Going Away Shoes

I'm always looking for fresh new writers and had thought perhaps this was one of them. While her book was new , I found the stories to be rather dull and sad. Not very soothing on a grey winter day.

I had looked forward to reading this book of short stories for some time, but what a disappointment. Of the eleven depressing stories, only one contains a shred of hope. For the most part, nearly every protagonist is a woman of the same type -- door mat -- with little to no indication she will ever grow a backbone and stand up for herself.In the title story, young Debby let family pressure lead her to reject the man she loved. Now middle-aged, Debby has given up her life and career to care for her elderly mother. She gets no help from her sisters, whose lives revolve around their families and expensive shoes. They do make the occasional empty promise of sending Debby on a vacation cruise, where they tell her she might meet a man "Love Boat" style. Along with put-upon women, old TV programs are another recurring theme of the stories.All of the stories continue in this vein -- women who would rather wallow in regret than act to make changes. They include a woman who was controlled and abused by her brother throughout childhood, but doesn't have the good sense to either put a stop to it or stay away from him now that she's an adult. Another character allows her adult children and son-in-law to control her. The one woman who isn't a door mat is a control freak herself, and has driven away her only child and his family. Her husband has died and now she lives alone and lonely, hated even by the students she taught over the many years before she retired.I generally like short stories, but I like for them to feel complete. Most of these felt like vignettes from novels, something for the author to read at book signings to illustrate the excellent writing.It's only because of the excellent writing that I give this book two stars. I deducted one star because, unlike most short stories, I would never read any of these again. I deducted another because I would never be so cruel as to recommend this book. I deducted a third just because I didn't like anything about it but the writing, which was a talent wasted on these depressing and disjointed stories.

A fabulous book of short stories, the author, Jill McCorkle, captures the good and not-so-good of human nature as it plays out in every-day experiences of today's life in America. I laughed out loud in parts and felt the unhappiness and torment of characters I recognized in my own life. This book is not to be missed.

I was unfortunately less impressed with this book than I wanted to be. Maybe it was the mood I was in, but everyone in it left me feeling rather depressed. I hope it leaves you feeling better.

Easy read. Fascinating stories.

I'm not a big fan of a book of short stories.

I'm dismayed by the negative reviews of this book that I've seen. Yes, the stories as a whole are dark, and the themes are similar, but there is nothing one-note or prefabricated about them. Jill McCorkle has always been interested in the inner lives that go on beneath apparently placid surfaces, and "Going Away Shoes" is excellent overall. Anyone who enjoys realistic short stories with some depth and wit should enjoy these.One of my favorite stories here is "Intervention." In relatively few pages McCorkle captures the complex dynamics of a family that has a legitimate concern about the father's drinking, but that fails to understand the mother's ambivalence about confronting him. The interplay between the mother's memories of her husband's youth and her recognition of his current impairment is believable and terribly sad. But although the overall tone of the story is dark, it didn't feel overdone or needlessly depressing to me. The memories of youth and joy are so strong, and so vividly rendered, that they lift the characters with them. Maybe I identify with this book because I see myself and my friends dealing with aging parents, and this book was a timely reminder of how much we -- even family members -- don't know about each other."Going Away Shoes" reminded me of Elizabeth Strout's "Olive Kitteridge" in terms of theme and tone. Like that book, "Going Away Shoes" doesn't offer easy answers or uplift, but it does offer the pleasures of strongly-rendered characters and insight into particular human struggles. This collection is well worth reading.

I was expecting a much better read. Instead, the only story worth reading was the first one. The rest were boring. I couldn't find any take away message from the others.

These stories were odd and did not make much sense to me. Overall I was quite disappointed.