Catherine Brady

I feel slightly guilty marking this as "read." In truth I did almost make it through the entire work and that's what it was-- work.

To be fair though, the title story was very good. She developed the characters so that I felt I was sitting on the porch watching them with the horses and each other.

But the rest of the book was weak-- I kept expecting something clever. I wanted to finish a story and think, "Now that's some excellent writing!" That never happened. This author teaches in an MFA writing program and perhaps that raised my expectations.

Oh hell, who am I to criticize anyway? I've never written a book. This collection wasn't my taste but at least someone wrote it!… (mehr)

The Mechanics of Falling and Other Stories by Catherine Brady is made up of 11 short stories, set in or around the San Francisco area. As a former Northern Californian, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of familiarity when a place name was mentioned that I recognized.

I have come to appreciate short stories more and more in recent years. Once I realized that short stories are not supposed to me mini novels, I am better able to enjoy them for what they are. Short story writers have less time to hook the reader in, and that includes creating characters that the reader can connect with. Catherine Brady not only is able to do that, but her characters are fully realized. Just a few of the characters introduced in the book, include Judith whose former boyfriend committed suicide and who is struggling with her current relationship; Cerise who wants more for her daughter than what she had, pregnant at a young age, forgoing her education, and working long hours to support she and her daughter; a once successful photographer who is no longer the shining star; a middle child struggling to care for her elderly parents, including a father who had been abusive during her childhood; and a woman whose life seems to be falling apart around her, including her house and her family.

The language within each story flows effortlessly, the words carefully placed and yet natural. The stories are full of turmoil and strife, but not overwhelmingly so. They are stories of life. Each of the characters faces difficulties and is struggling with the present or the past; many striving for something better or at least different. Catherine Brady has put together a short story collection that is well worth reading.… (mehr)

Catherine Brady's had a lot of practice writing short stories, and it shines through in The Mechanics of Falling & Other Stories. In "Slender Little Thing," Brady modifies a poetic form, known as Pantoum, in which the second and fourth lines of the first stanza are repeated as the first and third lines of the next stanza. The Pantoum is a variation of the Villanelle, in which the first and third lines in a three line stanza poem are repeated as a refrain alternately throughout the poem. Here's an example of a Pantoum and an example of a Villanelle. Poets interested in form will enjoy this story because it uses a version of these forms to hammer home the heart of the story where a mother, Cerise, struggles with her lot in life as a nanny to richer parents and as a nurse assistant in a nursing home while trying to raise her daughter, Sophie, to be more than she is.

"The Dazzling World" packs a punch when Judith and Cam are robbed at gunpoint in a foreign country on their way to meet Judith's sister at her archaeological dig site. Not only does this story immerse readers in a foreign nation, it also leads them on a journey of discovery, almost rediscovery for Judith.

While these stories are each around 20-30 pages each, the characters are complex and on the verge or dealing with a perspective shattering event. Many of these characters are somber, and more than complacent--resigned--until an event jars them awake to look at their world through different eyes.

She pulled a compact from the purse that still hung open on her arm, angling the mirror to examine her hair, reaching up to snag unruly strands. Of the beautiful, fluttering girl, only this artlessness remained. ("Scissors, Paper, Rock," Page 85)

Settings in this volume of short stories are varied; the characters share common traits, but lead different kinds of lives--two young waitresses trying to pay for college and find themselves, a horse rancher and his roommate's game of relationship chess, a mother trying to raise her daughter successfully and send her off to college, a couple whose relationship is disintegrating, and many more. Readers will enjoy the surface of these stories as well as their deeper meanings beneath the layers of protective skin. Brady's prose is captivating and thought provoking all in just a few lines, and she easily fuses poetic lines and techniques into her narratives.… (mehr)