Gallant is an extraordinary writer. She is the kind of writer who, when you read one of her stories for the first time, makes you say "why haven't I been reading her all my life." If you have not done so already, do so now. ( )

I just couldn't get into this book...unfinished ( )

The author's afterword says not to read these all at the same time, so I'm calling it quits for now. Feeling validated!

Stories are not chapters of novels. They should not be read one after another, as if they were meant to follow along. Read one. Shut the book. Read something else. Come back later. Stories can wait.

A showcase of literary pointillism creating densely detailed short stories, this deadpan-ly humorous collection captured the dizzying feelings of displacement and the self-delusion necessary for its exiled characters.

Favourite story: The Remission. Stream of consciousness is difficult enough as it is but to have a whole system of streams that intersect, flood, recede and expand, all bridged together by the quietly devastating overarching story about life slowly being bleached out in this paler version of colonial life, to this I say, all hail Gallant. ( )

Some of the most skillful, insightful and elegant stories. Self-exiled to Paris by choice, the Canadian born Gallant wrote (in this collection) about exiles. A former German POW in “The Latehomecomer” offers a post WWII view from the perspective of the conquered. An English woman living in the South of France with a dying husband “felt shot through with happiness sometimes, or at least by a piercing clue as to what bliss might be.” “The Moslem Wife” is the extraordinary story of a young hotel owner (born in France to English parents) who struggles between her desire for independence and the love of her husband as she survives WWII and the occupation separated from him.

Gallant wrote with startling perception about the relationships between people and the immense complications involved. “I described my husband’s recent death and repeated his last words, which had to do with my financial future and were not overly optimistic.” She addresses the major issues: Joy, love, death, taxes. “Grippes and Poches” revolves around taxes, possibly the only story to do so, certainly the only compelling one. A collection of extraordinary writing. ( )