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Property: Stories Between Two Novellas
A striking new collection of ten short stories and two novellas that explores the idea of property in every meaning of the word, from the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of the National Book Award finalist So Much for That and the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin.
Intermingling settings in America and Britain, Lionel Shriver’s first collection explores property in both senses of the real estate and stuff. These pieces illustrate how our possessions act as proxies for ourselves, and how tussles over ownership articulate the power dynamics of our relationships. In Lionel Shriver’s world, we may possess people and objects and places, but in turn they possess us.
In the stunning novella "The Standing Chandelier," a woman with a history of attracting other women’s antagonism creates a deeply personal wedding present for her best friend and his fiancée—only to discover that the jealous fiancée wants to cut her out of their lives. In "Domestic Terrorism," a thirty-something son refuses to leave home, resulting in a standoff that renders him a millennial cause célèbre. In "The ChapStick," a middle-aged man subjugated by service to his elderly father discovers that the last place you should finally assert yourself is airport security. In "Vermin," an artistic Brooklyn couple’s purchase of a ramshackle house destroys their once-passionate relationship. In "The Subletter," two women, both foreign conflict junkies, fight over a claim to a territory that doesn’t belong to either.
Exhibiting a satisfying thematic unity unusual for a collection, this masterful work showcases the biting insight that has made Shriver one of the most acclaimed writers of our time.
Intermingling settings in America and Britain, Lionel Shriver’s first collection explores property in both senses of the real estate and stuff. These pieces illustrate how our possessions act as proxies for ourselves, and how tussles over ownership articulate the power dynamics of our relationships. In Lionel Shriver’s world, we may possess people and objects and places, but in turn they possess us.
In the stunning novella "The Standing Chandelier," a woman with a history of attracting other women’s antagonism creates a deeply personal wedding present for her best friend and his fiancée—only to discover that the jealous fiancée wants to cut her out of their lives. In "Domestic Terrorism," a thirty-something son refuses to leave home, resulting in a standoff that renders him a millennial cause célèbre. In "The ChapStick," a middle-aged man subjugated by service to his elderly father discovers that the last place you should finally assert yourself is airport security. In "Vermin," an artistic Brooklyn couple’s purchase of a ramshackle house destroys their once-passionate relationship. In "The Subletter," two women, both foreign conflict junkies, fight over a claim to a territory that doesn’t belong to either.
Exhibiting a satisfying thematic unity unusual for a collection, this masterful work showcases the biting insight that has made Shriver one of the most acclaimed writers of our time.
337 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 24, 2018
About the author
Lionel Shriver
43 books4,150 followersLionel Shriver's novels include the New York Times bestseller The Post-Birthday World and the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin, which won the 2005 Orange Prize and has now sold over a million copies worldwide. Earlier books include Double Fault, A Perfectly Good Family, and Checker and the Derailleurs. Her novels have been translated into twenty-five languages. Her journalism has appeared in the Guardian, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. She lives in London and Brooklyn, New York.
Author photo copyright Jerry Bauer, courtesy of Harper Collins.
Author photo copyright Jerry Bauer, courtesy of Harper Collins.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 424 reviews
April 24, 2019
My god....I love Lionel Shriver. I should have my head examined for taking so long to return to the ‘queen-of -spectator’!!!
NOW THIS IS GOOD READING!!!
Lionel is so damn brilliant- intelligent beyond intelligent....She gets your blood pumping..
Her prose is irresistible - perceptive - unnerving - dark - and totally entertaining...not ha ha entertaining- ( but I did laugh plenty)....more RICHLY SATISFYING entertaining.
I looked up several exciting unfamiliar vocabulary words - and people I had never heard of....and giggled at the joy of doing so..
Here’s a word for ya: “vituperation”: a noun...means bitter or abusive language.
And here’s an interesting man I never knew until Shriver introduced him to me:
“Joseph Cornell”: He was an American artist and filmmaker, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage...(three dimensional elements...similar to collage. Cornell’s most characteristic artworks were boxed assemblages. Shadow boxes usually fronted with glass pane. He could create poetry from the common place. ( forgive me for going off on a tangent - but I was intrigued)
Before the first novella “ A Standing Chandelier” - ( two novellas and 10 short stories in all), the Epigraph asks us a question:
“What is the effect of property upon the character.”
“If you own things, what’s their effect on you? What’s the effect on me of my wood?
“In the first place, it makes me heavy.
“In the Second place, it makes me feel it ought to be larger”. E.M. Forester, “My Wood”.
PROPERTY OF CHARACTER - it’s THEME - is explored in every story.
In “The Standing Chandelier”, Jillian Frisk and Weston Babansky ( Baba) ... have been best friends for twenty years. Enter Paige. Paige and Weston become a romantic couple.
“Having known the woman’s boyfriend for 20 some years conferred an unfair advantage. Paige doubtless new, too, that Jillian and Baba had slept together, and that was awkward”.
Jillian states the obvious...”when people don’t like you, they don’t like you”.
“Jillian found the experience of being disliked bewildering. She would involuntarily
verify the very qualities that the faultfinder couldn’t bear. Vanity? Flakiness? Staginess?
“For intrinsic facet of being disliked was racking your brain for whatever it was that rubbed other people so radically the wrong way. They rarely told you to your face, so you were left with a burgeoning list of obnoxious characteristics that you could compile for them”.
“So Jillian would demote her garb from festive to garish or even vulgar, and suddenly see how her offbeat thrift shop ensembles, replete with velvet vests, broad belts, tiered skirts, and enough scarves to kill Isadora Duncan three times over, could seem to demonstrate attention - seeking behavior. A clear, forceful voice to the leery merely loud, and whenever she suppressed the volume the better to give no offense, she simply became inaudible, which was maddening, too. Besides, she didn’t seem capable of maintaining a mousy, head down demeanor for more than half an hour, during which the sensation was tantamount to a Chinese foot binding of this soul”.
Paige doesn’t want Julian to be in Weston’s life ‘whatsoever’- if Paige agrees to marry him. The dialogue is at times like observing a tennis match. ( ha... they do play tennis in this story). Who the hell is going to win the match?
There is a lot that Paige doesn’t like about Jillian that I did love.
“Jillian pursued purposelessness as a purpose in itself. It had taken her some years to understand that she’d had such trouble setting on a career because she didn’t want one. She was surrounded by go-getters, and they could have their goals, their trajectories, their aspirations—their feverish toiling toward some distant destination that was bound to disappoint in the unlikely instance they ever got there”.
“Jillian wasn’t so much out to convert anyone else, simply to stop apologizing”
Paige said that she wasn’t trying to convince Weston to despise Jillian - but the problem was getting worse.
Paige says:
“I couldn’t stand her when I met her, and I can’t stand her now that I’ve gotten to know her better. She acts as if her not doing anything professionally makes her so special, when most people don’t do anything. She absolutely has to be the central focus in any given group of people and whenever conversation strays from ‘her’ latest goofball project, or ‘her’ latest goofball outfit, she stops paying attention”.
As to who does win the tennis match.... literally and figuratively ....
Marriage or no marriage - friendship or not - will have your head spinning with thoughts. As to the ‘Chandelier’ itself.... it’s permanence- it’s presence in this story....
YOU JUST MUST READ THIS STORY!
I didn’t set out with a plan to write so much about this first Novella..... so I will shorten the rest of the review and say that I haven’t felt this jazz about a collection of stories - this much - since reading “The Wonder Garden” by Lauren Acompora.
All of these stories are vibrant... exploring the ways in which we connect with each other. Sometimes life is cruel. People can be mean and ruthless - possessive of their belongings as well as possessive of their emotions.
Using that new word I liked so much....here is how Shriver used it:
“These days people indiscriminately sprayed *vituperation* every which way as if launching a mass acid attack in a crowded public square. Sheer meanness had become a customary form of entertainment”.
I’ll end with saying .... this is by far the best collection of short stories I’ve read this year and I highly recommend it.
And if you’ve never read Lionel Shriver.... do yourself a favor and read anything by her.
NOW THIS IS GOOD READING!!!
Lionel is so damn brilliant- intelligent beyond intelligent....She gets your blood pumping..
Her prose is irresistible - perceptive - unnerving - dark - and totally entertaining...not ha ha entertaining- ( but I did laugh plenty)....more RICHLY SATISFYING entertaining.
I looked up several exciting unfamiliar vocabulary words - and people I had never heard of....and giggled at the joy of doing so..
Here’s a word for ya: “vituperation”: a noun...means bitter or abusive language.
And here’s an interesting man I never knew until Shriver introduced him to me:
“Joseph Cornell”: He was an American artist and filmmaker, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage...(three dimensional elements...similar to collage. Cornell’s most characteristic artworks were boxed assemblages. Shadow boxes usually fronted with glass pane. He could create poetry from the common place. ( forgive me for going off on a tangent - but I was intrigued)
Before the first novella “ A Standing Chandelier” - ( two novellas and 10 short stories in all), the Epigraph asks us a question:
“What is the effect of property upon the character.”
“If you own things, what’s their effect on you? What’s the effect on me of my wood?
“In the first place, it makes me heavy.
“In the Second place, it makes me feel it ought to be larger”. E.M. Forester, “My Wood”.
PROPERTY OF CHARACTER - it’s THEME - is explored in every story.
In “The Standing Chandelier”, Jillian Frisk and Weston Babansky ( Baba) ... have been best friends for twenty years. Enter Paige. Paige and Weston become a romantic couple.
“Having known the woman’s boyfriend for 20 some years conferred an unfair advantage. Paige doubtless new, too, that Jillian and Baba had slept together, and that was awkward”.
Jillian states the obvious...”when people don’t like you, they don’t like you”.
“Jillian found the experience of being disliked bewildering. She would involuntarily
verify the very qualities that the faultfinder couldn’t bear. Vanity? Flakiness? Staginess?
“For intrinsic facet of being disliked was racking your brain for whatever it was that rubbed other people so radically the wrong way. They rarely told you to your face, so you were left with a burgeoning list of obnoxious characteristics that you could compile for them”.
“So Jillian would demote her garb from festive to garish or even vulgar, and suddenly see how her offbeat thrift shop ensembles, replete with velvet vests, broad belts, tiered skirts, and enough scarves to kill Isadora Duncan three times over, could seem to demonstrate attention - seeking behavior. A clear, forceful voice to the leery merely loud, and whenever she suppressed the volume the better to give no offense, she simply became inaudible, which was maddening, too. Besides, she didn’t seem capable of maintaining a mousy, head down demeanor for more than half an hour, during which the sensation was tantamount to a Chinese foot binding of this soul”.
Paige doesn’t want Julian to be in Weston’s life ‘whatsoever’- if Paige agrees to marry him. The dialogue is at times like observing a tennis match. ( ha... they do play tennis in this story). Who the hell is going to win the match?
There is a lot that Paige doesn’t like about Jillian that I did love.
“Jillian pursued purposelessness as a purpose in itself. It had taken her some years to understand that she’d had such trouble setting on a career because she didn’t want one. She was surrounded by go-getters, and they could have their goals, their trajectories, their aspirations—their feverish toiling toward some distant destination that was bound to disappoint in the unlikely instance they ever got there”.
“Jillian wasn’t so much out to convert anyone else, simply to stop apologizing”
Paige said that she wasn’t trying to convince Weston to despise Jillian - but the problem was getting worse.
Paige says:
“I couldn’t stand her when I met her, and I can’t stand her now that I’ve gotten to know her better. She acts as if her not doing anything professionally makes her so special, when most people don’t do anything. She absolutely has to be the central focus in any given group of people and whenever conversation strays from ‘her’ latest goofball project, or ‘her’ latest goofball outfit, she stops paying attention”.
As to who does win the tennis match.... literally and figuratively ....
Marriage or no marriage - friendship or not - will have your head spinning with thoughts. As to the ‘Chandelier’ itself.... it’s permanence- it’s presence in this story....
YOU JUST MUST READ THIS STORY!
I didn’t set out with a plan to write so much about this first Novella..... so I will shorten the rest of the review and say that I haven’t felt this jazz about a collection of stories - this much - since reading “The Wonder Garden” by Lauren Acompora.
All of these stories are vibrant... exploring the ways in which we connect with each other. Sometimes life is cruel. People can be mean and ruthless - possessive of their belongings as well as possessive of their emotions.
Using that new word I liked so much....here is how Shriver used it:
“These days people indiscriminately sprayed *vituperation* every which way as if launching a mass acid attack in a crowded public square. Sheer meanness had become a customary form of entertainment”.
I’ll end with saying .... this is by far the best collection of short stories I’ve read this year and I highly recommend it.
And if you’ve never read Lionel Shriver.... do yourself a favor and read anything by her.
May 10, 2018
Be careful what you wish for -
I'm not a great fan of the short story format – so often they fail to live up to my expectations and peter out without a satisfactory conclusion. But Lionel Shriver’s stories are in a different class. These cautionary tales of the pitfalls of property-owning fulfil their promise and deliver the goods in Shriver’s caustic satirical style.
Excerpt:
For all its postclass pretensions, modern Britain was just as feudally cleaved into serfs and landowning gentry as it had been in the Middle Ages, and entering his own middle age Elliot was still a serf. Gleaming brass escutcheons seemed to be locking Elliot Ivy personally out, while gloating facades on either side of the road rose implacably against this poor asshole Americanwho hadn't the brains to have swung onto the much-vaunted “housing ladder” when he'd had the chance. Now the end of that ladder was dangling a hundred feet in the air, and all the slaphappy homeowners carousing on the bottom rung were pointing down at him and cackling.
I'm not a great fan of the short story format – so often they fail to live up to my expectations and peter out without a satisfactory conclusion. But Lionel Shriver’s stories are in a different class. These cautionary tales of the pitfalls of property-owning fulfil their promise and deliver the goods in Shriver’s caustic satirical style.
Excerpt:
For all its postclass pretensions, modern Britain was just as feudally cleaved into serfs and landowning gentry as it had been in the Middle Ages, and entering his own middle age Elliot was still a serf. Gleaming brass escutcheons seemed to be locking Elliot Ivy personally out, while gloating facades on either side of the road rose implacably against this poor asshole Americanwho hadn't the brains to have swung onto the much-vaunted “housing ladder” when he'd had the chance. Now the end of that ladder was dangling a hundred feet in the air, and all the slaphappy homeowners carousing on the bottom rung were pointing down at him and cackling.
February 21, 2019
You remember that kid back in your high school who was already troublingly, enviably sophisticated, had backpacked through Europe,
Worse boundary issues than the Doubtful Guest's
always drank Melitta hand-filtered coffee, and was bulldog-fierce about politics? That's Lionel Shriver, and that's also who her short-story protagonists are, at varying ages and maturity levels. These are men and women who swim too far out in an African river, work for a pittance for an Irish newspaper, renovate a gorgeous London townhouse, and create weirdly beautiful artworks glowing with Christmas lights. They use phrases like "trust-fund layabout" confidently.
This is a lovably prickly book. The warmer, (sort of) comforting stories are up front in this sparkling collection, while the farther back you go, the more unsettling the tales become. (The final novella, wry and knowing, is the exception to the pattern.) Dead center in the collection is Shriver's remarkable New Yorker-published story "Kilifi Creek," an ideal introduction to the writer's work.
Nominally, Shriver's specialty is the comedy of manners. But that label doesn't do justice to Shriver's authoritative and lively portraits of well-heeled thirty- to fifty-somethings engaged in generational, class, and romantic skirmishes. Can a man stay best friends with one woman while marrying another? Can wannabe empty-nesters manage to evict their thirty-two-year-old son? The recurring subject of several stories is the relative, guest, or ghost who just. won't. leave.
Not quite.
In each, the resolution is unpredictable but satisfying (if sometimes disturbing). Shh! Don't talk about it too loudly. It's a book for grown-ups.
Worse boundary issues than the Doubtful Guest's
always drank Melitta hand-filtered coffee, and was bulldog-fierce about politics? That's Lionel Shriver, and that's also who her short-story protagonists are, at varying ages and maturity levels. These are men and women who swim too far out in an African river, work for a pittance for an Irish newspaper, renovate a gorgeous London townhouse, and create weirdly beautiful artworks glowing with Christmas lights. They use phrases like "trust-fund layabout" confidently.
This is a lovably prickly book. The warmer, (sort of) comforting stories are up front in this sparkling collection, while the farther back you go, the more unsettling the tales become. (The final novella, wry and knowing, is the exception to the pattern.) Dead center in the collection is Shriver's remarkable New Yorker-published story "Kilifi Creek," an ideal introduction to the writer's work.
Nominally, Shriver's specialty is the comedy of manners. But that label doesn't do justice to Shriver's authoritative and lively portraits of well-heeled thirty- to fifty-somethings engaged in generational, class, and romantic skirmishes. Can a man stay best friends with one woman while marrying another? Can wannabe empty-nesters manage to evict their thirty-two-year-old son? The recurring subject of several stories is the relative, guest, or ghost who just. won't. leave.
Not quite.
In each, the resolution is unpredictable but satisfying (if sometimes disturbing). Shh! Don't talk about it too loudly. It's a book for grown-ups.
February 12, 2021
Quien haya leído la conocida novela de Lionel Shriver Tenemos que hablar de Kevin tiene idea de lo mordaz y ridículamente sangrante que puede llegar a ser la escritora norteamericana cuando se lo propone. En su nueva colección de relatos, Shriver (Carolina del Norte, 1957) articula una serie de sobresalientes piezas narrativas que giran en torno al concepto de propiedad, bien inmobiliaria o bien sentimental, y deja claro que no ha perdido ni un ápice de su particular derechazo.
Sigue leyendo: http://generacionreader.blogspot.com/...
Sigue leyendo: http://generacionreader.blogspot.com/...
December 29, 2017
Having heard great things about Lionel Shrivers writing, and already owning several of her titles -though as yet unread - I couldn't resist requesting this review copy. Described as a book of short stories I figured it would be a great opportunity to sample her style. It was! After one story I already felt convinced she was going to find her way onto my list of favourite authors.
Sometimes short stories can be a hit and miss affair for me but in this case the hits were definitely in the majority. There was plenty of variety in the tone and type of stories, ranging from comical, sentimental, cynical and thought provoking. Too many to describe in detail but I'll provide some thoughts on three of my favourites.
The first story 'A Standing Chandelier: A Novella' was a fascinating and moving look at human nature. An enduring friendship between a man and a woman, 25 years in the making. A friendship seemingly treasured by both parties but one which was never the less sacrificed in the name of love. As an outsider looking in I could understand, if not necessarily respect, each of the characters stand points and to some degree the responses to the situation they found themselves in. For such a short story I was heavily invested in the plight of these friends.
Another which captured my attention was Domestic Terrorism. This showcased Shrivers wittiness and cynicism. A couple in their 50's with a 32 year old son who had never had a job or moved out of home, nor did he have any intention of doing so. There was no flying the coop for this son, even being pushed out of the nest backfired on mum and dad who eventually capitulated. Finally, The ChapStick contained some great obvservations on family relationships, on aging and some cynical commentary about the airport anti-terror check in process and the people who enforce the rules. One of my favourite paragraphs, one which resonated with some personal experiences with the elderly, was found in this story. "...Before he'd any first hand experience of the parental fade to black Peter would have imagined a softening, a rounding of the edges, on the part of both parent and erstwhile child - as if both parties were scoops of icecream placed for a benedictory moment in the sun, and all the rumples, ridges and rills smoothed to leave uniform balls of benevolence. To the contrary, the aged seemed to seize even more stiffly into who and what they had always been - their rumples got bumpier, their ridges peaked, the rills ran deeper so that if you could compare them to icecream, it was more to the sort so hard that you couldn't ram a spoon into the carton"
Many thanks to Lionel Shriver, HarperCollins publishers and Edelweiss for the review copy in exchange for an honest review which it was my pleasure to provide.
Sometimes short stories can be a hit and miss affair for me but in this case the hits were definitely in the majority. There was plenty of variety in the tone and type of stories, ranging from comical, sentimental, cynical and thought provoking. Too many to describe in detail but I'll provide some thoughts on three of my favourites.
The first story 'A Standing Chandelier: A Novella' was a fascinating and moving look at human nature. An enduring friendship between a man and a woman, 25 years in the making. A friendship seemingly treasured by both parties but one which was never the less sacrificed in the name of love. As an outsider looking in I could understand, if not necessarily respect, each of the characters stand points and to some degree the responses to the situation they found themselves in. For such a short story I was heavily invested in the plight of these friends.
Another which captured my attention was Domestic Terrorism. This showcased Shrivers wittiness and cynicism. A couple in their 50's with a 32 year old son who had never had a job or moved out of home, nor did he have any intention of doing so. There was no flying the coop for this son, even being pushed out of the nest backfired on mum and dad who eventually capitulated. Finally, The ChapStick contained some great obvservations on family relationships, on aging and some cynical commentary about the airport anti-terror check in process and the people who enforce the rules. One of my favourite paragraphs, one which resonated with some personal experiences with the elderly, was found in this story. "...Before he'd any first hand experience of the parental fade to black Peter would have imagined a softening, a rounding of the edges, on the part of both parent and erstwhile child - as if both parties were scoops of icecream placed for a benedictory moment in the sun, and all the rumples, ridges and rills smoothed to leave uniform balls of benevolence. To the contrary, the aged seemed to seize even more stiffly into who and what they had always been - their rumples got bumpier, their ridges peaked, the rills ran deeper so that if you could compare them to icecream, it was more to the sort so hard that you couldn't ram a spoon into the carton"
Many thanks to Lionel Shriver, HarperCollins publishers and Edelweiss for the review copy in exchange for an honest review which it was my pleasure to provide.
February 26, 2018
Two novellas and ten short stories from Shriver, all of which, in some way, are concerned with property or possessions, often transferred to or from people or contested between them. As ever, Shriver's tone is cool, sardonic, watchful and merciless in its exposure.
The darkly humorous novella 'The Standing Chandelier' subverts the idea of the love triangle while also giving us an artifact in the 'chandelier' itself which is hilarious, grotesque and yet uniquely personal. 'Repossession' similarly reconstructs the haunted house story.
There are times where our contemporary world breaks through: the role of airport security in 'The Chapstick', for example; and we see the economical accounting of a father and son's relationship in 'Exchange Rates'.
Set mostly in either London or the US, these stories cleverly explore the dynamics of power through things.
The darkly humorous novella 'The Standing Chandelier' subverts the idea of the love triangle while also giving us an artifact in the 'chandelier' itself which is hilarious, grotesque and yet uniquely personal. 'Repossession' similarly reconstructs the haunted house story.
There are times where our contemporary world breaks through: the role of airport security in 'The Chapstick', for example; and we see the economical accounting of a father and son's relationship in 'Exchange Rates'.
Set mostly in either London or the US, these stories cleverly explore the dynamics of power through things.
May 21, 2018
I love Lionel.
Two novellas sandwiching a collection of short stories. The Standing Chandelier has already been published as a stand-alone novella (reviewed on the product page). But for me it’s Shriver’s first short story, The Self-Seeding Sycamore, that wins the day and alone is worth the price of admission. As a rule, I’m not a lover of the short story format but these thirteen pages about a recently widowed fifty-something who has no choice but to take over her late husband’s onerous gardening duties gave me more undiluted pleasure than anything I’ve read in a long time. (As the recent new owner of an unkempt wilderness, my empathy level was at an all-time high!)
If I had to find a quibble it would only be that in her Brit-set stories one encounters US spelling; adjusting the spelling to the setting would have been a thoughtful editorial touch. There’s also the odd Americanism: I have never heard the word ‘stroller’ used here for a pushchair (maybe buggy at a pinch) and using ‘figured’ for ‘thought’ as in “Figured you might not recognize me after all these years” is surely questionable. (Have long have you lived here Lionel?) But no matter, I can forgive her anything because I love her.
This collection presents a fantastic mix of characters and storylines, each making a telling point and linked not only by the theme of ‘property’ but also by an element of “be careful what you wish for”. Shriver’s prose is ‘proper grown up’ and it’s worth slowing down one’s reading pace to savour her sentences. Now, who said I didn’t like short stories?
Two novellas sandwiching a collection of short stories. The Standing Chandelier has already been published as a stand-alone novella (reviewed on the product page). But for me it’s Shriver’s first short story, The Self-Seeding Sycamore, that wins the day and alone is worth the price of admission. As a rule, I’m not a lover of the short story format but these thirteen pages about a recently widowed fifty-something who has no choice but to take over her late husband’s onerous gardening duties gave me more undiluted pleasure than anything I’ve read in a long time. (As the recent new owner of an unkempt wilderness, my empathy level was at an all-time high!)
If I had to find a quibble it would only be that in her Brit-set stories one encounters US spelling; adjusting the spelling to the setting would have been a thoughtful editorial touch. There’s also the odd Americanism: I have never heard the word ‘stroller’ used here for a pushchair (maybe buggy at a pinch) and using ‘figured’ for ‘thought’ as in “Figured you might not recognize me after all these years” is surely questionable. (Have long have you lived here Lionel?) But no matter, I can forgive her anything because I love her.
This collection presents a fantastic mix of characters and storylines, each making a telling point and linked not only by the theme of ‘property’ but also by an element of “be careful what you wish for”. Shriver’s prose is ‘proper grown up’ and it’s worth slowing down one’s reading pace to savour her sentences. Now, who said I didn’t like short stories?
October 13, 2019
I've had this collection in my TBR pile for a while and am so glad I decided finally to read it. All are stories about the relationships people have with property. The property they own or don't, want or don't, inherit or bequeath, buy or sell, the list goes on. I found myself taking sides and also seeing opposing points of view with plenty of eye-rolling and laughter along the way.
The opening novella, The Standing Chandelier was very engrossing and the perfect lead in to the collection. While I didn't love every story, my favourites, in no particular order, were the following:
Domestic Terrorism
The Royal Male
Exchange Rates
Repossession
The Chapstick
Negative Equity
The closing novella wasn't my favourite but overall this was a great collection of short stories and as it elicited quite strong feelings in me about property, ownership and fairness, I have to give this a very strong recommend.
The opening novella, The Standing Chandelier was very engrossing and the perfect lead in to the collection. While I didn't love every story, my favourites, in no particular order, were the following:
Domestic Terrorism
The Royal Male
Exchange Rates
Repossession
The Chapstick
Negative Equity
The closing novella wasn't my favourite but overall this was a great collection of short stories and as it elicited quite strong feelings in me about property, ownership and fairness, I have to give this a very strong recommend.
January 30, 2021
4+
This was my first Lionel Shriver book and wow, was it a good one. Loved almost all of the stories here (except one, which I thought could've been left out, but this is a very minor quibble) - all, somehow, related to the theme of property. This sounds like a kind of odd theme to bind a short story collection together, and I was sceptical to begin with. But there are so many memorable stories to enjoy here, set in the UK, U.S. and Kenya. I don't know about other countries but most people in the UK are obsessed with property. Owning it, maintaining it, renovating it... I have to admit to regularly browsing Right Move and Zoopla looking at houses I'll never be able to afford. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that after I started reading I realised there is a lot of potential for stories on this topic, and the many aspects of it.
I still have the book beside me (this never happens!) so I'll pick out a few that have stuck with me:
The Standing Chandelier - one of the two novellas (~80 pages), and actually available to buy separately from the collection, this story is about three incredibly unlikeable characters - a couple, and the woman who threatens to break them up due to her 25 year friendship with the man in the couple. This made me feel quite uncomfortable but it was great.
Domestic Terrorism - an older married couple's son is in his early 30s, unemployed and lives at home. His only interest in life is manholes, and his mother feels increasingly suffocated by his continued presence in the family home. Another uncomfortable read, I found myself racing through the story in order to find out how it was finally resolved.
Kilifi Creek - a young woman travels to Kenya and ends up staying with a couple in the middle of nowhere. Won't say much more about this one so as not to spoil it, but I liked how this ended.
Vermin - a young couple buy a house which seems too good to be true, and, well.. you can probably guess from the title what happens. But what was best about this one was how the vermin affect the couple in different ways.
A very strong collection of short stories - I think this has tied with You Think It, I'll Say It as my favourite short story collection of the year so far. I can't wait to read more of Shriver's writing.
This was my first Lionel Shriver book and wow, was it a good one. Loved almost all of the stories here (except one, which I thought could've been left out, but this is a very minor quibble) - all, somehow, related to the theme of property. This sounds like a kind of odd theme to bind a short story collection together, and I was sceptical to begin with. But there are so many memorable stories to enjoy here, set in the UK, U.S. and Kenya. I don't know about other countries but most people in the UK are obsessed with property. Owning it, maintaining it, renovating it... I have to admit to regularly browsing Right Move and Zoopla looking at houses I'll never be able to afford. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that after I started reading I realised there is a lot of potential for stories on this topic, and the many aspects of it.
I still have the book beside me (this never happens!) so I'll pick out a few that have stuck with me:
The Standing Chandelier - one of the two novellas (~80 pages), and actually available to buy separately from the collection, this story is about three incredibly unlikeable characters - a couple, and the woman who threatens to break them up due to her 25 year friendship with the man in the couple. This made me feel quite uncomfortable but it was great.
Domestic Terrorism - an older married couple's son is in his early 30s, unemployed and lives at home. His only interest in life is manholes, and his mother feels increasingly suffocated by his continued presence in the family home. Another uncomfortable read, I found myself racing through the story in order to find out how it was finally resolved.
Kilifi Creek - a young woman travels to Kenya and ends up staying with a couple in the middle of nowhere. Won't say much more about this one so as not to spoil it, but I liked how this ended.
Vermin - a young couple buy a house which seems too good to be true, and, well.. you can probably guess from the title what happens. But what was best about this one was how the vermin affect the couple in different ways.
A very strong collection of short stories - I think this has tied with You Think It, I'll Say It as my favourite short story collection of the year so far. I can't wait to read more of Shriver's writing.
November 15, 2022
Her most accessible yet I think :)
I read in an interview that she prefers novels—so, maybe the idea that short stories/ novellas can do less led to less serious subject matter than her usual fare.
Her characters as always are excellent, and even with somewhat familiar premises at times, more than any book I've read in a long while, I really wanted to know how each story ended, because it's access to how Shriver sees the world.
Her sentences are torturous af sometimes though! Still with the crazy speech tags for one: "he introduced"? The eff is that? We've moved on a bit since Edith Wharton and Henry James...
Recommended in spite of that. And TO spite The Guardian for this dumbass review:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...
Scolding her for not holding their political beliefs (but not too much because she writes for The Guardian sometimes!) And barely a scold at that, because she so much as suggested ambiguity towards issues of immigration. She asked the reader to question something that dare not be questioned!! In a work of FICTION you say?!
Such a double bind of crappery they'd have been better saying nothing.
I read in an interview that she prefers novels—so, maybe the idea that short stories/ novellas can do less led to less serious subject matter than her usual fare.
Her characters as always are excellent, and even with somewhat familiar premises at times, more than any book I've read in a long while, I really wanted to know how each story ended, because it's access to how Shriver sees the world.
Her sentences are torturous af sometimes though! Still with the crazy speech tags for one: "he introduced"? The eff is that? We've moved on a bit since Edith Wharton and Henry James...
Recommended in spite of that. And TO spite The Guardian for this dumbass review:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...
Scolding her for not holding their political beliefs (but not too much because she writes for The Guardian sometimes!) And barely a scold at that, because she so much as suggested ambiguity towards issues of immigration. She asked the reader to question something that dare not be questioned!! In a work of FICTION you say?!
Such a double bind of crappery they'd have been better saying nothing.
July 29, 2018
I guess like a lot of short story collections this was uneven in quality. Some of it was great but some of it was really boring to me. I read this via audiobook too which probably prevented me from enjoying some of the stories more as Lionel Shriver herself narrates the book and she is AWFUL at accents. Truly dreadful. A lot of the stories take place in America so that's fine but some of them take place in the UK or other places and I could barely tell what she was saying. It was bizarre. In my 23 years of living in England I've never heard anyone talk the way Shriver seems to think English people talk.
Anyway! Here's my ratings for the individual stories:
The standing chandelier- 4.5 (brilliant novella. Some of the characters really made me angry and that's what good writing and character building is all about- right?!)
The self seeding sychamore- 2 (set in London. The first time Shriver's bizarre accents ocurred in this collection, though I don't think I would have cared for the story either way)
Domestic terrorism- 3.5
The royal male- 3.5
Exchange rates- 4.5 (This one was really good, it's a really interesting story about money and families)
Kilifi creek- 2
Reposession-3
The chapstick-3
Negative equity-3
Vermin-3
Paradise to perdition-3.5
The subletter- 1 (I couldn't even finish this one. Maybe I was just over the collection at this point, and this is a 3 hour via audiobook novella, I got about an hour in but I just don't care and the bad Irish accents are too much as well)
I think I would maybe read The Standing Chandelier and Exchage Rates again, and I'm excited to read more Shriver, but a lot of this wasn't great in my opinion
Anyway! Here's my ratings for the individual stories:
The standing chandelier- 4.5 (brilliant novella. Some of the characters really made me angry and that's what good writing and character building is all about- right?!)
The self seeding sychamore- 2 (set in London. The first time Shriver's bizarre accents ocurred in this collection, though I don't think I would have cared for the story either way)
Domestic terrorism- 3.5
The royal male- 3.5
Exchange rates- 4.5 (This one was really good, it's a really interesting story about money and families)
Kilifi creek- 2
Reposession-3
The chapstick-3
Negative equity-3
Vermin-3
Paradise to perdition-3.5
The subletter- 1 (I couldn't even finish this one. Maybe I was just over the collection at this point, and this is a 3 hour via audiobook novella, I got about an hour in but I just don't care and the bad Irish accents are too much as well)
I think I would maybe read The Standing Chandelier and Exchage Rates again, and I'm excited to read more Shriver, but a lot of this wasn't great in my opinion
May 4, 2020
Brilliant! Great entertainment, serious food for thought and a vocabulary so rich you could get indigestion from devouring if it were the edible!
July 12, 2018
Lionel Shriver courts controversy. Her ill-received keynote address at the 2016 Brisbane writers festival saw at least as much written about her opinions as about her fiction. Hot on the heels of the launch of her latest book, Property, she is making waves and headlines again. In a recent article in The Spectator she castigates publishers espousing diversity, saying they are “drunk on virtue.”
Interestingly, Shriver won, and accepted, the 2005 Orange Prize for her chilling novel We Need to Talk about Kevin, a prize that specifically exists to promote diversity, by championing books written by women. She was also a member of the panel set to judge the 2018 Mslexia Short Story Competition, another prize focused on writing by women, but, as a direct result of the views she expressed in The Spectator, she was removed as a judge from that panel.
In these information-rich days it is increasingly difficult to separate art from the artist, the writer from the writing. Indeed it’s worth questioning whether we should. But anyone expecting the stories in Shriver’s latest book to be an assembly of frothing-at-the-mouth alt-right screed would be mistaken - though there are a few transgressions that may raise hackles and moral outrage.
Domestic Terrorism is the story perhaps most likely to draw flack. The black characters in the story, practically the only ones in the book, are portrayed as unsympathetic and entitled. Allegedly, Shriver refused when an editor at The New Yorker requested that this element be changed in the story. The New Yorker in turn refused to publish the story. That’s not to say Shriver’s white characters are portrayed any more sympathetically, they’re not. They are a complex, flawed, and generally unlikeable bunch, which of course is exactly what makes them so interesting.
But reading the stories in Property, it would be hard for even Shriver’s shrillest critics (their numbers are legion) to deny that she is a fine writer, with an uncanny ability to bring the reader into her characters’ heads.
Property is Shriver’s first collection of short stories. Most of the stories have been previously published elsewhere. Ten short stories are bookended by two novellas (bookends being imbued with a curious flexibility that also allows them to appear at a book’s start).
The opening novella, The Standing Chandelier, is magnificent. The story of a complicated love-hate triangle, it is sublime in its exploration of friendship and marriage, and what it means to be possessive and possess.
As the title suggests, possession (as well as being nine-tenths of the law) is the recurring theme throughout these stories. The house in Repossession is possessed by a malevolent spirit - the only story that veers towards fantasy, though arguably the story of the wealthy embezzler in Paradise to Perdition turning his back on a life of unfettered luxury on an island in the Indian Ocean stretches credibility as well.
The ChapStick is an indictment of airport security measures. It’s hard not to picture the writer fuming in an airport departure lounge, hammering at her laptop keyboard in fury as she wrote this story.
Kilifi Creek is largely set in a Kenya where Kenyans themselves are near invisible, unless occasional references to carjackers and rapists are meant to suffice.
Other than these, most of the stories are set in America or England, the countries where the author spends most of her time.
The closing novella, The Subletter is set in Belfast in the nineteen-nineties. It explores a society riven by sectarian divisions through the analogous microcosm of two American women reluctantly finding themselves sharing a cramped living space.
Arguably it would be difficult for anyone to write objectively about Northern Ireland and its internecine conflicts, but Shriver tackles the task with both insight and insensitivity. Like the author, the character Sara Moseley is faced with the dilemma of cleaving to a middle-path and the risk of offending everyone, or eliminating risk by taking sides. Somewhat in the manner of a neophyte football supporter flippantly deciding which team to support, she chooses to side with the Protestant loyalists. Initially she does this less out of conviction and more from a knee-jerk contrarian reaction to the support (moral or otherwise) Americans traditionally lend Catholic nationalists. But once she is caught up in her chosen narrative Shriver launches into an indicting one-sided diatribe that borders on inflammatory.
Elsewhere, in the ten stories sandwiched between the novellas, Shriver is more sober and reflective in tone, and more than amply demonstrates that her prose is at least as effective in short form as it is in her novels.
When viewed on its own merits Property is a strong collection of short stories. Readers who have come to expect great writing from Shriver won’t be disappointed. But fiction doesn't exist in a vacuum. Readers burdened with a social conscience, or those aware of her stances outside her fiction, may find than an objective reading requires quite some effort.
Interestingly, Shriver won, and accepted, the 2005 Orange Prize for her chilling novel We Need to Talk about Kevin, a prize that specifically exists to promote diversity, by championing books written by women. She was also a member of the panel set to judge the 2018 Mslexia Short Story Competition, another prize focused on writing by women, but, as a direct result of the views she expressed in The Spectator, she was removed as a judge from that panel.
In these information-rich days it is increasingly difficult to separate art from the artist, the writer from the writing. Indeed it’s worth questioning whether we should. But anyone expecting the stories in Shriver’s latest book to be an assembly of frothing-at-the-mouth alt-right screed would be mistaken - though there are a few transgressions that may raise hackles and moral outrage.
Domestic Terrorism is the story perhaps most likely to draw flack. The black characters in the story, practically the only ones in the book, are portrayed as unsympathetic and entitled. Allegedly, Shriver refused when an editor at The New Yorker requested that this element be changed in the story. The New Yorker in turn refused to publish the story. That’s not to say Shriver’s white characters are portrayed any more sympathetically, they’re not. They are a complex, flawed, and generally unlikeable bunch, which of course is exactly what makes them so interesting.
But reading the stories in Property, it would be hard for even Shriver’s shrillest critics (their numbers are legion) to deny that she is a fine writer, with an uncanny ability to bring the reader into her characters’ heads.
Property is Shriver’s first collection of short stories. Most of the stories have been previously published elsewhere. Ten short stories are bookended by two novellas (bookends being imbued with a curious flexibility that also allows them to appear at a book’s start).
The opening novella, The Standing Chandelier, is magnificent. The story of a complicated love-hate triangle, it is sublime in its exploration of friendship and marriage, and what it means to be possessive and possess.
As the title suggests, possession (as well as being nine-tenths of the law) is the recurring theme throughout these stories. The house in Repossession is possessed by a malevolent spirit - the only story that veers towards fantasy, though arguably the story of the wealthy embezzler in Paradise to Perdition turning his back on a life of unfettered luxury on an island in the Indian Ocean stretches credibility as well.
The ChapStick is an indictment of airport security measures. It’s hard not to picture the writer fuming in an airport departure lounge, hammering at her laptop keyboard in fury as she wrote this story.
Kilifi Creek is largely set in a Kenya where Kenyans themselves are near invisible, unless occasional references to carjackers and rapists are meant to suffice.
Other than these, most of the stories are set in America or England, the countries where the author spends most of her time.
The closing novella, The Subletter is set in Belfast in the nineteen-nineties. It explores a society riven by sectarian divisions through the analogous microcosm of two American women reluctantly finding themselves sharing a cramped living space.
Arguably it would be difficult for anyone to write objectively about Northern Ireland and its internecine conflicts, but Shriver tackles the task with both insight and insensitivity. Like the author, the character Sara Moseley is faced with the dilemma of cleaving to a middle-path and the risk of offending everyone, or eliminating risk by taking sides. Somewhat in the manner of a neophyte football supporter flippantly deciding which team to support, she chooses to side with the Protestant loyalists. Initially she does this less out of conviction and more from a knee-jerk contrarian reaction to the support (moral or otherwise) Americans traditionally lend Catholic nationalists. But once she is caught up in her chosen narrative Shriver launches into an indicting one-sided diatribe that borders on inflammatory.
Elsewhere, in the ten stories sandwiched between the novellas, Shriver is more sober and reflective in tone, and more than amply demonstrates that her prose is at least as effective in short form as it is in her novels.
When viewed on its own merits Property is a strong collection of short stories. Readers who have come to expect great writing from Shriver won’t be disappointed. But fiction doesn't exist in a vacuum. Readers burdened with a social conscience, or those aware of her stances outside her fiction, may find than an objective reading requires quite some effort.
March 31, 2019
I am a huge fan of Lionel Shriver and am warming to the short story format the more I have delved into various collections over the past few months, so this one ticked both my boxes. I expected to enjoy them and certainly did. The two longer stories at the beginning and end are my favourites - ‘The Standing Chandelier’ and particularly ‘The Subletter’ - but there isn’t one I didn’t like.
I think the whole set hangs together really well - there are recurring themes of mental tracking of favours or picking up tabs, for example, and of the effect owning something has on a person. This extends not just to physical possessions, though these feature large, but also to a kind of intellectual property as in ‘The Subletter’ where Sara finds it hard to give up her hard-earned position as the self-styled ‘American with the most complete understanding of Belfast’. As Sara says at the end: ‘Sure any old bog could seem priceless so long as some other patsy was willing to fight you for it’.
Lionel Shriver’s sardonic wit shines through these tales of selfishness. I was amused and abashed in equal measure - some of her incisive insights hit a little too close to home for easy reading. Brilliant writing and I can’t recommend highly enough.
With thanks to Harper Collins, Borough Press via NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC.
I think the whole set hangs together really well - there are recurring themes of mental tracking of favours or picking up tabs, for example, and of the effect owning something has on a person. This extends not just to physical possessions, though these feature large, but also to a kind of intellectual property as in ‘The Subletter’ where Sara finds it hard to give up her hard-earned position as the self-styled ‘American with the most complete understanding of Belfast’. As Sara says at the end: ‘Sure any old bog could seem priceless so long as some other patsy was willing to fight you for it’.
Lionel Shriver’s sardonic wit shines through these tales of selfishness. I was amused and abashed in equal measure - some of her incisive insights hit a little too close to home for easy reading. Brilliant writing and I can’t recommend highly enough.
With thanks to Harper Collins, Borough Press via NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC.
August 9, 2023
Qué mala leche tiene Lionel Shriver. Una mala leche aterradora, porque hace que arquees la ceja ante tal personaje (cómo es la gente, qué ridícula, qué mezquina, tú y yo no somos así, Lionel Shriver) y al pasar la página, oh oh, relámpago de reconocimiento, eso lo hago yo, eso lo pienso yo. El retratado ya no es un personaje lejano y despreciable, sino que ahora eres tú la ridícula y mezquina, ahí en negro sobre blanco. Lionel Shriver parece reírse entre dientes.
Cierto es que no tiene, para mí, la prosa más brillante o un sentido del ritmo que corte la respiración, pero con esa mirada de rayos equis que hace pasar de la vergüenza ajena a la vergüenza propia quizás ni le haga falta.
Cierto es que no tiene, para mí, la prosa más brillante o un sentido del ritmo que corte la respiración, pero con esa mirada de rayos equis que hace pasar de la vergüenza ajena a la vergüenza propia quizás ni le haga falta.
December 14, 2018
These were really not for me. I've liked Shriver's full length novels before, but the tone of these stories were all very similar and sour, and honestly a little bit mean-spirited. There wasn't enough variation in this tone - story after story felt like this.
August 6, 2021
Comprammo la Baracca. Confesso che i nostri genitori ci diedero una mano per l’anticipo. Però nessuna banca era disposta a concedere un mutuo a una decoratrice e a un chitarrista blues che tirava su al massimo quaranta dollari a sera e qualche consumazione gratis. Io feci in fretta a trovare lavoro, perché ero brava e motivata, e non penso che alla fine si sia rivelata una mossa sbagliata optare per uno studio di design commerciale – anche se mentre inventavo il logo di un’azienda o la copertina di un catalogo di computer a volte provavo nostalgia per quando dipingevo leonesse nello stile di Henri Rousseau sulla parete accanto al letto a castello di un bimbo di sei anni. Però provo un gran piacere quando trovo una bottiglia di salsa piccante con l’etichetta disegnata da me, e un lavoro vero rende di sicuro di più. Garantisco che a Michael non era andata altrettanto bene con Slide, il piccolo jazz club che si era messo a gestire a Fort Greene. Anche se sulla carta sembrava un buon compromesso, se sei il gestore non ti esibisci, e lui finì per maneggiare più fusti di birra che la chitarra. Ma sono convinta che il nostro matrimonio avrebbe retto abbastanza bene il passaggio a un lavoro serio, se non fosse stato per la casa.
Interessante e particolare questa raccolta di racconti. Ce ne sono di brevi, leggeri e umoristici, e un po’ surreali, e ce ne sono di lunghi, storie intricate di amori e di amicizie, storie soprattutto di liti, conflitti e rotture. Tutti sono percorsi da una forte vena di ironia, ma quelli lunghi sono tutt’altro che leggeri, intrisi di dolore e di rabbia. Non potrei trovarmi più d’accordo sulla difficoltà di confrontarsi e capirsi fra generazioni diverse, fra amici e amanti di temperamento opposto eppure costretti a coabitare, dentro una casa, un condominio, una città, o semplicemente sullo stesso nostro pianeta; l’epoca che stiamo vivendo lo dimostra bene: l’umanità è varia e agguerrita, ci sono i pro-vax e i no-vax, ci sono gli educati e i maleducati, i generosi e i meschini, gli onesti e i disonesti, gli arroganti e gli altruisti, ci sono quelli che hanno avuto vita facile e quelli che affogano nei guai, i conflitti sono inevitabili e spietati, e lasciano talvolta cicatrici profonde. Shriver li aizza gli uni contro gli altri, con uno sguardo affilato e arguto, scandaglia i minimi dettagli della nostra società, le nostre abitudini, le mode, i cliché, i sensi di colpa, le aspirazioni, le odiose faccende di soldi, grandi e piccole, che ci dividono e ci avvelenano la vita; disegna personaggi a tutto tondo, assolutamente reali. Il risultato è un vivo affresco di un’umanità varia e quanto mai attuale, frustrata dalle due varianti che segnano il nostro tempo e che si intrecciano determinando sempre più il corso delle nostre vite: le difficoltà professionali e i costi inaccessibili di case e mutui.
Si ride, ma con amarezza.
In teoria, a un certo punto qualcuno avrebbe dovuto dire al padre di Peter di farla finita con quegli atteggiamenti da megalomane. Invece no: più uno se la tira, più quelli che tratta come pezzi di merda si convincono che deve avere davvero delle doti straordinarie, sennò sarebbe stato già ridimensionato. Gli stronzi possono permettersi di essere tali perché hanno sempre fatto gli stronzi senza problemi, e nessuno ha intenzione di turbare l’ordine naturale dell’universo.
Interessante e particolare questa raccolta di racconti. Ce ne sono di brevi, leggeri e umoristici, e un po’ surreali, e ce ne sono di lunghi, storie intricate di amori e di amicizie, storie soprattutto di liti, conflitti e rotture. Tutti sono percorsi da una forte vena di ironia, ma quelli lunghi sono tutt’altro che leggeri, intrisi di dolore e di rabbia. Non potrei trovarmi più d’accordo sulla difficoltà di confrontarsi e capirsi fra generazioni diverse, fra amici e amanti di temperamento opposto eppure costretti a coabitare, dentro una casa, un condominio, una città, o semplicemente sullo stesso nostro pianeta; l’epoca che stiamo vivendo lo dimostra bene: l’umanità è varia e agguerrita, ci sono i pro-vax e i no-vax, ci sono gli educati e i maleducati, i generosi e i meschini, gli onesti e i disonesti, gli arroganti e gli altruisti, ci sono quelli che hanno avuto vita facile e quelli che affogano nei guai, i conflitti sono inevitabili e spietati, e lasciano talvolta cicatrici profonde. Shriver li aizza gli uni contro gli altri, con uno sguardo affilato e arguto, scandaglia i minimi dettagli della nostra società, le nostre abitudini, le mode, i cliché, i sensi di colpa, le aspirazioni, le odiose faccende di soldi, grandi e piccole, che ci dividono e ci avvelenano la vita; disegna personaggi a tutto tondo, assolutamente reali. Il risultato è un vivo affresco di un’umanità varia e quanto mai attuale, frustrata dalle due varianti che segnano il nostro tempo e che si intrecciano determinando sempre più il corso delle nostre vite: le difficoltà professionali e i costi inaccessibili di case e mutui.
Si ride, ma con amarezza.
In teoria, a un certo punto qualcuno avrebbe dovuto dire al padre di Peter di farla finita con quegli atteggiamenti da megalomane. Invece no: più uno se la tira, più quelli che tratta come pezzi di merda si convincono che deve avere davvero delle doti straordinarie, sennò sarebbe stato già ridimensionato. Gli stronzi possono permettersi di essere tali perché hanno sempre fatto gli stronzi senza problemi, e nessuno ha intenzione di turbare l’ordine naturale dell’universo.
January 10, 2021
Tenemos un compendio de cuentos compuesto por dos novelas cortas y diez relatos donde se analizan las diferentes variantes del concepto de propiedad y como este afecta a las personas.
En todas las historias que se nos presentan veremos un análisis muy crítico de la sociedad, lo que hace que sea una lectura que invita a la reflexión. Unos relatos se centran en la propiedad en su sentido físico, en otros veremos la posesión entre personas. Pero hay más; historias que hablan de lo privado, otros de la pertenencia a un país, la relación entre personas y como conectamos.
Sin duda esta es la parte fuerte de este conjunto de cuentos, una crítica a nuestra sociedad desde muchos enfoques diferentes. Cada cuento tiene una moraleja y llegar a ella ha sido interesante por la reflexión que conlleva. No entraré en detalles que puedan quitarle la gracia a cada uno de los textos, pero veremos conflictos familiares, románticos, vecinales, también se analiza la pérdida, la juventud, la importancia que tiene cada cosa en la vida, las segundas oportunidades...
Todas las historias giran alrededor del concepto de propiedad y de lo privado, y como afecta al ser humano tanto en soledad como en comunidad. De ahí que el enfoque sea crítico, tan crítico que resulta demasiado. Estas críticas a la sociedad a través de los diferentes personajes los han convertido en elementos casi desagradables, cínicos e imposible de empatizar con ellos. El tono de la narración es muy negativo, incluso con un punto de maldad hacia la sociedad, y no aportaba ningún aliciente para seguir con la lectura. Además, los personajes, las situaciones y las decisiones que tomaban me han provocado rabia y aburrimiento, esperaba quizá un enfoque irónico y divertido que no he encontrado.
Pero sin duda mi mayor problema con este compendio ha sido que me ha costado conectar con la forma de escribir de la autora. Apenas hay diálogos en ninguno de los relatos, son descripciones complejas y muy extensas. Esto, sumado al tono tan negativo, ha hecho que me resultara una lectura densa e imposible de seguir. El vocabulario es muy variado y rico, pero creo que peca de ser demasiado enrevesado.
Excepto por algunos relatos como “El falso plátano autógamo” o “Cartas robadas”, ha sido una lectura que se me ha hecho pesada y en algunos momentos he pensado en abandonarla. En especial, se me han hecho difíciles las novelas cortas porque han sido más extensas, como si la autora diera muchas vueltas en vez de ir a las partes relevantes.
En resumen, "Propiedad privada" no ha sido una lectura para mi, los cuentos esconden un mensaje interesante pero la narración me ha resultado pesada y compleja.
En todas las historias que se nos presentan veremos un análisis muy crítico de la sociedad, lo que hace que sea una lectura que invita a la reflexión. Unos relatos se centran en la propiedad en su sentido físico, en otros veremos la posesión entre personas. Pero hay más; historias que hablan de lo privado, otros de la pertenencia a un país, la relación entre personas y como conectamos.
Sin duda esta es la parte fuerte de este conjunto de cuentos, una crítica a nuestra sociedad desde muchos enfoques diferentes. Cada cuento tiene una moraleja y llegar a ella ha sido interesante por la reflexión que conlleva. No entraré en detalles que puedan quitarle la gracia a cada uno de los textos, pero veremos conflictos familiares, románticos, vecinales, también se analiza la pérdida, la juventud, la importancia que tiene cada cosa en la vida, las segundas oportunidades...
Todas las historias giran alrededor del concepto de propiedad y de lo privado, y como afecta al ser humano tanto en soledad como en comunidad. De ahí que el enfoque sea crítico, tan crítico que resulta demasiado. Estas críticas a la sociedad a través de los diferentes personajes los han convertido en elementos casi desagradables, cínicos e imposible de empatizar con ellos. El tono de la narración es muy negativo, incluso con un punto de maldad hacia la sociedad, y no aportaba ningún aliciente para seguir con la lectura. Además, los personajes, las situaciones y las decisiones que tomaban me han provocado rabia y aburrimiento, esperaba quizá un enfoque irónico y divertido que no he encontrado.
Pero sin duda mi mayor problema con este compendio ha sido que me ha costado conectar con la forma de escribir de la autora. Apenas hay diálogos en ninguno de los relatos, son descripciones complejas y muy extensas. Esto, sumado al tono tan negativo, ha hecho que me resultara una lectura densa e imposible de seguir. El vocabulario es muy variado y rico, pero creo que peca de ser demasiado enrevesado.
Excepto por algunos relatos como “El falso plátano autógamo” o “Cartas robadas”, ha sido una lectura que se me ha hecho pesada y en algunos momentos he pensado en abandonarla. En especial, se me han hecho difíciles las novelas cortas porque han sido más extensas, como si la autora diera muchas vueltas en vez de ir a las partes relevantes.
En resumen, "Propiedad privada" no ha sido una lectura para mi, los cuentos esconden un mensaje interesante pero la narración me ha resultado pesada y compleja.
March 24, 2019
I thought Property was very good indeed. I don’t always get on very well with short stories but I found this collection to be beautifully written, insightful and thought-provoking.
The supposed binding theme of property is pretty tenuous, to be honest; the stories are about far more than that, with an aspect of property and ownership being just one theme of each story, but that didn’t matter at all to me. These are primarily character studies and feature what Lionel Shriver does so well, which is to get right inside a character and illustrate brilliantly the sometimes contradictory elements which go to make up a person and how they can determine major aspects of our lives. The two novellas which begin and end the collection are especially good at this; just as a small example, I liked this little passage from The Standing Chandelier:
“He recognized something in her, too – a difficulty in figuring out just how to be with people. When he saw this awkwardness in someone else, he could see how attractive it was when you didn’t like artifice, and would rather be genuinely uncomfortable than insincerely at ease.”
Don’t look for fast-paced action and plot here, but I found The Standing Chandelier as involving as any thriller and the other stories were very good in their way. Property is a pleasure to read and a thoroughly rewarding book. Warmly recommended.
The supposed binding theme of property is pretty tenuous, to be honest; the stories are about far more than that, with an aspect of property and ownership being just one theme of each story, but that didn’t matter at all to me. These are primarily character studies and feature what Lionel Shriver does so well, which is to get right inside a character and illustrate brilliantly the sometimes contradictory elements which go to make up a person and how they can determine major aspects of our lives. The two novellas which begin and end the collection are especially good at this; just as a small example, I liked this little passage from The Standing Chandelier:
“He recognized something in her, too – a difficulty in figuring out just how to be with people. When he saw this awkwardness in someone else, he could see how attractive it was when you didn’t like artifice, and would rather be genuinely uncomfortable than insincerely at ease.”
Don’t look for fast-paced action and plot here, but I found The Standing Chandelier as involving as any thriller and the other stories were very good in their way. Property is a pleasure to read and a thoroughly rewarding book. Warmly recommended.
March 13, 2019
Een mooie verzameling van tien korte verhalen wordt door twee novellen omhelsd: 'De staande kroonluchter' en 'De onderhuurster'.
Beide novellen lezen heerlijk en de personages groeien voor je ogen in hun rollen.
"Baba wist vaak niet wat hij moest zeggen, en zei dan maar niets. Ze leerde van hem dat zwijgen niet ongemakkelijk hoefde te zijn, en sommige van hun rijkste momenten samen waren stil."
'Bezit' in alle betekenissen van het woord wordt door Shriver onder de loep genomen; zowel de macht die opgeroepen kan worden door het in bezit hebben van iets, of een bezitterig gevoel over iemand krijgen.
Lees mijn recensie hier verder: https://graaggelezen.blogspot.com/201...
Beide novellen lezen heerlijk en de personages groeien voor je ogen in hun rollen.
"Baba wist vaak niet wat hij moest zeggen, en zei dan maar niets. Ze leerde van hem dat zwijgen niet ongemakkelijk hoefde te zijn, en sommige van hun rijkste momenten samen waren stil."
'Bezit' in alle betekenissen van het woord wordt door Shriver onder de loep genomen; zowel de macht die opgeroepen kan worden door het in bezit hebben van iets, of een bezitterig gevoel over iemand krijgen.
Lees mijn recensie hier verder: https://graaggelezen.blogspot.com/201...
August 19, 2018
Not once ever before have I laughed while reading something written by Lionel Shriver. Her work is just so intense all the time that I wasn't sure what to expect with this collection.
The first novella, The Standing Chandelier, was exactly what I thought it would be: dark, painful, sad. I grew to like Frisk and to despise Baba and Paige. My heart broke for Frisk.
To my surprise, I found humour and a certain lightheartedness in some of the stories but most had a dark edge that was true to form. This was a really skilled mix of moods and voices, an excellent series of short stories that I enjoyed thoroughly.
The first novella, The Standing Chandelier, was exactly what I thought it would be: dark, painful, sad. I grew to like Frisk and to despise Baba and Paige. My heart broke for Frisk.
To my surprise, I found humour and a certain lightheartedness in some of the stories but most had a dark edge that was true to form. This was a really skilled mix of moods and voices, an excellent series of short stories that I enjoyed thoroughly.
November 6, 2018
Hilarious, riveting stories that are an absolute delight to read. If you're looking for an arresting read bubbling with wit, humour, provocation, and tension, you can totally count on Shriver. This collection of short stories and novellas are centred around the effect of property on character. 'Ownership is as much state of mind as legal entitlement', claims a character in one of the stories; in several interesting scenarios this sense of property is explored. Naturally, I liked some stories more than others - but except for two stories that were not to my taste: Repossession and The Subletter, all of them can be placed in the spectrum between very good and fantastic. The Standing Chandelier was my favourite in the lot.
March 28, 2019
A quirky collection of short stories.
It admittedly took me quite some time to get through them. I had difficulty connecting with any of the characters. A book to pick up at random and peruse. No particular order to the stories making it easy to dip in and out when you choose.
The writing style is very unusual and took a little getting used to. I'm happy to have read it though as it has been on my radar for quite some time.
It admittedly took me quite some time to get through them. I had difficulty connecting with any of the characters. A book to pick up at random and peruse. No particular order to the stories making it easy to dip in and out when you choose.
The writing style is very unusual and took a little getting used to. I'm happy to have read it though as it has been on my radar for quite some time.
October 3, 2023
el disneyland del terror cotidiano que asusta poco de primeras porque se maquilla bien
April 26, 2018
Thanks to Harper Books for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.
If you have followed my reviews for awhile, then you'll know that I'm a big fan of short stories and novellas. I know they're hit or miss for a lot of people, but I have a huge appreciation for authors that can really pack a punch or leave an impression in a smaller book. PROPERTY by Lionel Shriver (author of WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN) is 10 short stories between 2 novellas. The common theme? Our relationship with property, in every sense of the word.
There are stories that range from chandeliers playing witness to a love triangle, a widow's love/hate relationship with a tree, a mailman hoarding instead of delivering, an interaction with a TSA agent and some chapstick, a married couple divorcing but having to remain in the same household, embezzlement, and coexisting with a woman subletting before the owner can move out.
We get a glimpse into the lives of many characters with different backgrounds, troubles, and property. I loved how Shriver looked into the many meanings of the word property and our relationships with them. If you like short stories, then this is one you need to pick up. Shriver is a great writer and is able to make an impression in a small amount of pages in each story. Twelve packed into a book sounds like a lot, but I enjoyed them all!
I give this 5/5 stars!
If you have followed my reviews for awhile, then you'll know that I'm a big fan of short stories and novellas. I know they're hit or miss for a lot of people, but I have a huge appreciation for authors that can really pack a punch or leave an impression in a smaller book. PROPERTY by Lionel Shriver (author of WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN) is 10 short stories between 2 novellas. The common theme? Our relationship with property, in every sense of the word.
There are stories that range from chandeliers playing witness to a love triangle, a widow's love/hate relationship with a tree, a mailman hoarding instead of delivering, an interaction with a TSA agent and some chapstick, a married couple divorcing but having to remain in the same household, embezzlement, and coexisting with a woman subletting before the owner can move out.
We get a glimpse into the lives of many characters with different backgrounds, troubles, and property. I loved how Shriver looked into the many meanings of the word property and our relationships with them. If you like short stories, then this is one you need to pick up. Shriver is a great writer and is able to make an impression in a small amount of pages in each story. Twelve packed into a book sounds like a lot, but I enjoyed them all!
I give this 5/5 stars!
July 11, 2018
These stories all make you think about the emotional relationship we have with things we own. Each story is different and interesting enough that the book doesn't feel like a slog. Some of the stories were even cheerful instead of depressing! "Exchange Rates" was my favorite story. It was truly affecting and didn't need to be long and bloated with detail (as the novellas were) to really capture a character and pack an emotional punch.
February 15, 2023
El libro se compone de dos novelas y una decena de cuentos que son una radiografía del influjo de las posesiones y los apegos en la vida privada del anglosajón medio. Ser propietario hoy tiene sus ventajas pero también sus dolores de cabeza concomitantes, y como Schriver es una ferviente defensora del "derecho a ofender" a la hora de escribir, mete el dedo en la llaga hasta doler para desenmascar muchas de estas trampas sociales, como la obsesión con los linderos, el terrorismo doméstico de los hijos, la ruptura calculada de la amistad, la negligencia en el trabajo, la mezquindad paternofilial, las ejecuciones hipotecarias, el subarrendamiento...todo un universo de pequeñas ironías de la vida.
Me recuerda mucho a Zadie Smith, por el sentido del humor y desparpajo que transmite, pero es más política y asertiva si cabe. Para ser una escritora tan cáustica, es curioso que se ponga un límite para la ironía después de todo: no se puede decir que sus finales sean felices –la adquisición de cosas (tierra, dinero, nidos vacíos) rara vez conduce a la felicidad– sino más bien que sus retorcidos personajes salen siempre redimidos.
Todavía me dura la sonrisa de medio lado, así que máxima puntuación.
Our Forbidden Land, Fay Godwin, 1990
Me recuerda mucho a Zadie Smith, por el sentido del humor y desparpajo que transmite, pero es más política y asertiva si cabe. Para ser una escritora tan cáustica, es curioso que se ponga un límite para la ironía después de todo: no se puede decir que sus finales sean felices –la adquisición de cosas (tierra, dinero, nidos vacíos) rara vez conduce a la felicidad– sino más bien que sus retorcidos personajes salen siempre redimidos.
Todavía me dura la sonrisa de medio lado, así que máxima puntuación.
Our Forbidden Land, Fay Godwin, 1990
May 30, 2018
Thank you so much Harper Books for providing my free copy of PROPERTY by Lionel Shriver - all opinions are my own.
This is my first time reading Shriver’s work. I’ve seen so many wonderful reviews and who hasn’t heard of We Need to Talk About Kevin? So needless to say, I had to read this! This book is made up of ten short stories and two novellas. This is one of the BEST short story collections I have ever read. My standouts are The Standing Chandelier, Domestic Terrorism, ChapStick, Kilifi Creek, The Royal Male, Negative Equity, Paradise to Perdition, and Vermin. My overall favorite is The Standing Chandelier, but they are all phenomenal!
The stories all have a central theme, you guessed it, PROPERTY. Owning property or being owned by whatever is in your life. This cohesive collection of stories shine a light on how places, people, and things can claim us. All of these stories are thought-provoking, full of irony, and at times, are darkly humorous. I devoured every bit of this book, so I am eager to read more of Shriver’s work! PROPERTY is extraordinarily written, poignant, interesting, and very entertaining.
This is my first time reading Shriver’s work. I’ve seen so many wonderful reviews and who hasn’t heard of We Need to Talk About Kevin? So needless to say, I had to read this! This book is made up of ten short stories and two novellas. This is one of the BEST short story collections I have ever read. My standouts are The Standing Chandelier, Domestic Terrorism, ChapStick, Kilifi Creek, The Royal Male, Negative Equity, Paradise to Perdition, and Vermin. My overall favorite is The Standing Chandelier, but they are all phenomenal!
The stories all have a central theme, you guessed it, PROPERTY. Owning property or being owned by whatever is in your life. This cohesive collection of stories shine a light on how places, people, and things can claim us. All of these stories are thought-provoking, full of irony, and at times, are darkly humorous. I devoured every bit of this book, so I am eager to read more of Shriver’s work! PROPERTY is extraordinarily written, poignant, interesting, and very entertaining.
May 29, 2018
I like this author a lot, so even though I don't like modern short stories, I was lured into this book by the promise of the two novellas. I enjoyed the two novellas and most of the short stories, though not as much as some of her other books. I liked the concept of analyzing our complex relationship with property: the acquiring, collecting, storing, dispensing, maintaining, and possessing property. It really takes over our lives to a certain degree. There are so many varying degrees of possessiveness explored in these pages. The first novella concerns a man and woman who are best friends for about 20 years before the man gets engaged to another woman. The fiancé objects to his close friendship with the other woman and the story makes you think about the possessive bonds we have with our close friends. The last novella concerns an ex pat who lives in Belfast and is confronted with another American who wants to adopt Belfast as her new city and this drives the ex pat into a jealous fury of possessiveness. It's funny how you can feel possessive of a city, yet it's so true.
June 21, 2018
Lionel Shriver is not a subtle writer, but a force of nature whose characters are so singularly themselves, so filled with love, hate, bitterness, adoration, passion, disgust et al that they vibrate on the page. I loved this book, even as the characters made me uncomfortable. In fact, that is exactly why I admire it.
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