Let Me be the One

by Elisabeth Harvor

Intimate and unforgettable, these eight stories play with themes of great emotional intensity: infatuation, tenderness, resentment, hope. The perceptive gallantry of a man in his early twenties leads an older woman to fall more than a little in love with him. While interviewing a woman painter who boasts about her sexual conquests, a journalist pictures the parts of the city where her husband goes to meet his mistress. A group of nurses play word games that symbolize the more lethal games played at the hospital where they are students. Sparkling, disarmingly honest, these remarkable stories evoke the thrilling and confounding predicament of being human.

Genres: Short Stories, Canada, Fiction

216 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1997

About the author

Erica Elisabeth Arendt Deichmann, known as Elisabeth Harvor, was a Canadian short story writer, poet, and novelist.

Reviews

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reread of stories about women and their relationships with an ex and/or children. Most of these women characters want to be free of demands at the same time as feeling a loss of connection.

The writing brings clarity to the stuff we say to one another, but the stories themselves flit from one scene to another, not always chronologically. Sometimes I wasn't sure what to make of the sum of such scenes; yet I did enjoy the journey along the way.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nah.

[lori light · Rating 3 out of 5]

favorite quotes so far:

"Something that's emotional is usually a whole lot easier to make fun of than something that's just toned down and ordinary."

"But why? Why almost nothing had happened, or had had time to happen? The answer, to Marianne at least, was perfectly clear: because it took no time at all to have everything happen in the heart - ways they would touch each other, a whole life together..."

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harvor is a terrific story writer, I prefer her to Alice Munro who gets far more attention and acclaim. She is particularly good at describing the inner life of women, often married or divorced, and is good at capturing family life as well.