Customer Reviews

At The Gates Of The Animal Kingdom

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This book is one of my favorite collections of short stories. They say that Raymond Carver is the master of minimalism in the short story genre but Hempel's work is definitely on par. Each story is a look at life from a different angle. She takes the moments and events that we simply experience without a second thought or glance and turns them so that they reveal something extraordinary. She is not verbose - so if you feel you can't enjoy a story without heavy description and don't have the desire/patience to think about the weight of small events or it overwhelms you to realize that even the subtleties of life have a momentum of their own - you won't appreciate this. There is also a lot that is inferred but not said. She chooses her words very carefully - just as a poet one line can resonate. In the Animal Shelter is only 4 short paragraphs but one of the most powerful in this collection. I discovered her writing as an undergraduate in the early 90's and I still reach for her books and find something new to enjoy.

Never reading Hempel is like dying a virgin. The expectations cast by the stories in "Reasons to Live" would be impossible for most writers to overcome, but somehow she does it, without missing a beat. If i could give more stars i would. My favourite stories from this book being, "The Harvest" "At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom" "Murder" and "Rapture of the Deep". The effort she must've put forth in writing in such a minimalist style illustrates how much Hempel cares about each sentence. The stories are elegant and to the point, not a second is wasted, not a word is misplaced. If you're ever lucky enough to find this book, consider yourself blessed (for whatever reason its out of print). She is the needle in a haystack. Her stories pierce straight to the heart, and will stick with you for the rest of your life.

Hempel's prose style snaps hard and fast to the point of the story, without filling us up on meat. It's like eating only the best parts of the meal and throwing green beans and potatoes onto the floor for the dogs. I read through three or four books of Hempels in about the same number of days. They were all just delicious. Of them, this one stuck out as the best.

Amy Hempel's collection of short stories in this book is marvelous. At first glance I was afraid that the animal theme would become old I soon realized that as with all of her writings I should not have given in to such assumptions. The stories in this collection are mostly quite short, some only a page, but they are not vingettes or prose poems-- each page is as full as any longer story. The stories range from disturbing and sad to winsome and heart warming, but as with Amy Hempel's other works she always touches both your mind and your heart.