Book Review - If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This

It seems I am on a short story reading binge, and the most recent collection completed is Robin Black's If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This. I am also on a good streak of excellent books, and this continues the streak. This is another effortless read, with good strong characters, very natural dialogue and interesting situations. Thematically it is similar to some other recent reads, with most of the stories being told from a woman's perspective and revisiting the well travelled ground of love and loss. I think Black approaches the material with enough fresh characters and situations to keep her stories from just being more of the same.

There are 10 stories in the collection, and I had a hard time picking favorites. "The Guide" is a story about a father and his blind daughter going to get a guide dog. "Pine" is about the aftermath of a husband's death, and the wife and daughter's lives afterward. "A Country Where You Once Lived" recounts a father's visit to England to see his estranged daughter and ex-wife for the first time in years. "The History of the World" tells the tale of an older woman divorcee and her twin brother's ill-fated vacation birthday trip to Italy. All are engaging stories full of memorable characters.

"Family life. Looking back, it seems like a dance. A four-person minuet comprised of steps toward and steps away, approaches and retreats, ending, finally, with each of them standing entirely alone." (p. 57)

"I don't think about Terry every day , anymore. And sometimes I'm stunned by that fact. It isn't only the discomfort of disloyalty I feel, it's the fact of utter disappearance after death. The idea that as loved as we may be, we may also be forgotten. If only for a day here and there." (pp. 219-220)

"The truth is that sometimes even more than a day goes by before I remember to think of my brother. It's only natural, I've told myself, time and time again. It's human nature, I've thought - as though there's consolation to be found in that. And maybe there is. Maybe it's a gift to be able to let go of the remembering. Some times. Some things." (p.221)

Excellent. 4.5 stars out of 5.

Books read this year: 18 [totalling 3,938 pages]
Books by new authors: 12 (including this)
Published in 2010: 10 (including this)
Classics: still 3