- Paperback: 176 pages
- Publisher: Scribner; Reprint edition (May 20 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0743246853
- ISBN-13: 978-0743246859
- Product Dimensions: 21.2 x 12.6 x 1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 186 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #344,796 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
The 14 stories in Meloy's confident, polished debut tell the tales of many different people lawyers, ranchers, ex-pats and school girls often as, in moments of clarity, their understanding of their place in the world poignantly shifts. In the spare, haunting "Four Lean Hounds, ca. 1976," a young man mourns the drowning of his best friend and his wife's infidelity, even as he realizes that "all he could hate his friend for was that [he] had been loved." In "Thirteen and a Half," a homely girl briefly singled out by an unfamiliar and dangerous boy at a school dance registers his choice as something akin to a life-altering serendipity, as she watches him vanish "among the boys who were just boys, who meant nothing to her, boys she saw every day of her life." Death both animal and human, either experienced or imminent plays a part in many of Meloy's stories. A champion colt's terrible frostbite complicates an already knotty marriage in the heartbreaking "Kite Whistler Aquamarine," while a father's terminal cancer gives his daughter a different understanding of what's fair and what should be risked in "A Stakes Horse." "Ranch Girl," one of the 10 stories Meloy sets in her native West, is one of her strongest and sharpest: "If you're white, and you're not rich or poor but somewhere in the middle, it's hard to have worse luck than to be born a girl on a ranch," the narrator says, even as she refuses to leave. Though Meloy leans toward minimalism and a few of the stories seem pinched as a result she is a fluid, confident and talented writer capable of moments of true grace.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Meloy's debut of 15 stories is set mostly in the American West and focuses on its rugged inhabitants. It is their vulnerability that captures Meloy's imagination, as she portrays characters caught in moments of crisis, upheaval, and change. "Ranch Girl," a coming-of-age story, is about a young woman born and raised on a ranch who must choose between staying with her familiar life or going out into the wider world. "Four Lean Hounds, ca. 1976" is a tender story about the deep friendship of two couples. The husbands own an underwater welding business, and on a job together one of them drowns. The survivor blames himself for his friend's death and is further guilt-ridden by the attraction he feels for his dead friend's widow. Other stories go beyond the Western milieu, venturing into Europe during World War II and more. Meloy, who has been published in The New Yorker, the Paris Review, and other journals, is in complete control of her material. Her stories have a potent immediacy that makes them believable and heart-wrenching. Recommended. Marcia Tager, Tenafly, NJ
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Promising, but...,
By Esther Rabinowitz (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Half in Love: Stories (Hardcover)
Admittedly, my interest in Maile Meloy initially came entirely from my enjoyment of her younger brother Colin Meloy's band, the Decemberists. Meloy's debut short story collection is extremely promising in a lot of key areas: her stories have a strong sense of place, and she's got both a good ear for dialogue and a strong handle on narrative pacing. Things actually happen in these stories, in other words, something that can't always be said about similar short story collections. However, it seems that Colin inherited all of the family's sense of humor genes, as Maile's stories are almost relentlessly bleak and often downright depressing. A wider variety of emotional shadings would go a long way towards enhancing this collection.
4.0 out of 5 stars
FULLY IN LOVE WITH THIS WRITER,
By Sesho (Pasadena, TX USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Half in Love: Stories (Paperback)
It's not often that a writer of grace such as Maile Meloy comes around. I have not read her second work, the novel Liars and Saints yet, but just judging by this slim collection of stories, she is going to be a writer to watch. My favorite story in here was "Red" in which a soldier fixing to ship out to France during the World War, desperately tries to reach a non-communicative woman. "Thirteen and a Half" is a brief tale about a junior high dance crashed by a murderous gangbanger. "The Ice Harvester" shows the life of a man whose profession has become obsolete due to electric refrigeration. "A Stakes Horse" deals with a woman whose ex-husband is a jockey who she thinks is involved in throwing races. "Ranch Girl" shows the debilitating effects of small-town life on a girl who is afraid to strive for anything better and rejects anything outside her zone of comfort. Meloy is a great writer. She is able to show ordinary people and use them for great tales. Her stories seem to be about awakenings. Or more rightly, realization. Whether it's of awareness of infidelity, of death, or of joy, it's the power of opening your perceptions that she writes about, for good or bad. The best of these stories show that she has the potential to climb the plateau of the best short story practicioners. Hope her novel is just as good.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great collection of short stories with western flavor,
By ostawookiee "ostawookiee" (Winston-Salem, NC USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Half in Love: Stories (Hardcover)
These aren't cowboy stories, but you can see the influence of Meloy's Montana life in them. Each story is wildly different, looking at everything from love to death to horse racing. Thing I really enjoyed about the stories was the background information she invented to support each story; just simple few line references that enhance the story, such as when she talks of Mexican homes that always have room for guests because they're constantly being added onto since you don't have to pay property tax if the house is still being finished. It's little things like that dropped throughout the stories that really paint the scene for you and give the characters depth.
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