Emerald City and Other Stories by Jennifer Egan
Emerald City And Other Stories is a collection of short stories from Pulitzer prize winner Jennifer Egan.
Egan won the prize for her 2011 novel A Visit From The Goon Squad and she was also awarded the Carroll Kowal Journalism Prize for a story on homeless children in 2002 and she write frequently for the New York Times Magazine.
Emerald City… consists of eleven short stories which cover a wide range of topics but are all somehow based around relationships, both positive and negative. Not all of these relationships are of couples; some are of friends, some are of enemies and some are of total strangers. This is one of the highlights of the book, each story focuses on different people who are in different situations, all of which are realistic and I am sure many people would be able to identify with one or more of them.
However, the main problem with short stories is the length. It may be possible to have character depth and a strong storyline confined to twenty five pages (and these are the longest stories), but on the whole Egan just does not manage it. In some stories, such as one of the longest stories ‘Why China?’, I think I am supposed to sympathise with the male protagonist but instead I am irritated by him. The story line does not have room to breathe in such a short story leaving me feeling wholly unsatisfied; not good considering this is the first story of the book.
Some stories however did intrigue me, the ones where the story is short and the characters are given more attention. The second story, ‘Sacred Heart’, is about a girl who becomes obsessed with a troubled girl at her school. This time, Egan allows the reader to feel more as she describes the emotional turmoil of the protagonist. Another strong story is ‘The Stylist’, another female protagonist and another story where emotions are described well and draw the reader in.
Upon writing this review, I have realised that it is all of Egan’s male characters that I cannot get along with, whether they are business men who have been conned out of money, fathers who are concerned about their children or young men who are in love with young women. Unfortunately, Egan’s male protagonists are not as strong as her portrayal of female characters and this causes at least half of the book to be hard to enjoy.
Emerald City And Other Stories will be published by Corsair on19th January 2012 and will be available in paperback for £5.19 or in Kindle edition for £5.73.
Rating: 3/5
Recommended for: Fans of Jennifer Egan’s previous books and anyone who likes to be able to read a story in a few pages instead of a novel. Good to take on a short business trip or weekend away where you can dip in and out of different stories.
Other recommended reading: Jennifer Egan’s prize winning novel A Visit From The Goon Squad and her book The Invisible Circus which has been made into a film starring Cameron Diaz.
Lauren Peel
