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From Here
2015 USA Best Book Awards Finalist, Fiction
Fiction. The twelve stories in FROM HERE explore the dislocations and intersections of people searching, running away, staying put. Their physical and emotional landscapes run the gamut, but in the end, they're all searching for a place to call home.
"From the Chechnyian girl sucked into the drug world, the alcoholic professor who uses his daughter to dodge a rap, from hippie graffiti to the “wet clicking of a bird-like heart,” Jen Michalski writes down the beast, and you remember. Strong sentiment, strong stories." - Terese Svoboda, Author of Tin God
"Jen Michalski’s characters seem to breathe through the pages of this emotionally expansive collection. Each story is a world in which the reader to linger—not to seek refuge but to gain insight, and perhaps, to find a kindred soul." - Dawn Raffel, author of the Year of Long Division
"This is short fiction at its moody, character-driven best. The people you meet are so vivid and so sympathetic that their joys and sorrows will quickly become your own. I haven’t decided which is my favorite story, but I know my favorite line. “Good luck with your broken things.” Fantastic." - Matthew Norman, author of Domestic Violets
Fiction. The twelve stories in FROM HERE explore the dislocations and intersections of people searching, running away, staying put. Their physical and emotional landscapes run the gamut, but in the end, they're all searching for a place to call home.
"From the Chechnyian girl sucked into the drug world, the alcoholic professor who uses his daughter to dodge a rap, from hippie graffiti to the “wet clicking of a bird-like heart,” Jen Michalski writes down the beast, and you remember. Strong sentiment, strong stories." - Terese Svoboda, Author of Tin God
"Jen Michalski’s characters seem to breathe through the pages of this emotionally expansive collection. Each story is a world in which the reader to linger—not to seek refuge but to gain insight, and perhaps, to find a kindred soul." - Dawn Raffel, author of the Year of Long Division
"This is short fiction at its moody, character-driven best. The people you meet are so vivid and so sympathetic that their joys and sorrows will quickly become your own. I haven’t decided which is my favorite story, but I know my favorite line. “Good luck with your broken things.” Fantastic." - Matthew Norman, author of Domestic Violets
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
250 pages, Paperback
First published September 29, 2014
About the author
Jen Michalski
17 books248 followersJen Michalski is the author of the novels All This Can Be True (Turner/Key Light, June 2025), You'll Be FIne (NineStar Press, 2021), The Summer She Was Under Water (Black Lawrence Press, 2017), and The Tide King (Black Lawrence Press 2013), a couplet of novellas called Could You Be With Her Now (Dzanc Books 2013), and three collections of fiction (The Company of Strangers, 2023; From Here, 2014; and Close Encounters, 2007). Her work has appeared in more than 100 publications, including Poets & Writers, and she's been nominated for the Pushcart Prize seven times. In 2013, she was named as “One of 50 Women to Watch” by The Baltimore Sun and “Best Writer” by Baltimore Magazine. She is editor in chief of the literary weekly jmww.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
November 20, 2015
Read 4/12/15 - 4/15/15
4 Stars - Highly Recommended to fans of short stories full of disappointment and unfulfilled dreams
Pages: 265
Publisher: Aqueous
Released: 2014
As I read Jen Michalski's From Here, I became aware of an overwhelming urge to find her and hug her. To just pull her head to my chest, pat her hair, and squeeze her until all of the sadness in her stories has been replaced with playful puppy dogs, rainbows, and happily ever afters.
Her stories are like a never ending parade of subtle suffering. In them, she forces her characters to live with their loneliness. She traps them in abusive relationships and broken homes. She smacks them in the face with unrequited love. She punishes the fathers - they are dead or dying, withering away from cancer. Or they are just a bunch of deadbeats, walking away from their pregnant wives and drinking themselves silly. And she punishes the animals too. As with any other author, dogs, rabbits, birds, beware. Your lives are not safe in her hands!
Of all of her stories, Dog Days bothered me most. In it three young brothers find themselves at the baseball park, taking turns throwing and hitting, when the youngest befriends a stray mutt. Just as they each begin to picture the dog as a part of the family, the oldest hits a line drive straight into the dog's head. The dog, of course, drops like a stone and never gets back up. The youngest is devastated and one of his brothers tries to console him by saying "at least he died happy". Sure, the dog might've died happy, enjoying the attention the boys threw his way, but what about me, us, the reader? Now we have to live with the death of that poor, innocent dog. We're left to picture him, laying there in the dirt and grass of the outfield. Hearing the dull thud of the ball as it connected with his skull. And we're left with the what if's. What if she hadn't killed him? Would the boys have brought him home? Would their mother have given in and allowed them to keep him? Would he have spent the rest of his days there with them, in a comfy home, taking turns sleeping in their beds?
They didn't all pull on my heart strings are strongly. Some just aggravated me. Not in a "boy this story sucks" way, but in a "are girls really this cruel" way. In Lillian in White, Lillian calls up an ex boyfriend and asks if he'd accompany her to the abortion clinic.She's totally playing the guy here with the whole "I didn't know who else to call" crap. He's still pining for her something awful and thinks this is his opportunity to get back with her, especially when he learns that the baby-daddy ran out when he found out she was pregnant. Will he get what he wants, or is she just toying with his emotions? Do all girls run back to the "nice one we let get away" in times of turmoil? Is this what we put those poor guys through? Of all of Jen's stories, this one felt the most familiar. I had the impression I've read it somewhere before.
In contrast to Lillian, who chose to abort her child, there's Carlotta in The Mural, who really wanted her baby but miscarried mid-term. The father, much like Lillian claimed, took off when he heard the news, so now Carlotta is left alone with the empty nursery and her visions of the mural she was going to paint for it. Pushed by her doctor, instead of letting the death of her child steal her creativeness, she releases it in a unique and therapeutic way.
A girls get sucked into a dangerous relationship with a small time drug dealer in The Safest Place. In You Were Only Waiting For This Moment to Arrive, a divorced dad sees his daughter for the first time in two years and takes her Disney World, knowing that the trip will remain with her for the rest of her life while the memory of him and their relationship has already begun to fade.
Both of the main characters in From Here and The Substitute find themselves back in their home towns, caring for their dying fathers. In both stories, these characters had to give up the things they loved and live with the regret and frustration that comes along with it.
Each story has a strong sense of place and Jen douses her characters will their own unique voice. The collection reads quickly but the stories have a tendency to linger. They remain in the periphery, haunting the sidelines. They are tender and hesitant. Michalski seems reluctant to allow them to let go, and so they ache within you long after their stories are over.
The unifying thread, the thing that Jen took pains to infect her characters with, is resilience. It's her characters' unwillingness to let these situations, these decisions, these shitty times stop them from actually living that keeps you reading. Though they don't typically get what they want, they don't seem to dwell on it for long. They pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and turn the other cheek. We get the feeling that, in the end, things will work out for them, even though we have no proof of it.
4 Stars - Highly Recommended to fans of short stories full of disappointment and unfulfilled dreams
Pages: 265
Publisher: Aqueous
Released: 2014
As I read Jen Michalski's From Here, I became aware of an overwhelming urge to find her and hug her. To just pull her head to my chest, pat her hair, and squeeze her until all of the sadness in her stories has been replaced with playful puppy dogs, rainbows, and happily ever afters.
Her stories are like a never ending parade of subtle suffering. In them, she forces her characters to live with their loneliness. She traps them in abusive relationships and broken homes. She smacks them in the face with unrequited love. She punishes the fathers - they are dead or dying, withering away from cancer. Or they are just a bunch of deadbeats, walking away from their pregnant wives and drinking themselves silly. And she punishes the animals too. As with any other author, dogs, rabbits, birds, beware. Your lives are not safe in her hands!
Of all of her stories, Dog Days bothered me most. In it three young brothers find themselves at the baseball park, taking turns throwing and hitting, when the youngest befriends a stray mutt. Just as they each begin to picture the dog as a part of the family, the oldest hits a line drive straight into the dog's head. The dog, of course, drops like a stone and never gets back up. The youngest is devastated and one of his brothers tries to console him by saying "at least he died happy". Sure, the dog might've died happy, enjoying the attention the boys threw his way, but what about me, us, the reader? Now we have to live with the death of that poor, innocent dog. We're left to picture him, laying there in the dirt and grass of the outfield. Hearing the dull thud of the ball as it connected with his skull. And we're left with the what if's. What if she hadn't killed him? Would the boys have brought him home? Would their mother have given in and allowed them to keep him? Would he have spent the rest of his days there with them, in a comfy home, taking turns sleeping in their beds?
They didn't all pull on my heart strings are strongly. Some just aggravated me. Not in a "boy this story sucks" way, but in a "are girls really this cruel" way. In Lillian in White, Lillian calls up an ex boyfriend and asks if he'd accompany her to the abortion clinic.She's totally playing the guy here with the whole "I didn't know who else to call" crap. He's still pining for her something awful and thinks this is his opportunity to get back with her, especially when he learns that the baby-daddy ran out when he found out she was pregnant. Will he get what he wants, or is she just toying with his emotions? Do all girls run back to the "nice one we let get away" in times of turmoil? Is this what we put those poor guys through? Of all of Jen's stories, this one felt the most familiar. I had the impression I've read it somewhere before.
In contrast to Lillian, who chose to abort her child, there's Carlotta in The Mural, who really wanted her baby but miscarried mid-term. The father, much like Lillian claimed, took off when he heard the news, so now Carlotta is left alone with the empty nursery and her visions of the mural she was going to paint for it. Pushed by her doctor, instead of letting the death of her child steal her creativeness, she releases it in a unique and therapeutic way.
A girls get sucked into a dangerous relationship with a small time drug dealer in The Safest Place. In You Were Only Waiting For This Moment to Arrive, a divorced dad sees his daughter for the first time in two years and takes her Disney World, knowing that the trip will remain with her for the rest of her life while the memory of him and their relationship has already begun to fade.
Both of the main characters in From Here and The Substitute find themselves back in their home towns, caring for their dying fathers. In both stories, these characters had to give up the things they loved and live with the regret and frustration that comes along with it.
Each story has a strong sense of place and Jen douses her characters will their own unique voice. The collection reads quickly but the stories have a tendency to linger. They remain in the periphery, haunting the sidelines. They are tender and hesitant. Michalski seems reluctant to allow them to let go, and so they ache within you long after their stories are over.
The unifying thread, the thing that Jen took pains to infect her characters with, is resilience. It's her characters' unwillingness to let these situations, these decisions, these shitty times stop them from actually living that keeps you reading. Though they don't typically get what they want, they don't seem to dwell on it for long. They pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and turn the other cheek. We get the feeling that, in the end, things will work out for them, even though we have no proof of it.
July 3, 2015
Won from TNBBC Giveaway, Thank you!
Well then, what can I say about this one? It's a pretty solid collection. Something rare for me to find in short story collections. It's one of the few books I was able to read in the car with few distractions and while waiting for classes. Eventually towards the end I tired out, more because of school than anything. So it took me a lot longer to finish than I intended to.
I'm always thinking of changing the way I review short stories. I don't know if should I review by each story or just review it as a whole. Despite that most of these stories are Suburban realist slice of life tales, they all manage to be completely different and effective. Effective as in bringing in the twinge in throats or that sinking sympathy that lets you down when you know, due to the realism, that it won't actually be solved anytime soon.
Plenty of people have reviewed this collection, it is a fairly popular book in the small press world. But I got to say that this collection is one of the few where I enjoy most of the stories. Almost all of the stories. The prose is lush but heavy in its intent of drawing the picture. The characters are the ones who lead the plot, but aren't cardboard plot devices. The stories are sometimes boring intentionally, very few were, but intentionally in the sense that suburban life is pretty darn boring. Characters are in different walks of life, racially, gender-wise, and class-wise, but all end up in the same sort of melancholic hole. Although I am not trying to say that everyone's experience is the same, but we all get the same feeling in varying degrees or perspectives. Does that make sense? She also manages to make original stories out of plot themes that are usually overdone, such as abortion and cancer. That sounds mean to say about others, but yeah.
Michalski is kind of like a grown up Miranda July. I don't know what is, but her stories reminded me of July, but Michalski was more filled out and less quirky. Not that there's anything wrong with quirkiness. Michalski was more, how do I say, poignant and less invasive? Read July and you will get what I mean. July has little quirks that made me a tad bit uncomfortable in some of our stories. Michalski's stories are a lot like those indie movies, except less hermit-like and a bit more outgoing in their way of trying to convey the story's feeling and flow. They are less feral and a bit more humane than July. I don't know what else to say, except to go on and read her novels. Women writers have a sort of magic that men don't have in their prose. I don't know what it is. (I kind of don't feel like putting quotes, not because I don't like them, but because I read this a long while ago and I kind of forget what sentences made me dog ear those pages. But I promise this is a beautiful book and you will find them yourself. I found them beautiful when I folded that page.)
Favorite Stories:
The Queen of Swords
The Mural
Neighbors
The Safest Place
From Here
Killing Rabbits
You Were Only Waiting For This Moment To Arrive
Rating: 5/5
Originally published here: http://wordsnotesandfiction.blogspot....
Well then, what can I say about this one? It's a pretty solid collection. Something rare for me to find in short story collections. It's one of the few books I was able to read in the car with few distractions and while waiting for classes. Eventually towards the end I tired out, more because of school than anything. So it took me a lot longer to finish than I intended to.
I'm always thinking of changing the way I review short stories. I don't know if should I review by each story or just review it as a whole. Despite that most of these stories are Suburban realist slice of life tales, they all manage to be completely different and effective. Effective as in bringing in the twinge in throats or that sinking sympathy that lets you down when you know, due to the realism, that it won't actually be solved anytime soon.
Plenty of people have reviewed this collection, it is a fairly popular book in the small press world. But I got to say that this collection is one of the few where I enjoy most of the stories. Almost all of the stories. The prose is lush but heavy in its intent of drawing the picture. The characters are the ones who lead the plot, but aren't cardboard plot devices. The stories are sometimes boring intentionally, very few were, but intentionally in the sense that suburban life is pretty darn boring. Characters are in different walks of life, racially, gender-wise, and class-wise, but all end up in the same sort of melancholic hole. Although I am not trying to say that everyone's experience is the same, but we all get the same feeling in varying degrees or perspectives. Does that make sense? She also manages to make original stories out of plot themes that are usually overdone, such as abortion and cancer. That sounds mean to say about others, but yeah.
Michalski is kind of like a grown up Miranda July. I don't know what is, but her stories reminded me of July, but Michalski was more filled out and less quirky. Not that there's anything wrong with quirkiness. Michalski was more, how do I say, poignant and less invasive? Read July and you will get what I mean. July has little quirks that made me a tad bit uncomfortable in some of our stories. Michalski's stories are a lot like those indie movies, except less hermit-like and a bit more outgoing in their way of trying to convey the story's feeling and flow. They are less feral and a bit more humane than July. I don't know what else to say, except to go on and read her novels. Women writers have a sort of magic that men don't have in their prose. I don't know what it is. (I kind of don't feel like putting quotes, not because I don't like them, but because I read this a long while ago and I kind of forget what sentences made me dog ear those pages. But I promise this is a beautiful book and you will find them yourself. I found them beautiful when I folded that page.)
Favorite Stories:
The Queen of Swords
The Mural
Neighbors
The Safest Place
From Here
Killing Rabbits
You Were Only Waiting For This Moment To Arrive
Rating: 5/5
Originally published here: http://wordsnotesandfiction.blogspot....
November 21, 2014
The stories in Michalski's second collection are quiet storms, from Chechnyian teenagers in America falling into drug dealing to ex-girlfriends seeking abortions, to well-meaning boys with too much time on their hands. Everyone in From Here is looking to belong somewhere, and their unresolved often want us to pull our own blankets around us tighter, lock the windows, pretend we are safe.
December 10, 2014
I receive this from first read. This is a short story collection. I really love some of these stories. The last one in particular is stuck in my brain and I am still mulling it around. The author is very good at setting the scene. I would recommend this to those who like short stories.
September 16, 2014
Stay tuned to follow along with the forthcoming virtual book tour for From Here, created by yours truly and Jen Michalski!
Jen's tour has taken off!
Please click THIS LINK to see the tour schedule! Links will be active even post-tour.
Jen's tour has taken off!
Please click THIS LINK to see the tour schedule! Links will be active even post-tour.
Read
March 16, 2015I received a free copy of this book from Goodreads Giveaways. After I've had a chance to read it, I'll write my honest review. Stay tuned!
May 24, 2019
Really enjoyed this new (to me) author. There are some great characters in this collection. I especially liked the story "The Substitute," about a young man who returns to his hometown to take care of his sick dad, a high school teacher, and ends up filling in for his job. The character seemed like a real person, and I was so impressed that the author could pull this off in a very short piece. I would definitely read more work by this author.
September 11, 2019
well written stories - not the usual happy endings for all. i liked the writing style.
April 6, 2022
Well done and well written. Captures your attention and your emotions. Not a feel good book but definitely does the job of giving the reader a sense of what it is to search for a place of belonging.
June 15, 2023
Reviewed by Carly Szabo on www.rowanglassworks.org.
So poetically haunting is Jen Michalski’s From Here, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact characteristic that makes it so beautiful and enticing. Is it the way each story shapes a world of its own and invites the reader to places they never before have seen? Is it the stunning metaphors and descriptions that build characters strong enough to be perceived as real people? Or is it the incredible way Michalski articulates that familiar sense of longing, of yearning for something, anything more than what we have now? Whatever the reason, From Here captures the reader’s heart and fills it with powerful imagery and emotion.
Michalski’s latest publication from Aqueous Books is a compilation of short stories all with the central themes of inner conflict, exterior struggle, and the unyielding desire for change, whatever that change may be. The main figures in each story are drastically different from one another in age, gender, race, and location. With characters closely resembling the sexually/racially ambiguous nature of David Levithan’s A from Everyday, each story in this collection brings the reader to a profound conclusion: We all struggle in some way with ourselves, with others, and with our ever-present desire for that unattainable elsewhere. From Here boldly states, “Give me the poor Polish girl selling drugs to feed her sister, give me the neglected boys in the baseball field searching for some source of happiness, give me the Vietnamese father clinging to the fantasy family he’ll never have and I’ll show you how each heart beats with the same suffering.”
While From Here is compelling in its exploration of the inner struggles of each character it presents, the book is not one that can be read straight through. The extreme attention to detail in each story leaves the reader begging for more, yet not quite ready to move on to the next vignette. The 265-page book may appear at first glance to be a light and easy read, but once the reader is immersed in the worlds Michalski creates, it becomes clear the material is anything but light or easy. The profoundly emotive nature of each story leaves a great impact on the reader; however, this impact can be detrimental to the reader’s motivation to move on through the book. Perhaps it is the extremely personal nature of each tale that grabs hold of the heartstrings of the reader and prevents them from being able to move on to the next story. However, this is nothing a short coffee break and a good cleansing of the mind can’t amend.
Overall, Michalski’s From Here is a powerful collection of fiction that successfully creates and explores the lives of an array of characters. So insightful and deliberately crafted is each story that the reader almost feels as if these tales are nonfictional. While each story leaves one fulfilled and greatly impacted, it is difficult for the reader to abandon the character to whom they’ve grown so attached in place of the next to come. It is for this reason the book should be read slowly and deliberately in order to truly appreciate the intricacies and emotions of each vignette.
From Here is an astounding testament to human nature and our desire to better our lives in whatever way we can. While each character is drastically different, it soon becomes apparent to the reader that they are also intrinsically the same. Their struggles, their desires, their heartbreaks, their fears all reverberate through each story as they connect even the most unlikely of characters in a way that is beautifully poetic. The greatest takeaway from this lovely compilation is that no matter the circumstance, no matter our background, no matter our perceived differences, our suffering is the same. In an age where our differences make us feel disconnected from one another, it is refreshing to see a set of stories that successfully illustrates how we can find comfort in knowing we indeed are not alone in our struggles.
So poetically haunting is Jen Michalski’s From Here, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact characteristic that makes it so beautiful and enticing. Is it the way each story shapes a world of its own and invites the reader to places they never before have seen? Is it the stunning metaphors and descriptions that build characters strong enough to be perceived as real people? Or is it the incredible way Michalski articulates that familiar sense of longing, of yearning for something, anything more than what we have now? Whatever the reason, From Here captures the reader’s heart and fills it with powerful imagery and emotion.
Michalski’s latest publication from Aqueous Books is a compilation of short stories all with the central themes of inner conflict, exterior struggle, and the unyielding desire for change, whatever that change may be. The main figures in each story are drastically different from one another in age, gender, race, and location. With characters closely resembling the sexually/racially ambiguous nature of David Levithan’s A from Everyday, each story in this collection brings the reader to a profound conclusion: We all struggle in some way with ourselves, with others, and with our ever-present desire for that unattainable elsewhere. From Here boldly states, “Give me the poor Polish girl selling drugs to feed her sister, give me the neglected boys in the baseball field searching for some source of happiness, give me the Vietnamese father clinging to the fantasy family he’ll never have and I’ll show you how each heart beats with the same suffering.”
While From Here is compelling in its exploration of the inner struggles of each character it presents, the book is not one that can be read straight through. The extreme attention to detail in each story leaves the reader begging for more, yet not quite ready to move on to the next vignette. The 265-page book may appear at first glance to be a light and easy read, but once the reader is immersed in the worlds Michalski creates, it becomes clear the material is anything but light or easy. The profoundly emotive nature of each story leaves a great impact on the reader; however, this impact can be detrimental to the reader’s motivation to move on through the book. Perhaps it is the extremely personal nature of each tale that grabs hold of the heartstrings of the reader and prevents them from being able to move on to the next story. However, this is nothing a short coffee break and a good cleansing of the mind can’t amend.
Overall, Michalski’s From Here is a powerful collection of fiction that successfully creates and explores the lives of an array of characters. So insightful and deliberately crafted is each story that the reader almost feels as if these tales are nonfictional. While each story leaves one fulfilled and greatly impacted, it is difficult for the reader to abandon the character to whom they’ve grown so attached in place of the next to come. It is for this reason the book should be read slowly and deliberately in order to truly appreciate the intricacies and emotions of each vignette.
From Here is an astounding testament to human nature and our desire to better our lives in whatever way we can. While each character is drastically different, it soon becomes apparent to the reader that they are also intrinsically the same. Their struggles, their desires, their heartbreaks, their fears all reverberate through each story as they connect even the most unlikely of characters in a way that is beautifully poetic. The greatest takeaway from this lovely compilation is that no matter the circumstance, no matter our background, no matter our perceived differences, our suffering is the same. In an age where our differences make us feel disconnected from one another, it is refreshing to see a set of stories that successfully illustrates how we can find comfort in knowing we indeed are not alone in our struggles.
October 13, 2015
From Here is an arresting collection of stories that will stay with me for quite some time. While the storylines are as different as random strangers that you will meet on the street, common threads of loneliness, abandonment, searching, loss and dissatisfaction run through them. There is a strong sense of unrequited longing, of issues not actualized; far from resolution. Each story tends to end abruptly; not at “the end” but rather at the beginning of a moment in which a distinct change (or growth, or evolution) is most needed for the characters. We the readers find ourselves swept up in their most poignant moments of being, profoundly real and intimately felt.
I don’t know if this adequately explains the sophistication and magic of the collection. Plainly put, you will feel like voyeur unobtrusively witnessing the types of experiences that are kept behind closed doors or locked away in people’s hearts.
As another reviewer previously stated, these stories do feel like novels in waiting, perhaps due to the fact that the author does choose to leave us not with the resolution, but rather at inciting moments to which a larger resolution is needed. I like that though. It allows us to (I’m paraphrasing from a favorite movie) to “imagine to best and worst” for the characters.
This is a lovely, literary read, and the author has a beautiful voice on the page.
Favorites: The title piece and “The Mural”, “Queen of Swords” and “Killing Rabbits”.
P.S. The author will be holding a book discussion on Goodreads' group "The Next Best Book Club" on May 18th, 2015. Join us there!
I don’t know if this adequately explains the sophistication and magic of the collection. Plainly put, you will feel like voyeur unobtrusively witnessing the types of experiences that are kept behind closed doors or locked away in people’s hearts.
As another reviewer previously stated, these stories do feel like novels in waiting, perhaps due to the fact that the author does choose to leave us not with the resolution, but rather at inciting moments to which a larger resolution is needed. I like that though. It allows us to (I’m paraphrasing from a favorite movie) to “imagine to best and worst” for the characters.
This is a lovely, literary read, and the author has a beautiful voice on the page.
Favorites: The title piece and “The Mural”, “Queen of Swords” and “Killing Rabbits”.
P.S. The author will be holding a book discussion on Goodreads' group "The Next Best Book Club" on May 18th, 2015. Join us there!
November 23, 2014
In most collection of short stories, the prose drags and the more-deeply buried stories barely touch your attention. Not the case here. Each one of Michalski's stories is awesome, from the opening story "Orion" to the titular "From Here." Not all were pleasant, of course ("The Safest Place wasn't fun") but pleasant isn't really important, but all were beautifully written and exposed the guts and bones of regular people living their life.
My personal favorite might be "Killing Rabbits" about a family in mid-dissolution and, of course, "From Here" about a sad little hot spa and why you can't go home again.
I can't wait to read Michalski's next book.
*Full disclosure, I do know Ms. Michalski. It doesn't really enter into the review, however.
My personal favorite might be "Killing Rabbits" about a family in mid-dissolution and, of course, "From Here" about a sad little hot spa and why you can't go home again.
I can't wait to read Michalski's next book.
*Full disclosure, I do know Ms. Michalski. It doesn't really enter into the review, however.
October 7, 2014
Sometimes a collection of short stories twists into my brain and now, days later, pieces of it pop out of the optic ganglia and show up in full scenes on the back of my eyes. I've been seeing brothers and their doomed, only-for-a-day dog, a little girl looking for her princess, pregnant men, and drug-trapped teens. Jen is a powerful, sometimes brutal writer who nevertheless develops her characters and their situations with a delicate and tender carefulness. It's this combination that left me helpless and panting. How long do you think I'll be hallucinating these stories?
February 23, 2015
I received this book from the author herself as part of a Goodreads giveaway.
This book was easy to read and had some really interesting short stories. Each story was discrete, unique and contained some well-developed characters for the amount of page real estate they were allowed. I enjoyed these slice-of-life stories and appreciate the amount of depth they each had.
The only story that didn't quite fit in with the others was the first one, which I thought was vague on purpose without a whole lot of meaning. The rest of the book tied in the title, which was also the theme very well.
This book was easy to read and had some really interesting short stories. Each story was discrete, unique and contained some well-developed characters for the amount of page real estate they were allowed. I enjoyed these slice-of-life stories and appreciate the amount of depth they each had.
The only story that didn't quite fit in with the others was the first one, which I thought was vague on purpose without a whole lot of meaning. The rest of the book tied in the title, which was also the theme very well.
July 16, 2015
I really enjoyed this book of short stories. They are each unique and satisfying, quite an achievement with a compilation of short stories. The stories are about people who feel real, who live everyday lives that are not necessarily beautiful or happy or satisfying. This book is now travelling among bookcrossers.
December 15, 2014
You always know when you're reading a Jen Michalski book. It's the wonderful writing, of course, but it's more the generosity and imagination of the author and the aching vulnerability of each character and story.
October 20, 2014
I received this book for free as part of a first reads promotion
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December 29, 2016Engaging short stories
January 4, 2018
I have not read many short stories in my life, but of the ones that I had read "From Here" is definitely the one that seems to have tapped in to the nuances that make us all different and yet connect us to the very things that make us human, the most obvious thing being our attachment - and even our removal from - comfort. I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews