Ether: Seven Stories and a Novella

by Evgenia Citkowitz

In “Leavers’ Events,” a teenage girl awaits exam results and has a sexual encounter with a teacher that she hopes will define her. In “Sunday’s Child,” a middle-aged actress evicts a homeless woman from her garden, which precipitates a crisis of conscience. In “The Bachelor’s Table,” a lawyer takes advantage of an accounting mistake and sets in motion a sequence of events that force him to evaluate his actions. In the title story, “Ether,” a blocked writer plagiarizes his own life with devastating consequences.

All the characters in Evgenia Citkowitz’s first collection of short fiction are connected by the quest for identity. Some are poised at a crossroads, while others teeter on the edge of a moral precipice. The stories are startlingly original, haunting, and often funny. From a hamster cage in Los Angeles to the bowels of the great houses of London and Long Island, Citkowitz depicts her characters’ frailties and humanity with a mordant humor and tenderness that never diminish their complexity.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Literary Fiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published April 27, 2010

About the author

EVGENIA CITKOWITZ was born in New York and was educated in London and the United States. Her short stories have been published in various British magazines. Her screenplay The House in Paris, based on Elizabeth Bowen’s novel, is currently in development. Ether: Seven Stories and a Novella is her first book.

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The short stories I really enjoyed. A lot of craft goes into her sentences and she has a very catchy writing style. If there's a flaw it's that the stories are never quite resolved satisfactorily. The novella that concludes the book read however like something written much earlier in her formation as a writer and was messy and half formed.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Many of the stories included some really beautiful passages/insights about life. Unfortunately, these moments of beauty were stitched together with high school creative writing journal drivel to make for some pretty disjointed plots. It read like a first draft.

[Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was great - I really enjoyed the short stories but the novella really blew me away - I can't wait until she writes a novel.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ether, the debut volume by Evgenia Citkowitz, consists of seven edgy short stories and an even edgier novella. These are stories peopled largely by characters who have given up on youthful dreams and ambitions, or who feel guilty for their own achievements. Either way, the feeling of being thwarted—by success or failure—seems in each case to lead to a neurosis or a struggle to forge a new identity. The book opens with “Happy Love.” In this story Candayce takes her daughter Elizabeth to Europe for two months. The lengthy absence means having to board Elizabeth’s pet hamster Peanut, who is taken in by Uma, Candayce’s friend and yoga instructor. On their return, mother and daughter fetch Peanut from Uma, but the animal they retrieve looks and behaves nothing like the hamster they left behind. Uma’s defensive and subtly hostile response to Candayce’s questions finally doom the friendship, and Candayce is left with suspicions (but no evidence) that Uma is covering up some mishap by pawning off an imposter on her. In “The Bachelor’s Table” a young lawyer impulsively purchases an expensive table at an antique shop for a price he knows is well below its actual market value, only to be tracked down later by the woman who sold it to him who admits her mistake and pleads with him to pay the difference or return it. Annoyed that he can’t subdue his conscience he gives in and returns the table, but not before exacting a petty revenge. And in the title novella, “Ether,” a severely blocked writer named William, seeking some sort of creative spark, moves from New York to Los Angeles. Here he falls in love with a young movie starlet, Madeline. Covering the span of their brief marriage, the novella utilizes a large cast of diverse characters to depict William and Madeline pursuing separate creative outlets that ultimately lead to the dissolution of their relationship. Citkowitz’s narratives are heavily spiced with irony, and while her characters are certainly interesting, no one here is particularly admirable or likeable. Throughout the volume the writing is sharp and witty and filled with barbed observations about modern life in America. Mothers and daughters are in for a particularly rough time in these pages. Ether is an entertaining volume from a writer who apparently holds nothing sacred. Recommended.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premises of the stories are fresh and interesting; a middle-aged actress adopts a drug addicted baby, a wealthy high school student tries to seduce a teacher who rejects her, a used furniture salesman stumbles into a romantic relationship with a woman who's house he's trying to raid. But. Despite the originality of the story premises, there is something lifeless about the prose, something static about the action. A good writer can make the phone book interesting, no? This one stomps out her own fires without letting them grow into anything, let alone fan them into something big or majestic.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is comprised of seven short stories (one very, very short indeed) and the title story, a novella. These stories are little jewels. They cut to the heart; the characters are depicted without mercy but with dark humor. These are people whose lives have taken turns they hadn’t planned on, as happens to all of us. Most have come from dysfunctional families, and we see how some have succumbed to that and some have survived and been made stronger. A couple of the stories brush up against surrealism without stepping into it. At first glance, some of the stories seem slight, but on reflection, they are deep.

[John Wyszniewski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ether is a decent collection of short stories and one novella. It sits right in the middle of good and bad where many recent graduates of various MFA writing programs rest. I can’t fault any of the stories or Citkowita’s talent. However, the collection did not make an impression on me other than it being a “well-made” book, a “well-written” book, a book of stories that had gone through the MFA writing program mill. Ether is decent, not memorable.

[Trent]

A book of short stories, some of which are outstanding, all of which display the writer's talent and promise.
Of particular interest: "The Clearance," which starts as a superbly observed portrait of a man who clears out houses of diseased people. I was a little disappointed, however, when at the end it turned out to be a "mere" ghost story.

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

A handfull of short stories, and one novella. I agree with the dust jacket; all of the characters are connected by the quest for identity. But then again, so we all are. A good read, a quick read, some stories very original, the characters all very well fleshed out, a lot of meat on their bones. Enjoyed Sunday's Child the most.

[Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

A disappointingly immature collection of stories in terms of both style and subject matter. The higher the page count, the more trying the piece, and the final novella reads as if it has yet to pass through the hands of a professional editor.

[Alyssa]

Loved the short stories, especially 'The Clearance', with its old house, strange visitor, paranormal feel.

Could not finish the title novella, so this book ends up being a DNF. Perhaps I'll come back to it in a few months and try 'Ether' again.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this because Joyce Carol Oates blurbed it. So far, I've only read the first story (a couple of months before I told Goodreads I started the book...), but it is very promising. I'll probably read it slowly, before buying tomorrow and after finishing the new JCO.

[McArthur Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riveting collection of short stories about life and its complexities, love, family, being human. Quick, enjoyable and thoughtful (thought-provoking moreso). If you haven't done short stories in a while, this will get you hooked!

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, disturbing, thought provoking.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it and she has an interesting writing style and seems very smart. At the same time, I wasn't riveted by most of the stories so it gets 3 stars from me...

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought these were ho-hum. Good ideas but nothing substanial. I didn't make it through to the novella.

[eva · Rating 1 out of 5]

immature & cliched. the guinea pig story came the closest to invoking a real emotion, but it was downhill from there.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of short story collections, but I felt the stories and themes in this book weren't interconnected enough to hold my interest. Many of the characters I simply didn't care about.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

An aptly named collection, as both the chemical and the can book put you right to sleep. Boring.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

The short stories never really grab you.