-
Short Stories sewn into a novel
“I absolutely loved this book. I picked it up completely at random in a bookstore, and finished it in one day, barely able to put it down. I was a bit surprised when the stylistic lack of punctuation and breathless narrative continued past the story Ad (I thought it was simply an introductory approach!), and although it did take a bit of getting used to, I was drawn in by it. Perhaps this is because my biggest weakness in writing during college was, in fact, run-on sentences!
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-05-28.
Elizabeth Crane forced me to reassess my opinion of short stories, and I found myself searching online for the list of books she recommended at the end of All This Heavenly Glory- despite a lifelong avoidance of said genre. I didn't in truth realize that All This Heavenly Glory was a collection of short stories, as the entire book focuses on the main character. The main concept that breaks the narrative into short, non-sequential "stories" is that it has no chronological order or structure, and presents the character in brief snap-shots of her life.
It was a beautifully rendered, occasionally heart-breaking, but mostly hilarious read. ” -
one long boring sentence
“Our book club picked this; we are a group of professionals with a median age of ~45. None of us liked it. Too many run on sentences, too many thoughts and ideas falling all over the place. We decided maybe someone in their early 20's who's grown up on the computer might like this. It read like an IM or email.”
An amazon user wrote this on 2008-12-12. -
Not what I thought, but ok.
“I found myself rushing through this just to get done with it. It was boring to me. I would have rather her concentrate on one section of her life. I understand what the author was trying to do, but to me, it didn't turn out that great. ”
An amazon user wrote this on 2008-01-15. -
0 of 1 members found this review helpful.
Not Great
“Crane's story "Howard the Filmmaker" is probably the best story in the collection. The first story,"Ad," tells us a lot about the main character, whom we follow through this collection. The tone is consistent but the humor isn't always spot-on. Sometimes Crane tries to hard to be funny by using the dry, sarcastic, and sometimes witty voice but it goes on too hard or for too long sometimes-- like when you listen to a friend make of something funny and then it goes on and starts to grate on your senses. The tone is a bit cutting and when I heard Crane do a live reading at Quimby's this past year I was really impressed when I heard "Howard the Filmmaker." And then I went to hear here again at the H/O Dollar Store Readings and decided I would pick up her book but was disappointed. The stories seem to get swallowed up in that voice. And the character isn't engaging enough to be followed after the first third of the book. Things start to drop off and the reader has to push to get through-- but why? -- it seems to lose its way.”
An amazon user wrote this on 2007-12-31. -
0 of 3 members found this review helpful.
okay stories but a bit inappropriate
“There were a lot of swear words and a bit too many sexual scenes. I wish some of the stories weren't included at all. However, there were some sweet narratives and poignant moments. It was also fun to see common themes and elements in Charlotte's life. However, those few things did not make up for the crass nature of the rest of the book.”
An amazon user wrote this on 2007-11-13.
