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Reasons to Live
It is always "earthquake weather" in Amy Hempel's California, a landscape where everything can change without warning. Traditional resources—home, parents, lovers, friends, even willpower—are not dependable. And so the characters in these short, compelling stories have learned to depend on small triumphs of wit, irony, and spirit.
A widow, surrounded by a small menagerie, comes to terms with her veterinarian husband's death; a young woman entertains her dying friend with trivia and reaffirms her own life; in the aftermath of an abortion, a woman compulsively knits a complete wardrobe for a friend's baby. Buffeted by rude shocks, thwarted by misconnections, the characters recognize that anything can finally become a reason to live.
In a tub
Tonight is a favor to Holly
Celia is back
Nashville gone to ashes
San Francisco
In the cemetery where Al Jolson is buried
Beg, Sl Tog, Inc, Cont, Rep
Going
Pool night
Three popes walk into a bar
The man in Bogotá
When it's human instead of when it's dog
Why I'm here
Breathing Jesus
Today will be a quiet day
A widow, surrounded by a small menagerie, comes to terms with her veterinarian husband's death; a young woman entertains her dying friend with trivia and reaffirms her own life; in the aftermath of an abortion, a woman compulsively knits a complete wardrobe for a friend's baby. Buffeted by rude shocks, thwarted by misconnections, the characters recognize that anything can finally become a reason to live.
In a tub
Tonight is a favor to Holly
Celia is back
Nashville gone to ashes
San Francisco
In the cemetery where Al Jolson is buried
Beg, Sl Tog, Inc, Cont, Rep
Going
Pool night
Three popes walk into a bar
The man in Bogotá
When it's human instead of when it's dog
Why I'm here
Breathing Jesus
Today will be a quiet day
129 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
About the author
Amy Hempel
47 books971 followersAmy Hempel is an American short story writer, journalist, and university professor at Brooklyn College. Hempel was a former student of Gordon Lish, who eventually helped her publish her first collection of short stories. Hempel has been published in Harper's, Vanity Fair, GQ, and Bomb. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, as well as the Ambassador Book Award in 2007, the Rea Award for the Short Story in 2008, and the Pen/Malamud Award for short fiction in 2009.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 312 reviews
January 24, 2020
A fine book of short stories. The shorter pieces are spare and elliptical--sort of like Raymond Carver, but without the self-destructive power. But the better longer pieces--"Nashville Gone to Ashes," "In The Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried," "Today Will Be a Quiet Day" are excellent. In their classical, restrained, deeply human way they remind me of Tillie Olsen at her best--and that is high praise indeed.
August 2, 2019
A spare collection of fifteen short stories, Reasons to Live considers what it means to live an unconventional life. With wit and ingenuity Hempel explores a wide array of disquieting themes, from the listlessness of an aimless adulthood to the dread provoked by a close friend’s death. Across all the swift tales the author fully renders the complex interior lives of her narrators in succinct language full of mesmerizing imagery. Hempel’s cool aesthetic is defined by understatement, irony, and collage; her lucid prose makes for a jarring contrast with her elliptical plots, just as her penchant for emotional reticence clashes with her painful subject matter. Favorite stories include “Tonight Is a Favor for Holly,” “In the Cemetery Where Al Jonson Lives,” and “Why I’m Here.”
July 5, 2014
I read somewhere that if you want to become a good writer, read Amy Hempel.
The reason is that she is not only a minimalist but also because she is an intelligent short story writer.
This is true. I don't have a plan to write because I am still busy with my corporate career. Maybe someday, who knows. Right now though, I am reading because I enjoy knowing the lives of other people, the situations they are into and I appreciate good writing styles. Seeing different techniques in writing, you know, the possibilities, never fails to amuse me.
Hempel's short stories are like Raymond Carver's sliced into small bits and pieces and those bits and pieces still tell stories that can even be better than Carver's.
You have to read slowly though. Reading Hempel is like pausing after each sentence because each sentence is like a piece of jigsaw puzzle. You have to take note all the edges and its possible connection, how each edge can possibly fit into the others laid on the table. How a sentence can mean to others you've already read and those that you will still read.
They say that the most anthologized story in this book, Hempel's first, is this In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried. I even had to look up who was Al Jolson before writing this review but I guess I missed the whole point so I did not really enjoy it. The ones that I enjoyed are "In a Tub" (the first story), "San Francisco" (this is puzzling) and "Beg, Sl Tog, Inc, Cont, Rep" (if you wonder what are these, you don't know about knitting). This book does not make me relate to any of the stories nor characters. However, it made me really think as you have to think while doing the jigsaw puzzle. Each piece, each sentence, each word, counts and you won't appreciate the story if you miss any of those.
Brilliantly written. Hempel is a league of her own.
The reason is that she is not only a minimalist but also because she is an intelligent short story writer.
This is true. I don't have a plan to write because I am still busy with my corporate career. Maybe someday, who knows. Right now though, I am reading because I enjoy knowing the lives of other people, the situations they are into and I appreciate good writing styles. Seeing different techniques in writing, you know, the possibilities, never fails to amuse me.
Hempel's short stories are like Raymond Carver's sliced into small bits and pieces and those bits and pieces still tell stories that can even be better than Carver's.
You have to read slowly though. Reading Hempel is like pausing after each sentence because each sentence is like a piece of jigsaw puzzle. You have to take note all the edges and its possible connection, how each edge can possibly fit into the others laid on the table. How a sentence can mean to others you've already read and those that you will still read.
They say that the most anthologized story in this book, Hempel's first, is this In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried. I even had to look up who was Al Jolson before writing this review but I guess I missed the whole point so I did not really enjoy it. The ones that I enjoyed are "In a Tub" (the first story), "San Francisco" (this is puzzling) and "Beg, Sl Tog, Inc, Cont, Rep" (if you wonder what are these, you don't know about knitting). This book does not make me relate to any of the stories nor characters. However, it made me really think as you have to think while doing the jigsaw puzzle. Each piece, each sentence, each word, counts and you won't appreciate the story if you miss any of those.
Brilliantly written. Hempel is a league of her own.
March 13, 2015
The Wall Street Journal said of this, "One of the delights of these stories is that they approach the usual cliches of real life and fiction at an unexpected oblique angel." I couldn't say it better if I tried.
There's so many reasons to live, but Hempel reminds you of one major one, which is to read work like this.
There's so many reasons to live, but Hempel reminds you of one major one, which is to read work like this.
May 16, 2008
If you’ve been keeping track of my reviews thus far, you know I don’t rate very highly, but Amy Hempel’s Reasons to Live is the standard to which all other fiction books must rise. Long before Chuck Palahniuk’s frenzied fan base or the New York Times 2006 Book of the Year Award drove her collected stories to mass acclaim, I was graced to read Hempel’s widely anthologized “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried” in late 1998. It’s a story about a woman visiting her terminally ill friend in hospital and the freedom she feels when she’s not there. Many of the stories in Reasons to Live center on people losing their safety nets—to fires, to fear, to lost friends and children. They are short, succinct, and often slash their way to the depths of emotion.
Amy Hempel says more with one sentence than most authors say with a whole novel.
If you miss a sentence, you can get lost and have to backtrack. That’s minimalism for you. Standout pieces in the collection include “Beg, Sl Tog, Inc, Cont, Rep,” “The Man in Bogotá,” and “Tonight is a Favor to Holly.” Not every story is great though. In fact, some are downright awful. I got nervous when I initially bought the collection and found the first story, “In a Tub,” so lackluster. Still, I appreciate that Reasons to Live has enough risk in it to where it can miss the mark. Maybe that’s what makes a five-star book—that you even appreciate its flaws.
I can’t say all that makes a five-star book, but I know that with Amy Hempel I was simultaneously glad and disappointed when she got popular. Glad because she really does deserve it and there are too many great stories that go unnoticed next to some blasé fiction writer’s latest rehash; yet disappointed because there are some things that you wish could stay yours, even if that’s ridiculous since they never were yours to begin with. You don’t loan a five-star book to just anyone. You can’t risk that. (I had to learn that the hard way.) Though Amy Hempel’s other collections are still very good, they note the slow downhill slide from Reasons to Live, and with the exception of the now out of print At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom, I don’t feel compelled to look for them at used bookstores. Whatever equates to a five-star book, Reasons to Live is it for me.
Amy Hempel says more with one sentence than most authors say with a whole novel.
If you miss a sentence, you can get lost and have to backtrack. That’s minimalism for you. Standout pieces in the collection include “Beg, Sl Tog, Inc, Cont, Rep,” “The Man in Bogotá,” and “Tonight is a Favor to Holly.” Not every story is great though. In fact, some are downright awful. I got nervous when I initially bought the collection and found the first story, “In a Tub,” so lackluster. Still, I appreciate that Reasons to Live has enough risk in it to where it can miss the mark. Maybe that’s what makes a five-star book—that you even appreciate its flaws.
I can’t say all that makes a five-star book, but I know that with Amy Hempel I was simultaneously glad and disappointed when she got popular. Glad because she really does deserve it and there are too many great stories that go unnoticed next to some blasé fiction writer’s latest rehash; yet disappointed because there are some things that you wish could stay yours, even if that’s ridiculous since they never were yours to begin with. You don’t loan a five-star book to just anyone. You can’t risk that. (I had to learn that the hard way.) Though Amy Hempel’s other collections are still very good, they note the slow downhill slide from Reasons to Live, and with the exception of the now out of print At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom, I don’t feel compelled to look for them at used bookstores. Whatever equates to a five-star book, Reasons to Live is it for me.
January 16, 2022
I started reading this short story/flash fiction collection back in April 2021 having grabbed it off of one of the many bookshelves in my home because it is lightweight and easy to carry on the subway. Truthfully I use that calculus to choose books quite often. I started it, liked but didn't love the first 2/3, all of which I read on a day that involved several lengthy jaunts. Then I brought it home and it has been sitting on my nightstand patiently awaiting a renewal of my attentions. The remainder was not lengthy enough to cover commuting reading so it was off the menu for that, and honestly I don't spend a ton of time in transit these days. I am not a shut-in, but last year I read a lot of books for a reason. Man I cannot wait to go out regularly again! So today between the scourge of omicron and 20 degree temps I decided to compress my fun activities into Sunday and Monday and stay in. I was feeling like a slug, and I remembered I needed to finish this book and get it off the nightstand. A task! All that is to establish my level of enthusiasm to finish this. I am ending up with a 3-star rating. There are some verifiably good stories here including the final. surprisingly sweet story, "Today Will be a Quiet Day", the truly thoughtful "Tonight is a Favor to Holly" and the beautiful and heartbreaking "The Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried." There are other good stories too, but a lot feels half-baked, and the reliance on irony as a form of meaningful communication became irritating quite quickly. A low 3 seems fair. I hope the good stories got anthologized so that there are ways to read them without pawing through the chaff.
July 10, 2007
okay, jesus. how do you even start to tackle the subject of amy hempel? i'll make a list of things that make this book better than anything that will ever make it into the top ten of the bestseller lists:
[1] minimalist (or "miniaturist," if you ask hempel) writing style that is unique and moves at a rapid clip
[2] emotional displacement
[3] subtlety.
that last one is particularly important, since i think one of the more difficult challenges any writer faces when wanting to express a complex emotion is how to do it without coming across as manipulative or phony. she does so by not even discussing the emotion, or making said emotion obvious to be taking place. the things we're most afraid of in her writing stay where they do in life: ominously below the surface, always threatening to burst forth.
long story short: it's awesome. if you want to write, please read this book. i'd rather we have 1,000 hempel clones than 1,000 jk rowling clones. at least we'll get somewhere emotionally as a culture.
[1] minimalist (or "miniaturist," if you ask hempel) writing style that is unique and moves at a rapid clip
[2] emotional displacement
[3] subtlety.
that last one is particularly important, since i think one of the more difficult challenges any writer faces when wanting to express a complex emotion is how to do it without coming across as manipulative or phony. she does so by not even discussing the emotion, or making said emotion obvious to be taking place. the things we're most afraid of in her writing stay where they do in life: ominously below the surface, always threatening to burst forth.
long story short: it's awesome. if you want to write, please read this book. i'd rather we have 1,000 hempel clones than 1,000 jk rowling clones. at least we'll get somewhere emotionally as a culture.
May 2, 2013
Well. I don't think I got it.
This book had been recommended to me by numerous classmates and professors. I kept hearing how great Amy Hempel is, and she is great to some people of course. The stories in this collection are short (which I do like), usually first-person, rarely name characters, and bounce around from action to memories. I guess you could call them slices of life. They don't have "plots," so the stories just meander around vague situations and characters.
I liked a few (maybe 3) of them okay, but most of the time I was confused, wondering what the point of each story was. If the book hadn't been just 100 pages, I would have abandoned it.
But to be clear-- I'm not much of a short story person and Hempel is adored by many who are.
Find more book reviews at A Quick Red Fox.
This book had been recommended to me by numerous classmates and professors. I kept hearing how great Amy Hempel is, and she is great to some people of course. The stories in this collection are short (which I do like), usually first-person, rarely name characters, and bounce around from action to memories. I guess you could call them slices of life. They don't have "plots," so the stories just meander around vague situations and characters.
I liked a few (maybe 3) of them okay, but most of the time I was confused, wondering what the point of each story was. If the book hadn't been just 100 pages, I would have abandoned it.
But to be clear-- I'm not much of a short story person and Hempel is adored by many who are.
Find more book reviews at A Quick Red Fox.
September 17, 2010
Death and tragedy haunt the short, short stories in Amy Hempel’s first story collection Reasons to Live (1985) like empty chairs at the table. And there is no steak, no potatoes, nor substantial courses atop Hempel’s literary table. Instead the reader is treated to tapas -- bite-size delicacies of exquisite flavors -- a literary lunch that only a truly talented minimalist (or miniaturist) writer could cook up successfully. And underneath the table: a dog or two lay near the diners’ feet, ready to catch any falling morsels. (Dogs trot through these stories in the comfortable and presumptuous way any well-loved pet wanders a home.) But, it boils down to the sentence for Hempel. Each sentence is crafted with care and precision to maximize the collective effect of denotation, connotation, rhythm and prose, -- creating art, illuminating truths and soliciting chuckles amidst the interspersed sighs and smiles her stories evoke.
Common daily occurrences make up much of Hempel’s plots. In “Tonight is a Favor to Holly,” the narrator prepares for a blind date. “Going” revolves around a patient eating a hospital meal. “When It’s Human Instead of When It’s Dog” is about a maid concerned with cleaning a carpet stain. “Today Will Be a Quiet Day” accompanies a father and his children on car ride. There are no grand adventures amongst these quiet stories. In fact, they might even be mundane if not for the potent human and emotional undercurrents that whisper at the reader from between the lines. While everyday commonalities take precedent on Hempel’s printed page, her stories work to coax and seduce profound revelations within the reader’s mind, and it is these revelations that form the real substance of Hempel’s work. It’s as if she’s softly tickling her reader’s subconscious, light fingers tapping to awaken a profound consciousness of death and tragedy and the human condition. The wonder of these powerful revelations is that the author unearths them with such subtlety, in so few words, and so few pages.
Hempel’s much acclaimed and much anthologized “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried” is found amongst the stories here and for this story alone this book is worth reading. Slowly. The plot revolves around the narrator’s visit to the hospital where her friend is dying. The charm is the light banter, the comfortable relationship, the humor these friends share. The tragedy is the eminent death of the patient and the narrator’s failure as a friend, her cowardice in face of her loss, in the face of her friend’s need. The tragic sentence is “Make it useless stuff or skip it.” Another is “Baby, come hug, Baby come, fluent now in the language of grief.”
Yes, in the end it is the sentences that really shine within this work. It is the sentences that the reader will take away with her as she sets aside the book. The sentences she will repeat for others, and scrawl out in her journal. The sentences that will come back to her as she’s doing the dishes or working in the garden. The sentences she will repeat over and over in her mind for the sheer pleasure of reliving them. Sentences like this: “A blind date is coming to pick me up, and unless my hair grows an inch by seven o’clock, I am not going to answer the door.” And this: “I can’t help it. I get rational when I panic.” And this: “He wondered how we know what happens to us isn’t good.” Sentences that stand strong all alone and when gathered together form a masterpiece.
Reasons to Live is a book best read slowly, repetitively, and with serious attention -- the way one might enjoy gourmet tapas, lingering over each morsel, chewing and tasting to seek out flavors. And for the sheer pleasure of the experience.
Common daily occurrences make up much of Hempel’s plots. In “Tonight is a Favor to Holly,” the narrator prepares for a blind date. “Going” revolves around a patient eating a hospital meal. “When It’s Human Instead of When It’s Dog” is about a maid concerned with cleaning a carpet stain. “Today Will Be a Quiet Day” accompanies a father and his children on car ride. There are no grand adventures amongst these quiet stories. In fact, they might even be mundane if not for the potent human and emotional undercurrents that whisper at the reader from between the lines. While everyday commonalities take precedent on Hempel’s printed page, her stories work to coax and seduce profound revelations within the reader’s mind, and it is these revelations that form the real substance of Hempel’s work. It’s as if she’s softly tickling her reader’s subconscious, light fingers tapping to awaken a profound consciousness of death and tragedy and the human condition. The wonder of these powerful revelations is that the author unearths them with such subtlety, in so few words, and so few pages.
Hempel’s much acclaimed and much anthologized “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried” is found amongst the stories here and for this story alone this book is worth reading. Slowly. The plot revolves around the narrator’s visit to the hospital where her friend is dying. The charm is the light banter, the comfortable relationship, the humor these friends share. The tragedy is the eminent death of the patient and the narrator’s failure as a friend, her cowardice in face of her loss, in the face of her friend’s need. The tragic sentence is “Make it useless stuff or skip it.” Another is “Baby, come hug, Baby come, fluent now in the language of grief.”
Yes, in the end it is the sentences that really shine within this work. It is the sentences that the reader will take away with her as she sets aside the book. The sentences she will repeat for others, and scrawl out in her journal. The sentences that will come back to her as she’s doing the dishes or working in the garden. The sentences she will repeat over and over in her mind for the sheer pleasure of reliving them. Sentences like this: “A blind date is coming to pick me up, and unless my hair grows an inch by seven o’clock, I am not going to answer the door.” And this: “I can’t help it. I get rational when I panic.” And this: “He wondered how we know what happens to us isn’t good.” Sentences that stand strong all alone and when gathered together form a masterpiece.
Reasons to Live is a book best read slowly, repetitively, and with serious attention -- the way one might enjoy gourmet tapas, lingering over each morsel, chewing and tasting to seek out flavors. And for the sheer pleasure of the experience.
August 20, 2012
Fellow Amy Hempel crushing fanboy Chuck Palahniuk writes in his essay "Not Chasing Amy", "I once gave At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom: Stories to a friend and said, 'If you don't love this, we have nothing in common.'" Hempel has that effect on her readers: you don't come away from her stories having read them - you walk away a snarling, gauntlet throwing, lit-beast.
Hempel's minimalist style feels anything but; her sentences are so packed with meaning and nuance. It isn't uncommon for additional insight to reveal itself long after the story is finished. You get the feeling that words aren't chosen, they're hewn, chiseled and polished from the essence of language. Quoting from a story doesn't do the writing justice - it would be like showing a picture of Teddy Roosevelt's stone nose and trying to explain Mount Rushmore. Hempel needs to be ingested, whole-hog.
I still remember, years ago, when a fellow Hempel fan alerted me to the publishing of her complete works in one volume: The Collected Stories. This is an amazing book - and highly recommended for any lover of the written word.
Hempel's minimalist style feels anything but; her sentences are so packed with meaning and nuance. It isn't uncommon for additional insight to reveal itself long after the story is finished. You get the feeling that words aren't chosen, they're hewn, chiseled and polished from the essence of language. Quoting from a story doesn't do the writing justice - it would be like showing a picture of Teddy Roosevelt's stone nose and trying to explain Mount Rushmore. Hempel needs to be ingested, whole-hog.
I still remember, years ago, when a fellow Hempel fan alerted me to the publishing of her complete works in one volume: The Collected Stories. This is an amazing book - and highly recommended for any lover of the written word.
March 20, 2019
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.
December 17, 2010
I feel like an idiot for not appreciating Amy Hempel's Reasons to Live as much as expected to. But I really thought a few of the stories in this collection were great. Especially Nashville Gone to Ashes and Beg, Sl Tog, Inc, Cont, Rep. Hempel's writing is feminine in a way that's it's not flowery, or (extremely) passive, but of feminine things like knitting, laundry and being a wife.
I have to admit that stories with a few unpredictable twists of structure, which are of no consequence otherwise, are a little bit dull to me. I found myself skimming chunks of these already tiny vignettes to find anything: twists of language, subtle emotional break-downs, eerie happenstance, surreal spatterings; but there wasn't much of that.
The stories were straight-forward; though, I wouldn't call them honest, as much I would would call them fictional glimpses into the lives of random women who are bored and have suffered some form of tragedy that they gloom upon on the inside, reflecting in infinity.
I'm used to appreciating more straight-forward writing, writing that takes more risks. Stirred by forms of violence or aggression, left-field epiphanies, symphonies, anything that seems to take a risk, looking forward, more than back. Or maybe I'm too used to reading things written by men, which makes me ignorant.
I have to admit that stories with a few unpredictable twists of structure, which are of no consequence otherwise, are a little bit dull to me. I found myself skimming chunks of these already tiny vignettes to find anything: twists of language, subtle emotional break-downs, eerie happenstance, surreal spatterings; but there wasn't much of that.
The stories were straight-forward; though, I wouldn't call them honest, as much I would would call them fictional glimpses into the lives of random women who are bored and have suffered some form of tragedy that they gloom upon on the inside, reflecting in infinity.
I'm used to appreciating more straight-forward writing, writing that takes more risks. Stirred by forms of violence or aggression, left-field epiphanies, symphonies, anything that seems to take a risk, looking forward, more than back. Or maybe I'm too used to reading things written by men, which makes me ignorant.
January 13, 2018
As with Carver, Hempel is only a minimalist when read shallowly and with certain misperceptions in mind about what detail consists of, and, most probably, already bent on affixing reductive labels on writers rather that appreciating their essence. It doesn't surprise me that she is more popular now than when this collection first came out: The quirky juxtapositions, the stand-up comic lines, and the staggering emotions under the surface that are suppressed in words but not affect, all seem so now, which means these stories were ahead of their time when first published in the early 1980's.
May 20, 2014
uuuggggghhhhhhhhh
My heart hurts. This is actually the first section of her collected stories, so I'm still reading. But this really took me by surprise and like Lindsay said, made me feel like I got hit by a truck. It's harder for me to read and hear stories about parents and children, or would-be children, now that I have kids. It just puts my heart through the wringer in a way that I'm not really equipped for anymore. I'm too busy to feel this much. My heart is too full to be flooded like this. But here I go, continuing to read for more pain, more beauty, more flooding and fire and death. I can't stop.
My heart hurts. This is actually the first section of her collected stories, so I'm still reading. But this really took me by surprise and like Lindsay said, made me feel like I got hit by a truck. It's harder for me to read and hear stories about parents and children, or would-be children, now that I have kids. It just puts my heart through the wringer in a way that I'm not really equipped for anymore. I'm too busy to feel this much. My heart is too full to be flooded like this. But here I go, continuing to read for more pain, more beauty, more flooding and fire and death. I can't stop.
September 7, 2017
Especially enjoyed "Celia Is Back", "Nashville Gone To Ashes", "Going", "The Man In Bogota", & "Today Will Be a Quiet Day".
Memorable passage (which concludes the story,"Going"):
I like a woman in my room at night.
The night nurse smells like a Christmas candle.
After she leaves the room, for a short time the room is like when she was here. She is not here, but the idea of her is.
It's not the same--but it makes me think of the night my mother died. Three states away, the smell in my room was the smell of the powder on her face when she kissed me good night--the night she wasn't there.
Memorable passage (which concludes the story,"Going"):
I like a woman in my room at night.
The night nurse smells like a Christmas candle.
After she leaves the room, for a short time the room is like when she was here. She is not here, but the idea of her is.
It's not the same--but it makes me think of the night my mother died. Three states away, the smell in my room was the smell of the powder on her face when she kissed me good night--the night she wasn't there.
May 31, 2021
"I thought the present was the safer bet. We can only die in the future, I thought; right now we are always alive."
Reasons to Live (1985) is the third collection of short stories by Amy Hempel that I have read, after At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom and Tumble Home. One of the reasons that I keep returning to her collections of short stories might be a coincidental similarity in our biographies. Not only was I born in the same year as Ms. Hempel, but also both of us relocated to California from a city where many people speak Polish (Chicago for her, Warsaw for me).
The term "short stories" is not really adequate, particularly when referring to stories from this collection. One should call the genre mastered by Ms. Hempel "very short stories." These literary miniatures, snapshots of life, are just a few pages long - their length ranges from one to 15 pages.
To me, the best thing about the majority of Ms. Hempel's miniatures is that the reader has to do a little work to interpret them, to understand their meaning, and to see the "message" they convey. More importantly, different readers may find different messages in individual stories. And that's how it should be - after all, this is literature, not just storytelling!
Sadness is the common mood evoked by most stories in this collection, and the common motifs are loss, grief, and death. The first micro-story, In a Tub, deals with fear of death and celebration of life and sets the tone for the entire collection of 15 stories. Some of my favorite miniatures are: In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried in which the narrator describes how she did not help her friend who was dying - she left her alone for the final hours. The poignant Going ends with a beautiful, bittersweet passage:
The final miniature, Today Will Be a Quiet Day, is the sweetest. It also justifies the title of the collection. With all this death, loss, grief, and sadness, are there any reasons to live? Yes! One of the most important reasons is being able to make one's children happy and feel loved:
Reasons to Live (1985) is the third collection of short stories by Amy Hempel that I have read, after At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom and Tumble Home. One of the reasons that I keep returning to her collections of short stories might be a coincidental similarity in our biographies. Not only was I born in the same year as Ms. Hempel, but also both of us relocated to California from a city where many people speak Polish (Chicago for her, Warsaw for me).
The term "short stories" is not really adequate, particularly when referring to stories from this collection. One should call the genre mastered by Ms. Hempel "very short stories." These literary miniatures, snapshots of life, are just a few pages long - their length ranges from one to 15 pages.
To me, the best thing about the majority of Ms. Hempel's miniatures is that the reader has to do a little work to interpret them, to understand their meaning, and to see the "message" they convey. More importantly, different readers may find different messages in individual stories. And that's how it should be - after all, this is literature, not just storytelling!
Sadness is the common mood evoked by most stories in this collection, and the common motifs are loss, grief, and death. The first micro-story, In a Tub, deals with fear of death and celebration of life and sets the tone for the entire collection of 15 stories. Some of my favorite miniatures are: In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried in which the narrator describes how she did not help her friend who was dying - she left her alone for the final hours. The poignant Going ends with a beautiful, bittersweet passage:
"[...] it makes me think of the night my mother died. Three states away, the smell in my room was the smell of the powder on her face when she kissed me good-night - the night she wasn't there."In moving When It's Human Instead of When It's Dog, a cleaning woman is trying to remove a spot on the rug - that stain is all that is physically left of a once living, loving, and loved human being.
The final miniature, Today Will Be a Quiet Day, is the sweetest. It also justifies the title of the collection. With all this death, loss, grief, and sadness, are there any reasons to live? Yes! One of the most important reasons is being able to make one's children happy and feel loved:
"My kids are as right as this rain. He smiled at the exact spots he knew their heads were turned to his, and doubted he would ever feel -- not better but more than he did now.Three-and-a-half stars.
February 28, 2021
Una compilación de cuentos cortos bajo el nombre Razones para vivir, es la primera vez que leo a la autora y me ha sorprendido muy favorablemente.
La mayoría son cuentos breves, pero con impacto, sobre mujeres, perros, niños, muchos ambientados en California.
Las palabras son contundentes, aunque al principio sentía como si faltaran pedazos en la narración, conforme avanzaba empecé a entender la lógica de la autora, los cuentos no se enfocan tanto en las descripciones o en los diálogos, más bien en las sensaciones y en los pensamientos, es un símil de cómo funcionaría en la realidad un recuerdo o un anécdota trascendente.
Es sorprendente que en pocas líneas puedas sumergirte en la historia, aunque muchas veces te deja con ganas de saber más, ninguno deja indiferente, pues las emociones parecen fluir, la mayoría son agridulces, uno que otro atisbo de esperanza, pero no demasiada.
Seguiré leyendo otra compilación, pues me han gustado para leer en fin de semana, con tranquilidad para pensar un poquito acerca de los personajes, y tratar de discernir la parte de realidad, de la parte de fantasía.
La mayoría son cuentos breves, pero con impacto, sobre mujeres, perros, niños, muchos ambientados en California.
Las palabras son contundentes, aunque al principio sentía como si faltaran pedazos en la narración, conforme avanzaba empecé a entender la lógica de la autora, los cuentos no se enfocan tanto en las descripciones o en los diálogos, más bien en las sensaciones y en los pensamientos, es un símil de cómo funcionaría en la realidad un recuerdo o un anécdota trascendente.
Es sorprendente que en pocas líneas puedas sumergirte en la historia, aunque muchas veces te deja con ganas de saber más, ninguno deja indiferente, pues las emociones parecen fluir, la mayoría son agridulces, uno que otro atisbo de esperanza, pero no demasiada.
Seguiré leyendo otra compilación, pues me han gustado para leer en fin de semana, con tranquilidad para pensar un poquito acerca de los personajes, y tratar de discernir la parte de realidad, de la parte de fantasía.
January 27, 2024
Some brilliant stories, and some that suffered from Hempel's clipped style. Hempel's one fault is that her stories come across formulaic and overly constructed. The thoughts and sentences are beautiful, but it never feels like a real world in the way of, say, Carver. Instead it feels like I'm reading the fiction of a very clever 30-year old. I guess my point is that the stories FEEL like stories, all written by the same woman. In fact, a few of the most acclaimed stories in the collection---San Francisco---came across as nothing more than a scene. I get her technical point. You're supposed to glean a greater series of events from a few little details, and it is a neat technique employed by others like Carver or Robison, but some of these stories come across as a little too obvious. It's as if Hempel's entire purpose is to plant these tiny facts, so that the reader goes, Wow, this character ha issue with her sister. For instance, in San Fran, a story about an earthquake, the details of the catastrophe are spliced with little hints that the sisters were fighting for their dying father's possessions. As a writerly technique, this approach is brilliant (if not overdone in the last 25 years); however, the stories do not bloom at all, and feel as if their entire purpose is to allow the writer a space to tease out the borderline details of a traditional narrative. The problem is that most of the time the stories came across as thinly-veiled attempts to create a mystery that wasn't there. The true beauty of minimalism is through the interplay of withheld information and a traditional plot (see Hannah, Carver, etc..), but here Hempel usually provides only the peripheral details. The stories were beautiful in places,
Another detracting aspect is Hempel's literary voice. It seems as if each story is being told by the same woman (even the stories about men), in the same voice and style. The effect is one 'sameness' between all the stories that sort of exacerbates the technical minimalism I mentioned earlier. Remember that this was her first collection, and her later works seem to be fleshed out just a little more, which gives the impression of seeing only part of someone's life (a voyeuristic thrill), whereas here, it feels more like a writer trying to be coy/quirky.
Another detracting aspect is Hempel's literary voice. It seems as if each story is being told by the same woman (even the stories about men), in the same voice and style. The effect is one 'sameness' between all the stories that sort of exacerbates the technical minimalism I mentioned earlier. Remember that this was her first collection, and her later works seem to be fleshed out just a little more, which gives the impression of seeing only part of someone's life (a voyeuristic thrill), whereas here, it feels more like a writer trying to be coy/quirky.
July 13, 2007
The pieces in this collection are often so short that they veer towards gestural sketches. Rarely do we know things about Hempel's characters such as name, age, and sometimes even gender beyond a reasonable guess. However, the writing is so taut that these stories hum with energy and often build to a blow-like ending, painful and revelatory. While a few lines of dialogue come across as preciously precocious, these stories dazzle with their humor as well. Particular favorites were "In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried" and "Pool Night."
October 22, 2013
Funny and some detailed impressions on seemingly rudimentary daily items, but something was missing for me. I never got any moral from any story, except the one about the gal visiting the other gal in hospital, that one I really liked, and the monkey stories were grand! All together though I cant believe this is on the 1001 books to read before you die, but I am an insensitive guy so there is always that reason for missing the main point.
July 5, 2013
The stories are brief and the language clear, so you would think this would be a quick read. But you'll want to make it last a week, so you can learn to breathe like this. There is some well of generousity here; all the characters feel forgiven. Not Gratuitously! Some stories were like poems -- playing off one key metaphor. Others reminded me of improv, and how you might start a scene with one "what if" and build it by believing it, and then keep it going by believing it elaborately.
August 3, 2021
I don't understand the hype about this book.
The storytelling is a bit confusing and out of structure and after every story I feel that I've been robbed of the time that I invested in the story while hoping that something interesting would come out.
I think the "deeper meaning" can be summed up pretty well in a sentence: "A lot of characters trying to have an effect on life by doing the small things but not really succeeding in a world where earthquakes can make a much larger effect in a much shorter time", but IMO the stories are just dull and boring. They feel like introductions for real stories. But just when they should continue to build up the storyline, they end and leave me with no impression. The stories mostly focus so much on irrelevant things which try to draw your attention to, but it turns to bad storytelling in the end. And I don't get at all the flash fiction, it's just lazy writing. What's the point of a "short story" that is few sentences long ?
The book feels like a collection of scattered thoughts and news articles that try to make some impact to the reader, but end up emotionless.
The storytelling is a bit confusing and out of structure and after every story I feel that I've been robbed of the time that I invested in the story while hoping that something interesting would come out.
I think the "deeper meaning" can be summed up pretty well in a sentence: "A lot of characters trying to have an effect on life by doing the small things but not really succeeding in a world where earthquakes can make a much larger effect in a much shorter time", but IMO the stories are just dull and boring. They feel like introductions for real stories. But just when they should continue to build up the storyline, they end and leave me with no impression. The stories mostly focus so much on irrelevant things which try to draw your attention to, but it turns to bad storytelling in the end. And I don't get at all the flash fiction, it's just lazy writing. What's the point of a "short story" that is few sentences long ?
The book feels like a collection of scattered thoughts and news articles that try to make some impact to the reader, but end up emotionless.
December 21, 2020
I have to agree with a friend: if we're talking about minimalist short story writers, Amy Hempel is better than Raymond Carver. Both write quiet, elliptical stories, but I found in Hempel what I didn't in Carver: humor and softness.
I don't remember any joke Carver has cracked. He's too repressed. His stories feel like concrete, and maybe that's the reason why they really hit hard. (To be clear I still admire Carver for his ability to hit me that bluntly. To me he's still one of the best writers out there.)
But Hempel allows her stories to breathe. Maybe I am now at an age when I relate more to fragility and the admission of it. There's still some degree of concreteness in her stories, but she shows you the cracks. Hempel's stories, unlike Carver's, hit you softly. You won't feel it at first, but just wait and you'll see your own gradual cracking.
I don't remember any joke Carver has cracked. He's too repressed. His stories feel like concrete, and maybe that's the reason why they really hit hard. (To be clear I still admire Carver for his ability to hit me that bluntly. To me he's still one of the best writers out there.)
But Hempel allows her stories to breathe. Maybe I am now at an age when I relate more to fragility and the admission of it. There's still some degree of concreteness in her stories, but she shows you the cracks. Hempel's stories, unlike Carver's, hit you softly. You won't feel it at first, but just wait and you'll see your own gradual cracking.
December 31, 2018
How strange that a book titled Reasons to Live should make me so sad.
But maybe I just am?
You'd be tempted to breeze through because these short stories are often very short stories. You could do a quick front to cover read in an hour or two and put it back on the shelf with no second glance. I wouldn't suggest it though because you're going to miss everything nestled underneath that deceptive simplicity.
I'm not in worshiping freaking out over Hempel mode yet, but I've got my feet in the water.
But maybe I just am?
You'd be tempted to breeze through because these short stories are often very short stories. You could do a quick front to cover read in an hour or two and put it back on the shelf with no second glance. I wouldn't suggest it though because you're going to miss everything nestled underneath that deceptive simplicity.
I'm not in worshiping freaking out over Hempel mode yet, but I've got my feet in the water.
May 3, 2023
This was such a wonderful introduction to Amy Hempel's writing. The collection of short stories really had me feeling every range of emotion. At times, I waited for the rug to be pulled from beneath me as I would get closer to the end, other times the rug was already rolled up and tossed out and it was a different room I was standing in, the scenery something I wasn't expecting but just as thankful and happy for at being allowed inside. I know I will without a doubt be revisiting so many of these stories from here on out.
October 26, 2019
Overall these stories were just a little bit oblique for me. I wanted things shaded in a bit more, but she writes beautifully, and can effortlessly elicit a chuckle.
Highlight stories:
1. "Beg, Sl Tog, Inc, Cont, Rep"
2. "When It's Human Instead of When It's Dog"
3. "Nashville Gone to Ashes"
4. "In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried"
Highlight stories:
1. "Beg, Sl Tog, Inc, Cont, Rep"
2. "When It's Human Instead of When It's Dog"
3. "Nashville Gone to Ashes"
4. "In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried"
February 23, 2020
This is the author’s first book, and, In my opinion, its quality is a bit spotty. However, when it is good, it is very, very good—as in “Celia Is Back,” “Nashville Gone To Ashes,” and “San Francisco.” Her gift is in how much she communicates by what she leaves out. Truly unusual. So I will definitely read more books by her.
July 22, 2021
Extra-short stories, slices of the lives of ordinary Californians (which may sound like an oxymoron to the rest of us, but if there is such a thing, these characters are it). Some of the pieces seemed as slight as a conversation overheard on a bus, but others will stay with me.
April 5, 2019
Hempel’s short story collection is hilarious (albeit understated), tender, and...maybe not dark but...gray? I laughed out loud and cried. It may be short, but it’s an experience.
July 9, 2020
Perfect but not for me
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