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    Vanishing and Other Stories
    Vanishing and Other Stories
    Vanishing and Other Stories
    Ebook305 pages8 hours

    Vanishing and Other Stories

    By Deborah Willis

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    About this ebook

    A French teacher who collects fiancés; a fortune-teller who fails to predict the heartbreak of her own daughter; an aging cowboy seduced by a city girl . . . these are some of the unforgettable people who live in these pages.

    In Vanishing and Other Stories, secrets are both kept and unearthed, and lives are shaped by missing lovers, parents, and children. With wisdom and dexterity, moments of dark humor, and a remark- able economy of words, Deborah Willis captures an incredible array of characters that linger in the imagination and prove that nothing is ever truly forgotten.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateAug 17, 2010
    ISBN9780062020277
    Vanishing and Other Stories
    Author

    Deborah Willis

    A photo historian, curator, and photographer, Deborah Willis is chair and professor of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Department of Photography and Imaging. A Guggenheim, Fletcher, and MacArthur fellow, she lives in New York City.

    Read more from Deborah Willis

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    Reviews for Vanishing and Other Stories

    4/5

    25 ratings7 reviews

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    • 3/5
      2.75 starsA book of short stories… I’ve said it before – I’m not usually a fan of short stories, and I wasn’t here, either. There was one that I liked; there were a few more that were ok – I wouldn’t say I liked them, but at least they held my attention; the others, I just wasn’t interested in and didn’t even manage to follow. I hate writing a bad review about a book by a Canadian author, but I’ve actually also met this author a couple of times (and my book is a signed copy). I did like that some of the stories were set, not only in Canada, but in my city (Calgary – where the author lives, or did the last I knew), and in another city I’ve visited a couple of times (Victoria), so it’s always nice to recognize the places mentioned/described.
    • 5/5
      Excellent, superb. Like Alice Munro, Mavis Gallant
    • 5/5
      Excellent, superb. Like Alice Munro, Mavis Gallant
    • 4/5
      Deborah Willis's collection is populated by characters who are defined by the absence of an important person in their lives. The title story is that of a daughter whose playwright father disappears one day and leaves her in the shadow of his growing enigmatic fame. Characters are missing parents, friends, or significant others in each story. They're learning to cope, or they're enjoying their freedom, or they're attempting to fill the space left empty in their lives. The characters Willis portrays are vivid and relateable in their joy, pain, hopes, dreams, fears, and their penetrating need for things that they can't quite put a name to. Willis draws stark clear-eyed pictures of cheating wives, mourning husbands, lost friends, struggling fathers, and confused couples that elicit an unexpected sympathy for those simply struggling to endure the burdens of the human condition. Reading Willis's story collection is like riding the best kind of emotional roller coaster that effortlessly captures the full range of human emotion. Willis also has a clever and fsubtly ironic way with words that makes certain passages jump off the page with their relevance within the context of the stories and perhaps even in our own lives. Penny looks out at the faces of her students, faces she would describe as looking sleepy or sweetly bored. "By the end of the semester," she says, "you'll have a good grasp of vocabulary and be able to speak in the present and past tenses."One of the Margarets raises her hand. "What about the future?""The future?" Penny is so grateful to this girl for listening that she could kiss her. "We'll try to get to that too. But the future is complicated."Willis has penned a captivating collection of short stories, many of which, if I didn't enjoy, I at least appreciated. My favorite, though, would have to be "Escape," a story about a meticulous researcher who finds comfort in statistics, reason, and routine who loses his wife to cancer. Searching for something after her death, Tom finds himself taking refuge in gambling at a casino where a has-been magician turned blackjack dealer captivates him with her games and tricks that allow him to escape from the empty routine of his life. The harsh reality of loss juxtaposed with hope and a sense of possibilty make "Escape" an especially poignant read.But it wasn't until Kelly was admitted to the hospital that he prayed. It took him a while to get the hang of it. He tried to pray to the God of Light that Kelly favoured, but as her condition worsened, that god satisfied him less and less. The god Tom knew was a darker thing. A murky, underwater god. A god who said, Sometimes there is light. A god capable of beauty and cruelty and - Tom prayed for it, every night, on his knees - magic.
    • 4/5
      What a sad, unnerving, yet touching and memorable set of short stories. I cant' really say that I am fond of short stories - although I must confess, that as of late, they have been growing on me more and more. These 14 stories have a common thread - someone or something is missing. It could be the absence of a loved one or the death of a significant other, even the loss of something - in the end someone vanishes and someone is left behind. These are the stories of those who stay, how they live their lives without this person or thing that is missing. I have to say that Ms. Willis is a very talented writer. Her words were a joy to read. She masterfully grabs you at the start of each story and you will find that you can't stop until that story is over. I found it very unique that we get so much in each story, which you usually don't find in short stories. By giving you details of a characters past and present, you begin to understand them more fully, you get to know them and eventually acknowledge and appreciate their growth throughout their stories. This alone was quite astonishing to me, because although the stories were mostly sad, you feel as if there is some closure in each one. She also captures her characters - whether it be a woman scorned, a friend, a sibling, or even an aging cowboy, young or old - the narrators all seemed true, someone you might know, or even a few of their aspects might be found within you. Vanishing was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction. This book is one I'd recommend to lovers of short stories or even better yet, to book clubs, because it is very thought provoking. My final say is, you may relate to one of these stories or, you might relate to none, but in the end, they will stay with you.
    • 5/5
      There may have been a little bit of magic in this book.VANISHING and OTHER STORIES is a collection of short stories written by Deborah Willis. Every story deals with an absence of some sort; a missing father, a dead wife, a lover parted, childhood lost.The writing in this book is phenomenal. Incredibly beautiful and moving and by the time I finished each short story I felt as if I'd been sucked into some kind of time warp and, in the process of just a few real-time minutes, read a novel of depth, length and substance. From the first sentence of each of these stories I was drawn into a world that needed no building because that sentence gave me a true sense of the history behind the story before it even really began.This Other Us is one of the stories that seems to catch everyones attention and, while interesting and.. disturbing in its own way, it was Traces that really enraptured me. Focusing a story on senses and thoughts, the thoughts of a woman toward the woman who is usurping her in her husbands affections - and the twist.. oh the twist had me curling my toes and feeling the heat of anger inside of me wanting to erupt. I'm not usually a fan of short stories (and this is the second collection I've read of them) but this book is a beautiful, perfect example of just how perfect they can be.
    • 3/5
      These are the hardest books for me to review, as I am not the most cerebral women in the world. But hey I do know what cerebral means, and I didn't have to spell check it, so I am not completely without intelligence. The writers are fantastic, I do get that, but their stories are just not my thing, and I don't want my review to discourage someone from reading their work. At the same time, I cannot give the book a high rating, if I really didn't enjoy it. Just wanted to give you a heads up and also so if for some reason the author sees this review, they won't get offended and email nasty things about me.The Good Stuff * Author is exceptionally talented at emotions and insights * Her descriptions are so beautifully written you can almost feel, hear and touch the story * Not overly depressing for a Canadian author - I know I have issues with this * Insightful descriptions of human nature and emotions * My favorite stories were "The Seperation", "Sky Theatre", "Caught" and Vanishing. Although I think Vanishing would have been better as a longer story, as it felt rushed at times * Love seeing familiar Canadian locations as settings, trust me when you read so much non Canadian books, you feel giddy when you recognize something so familiar as the Bloor viaduct or Spadina * Heartrendingly honestThe Not so Good Stuff * Far too cerebral for my tastes. * Some of the characters in various stories are just sort of sad and pathetic and quite frankly could care less about them.Favorite Quotes/Passages"He must have been such a fascinating man." Yes, she smiles. He was very clever. Vanishing, she thinks, was the smartest thing he ever did." "They seemed comfortable in their bodies, like Adam and Eve before they understood they were naked." "Jay and I held hands and made our pilgrimage from one planet to the next. We started at Pluto, as this was before it was demoted."What I Learned * I'm not a fan of short stories * Wished I was more cerebral so I could enjoy this wonderful writers work moreWho should/shouldn't read * Wonderful for book clubs, University/College classes * My sister in law's would love this and will pass it on to them * Not for those who just want to lose themselves in a story3.5 Dewey'sI received this from Harper Perennial in return for an honest review -- no money changed hands and no bribes were offered (unfortunately)

    Book preview

    Vanishing and Other Stories - Deborah Willis

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