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Young Love & Other Stories
Set in a remote village in the northwest coast of Spain, Young Love is a deeply moving collection of six interconnected stories that call up the ghosts of the past half-century for the three survivors of a lively, colourful world that had no notion of how soon it was to disappear. Closely observant, and always aware of the plural realities that define individual lives, Félix Calvino has once again created a world that readers can immediately enter and make their own.
- GenresShort Stories
144 pages, Paperback
Published December 2, 2021
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About the author
Felix Calvino
7 books123 followersFelix Calvino’s short stories are subtle and soulful, of life growing up in the villages of northern Spain under Franco, and in Australia, where the ghosts and habits of the old country have not vanished.
You can find more information at
my website
https://www.facebook.com/felixcalvino...
Felix Calvino's Fiction http://ahatfulofcherries.blogspot.com/
http://www.scholarly.info/author/84/
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 25, 2022
‘Gossipmongers need to feed their addictions’
Félix Calvino deserves a much wider audience here in the United States. His novel ALFONSO proved his mettle for extending a thought into a full-length novel. Yet his first collection of short stories, gathered under the title A HATFUL OF CHERRIES, were piquant brief morsels that ranged from a few pages to extended stories and every story managed to paint imagery and place and character so clearly with the most economical style that each appears like a flashback of thought in every reader's memory bank. Furthering his appreciation for the art of short stories, he has published SO MUCH SMOKE, and now YOUNG LOVE & OTHER STORIES, proving he is a master craftsman!
Calvino was born in Galicia and spent his childhood on a farm not unlike those scenes he so frequently recalls in these stories. Under the reign of General Franco, Calvino fled to England to study and work and eventually migrated to Australia where he currently lives and writes his magical prose. From these various regions Calvino gathers the fodder for his tales - stories that take place in Spain and in Australia with settings that range from dealing with the earth as a child to discovering love as a youth to encountering the realities of small community prejudices to simply celebrating the aspects of the very young to the very aged characters he describes so well.
The stories in this collection are Sunday Lunch, Young Love, Knick-knacks, Abel’s Journey, The Beehives, and Shopping Trip. Calvino's writing style is the opposite of florid. With a few brief sentences on a few pages he is able to bring the reader into the focal point of his stories that usually take a quiet twist at the end, a technique that makes reading a collection of short stories more like reading a full length novel, so engrossed is the reader in his ability to capture attention and imagination. Example, in the story ‘Sunday Lunch’ he writes ‘Manuel stood in the doorway of the kitchen and asked, “what are you cooking that smells so god>” “Stewed partridge with herbs and new potatoes.” Amadeo answered, without looking up from the kitchen bench where he was chopping parsley with a large knife. “Have you seen Avelina?” “I saw her a few days ago. She aid she was making a cake to mark the occasion” “What occasion?” ‘She didn’t say.” Manual, Amadeo and Avelina were the three remaining inhabitants of the remote village of Carballo. The men were both seventy-seven, fragile, lean, and of average height…Avelina was seven years younger, short and slim…Their relationship, although they had lived and shared in all aspects of the village public life, had never been a close one.’ – We then discover the destiny of this tale as the core of ‘interconnected stories that call up the ghosts of the past half-century for the three survivors of a lively, colourful world that had no notion of how soon it was to disappear.’
Some astute publisher should capture the talents of this Spanish Australian writer. He deserves center stage in the arena of authors who have mastered the art of writing short stories. Very highly recommended.
Félix Calvino deserves a much wider audience here in the United States. His novel ALFONSO proved his mettle for extending a thought into a full-length novel. Yet his first collection of short stories, gathered under the title A HATFUL OF CHERRIES, were piquant brief morsels that ranged from a few pages to extended stories and every story managed to paint imagery and place and character so clearly with the most economical style that each appears like a flashback of thought in every reader's memory bank. Furthering his appreciation for the art of short stories, he has published SO MUCH SMOKE, and now YOUNG LOVE & OTHER STORIES, proving he is a master craftsman!
Calvino was born in Galicia and spent his childhood on a farm not unlike those scenes he so frequently recalls in these stories. Under the reign of General Franco, Calvino fled to England to study and work and eventually migrated to Australia where he currently lives and writes his magical prose. From these various regions Calvino gathers the fodder for his tales - stories that take place in Spain and in Australia with settings that range from dealing with the earth as a child to discovering love as a youth to encountering the realities of small community prejudices to simply celebrating the aspects of the very young to the very aged characters he describes so well.
The stories in this collection are Sunday Lunch, Young Love, Knick-knacks, Abel’s Journey, The Beehives, and Shopping Trip. Calvino's writing style is the opposite of florid. With a few brief sentences on a few pages he is able to bring the reader into the focal point of his stories that usually take a quiet twist at the end, a technique that makes reading a collection of short stories more like reading a full length novel, so engrossed is the reader in his ability to capture attention and imagination. Example, in the story ‘Sunday Lunch’ he writes ‘Manuel stood in the doorway of the kitchen and asked, “what are you cooking that smells so god>” “Stewed partridge with herbs and new potatoes.” Amadeo answered, without looking up from the kitchen bench where he was chopping parsley with a large knife. “Have you seen Avelina?” “I saw her a few days ago. She aid she was making a cake to mark the occasion” “What occasion?” ‘She didn’t say.” Manual, Amadeo and Avelina were the three remaining inhabitants of the remote village of Carballo. The men were both seventy-seven, fragile, lean, and of average height…Avelina was seven years younger, short and slim…Their relationship, although they had lived and shared in all aspects of the village public life, had never been a close one.’ – We then discover the destiny of this tale as the core of ‘interconnected stories that call up the ghosts of the past half-century for the three survivors of a lively, colourful world that had no notion of how soon it was to disappear.’
Some astute publisher should capture the talents of this Spanish Australian writer. He deserves center stage in the arena of authors who have mastered the art of writing short stories. Very highly recommended.
September 2, 2022
Felix Calvino must surely be one of the most underrated short story writers in this country. Young Love and Other Stories (Arcadia 2021) is his fourth collection, and my favourite so far. Calvino was born in Galacia in Spain and his stories always feature a mix of contemporary or historical settings in Spain, or else are often about the migrant experience to Australia.
Young Love is a series of six interconnected stories where the protagonist of one becomes peripheral in another story, and a minor character barely mentioned in one story becomes the focus of another. In this collection, all of the stories are set in a remote village in the northwest coast of Spain and traverse several decades of individuals and families.
My favourite story is the first – Sunday Lunch – which is set in later years when the village has gradually become depleted of its occupants; the old dying and the young leaving town for better opportunities. There are only three people left, all elderly, all old friends who have lived in the village their whole lives. They live with the ghosts of people past, those who have died, those who have sought new adventures or work, those who have married into another family in another village. The three characters and their lives are closely observed and beautifully described.
The second and subsequent stories move us back to a time when the village was thriving, populated by farmers and traders and shopkeepers, vibrant with families, alive with weekend dances for the young people and the endless potential for possibility. The stark difference between this time and this life and the endpoint that we (as readers) know must come (from the first story) is incredibly moving, tender and poignant. Everything is transient. Whole villages disappear. But nobody knows that at the time they are thriving. Nobody can predict the future.
Each story accesses a different space, a memory of the life and activity of that particular generation of villagers, with references to other characters who may be younger or older, depending on when that story is set. The result is a kaleidoscope of the microcosm of life interwoven.
The final story takes us back to the end, but with a surprising and hopeful twist that reminds us of the continual optimism of life, and the warmth and empathy of the human heart.
Calvino’s writing is spare and simple, with gratifying but not overdone description, and authentic dialogue. His writing takes you directly to the Spain of his youth and depicts scenes as if you are watching a movie. His characters often share the interiority of their thoughts but are never over-explained. There is always a mystery shadowing them, as if part of the tale has been held back. They share concerns, dreams, anxieties, ambitions, regrets and yearnings that will resonate with all readers.
Young Love is a series of six interconnected stories where the protagonist of one becomes peripheral in another story, and a minor character barely mentioned in one story becomes the focus of another. In this collection, all of the stories are set in a remote village in the northwest coast of Spain and traverse several decades of individuals and families.
My favourite story is the first – Sunday Lunch – which is set in later years when the village has gradually become depleted of its occupants; the old dying and the young leaving town for better opportunities. There are only three people left, all elderly, all old friends who have lived in the village their whole lives. They live with the ghosts of people past, those who have died, those who have sought new adventures or work, those who have married into another family in another village. The three characters and their lives are closely observed and beautifully described.
The second and subsequent stories move us back to a time when the village was thriving, populated by farmers and traders and shopkeepers, vibrant with families, alive with weekend dances for the young people and the endless potential for possibility. The stark difference between this time and this life and the endpoint that we (as readers) know must come (from the first story) is incredibly moving, tender and poignant. Everything is transient. Whole villages disappear. But nobody knows that at the time they are thriving. Nobody can predict the future.
Each story accesses a different space, a memory of the life and activity of that particular generation of villagers, with references to other characters who may be younger or older, depending on when that story is set. The result is a kaleidoscope of the microcosm of life interwoven.
The final story takes us back to the end, but with a surprising and hopeful twist that reminds us of the continual optimism of life, and the warmth and empathy of the human heart.
Calvino’s writing is spare and simple, with gratifying but not overdone description, and authentic dialogue. His writing takes you directly to the Spain of his youth and depicts scenes as if you are watching a movie. His characters often share the interiority of their thoughts but are never over-explained. There is always a mystery shadowing them, as if part of the tale has been held back. They share concerns, dreams, anxieties, ambitions, regrets and yearnings that will resonate with all readers.
June 12, 2022
Meaningful transformations often proceed from still hollows wherein two streams of life pool. As contemplatives attest, at the confluence of inhalation and exhalation, a still, luminous pool awaits. Though quiet, it resembles the animated pauses we find while swinging: at the summits of our ascents, those breathless moments of neither rising nor falling.
In Felix's latest offering, we find ourselves in his Galician homeland, within the space of a mysterious and universal twilight we have not yet faded into. Further on, we begin to suspect that the hidden fountain of Felix's creativity is a level of unknowing he shares with some of his amorous characters, though it is night.
In Felix's latest offering, we find ourselves in his Galician homeland, within the space of a mysterious and universal twilight we have not yet faded into. Further on, we begin to suspect that the hidden fountain of Felix's creativity is a level of unknowing he shares with some of his amorous characters, though it is night.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews