Finished Buttered Side Down by Edna Ferber. This is her first collection of short stories, published in 1912. As with Dawn O'Hara, Ferber's voice is glib. The stories focus on characters living in Chicago who have left small town homes and feel at odds with city life. The mood varies from humorous to tragic. I was reminded just a bit of Katherine Mansfield's stories of single girls working in shops, living lonely lives in small rooms, but Ferber's stories have a distinctly American feel. I'm starting to enjoy short stories again. For a long time I did not because I preferred the long, narrative thread of a novel. But the tasty morsels of these stories are pretty satisfying.
No comments:
Post a Comment