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Paris Stories Audiobook
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(3.99) - 421 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
Mavis Gallant is a contemporary legend, a frequent contributor to the New Yorker for close to fifty years, and the undisputed master of the short story. Her peerless prose captures the range of human experience while evoking time and place with unequaled skill. This superb collection of fifteen of Gallant's stories, edited and with an introduction by bestselling author Michael Ondaatje, gathers the best of her many stories set all over Europe, all written in Paris where she has long lived.
Mysterious, funny, insightful, and heartbreaking, these are tales of expatriates and exiles, wise children and straying saints. Together they compose a secret history, at once intimate and panoramic, of modern times.
Besides an introduction by Michael Ondaatje, this book includes the following stories:
"The Ice Wagon Going Down the Street"
"Irina"
"The Latehomecomer"
"In Transit"
"The Moslem Wife"
"From the Fifteenth District"
"Speck's Idea"
"Baum, Gabriel, 1935-( )"
"The Remission"
"Grippes and Poches"
"Forain"
"August"
"Mlle. Dias de Corta"
"In Plain Sight"
"Scarves, Beads, Sandals"
Afterword: About the Stories, by Mavis Gallant
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"This book was listed at the back of Francine Prose's How to Read Like a Writer. Years ago I added the first page or two of suggested reading from Prose's list to my Amazon Wishlist. Last Christmas someone gave me Gallant's Paris Stories and I've only now read all the stories in the collection. I'm not certain I've read more beautiful, direct declaritive sentences. Gallant's prose is so clean it's perfect. Her ability to slip from one character's thoughts to another's, sometimes within the same sentence, is startling and refreshing and entertaining. These stories inspire the imagination; they make me want to write. Some are humorous, others tragic; all reach a level of care and coherency that make the act of reading them one of heightened senses, of an almost anxious pleasure which pleads for them not to end, for the sentences to keep living and breathing with each exact word, each shiny, perfect step forward. Read The Moslem Wife. Read them all, and then find copies of her many collections and read those too. That is my plan."
— Michael (5 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“Ms. Gallant…has dared to drift in a disorienting century, always trusting her own imaginative compass. Her fiction, never fooled into trying to keep up with history, will last a long time.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“Mavis Gallant writes some of the most superbly crafted and perceptive stories of our time.”
— Globe and Mail -
“Mavis Gallant’s finely honed prose captures the small details that illuminate a life.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“Gallant’s stories are filled with insights and wonderfully crafted sentences…A 2007 Audie Award Finalist.”
— AudioFile
Paris Stories Listener Reviews
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" Simply one of the best volumes of short stories I have ever read. Mavis Gallant is genius! "
— Christine, 2/7/2014 -
" I finally gave up on this book. Most of the stories had no point and most were depressing. "
— Gail, 2/6/2014 -
" Speck's Idea: the Art World trembles before the insightfulness of this brilliant short story. Fun, fun, and fun. "
— Chris, 2/5/2014 -
" Absolutely delightful. I just discovered Gallant. She is witty and devastating. Her characters have become friends of mine; or, perhaps, they were always friends of mine, who I forgot I knew. Read her, read her, read her. "
— Natanya, 2/3/2014 -
" Some of the stories were rambling, circuitous and hard to follow. Others I connected with totally. Ov erall, just OK. "
— Rusty, 1/19/2014 -
" I will read anything by Michael Ondaatje, and he wrote the intro and selected these stories. "
— Lisa, 1/9/2014 -
" A temporary review: this is still one of my favorite short story collections of all time (ranking up there with my love for Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" and Yukio Mishima's "Death in Midsummer." A more detailed review to come... "
— Ken, 1/4/2014 -
" I was fascinated by the author's wit. These stories are not happy ones, but they are incisive, intellectually challenging and fun. "
— Mary, 12/31/2013 -
" I'd never read Mavis Gallant before, but as a Canadian living in Paris, I thought I should. I'll definitely read more of her, love her writing! "
— Saxamaholly, 12/5/2013 -
" Mavis Gallant is a master of the short story. Through wit and humor, she captures the smallest details to reveal humor, sadness, angst of the exile and expatriate in post-war Europe. "
— Jennifer, 11/11/2013 -
" Great author (Canadian) that I discovered much too late! Will definitely read more of her work. Terrific stories, quickly developed, thoughtful, vivid. Really enjoyed. "
— Donna, 10/8/2013 -
" A very talented author, some of these stories are a little dry, but a very satisfying collection none-the-less. The attention to detail makes stories about subjects I don't care about far more compelling. "
— chris, 7/23/2013 -
" These stories are scary good. Many of the endings took my breath away. "
— Sue, 7/22/2013 -
" Gallant produces elegant and very technically accomplished short stories, but of the sort one admires rather than loves. "
— B., 3/21/2013 -
" Superb! She is a favorite. I never get tired of reading Mavis and often recommend her. "
— Elizabeth, 1/3/2013 -
" Each story takes a little while to get going but once they do, enjoyable. "
— Haylee, 5/23/2012 -
" I just couldn't get into this book...unfinished "
— Maggi, 3/1/2012 -
" Gallant writes beautifully but some of the stories seemed dated which surprised me. Still, she writes with depth and intimacy. "
— Kathleen, 1/4/2012 -
" I read this because I read a story by the author in the New Yorker and liked it. "
— Alexandra, 9/8/2011 -
" I finally gave up on this book. Most of the stories had no point and most were depressing. "
— Gail, 5/19/2011 -
" Superb! She is a favorite. I never get tired of reading Mavis and often recommend her. "
— Elizabeth, 3/10/2011 -
" Simply one of the best volumes of short stories I have ever read. Mavis Gallant is genius! "
— Christine, 1/13/2011 -
" Gallant writes beautifully but some of the stories seemed dated which surprised me. Still, she writes with depth and intimacy. "
— Kathleen, 4/21/2010 -
" This collection could be used to teach a course on exactly what the short story should be. Beautiful. "
— Katie, 1/27/2010 -
" Each story takes a little while to get going but once they do, enjoyable. "
— Haylee, 1/21/2010 -
" I read this because I read a story by the author in the New Yorker and liked it. "
— Alexandra, 1/4/2010 -
" Speck's Idea: the Art World trembles before the insightfulness of this brilliant short story. Fun, fun, and fun. "
— Chris, 11/16/2009
About Mavis Gallant
Mavis Gallant was born in Montreal in 1922 and worked as a journalist at The Standard before moving to Europe to devote herself to writing fiction. After traveling extensively, she settled in Paris, where she still resides. She was first published in the New Yorker in 1951.
About the Narrators
Lorna Raver, named one of AudioFile magazine’s Best Voices of the Year, has received numerous Audie Award nominations and many AudioFile Earphones Awards. She has appeared on stage in New York, Los Angeles, and regional theaters around the country. Among her many television credits are NYPD Blue, Judging Amy, Boston Legal, ER, and Star Trek. She starred in director Sam Raimi’s film Drag Me to Hell.
Yuri Rasovsky (1944–2012) won wide critical acclaim during his forty-year career as an audio dramatist, writer, producer, and director. His numerous honors included two Peabody Awards, nine Audie Awards, and a Grammy. In 2011, his production for Blackstone, The Mark of Zorro, was nominated for a Grammy. His final production for Blackstone was Die, Snow White! Die, Damn You! He has left behind an incredible legacy.