenings that remained.”
In “Displaced”, 16 year old Henry Harding’s father has died and his school mates treat him as though he is invisible. He and his mother live alone and across the street from their house is a boarding house filled with characters, including the MacDermott family, from Ireland. Mr. MacDermott drives a cab. Their son, Niall, is a year older than Henry and their daughter younger. Niall and Henry strike up a tense friendship and at Henry’s mother’s urging, Niall takes Henry to a drive in movie. The experience is peculiar, to say the least. Niall ultimately returns to Ireland. Henry realizes that life is much more complex than what appears on the surface.
In “The Crossing”, a newly divorced attorney, originally from Louisiana, is on the ferry near Dublin. He sees a group of American women on the ferry and begins reminiscing about his failed marriage. He believes the marriage started to fail when he and his wife witnessed a child hit by a bus. “A moment can come from nowhere and life is reframed. Stupid. But we all know that it can.” One of the women approaches him and he tells her of his divorce and sheds a tear.
One of the more disturbing stories (and to be honest, they are all a tad depressing) is “The Run of Yourself”. In this story, Peter Boyce, an attorney from New Orleans, is renting a small house in Maine for a month. He and his wife, Mae (originally from Ireland), rented a different house in Maine each year, where Mae had committed suicide. Peter spends a great deal of time thinking about Mae and having unnatural encounters. At the end of the book, he allows a young woman he does not know to spend an evening in the house (it is not salacious if you were wondering). “He wished he had something to tell her. Call upon his years and years of legal experience. But he had nothing. Life, he thought, would now be this—possibly even for a long while—a catalog. This, and then this, and then this, and then this…”
The last and longest story, “Second Language” involves Jonathan Bell, from Chicago and Charlotte Porter. Charlotte Porter, a realtor, had been married to Francis Dolan for many years, until he decided he wanted to restore a wooden boat and sail it to Ireland. He never returned. Jonathan’s wife of many years died of cancer and Jonathan, an extremely wealthy gas and oil man, pulled up stakes and moved to Manhattan. Jonathan met Charlotte when she was showing him a property and three months later they were married. But after two years, and maintaining separate residences at Charlotte’s suggestion, Charlotte simply decides they should no longer be married. She realizes that Jonathan wants a deep intimate connection and that she is simply satisfied to just be. For Charlotte, life was like a surface. “Life was that and only that. A surface. That was what you could rely on it to be.” But Jonathan was different. “Jonathan was a man who apparently believed in greater and greater closeness, of shared complications, of difficult to overcome frictions leading to even deeper depths of intimacy and knowledge of each other.” They split up and then a couple of years later, Charlotte asks Jonathan to go with her to visit her mother in Hospice. While they are there Charlotte’s mother dies and basically the story ends.
Richard Ford is a wonderful writer and each story is beautifully told. As a reader, he makes you feel each character’s personalities, both their flaws and their positive attributes. This is Richard Ford’s strength. But beware, these stories are not cheerful and the general theme is that life is what it is and then it is over.
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April 30, 2021
http://delsharm.blog.ir/1400/02/10/so...
این مجموعه داستان را ریچارد فورد در میانهٔ سال ۲۰۲۰ منتشر کرده است. فورد بیشتر به خاطر چهارگانهٔ فرانک بسکومب، که به نظرم اولینش «نویسندهٔ ورزشی» اثری بسیار گرانقدر است، معروف شده است. سبک نویسندگی او معمولاً مخاطبانش را به دو دوسته تقسیم میکند. عدهای با حساب معروفیت نویسنده سراغش میروند و از این که در داستانش هیچ اتفاقی نمیافتد مأیوس میشوند. دستهٔ دوم قاعدتاً سبک او را میپسندند.
فورد نویسندهٔ جملههاست. هر جمله از او به شکلی اقتصادی نوشته شده است. موسیقی درونی جملات کاملاً محسوس است. مانند بحر طویلی که حتی طولانی یا کوتاه شدن جملات بیدلیل نیست. بیشتر دغدغهٔ او بحرانهای روحی زندگی آمریکاییهای سفیدپوست طبقهٔ متوسط است. در کتابهای او همیشه نحوی از یأس، پوچی و خستگی معنا میشود. این کتاب نیز شبیه بقیهٔ آثار او همین فضا را دارد. فورد در ۷۶ سالگی این کتاب را منتشر کرده است و از نظر جغرافیایی اکثر شخصیتهای داستانش در فضای نیوانگلند (ساحل شمال شرق آمریکا) زندگی میکنند. آدمهایی که برای پر کردن خلأهایشان دست به هر کاری میزنند از جمله روابط آزاد بدون قید حتی برای مردان و زنان متأهل. زندگی���ای که برای هر شخصیتی نمود از پوچی بر سر پوچی دارد. زندگی برای شخصیتهای داستان فورد شبیه به هم هستند. شخصیتی که وکیل است زندگیاش را شبیه یک کار اداری پوچ میبیند، و برای زنی که هر از گاهی با دوست متأهل جوانیاش رابطه دارد مانند کلید الکترونیک اتاق هتلی است که رابطه را در آنجا دارد و دیگر کلید برایش کار نمیکند و حس بیهویتی حتی در حد ناتوانی در گرفتن وسایلش از اتاق تمام وجودش را میگیرد.
در داستانهای فورد هیچ اتفاق ویژهای نمیافتد. اتفاق ویژه همین زندگی پوچ است. همین است که شخصیت داستانش که چندین میلیون پول نقد در حسابش دارد نمیداند تکلیفش را با زندگی چیست. اتفاق در جملات و طعنههای شبهشاعرانهٔ فورد اتفاق میافتد. با خواندن این کتاب بار دیگر به ذهنم رسید که دود از کنده بلند میشود.
یکی از داستانهای این کتاب به صورت صوتی در اینترنت موجود است:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtPPE...
این مجموعه داستان را ریچارد فورد در میانهٔ سال ۲۰۲۰ منتشر کرده است. فورد بیشتر به خاطر چهارگانهٔ فرانک بسکومب، که به نظرم اولینش «نویسندهٔ ورزشی» اثری بسیار گرانقدر است، معروف شده است. سبک نویسندگی او معمولاً مخاطبانش را به دو دوسته تقسیم میکند. عدهای با حساب معروفیت نویسنده سراغش میروند و از این که در داستانش هیچ اتفاقی نمیافتد مأیوس میشوند. دستهٔ دوم قاعدتاً سبک او را میپسندند.
فورد نویسندهٔ جملههاست. هر جمله از او به شکلی اقتصادی نوشته شده است. موسیقی درونی جملات کاملاً محسوس است. مانند بحر طویلی که حتی طولانی یا کوتاه شدن جملات بیدلیل نیست. بیشتر دغدغهٔ او بحرانهای روحی زندگی آمریکاییهای سفیدپوست طبقهٔ متوسط است. در کتابهای او همیشه نحوی از یأس، پوچی و خستگی معنا میشود. این کتاب نیز شبیه بقیهٔ آثار او همین فضا را دارد. فورد در ۷۶ سالگی این کتاب را منتشر کرده است و از نظر جغرافیایی اکثر شخصیتهای داستانش در فضای نیوانگلند (ساحل شمال شرق آمریکا) زندگی میکنند. آدمهایی که برای پر کردن خلأهایشان دست به هر کاری میزنند از جمله روابط آزاد بدون قید حتی برای مردان و زنان متأهل. زندگی���ای که برای هر شخصیتی نمود از پوچی بر سر پوچی دارد. زندگی برای شخصیتهای داستان فورد شبیه به هم هستند. شخصیتی که وکیل است زندگیاش را شبیه یک کار اداری پوچ میبیند، و برای زنی که هر از گاهی با دوست متأهل جوانیاش رابطه دارد مانند کلید الکترونیک اتاق هتلی است که رابطه را در آنجا دارد و دیگر کلید برایش کار نمیکند و حس بیهویتی حتی در حد ناتوانی در گرفتن وسایلش از اتاق تمام وجودش را میگیرد.
در داستانهای فورد هیچ اتفاق ویژهای نمیافتد. اتفاق ویژه همین زندگی پوچ است. همین است که شخصیت داستانش که چندین میلیون پول نقد در حسابش دارد نمیداند تکلیفش را با زندگی چیست. اتفاق در جملات و طعنههای شبهشاعرانهٔ فورد اتفاق میافتد. با خواندن این کتاب بار دیگر به ذهنم رسید که دود از کنده بلند میشود.
یکی از داستانهای این کتاب به صورت صوتی در اینترنت موجود است:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtPPE...
December 19, 2020
Richard Fords sehr langsame, den Blick auf das scheinbar bedeutungslose Detail richtende Erzählweise braucht viel Raum - den er normalerweise in umfangreichen Romanen findet. Diesen Stil nun in der "kleineren" Form von Erzählungen zu erleben, war eine neue, interessante Erfahrung. Aber auch hier liebe ich es, wie Ford die Tragödien im Alltäglichen fast versteckt.
Die Protagonisten in "Irische Passagiere" sind meist materiell gesettlet und glauben eigentlich, ganz zufrieden zu sein. Sie befinden sich eher im fortgeschrittenen Lebensalter - und müssen feststellen, dass an irgendeinem Punkt der Zug des Lebens ohne sie angefahren sein muss. Ehen, Freundschaften, beruflicher Erfolg waren doch nicht so das Wahre, haben ihrer Existenz nicht den erhofften Sinn verliehen, eine Leere tut sich auf.
Doch was war es eigentlich, was sie verpasst oder falsch gemacht haben? Ford versteckt es meisterhaft in fast banal wirkenden und doch vieldeutigen Szenen. Von der flachen Spannungskurve und den unspektakulären "Pointen" der Erzählungen mag man auf den ersten Blick enttäuscht sein - dann merkt man, wie viel einem die Geschichten zu denken geben.
Die Protagonisten in "Irische Passagiere" sind meist materiell gesettlet und glauben eigentlich, ganz zufrieden zu sein. Sie befinden sich eher im fortgeschrittenen Lebensalter - und müssen feststellen, dass an irgendeinem Punkt der Zug des Lebens ohne sie angefahren sein muss. Ehen, Freundschaften, beruflicher Erfolg waren doch nicht so das Wahre, haben ihrer Existenz nicht den erhofften Sinn verliehen, eine Leere tut sich auf.
Doch was war es eigentlich, was sie verpasst oder falsch gemacht haben? Ford versteckt es meisterhaft in fast banal wirkenden und doch vieldeutigen Szenen. Von der flachen Spannungskurve und den unspektakulären "Pointen" der Erzählungen mag man auf den ersten Blick enttäuscht sein - dann merkt man, wie viel einem die Geschichten zu denken geben.
July 25, 2020
Lucid, well-crafted series of stories with a melancholic vibe. Beautiful and touching at times, languid and interminable at others. Masterful writing.
December 16, 2023
A good collection of nine short stories that are mostly about transitions in peoples lives. Some of the better stories were:
Nothing to Declare - About a young couple who had made an ill-advised trip to Iceland that they weren't fully prepared for. They ended up having a memorial stay but went their separate ways after getting back home. Then they happened to meet again thirty-five years later.
Displaced - About a sixteen year old boy who has to deal with life after his fathers death.
The Run of Yourself - About a man dealing with the death of his wife, both as she was dying and then afterward.
Nothing to Declare - About a young couple who had made an ill-advised trip to Iceland that they weren't fully prepared for. They ended up having a memorial stay but went their separate ways after getting back home. Then they happened to meet again thirty-five years later.
Displaced - About a sixteen year old boy who has to deal with life after his fathers death.
The Run of Yourself - About a man dealing with the death of his wife, both as she was dying and then afterward.
May 28, 2020
I received an advance copy of this short story collection from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I place Richard Ford’s short stories in a top shelf group of very good short story writers with a distinctive American voice. I think of him in a group that contains John Cheever and Raymond Carver, each to his time. Each of these writers focused on the everyday person and how he lives and thinks about his life. Stripping the conventions and rosy suburban glow and getting to the reality underneath.
Several of the stories in Sorry for your Trouble deal with the overlap of the past and the present—with characters who wonder where to proceed into the future. Most are transitional stories. In “Nothing to Declare” a man encounters a woman from his past. She was very significant to him back then but they, well at least he, have moved on. She seems unmoored while he is grounded in family and career. While reading this I felt that this situation probably happens on a fairly regular basis. I was left with a feeling that Ford was true to the characters and that the story was realistic, if a bit sad.
Most of the stories in this collection are sad.
Several stories deal with transitions in the form of divorce or death. My favorites were “The Run of Yourself” in which a widower attempts to move on after his wife commits suicide while being drawn to the same old places; and my favorite of the whole collection “Second Language” where the protagonist deals with both death and divorce and really never gets over either one. Like many people, he never gets good answers for the “why” questions in his life.
These stories have little action and focus instead on diving deep into the characters, their individual perspective on shifting relationships and major life events. The people in these stories come from everyday life and are quite realistic in thought and action. For me, reading Ford’s short stories lets you shed your skin and enter a different person and have no sense of it being just a short story.
He is a wonderful writer.
5 stars.
I place Richard Ford’s short stories in a top shelf group of very good short story writers with a distinctive American voice. I think of him in a group that contains John Cheever and Raymond Carver, each to his time. Each of these writers focused on the everyday person and how he lives and thinks about his life. Stripping the conventions and rosy suburban glow and getting to the reality underneath.
Several of the stories in Sorry for your Trouble deal with the overlap of the past and the present—with characters who wonder where to proceed into the future. Most are transitional stories. In “Nothing to Declare” a man encounters a woman from his past. She was very significant to him back then but they, well at least he, have moved on. She seems unmoored while he is grounded in family and career. While reading this I felt that this situation probably happens on a fairly regular basis. I was left with a feeling that Ford was true to the characters and that the story was realistic, if a bit sad.
Most of the stories in this collection are sad.
Several stories deal with transitions in the form of divorce or death. My favorites were “The Run of Yourself” in which a widower attempts to move on after his wife commits suicide while being drawn to the same old places; and my favorite of the whole collection “Second Language” where the protagonist deals with both death and divorce and really never gets over either one. Like many people, he never gets good answers for the “why” questions in his life.
These stories have little action and focus instead on diving deep into the characters, their individual perspective on shifting relationships and major life events. The people in these stories come from everyday life and are quite realistic in thought and action. For me, reading Ford’s short stories lets you shed your skin and enter a different person and have no sense of it being just a short story.
He is a wonderful writer.
5 stars.
January 27, 2021
I'm a Richard Ford fan. But these stories really bored me. I nkow you don't have to like the characters in a book, but they do have to be interesting in some way. I just got bored with these more-or-less-high-achieving middle class people living emotionally stunted lives. There're pools of regret, unrequited desite, ambivalence, regret, &c &c, but Ford fails to make me care one way or the other. It's hard to tell—at least, for me to tell—whether Ford hates these people, is holding them up as warnings to us, or imagines that the lives they live are just the way things are. This is the first book of his I've not liked, and I'm sorry for that. But there you go. In this case, Sorry for Your Trouble wasn't worth the trouble.
December 31, 2020
Un Ford molto invecchiato, e questa non è una cosa nuova visto che ha fondato un po' tutta la sua carriera di scrittore seguendo minuziosamente la vita di un personaggio dai suoi quarant'anni fino alla vecchiaia. I racconti di "Sorry for your Trouble" girano quasi tutti attorno personaggi vecchi o invecchiati, personaggi che confessano speranze morte e vite mancate quando la vita che hanno sta finendo. Non ho mai avuto grande affinità col Ford autore di racconti, e questa raccolta non ha creato quell'affinità: è un Ford che fa il Ford, e che nei racconti non ha e non trova lo spazio per vivisezionare gli attimi di vita come fa nei romanzi.
March 22, 2021
In this collection, you will learn there are 4 places in the USA: New Orleans; Jackson, MS; Maine; and New York (city and upstate). There is also Ireland and Paris.
You will also be reminded that people—especially men but sometimes women—over the age of 55 are determined to finally get over their mediocre lives by being mediocre in a different way. The lone outlier is Displaced, which was a tender exploration of being gay in a different way.
You will learn that many people have affairs but in the most mundane ways.
I guess it's the sign of a good writer that Ford managed to capture such mediocrity so acutely.
You will also be reminded that people—especially men but sometimes women—over the age of 55 are determined to finally get over their mediocre lives by being mediocre in a different way. The lone outlier is Displaced, which was a tender exploration of being gay in a different way.
You will learn that many people have affairs but in the most mundane ways.
I guess it's the sign of a good writer that Ford managed to capture such mediocrity so acutely.
May 30, 2020
I am not a great fan of short stories, but I do love Richard Ford. This collection is exquisite, and each story should be read slowly so that it can be appropriately savored. I allowed myself to read only one story per day and saved the novella for last.
I have never been one to reread books, as I am always eager to find my next great read. However, while I was reading each and every one of these stories, I found myself thinking, “ I really need to read this again. “ That’s how thoughtful I found the writing to be.
I have never been one to reread books, as I am always eager to find my next great read. However, while I was reading each and every one of these stories, I found myself thinking, “ I really need to read this again. “ That’s how thoughtful I found the writing to be.
June 16, 2020
I was disheartened by the first two stories but pressed on. Luckily, Displaced and The Run of Yourself were quite wonderful. Sadly, that was the plus side. I have always appreciated Ford’s demand for the attention of the singular word. No glazing over, or skimming for meaning. Every word counts, usually. But here there is so much blah. What killed it for me: In the final piece, the subject couple “did things. Many.” Then Ford tritely lists places they traveled to, as though they were boxes ticked on a list born of impatience. If that was the point, then what was the damned point?
June 28, 2020
This collection of short stories left me cold.
I suppose it is good writing to create such loathsome characters but I did not enjoy the book because of that.
Except for The Run of Yourself I found almost all of the people in this book despicable.
None more than the Charlotte Porter character.
I suppose it is good writing to create such loathsome characters but I did not enjoy the book because of that.
Except for The Run of Yourself I found almost all of the people in this book despicable.
None more than the Charlotte Porter character.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 265 reviews