Comments on: 2010 Giller short story collections: Light Lifting, by Alexander MacLeod and This Cake Is for the Party, by Sarah Selecky

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:55:30 +0000

Ava: Welcome and thanks for bringing these two story collections to the top of the comment list again. I did a quick scan of my reviews from Light Lifting — they stand up very well.

By: Ava Homa

Ava Homa — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 03:08:27 +0000

Hi Kevin,
I am so glad I came across your blog. I agree with every word you said. I admire A. McLeod’s stories for his writing style (“precision and compassion,” as you put it) and for the world he skillfully depicts. Although my age is much closer to the “This Cake…” age range, reading the book made me feel a certain emptiness that bothered me very much.
The comment about “autobiographical” debut short stories was also very interesting. I wonder if my collection Echoes from the Other Land suffers the same issue? Probably not, because despite the age range 17-30, the characters are very different. But, of course, I like the believe the latter.
Anyways, thanks for writing such fair and smart reviews. I am really glad I found you. I have been looking for a literary book review website for quiet a while.

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 15:44:54 +0000

RickP: Thanks for the kind words — Light Lifting is a collection that I intend to revisit in a few months.

By: RickP

RickP — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 14:45:09 +0000

Thanks to the Shadow Gillers for citing Light Lifting as their choice for the Giller. Otherwise, I might not have read it. With so many great books to choose from, I can’t read them all.

I liked Light Lifting a lot. I didn’t like every story but found something of value in all of them.

I particularly loved “Good Kids”. It certainly appealed to my sense of nostalgia with mentions of the hard orange balls we used to play road hockey with. I loved their strange little friend Reggie Laroque and it made me think back to childhood friends who just moved away one day.

I’ll read the Giller winner when I’m able to get hold of a copy which should be soon.

In the meantime, I’m just starting Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections which I’ve been putting off for a couple of years now.

Thanks again for the Light Lifting recommendation.

By: ‘this cake is for the party’ by sarah selecky » dana c. deathe

‘this cake is for the party’ by sarah selecky » dana c. deathe — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 15:33:23 +0000

[...] disagreeable. I was drawn to the Giller reviews by Trevor at The Mookse and The Gripes and to KevinFromCanada because they had both also reviewed Alexander MacLeod’s Light Lifting, as I had recently [...]

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 20:10:51 +0000

Kerry: I can understand why those who saw MacLeod’s work in the literary journals were waiting for more — it is an exceptional collection.

By: Kerry

Kerry — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 18:04:52 +0000

MacLeod’s collection is so stunning. And I really appreciate your distinction between strong short story collections and okay ones, the need for reflection between them– so true for MacLeod. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about his characters for days. (And I WAS waiting for his collection– I’ve read a few of his stories in The New Quarterly, and had a feeling the book would be as strong.)

By: Sunday Caught My Interest « Reflections from the Hinterland

Sunday Caught My Interest « Reflections from the Hinterland — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 17:57:30 +0000

[...] was going to wait on thinking about the Giller List but Kevin from Canada speaks very highly about a short story collection Light Lifting by Alexander Macleod – it [...]

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 20:56:37 +0000

dgr: I agree that the Booker and Orange would be enhanced by including short stories in their criteria — they both have other ways of restricting entries. Given the age of your children, I think you would find messages in Selecky’s stories that I did not. On the other side, I think you would find MacLeod’s ability to balance character development with story tension with broader context an even more impressive achievement. Just my opinion, however.

By: dovegreyreader

dovegreyreader — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 20:18:36 +0000

I really do wish the Booker and Orange would bring short stories onto the prize list options instead of leaving the genre out in a ghetto of its own. I consistently have a collection of them on the go now, generally only ever reading one a day, and like you Kevin, a sign of a collection’s strength for me is that I feel sated after that one story and couldn’t possibly read another until I have pondered what I’ve just read. Great cover on the second collection and, with my one-a-day and no more short story discipline firmly in place , one I think I’d enjoy.