Boundaries and borders, between countries and between stages of life: Andrée A. Michaud's Boundary darts across the dotted lines, back and forth, sedately in one moment and chillingly the next. Because the story revolves around the murders of two young women in the small community of Bondrée, questions of
Of all the Mavis Gallant stories which I've read this year, this one I yearn to discuss. With many of the others, company would be nice, not only to see what other readers might unearth in the layers, but simply for the company because the characters' loneliness and sadness is
Inheritance: a common literary theme. Here, Mrs. Boldescu has died, leaving behind four grown children and a family grocery shop on St. Eulalie Street in Montreal: “Rumania Fancy Groceries". Small shops in 1935, imagine "Rumania Family Groceries" on the signClick for source details Carol and Georgie are the older brothers, and
This feels like a quintessential Mavis Gallant story: expectations and disappointments swirling around a young girl's form, as she begins to assemble a set of truths about the world. The town in "Wing's Chips" would never make it onto a postcard of Valley-living(Click for source details) Although the setting appears
A new Friday fugue, concluding this week, considering the ways in which our working lives appear on the pages of novels and short stories. (Previous weeks can be viewed here, here and here, if you're keen.) Riverhead, 2013 Mohsin Hamid’s How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia
