- Paperback: 208 pages
- Publisher: Anchor Canada; 1st Edition edition (April 15 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0385659466
- ISBN-13: 978-0385659468
- Product Dimensions: 20.9 x 14.7 x 1.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 263 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #644,051 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
In this collection of 10 short stories, Michael Redhill, playwright and author of the acclaimed novel Martin Sloane, explores the many faces of fidelity and infidelity among husbands and wives, lovers, children, parents. Writing gracefully, with dialogue that has the genuine feel of intimacy, Redhill analyzes the nature of desire and trust and the ways they can impinge on each other. In "Mount Morris," a photographer comes once a year to a small town to see his former wife. Unable to split for good, they persistently and painfully fall into old patterns, their love "more than a memory, but less than a presence: a tune they could still hum." In "The Flesh Collectors," Redhill places the humorous and the horrific in succeeding paragraphs, when Roth, without his wife's knowledge, attempts to make a deposit at a semen storage facility and accidentally turns on the television, which blasts out news of a disaster in Israel.
At times, Redhill's stories can disturb by what he leaves unsaid. In "The Victim, Who Cannot Be Named," the culminating violence of a 17-year-old girl's father is merely suggested but is all the more powerful for that, and the question of who is the real "victim" is left achingly ambiguous. Many of these stories feel unresolved on first reading, yet close attention reveals that solutions--or, at the least, directions--can be found in the text. These are well-wrought, human probings of love in all its pain, its struggles, and its failings. --Mark Frutkin
From Publishers Weekly
Heartbreak and betrayal run through Redhill's slim collection of muted but well-wrought stories examining the damage people inflict on themselves and others when their relationships fail. Redhill (Martin Sloane) gives his characters believable vulnerabilities and a touching humanity, even as they make messes of their lives: a traveling school-portrait photographer who visits his ex-wife each year tries but fails to tell her how things have changed; a father finds himself unable to cope with his teenage daughter's shocking sexual behavior; a young woman struggling with a rocky relationship doubts the very idea of connection to another person; and a Jewish man wrestles with the morality of banking his sperm before he has a vasectomy that will make intimacy with his wife easier. In one of the most affecting stories, "Long Division," a precocious child bears the burden of his parents' disenchantment with each other. Redhill's writing is graceful, so his stories of people who are "lonesome with people and without them" are moving without being maudlin. Most of the 10 tales contain a whopper of a flashback—a childhood memory that goes a long way toward explaining how the protagonist became the scarred adult he or she is—and while the device begins to feel overused, it's a small flaw in an otherwise quietly moving collection.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
It will Speak To you.,
By
This review is from: Fidelity: Stories (Paperback)
Michael Redhill came to Newfoundland, for the March Hare writers weekend last year. He is such a great story teller, and I haven't read or even heard his name before. I listened closely, as he told a story from Fidelity. His voice was so smooth, and relaxing. I picked up Fidelity soon after,and was blown away by the honesty, and the way Redhill really captures different relationships. It was a great, easy read, but deep on many levels. This is a great book, which leaves you with something to think about, long after the last page.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Boy, I hate to be a naysayer...,
By
This review is from: Fidelity: Stories (Paperback)
I need to say from the start that I'm a writer.And that I hadn't really read that much 'short fiction' before 'Fidelity'. What a learning experience. I had no idea that writers were allowed so much latitude when it came to 'what a short story should be'. I don't want to flog a dead horse, but if this is typical of award-winning short fiction collections...then I should definitely be publishing. Unlike in a novel, or a screenplay, it appears that you don't really have to go anywhere with a short story. There doesn't really have to be a beginning, a middle and an end. You really only have to show some flair, maybe a little wink-eyed insight, and a quirk or two. This collection has *some* of these elements scattered about. I can't help but compare the apparent rules of engagement that these stories are presented under, with the notion of doing the same on a comedy stage: you'd get booed off. You'd have what would amount to absurdist humour along the lines of 'How many surealists does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Purple.' NEXT! I respect Mr Redhill's talents (this is the second of his works I've read in a row, and have every intention of reading his Man Booker-nominated 'Consolation'.) But I guess my lasting impression having read this collection is 'Hoo-boy; I think I deserve an agent.'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews) 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good!,
By Jessica - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Fidelity: Stories (Hardcover)
Wow! I'm the first person to review this book! *I feel special* It was good. A bit depressing, since its a bunch of stories in one book that are all centered around the same thought: truth. "What does it mean to be true?" he quotes. They are all themed around heartbreak and betrayal; whether it concerns family or lovers. It makes you wonder about your life and philosopy in general. What happens when you stop loving someone, or they stop loving you? Redhill's book portays much meaning, and is very propeling. 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
It will Speak To you.,
By pete - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Fidelity: Stories (Paperback)
Michael Redhill came to Newfoundland, for the March Hare writers weekend last year. He is such a great story teller, and I haven't read or even heard his name before. I listened closely, as he told a story from Fidelity. His voice was so smooth, and relaxing. I picked up Fidelity soon after,and was blown away by the honesty, and the way Redhill really captures different relationships. It was a great, easy read, but deep on many levels. This is a great book, which leaves you with something to think about, long after the last page.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fidelis,
By I. L. Barrett - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Fidelity: Stories (Hardcover)
The voice is straightforward. Within the seemingly simple stories creep fantastic insights into the human condition.
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