I haven't read many short story collections but this makes me want to read a whole lot more. ( )

I loved this collection of stories - each one so different - all of them opened ended and slightly off just the way I like them. ( )

I read this collection after reading Chuck Palahniuk's essay "Not Chasing Amy" in HIS collection of essays, Stranger Than Fiction. His discussion of her work enticed me and I found exactly what he described and more. These stories are seemingly sparse, but somehow, after each story, I felt like a truck hit me. The beauty and realism of her work inspires me to write, and at the same time, I know I could never write like this. ( )

The Doctor couldn't make it to the picnics or to the skating--so he didn't show up in the pictures, either. The effect was of him saying after the flood: What I lose will always be lost.

"His problem is the past," Grey said about his father. "He says only do things you have done before and liked. Whereas me, what's coming is the thing I'm looking out for."

I thought the present was a safer bet. We can only die in the future, I thought; right now we are always alive.

This collection could as easily have been called something like Stories for When You Want to Lie Down and Die. It's a very living with death and deterioration kind of book. And that is wonderful. I admit I was hoping for some Magical Realism, but it was not to be: this is straight up realism. Even so, there are a few gems in here that will surely stay with me for a long, long time. Half the book is a little too spare, too sparse for its own good though. Some of the pictures don't quite have enough brushstrokes to fully arrive in the mind's eye. The disappointment is that the writing is good, and the good stories are great, so you know you've been cheated when things don't quite work. Nonetheless, it's a good collection, and even though the 1001 people are off their rockers about a lot of things, I'm glad they brought this little work to my attention. (Now I just wish they'd admit more short story collections belong on their list.)

Stories:
In a Tub: ★★★☆☆ A contemplation of a pulse.
Tonight Is a Favor to Holly: ★★★★☆ On ignoring an omen.
Celia Is Back: ★☆☆☆☆ A father teaches his kids about sweepstakes and contests.
Nashville Gone to Ashes: ★★★★★ A widow, a grief, and his pets.
San Francisco: ★☆☆☆☆ I don't even know what this was about. Earthquakes, maybe.
In the Cemetary Where Al Jolson Is Buried. ★★★★★ A friend fails a final test.
Beg, Sl Tog, Inc, Cont, Rep: ★★★★★ A woman grieves her abortion by taking care of a pregnant friend and learning to knit.
Going: ★★★★☆ A young man is in the hospital after a wreck.
Pool Night: ★★★★★ On fires and floods.
Three Popes Walk into a Bar: ★★☆☆☆ A comedian, fear, sex, and love.
The Man in Bogota: ★☆☆☆☆ A story not actually told to a woman on a ledge.
When It's Human Instead of When It's Dog: ★★★☆☆ A cleaning lady and a stain.
Why I'm Here: ★★★☆☆ Taking a career interests test in midlife.
Breathing Jesus: ★★☆☆☆ A carnival attraction and a lost dog.
Today Will Be a Quiet Day: ★★☆☆☆ A father, his kids, and a drive. ( )

A book of short stories that are very easy to read and very engaging. I would probably read this again if I came across it again. Sadly, I had no time to give this more of the minutes it deserved; I was reading through all the 1001 books I could get hold of from my library at work before I left forever just a couple of months after reading this.

One of the reasons for wanting to re-read it is her particular use of characterisation. There’s a lot more going on under the surface than it seems.

This seems astonishing when you consider that some of the stories are just 2 – 3 pages long. And yet, within that tiny span, she can, like Borges, draw you right in. However, unlike him, she never loses you or makes you feel like you don’t have a brain.

Lots of the stories have deal with loss and how we cope with that. This is the titular reasons to live. When others have died and you carry their memroies with you, it can be hard to live out each day.

The writing is quite poignant but because it’s so short both in totality and episode, it never gets as far as being moving. You never really get close enough for that. I felt like there was a bit of distance between me and those being described.

The fact that Hempel doesn’t names her protagonists adds to this. Some are almost totally anonymous and you only really get the barest details about their lives. I wonder why she felt this necessary.

Hempel has never written a full-length novel which seems a shame. I think a novel from her would be a wonderful piece of writing to savour. There’s still time for that. For now though, her little short story gems will have to do. ( )