This Cake is for the Party: Stories

By Sarah Selecky

Finalist for the 2010 Scotiabank Giller Prize and longlisted for the 2010 Frank O’Connor Award

Sarah Selecky’s first book takes dead aim at a young generation of men and women who often set out with the best of intentions, only to have plans thwarted or hopes betrayed.

These are stories about friendships and relationships confused by unsettling tensions bubbling beneath the surface. A woman who plans to conceive ends up in the arms of her husband’s best friend; a man who baby-sits a neglected four-year-old ends up questioning his own dysfunctional relationship; a chance encounter at a gala event causes a woman to remember when she volunteered for a nightmarish drug-testing clinic; another woman discovers that her best friend who is about to get married has just had an affair; a young teenager tries to escape from her controlling father and finds an unexpected lover on a bus ride home; a wife tries to overcome her dying mother-in-law’s resistance to her marriage by revealing to her own strange aural stigmata; a friend tries to talk another friend out of dating her cheating ex-boyfriend; and a superstitious candle-maker confesses to a tempestuous relationship that implodes spectacularly.

Sarah Selecky is a talented young writer who evokes a generation teetering on the shoals of consumerism and ambiguous mores. Reminiscent of early Atwood, with echoes of Lisa Moore and Barbara Gowdy, these absorbing stories are about love and longing, stories that touch us in a myriad of subtle and affecting ways.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dundurn
• Release date: May 8, 2010
• ISBN: 9780887628245

Sarah Selecky

SARAH SELECKY’s breakout debut collection, This Cake Is for the Party, was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book, and was longlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. Her stories have been published in The Walrus, Elle Canada, The New Quarterly, and The Journey Prize anthology, among other publications. She is also the creator of the beloved online creative writing school (and MFA alternative) Story Is a State of Mind.

Reviews for This Cake is for the Party

[oldblack-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

These ten short stories were all good reading for me. Selecky is able to write a very satisfying story without the need to tie up all the loose ends. She seems to me to also be very good at introducing tension into the story - a palpable tension between characters. All these stories involve people and situations that could be described as away from the mainstream...the people are slightly wacky or their work is unusual or they belong to families that have unusual behaviour. Of course, that's all by comparison with my experience; and I don't live in the region where these stories are set. It's a pity Ms Selecky seems to have rested on the laurels of this one publication and launched herself as a creative writing training business. A pity for me as a reader anyway. Maybe her students are grateful.

[rdra1962 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

just not doing it for me.....

[paradiseporch · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

his collection of short stories from Toronto author Selecky marks her publishing debut and introduces her as a young writer to watch. Set in various locations across Canada, but especially in Ontario, the stories have varied themes and feature characters that include a young man struggling with whether or not to report a good friend of his wife as an unfit mother, a naïve young woman trying to launch a network marketing business, and a woman at her deceased neighbour’s yard sale. Her characters and themes are universal and guaranteed to make you squirm in recognition.Selecky’s writing is clean and unpretentious, and I predict a bright future for her. Recommended.Read this if: you’re looking for a fresh, new voice in Canadian fiction; or if you enjoy short stories in modern settings. 4 starsNote: Visit Sarah’s website and sign up for her free daily writing prompts. They’re brilliant.

[ldvoorberg · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My favourite was the last one, "Ten Thousand Buddhas."

Excellent short stories that convey so much character and background with such little narration. It's in the dialogue (which is great, because she doesn't even use quotation marks). Every story starts in the middle of the story, but they also end in a way that you know the story is not finished. If you had a telescope and could zoom into people's lives at random, these might be the lives you encounter.

And such variety!

[beamis12 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Have decided this year to read as many books of short stories as I can. Why? I am trying to decipher what exactly it takes to make a good short story collection and to discover the differences in each book of stories. Short stories seem a little more personal, maybe tells a little more about who an author is and how they view things as a person. In other words short stories cut away much of the fluff and fauna. In this collection the author writes stories about average occurrences many people will experience in their lives. They flow well, the conversations and scenes are like those many of us have in our lives. In some of them, though, I would be reading along, comfortable with what was occurring when plop! it was over. So I am thinking I do not understand these endings, what are they supposed to mean? Could be some of them were just over my head but I do believe it is to the author's credit that I was really trying to figure it out.

[dabble58 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This collection of short stories is a definite need-to-read. They are tales of people's lives, intersecting, sensuous, random, non-random, filled with hidden truths and wonderment. Selecky writes so smoothly you consume them like bites of butter-icing cake, feeling them slide over your mind like melted chocolate, perhaps with a pinch of cayenne.There are surprising moments, where the reader wonders, why? I reread a couple of stories, looking for the foreshadowing, the links forms tart to finish. The writing seems stream of consciousness but is too graceful for that.As the back copy says, "She captures her characters at moments when their worlds seem to be crumbling..."(McCormack). It's fascinating and a wee bit uncomfortable to watch. But I can't look away.

[mizmoffatt · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sarah Selecky dazzles with ten taut, smartly searing stories in her first published collection, This Cake Is for the Party. Selecky levels her gaze upon a younger generation whose best intentions unravel in the face of hidden truths, betrayal, and unsettling tensions riding just below the surface.Stand out pieces include "Go-Manchura," in which a lonesome introvert embroils herself in a health food pyramid scheme, and the heartbreaking "Where Are You Coming From, Sweetheart?", in which a young girl struggles to free herself from her father's religion and finds an unexpected lover on a Greyhound bus. Additional accolades go to "Prognosis," written as a rather biting letter to a dying mother-in-law in which the writer is gifted with a certain aural oddity. Selecky shines in her first-person prose, and creates characters with distinct, relatable voices that are sure to startle and delight.Ideal for: Short story junkies; Readers in the twenty- to thirty-something age bracket; Commuters prepared to shed a tear or two in public.(less)

[jlrobinson99 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I don't usually read short story collections, but Selecky hooked me with "Throwing Cotton", the first story in "This Cake is for the Party". Entirely satisfying. Rich cast of characters, familiar (Canadian) settings, explores a full range of emotions and always feels genuine.