I'm very divided on this collection of short stories and essays. On the one hand, you can tell this is a writer who's honed her craft and writes impeccably, but on the other many of these stories are such raw accounts of uncomfortable topics it's hard to class them as enjoyable. Appreciable yes, but not overly fun.

For example, there's the story of the man who wakes up to find his apartment block is on fire and who jumps out the window. He survives but drops his cat in the process, who doesn't. Then there's the story of the woman dying of cancer, who opts for an assisted suicide, and another about the woman who's been attacked by stranger in her house and has to fight for her survival.

The stories feel incredibly real - you are in that burning building, you are watching that best friend suffer terribly through terminal cancer - and full points to Jo Ann Beard for pulling that off, but I don't think I really wanted to feel like a fly on the wall in these kind of circumstances.

The last few are essays based on Beard's own life - her husband leaving her for another woman, a girls' trip to India with a friend who's (also) dying of cancer. I preferred the short stories - I think Beard got a bit caught up in her craft in the essays, and they felt a little overdone at times.

3.5 stars - a very talented writer, but sad, difficult and uncomfortable subjects in these stories. I suspect Beard wants the reader to feel that discomfort, but... well, life's hard enough at times without living too graphically other people's tragedies. ( )

Many years ago I read Jo Ann Beard's collection of essays, The Boys of My Youth (I still remember, because I related to these life experiences, her descriptions of Sunday evenings watching Bonanza with Lorne Greene, and also her description of her doll named Hal). So when I saw this new collection, I checked it out of the library. The first two essays in the collection are excellent, but make devastating reading. The first relates to the decision she had to make to put down her beloved dog. The second essay also related to the death of a dear pet, in this case a cat, and it involved a dire situation relating to having to jump from a burning building with your cat in your arms. After reading these two essays, I was almost afraid to go on. But I did.
There were some other good essays in the collection (and apparently at least one fictional piece), but there were also several duds that I really didn't connect with. The other essay that really stuck with me was a long piece about a woman named Cheri as she contemplates and seeks out Dr. Kevorkian's assistance when she decides to stop fighting a terminal disease.

This was a spotty, but decent read. I probably wouldn't have remembered the author's name for 15 or 20 years if this had been the first book of hers I read, rather than The Boys of My Youth.

3 stars ( )

I have been thinking for several hours about what I can say about this collection. The only thing I can seem to come up with is "wow." Not very helpful, is it? Still, it covers my thoughts pretty well. Beard was early to the conceit of blending fiction with non, and she does it so well. Truly, I often don't generally feel great about this blurring. Often this device seems lazy, but not in Beard's works. She takes truth as far as it can go, moving to fiction when straight reporting cannot tell the true story. For my friends who feel visceral delight when they read great prose, this is indeed an ecstatic experience. ( )