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    Acts of God: Stories
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    Acts of God: Stories
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    Acts of God: Stories
    Ebook211 pages3 hours

    Acts of God: Stories

    By Ellen Gilchrist

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    From a National Book Award–winning “master of short fiction,” a collection of “sharp, funny and insightful” stories (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution).
     
    Three middle-aged women set off on a vacation in Italy, but are sidelined along the way by terrorist activity. In post-Katrina New Orleans, an elderly couple makes a last effort at independence from caretakers and infirmities. These short stories and others, from the acclaimed author of Victory Over Japan and A Dangerous Age, feature characters dealing with forces beyond their control, yet somehow managing to triumph—even if only in spirit.
     
    “Reading Ellen Gilchrist is addictive . . . Her new work is filled with good people who show fortitude and even heroism under duress  . . . In this age of edgy irony, her warm-hearted view of humanity is refreshing.” —NPR
     
    “The stories in Acts of God are great postcards from the world of Ellen Gilchrist. It’s a world of war and strife and surprises, and it is, yes, marvelous to behold.” —The New York Times Book Review
     
    “Gilchrist is at her best when the wry and satirical mood strikes her . . . and it’s a pleasure to report that the best of the stories in Acts of God rank with the best in her first collection and in her second . . . for which she was awarded a richly deserved National Book Award.” —The Washington Post
     

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateApr 8, 2014
    ISBN9781616203955
    Unavailable
    Acts of God: Stories
    Author

    Ellen Gilchrist

    Ellen Gilchrist (1935-2024) was author of several collections of short stories and novellas including The Cabal and Other Stories, Flights of Angels, The Age of Miracles, The Courts of Love, In the Land of Dreamy Dreams, Victory Over Japan (winner of the National Book Award), Drunk With Love, and I Cannot Get You Close Enough. She also wrote several novels, including The Anna Papers, Net of Jewels, Starcarbon, and Sarah Conley.

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    Reviews for Acts of God

    3.5/5

    42 ratings19 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Yet another fantabulous collection of Gilchrist short stories, including a delicious epistolary one featuring Rhoda that had me snorting in shul this morning. Gilchrist is the only writer I know who can make an act of suicide say something about living. Love, love, love and live.
    • 4/5
      I read this slim volume of short stories while I was in New Orleans, which is the perfect place to read Ellen Gilchrist. Some of our favorite friends are here - especially Anna Hand's niece and the irrepressible Rhoda Manning - and each story shows how acts of love and caring can illuminate a life Ellen Gilchrist never disappoints.
    • 3/5
      I have been a fan of Ellen Gilchrist's for many years and when I saw this new collection of short stories, I was very much looking forward to reading it. Unfortunately I was disappointed. Don't get me wrong. There are some great moments in Acts of God, but there are also stories that cover so much ground chronologically and don't envelop the reader because it seems as if the theme or the idea is more important than the characters' relationships to them.

      Most of the stories are about upheaval or disasters and human reaction to them. Perhaps the best is the one in which a young woman who is in the Air National Guard is called to New Orleans to rescue people from roofs after Katrina. This is one of the few stories in which a virtuous act is not cushioned by selfishness or self-absorption, but one in which the character reacts to horrors and the small miracles and feels changed and is changed.

      Perhaps a couple of the other stories ring true simply because the characters are materialistic and self-absorbed and view an extraordinary situation from the viewpoint of what they can get from it or what it will make them into. There is some heavy-handedness with what I consider to be preachiness and I am not certain that it's Gilchrist's intent for that to be unleashed upon the reader (because I am giving her the benefit of the doubt), but then again, it's been years since I have read any of her work and maybe what I once overlooked is now an elephant.
    • 4/5
      A lovely collection of stories. Gilchrist uses an economy of language that is elegantly simple, bordering on child-like in some stories. Powerful themes of loss and fragility (as well as a few characters) unite this slim volume. Recommended.
    • 4/5
      I received this book as an Advanced Reading Copy through Library Thing Early Reviewers. I have always been a big fan of short stories that you can read at your own pace that leave you thinking well past you finish that last sentence. And Gilchrist doesn't disappoint. The main theme of these stories is the ability to survive when faced with circumstances outside of your control. I enjoyed the majority of the stories- with Acts of God my favorite. This is definitely one of those books that you can read a story while home on your lunch break and go back to work with a smile on your face.
    • 1/5
      Acts of God? More like Acts of Humanity or even Humanism. The first story, Acts of God, was humourous. "Miracle in Adkins, Arkansas" was heart-warming. "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" (about the woman with the loser boyfriend who (the woman not the boyfriend) rescues people in New Orleans from rooftops and returns as a celebrity and meets Mr. Perfect) was eye-rolling chicklit. From there the stories just got worse. "The Dogs" was ridiculous, and the others just silly. Not my thing.
    • 5/5
      It's hard to characterize these stories without seeming to be disparaging them. The words that kept coming into my mind while reading them were "simple" and "plain", both of which can be used dismissively, but absolutely not in this case. I suppose what I mean is that these stories are genuine - the people within act without irony or duplicity. There's nothing postmodern here. It's refreshing to read something of this sort when it seems so many writers now use tricks or traps or non-standard story-telling measures. Like drinking a cool glass of water.Some of the stories are slightly entwined - a character mentioned in one story becomes a secondary character in another and is related to a character in a third. It's fun to piece together all the strings while reading. I'd never read nor heard of Ellen Gilchrist before - perhaps because she writes of the southern United States and I'm in Canada, but this collection of stories piqued my interest in going through her back catalogue.
    • 4/5
      I have been trying to read more short fiction this year and so was thrilled to be sent a copy from Library Thing Early Reviewers of Acts of God by Ellen Gilchrist. Focused around events out of the control of the protagonists (tornado, flood, etc) each story looks at similar challenges from very different angles. I really enjoyed this collection and would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys good writing and short stories.
    • 4/5
      This was a ARC book I got thru LT's Early Reviewer group. It is a collection of 10 (even the back cover says 11, I think I got gypped) stories where the characters go thru some tragedy (a lot of them centered around natural disasters; flood, tornado, hurricane) and come out on the other side better for the experience. The title, I think more refers to the tragedies that occur and less on the "lesson" that the characters learn from them.A quick read that I enjoyed. A several of the stories had me on the verge of leaking water from my eyes. A couple stories I didn't really connect with, but the they were in the minority. To be honest, prior to reading it, it wouldn't have caught my eye in the bookstore. But after drawing the lucky straw with ER, I'm glad I read it.S: 4/24/14 - F: 4/27/14 (4 Days)
    • 4/5
      This is the first book I have read by Ellen Gilchrist. Each story drew me in immediately and made me want to know what happened to the characters. Each is affected in some way by something beyond their control. I particularly enjoyed the story "Collateral" where a woman, Carly, takes two weeks off from her life to serve as a first responder to rescue people caught in the New Orleans hurricane disaster. The story isn't so much about the rescue mission but more about how Carly makes changes in her life and takes a chance on a new relationship.I felt the story "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" was less successful, with stilted dialogue and less appealing characters, making me lose interest halfway through. However, I took a break and came back to it later.Overall, the collection is very interesting with surprises throughout the stories, and a hopeful attitude toward life in all of its complexities, providing thoughts to mull over and reflect upon. It is perhaps better not to read it all in one sitting, but to come to each story in a fresh way.
    • 4/5
      Touching stories, most dealing with disasters of one kind or another, and their aftermath; all are beautifully written. Most of the stories were very engaging, and I cared about many of the characters. I wished some of the stories were longer, though, because I didn't want them to end so soon.
    • 3/5
      I received a copy of this book in a LibraryThing giveaway.Like many short story collections, this one is a mixed bag. My favorites are the first one, "Acts of God," and the one brief bit of comic relief, "The Dogs," featuring the reliable Rhoda Manning. There are some good ideas and observations about the way people act in emergencies, how they deal with fear and the unknown. For me, though, most of the individual stories aren't that remarkable.
    • 2/5
      This collection of mostly saccharine short stories is redeemed only by the quality of Gilchrist's writing. The stories are mostly set in the south, and the hurricane's destruction of New Orleans and other areas in Louisiana and Mississippi set the background or most of the stories. While that is the main "act of God" referred to by the title, there are many others, including deaths, life-saving actions, and love. There are only a couple stories in which Gilchrist resists the urge to moralize or otherwise tack on an ending that brings the story more in line with a cliche than with the quality of writing I expect from her. Overall, I was very disappointed in this collection.
    • 3/5
      Ellen Gilchrist's prose is excellent; however, that being said, I read Acts of God last weekend and can't recall a single short story that stands out as an exemplary piece of work. In reviewing the story titles, the one tale that was somewhat compelling for me was "The Dissolution of the Myelin Sheath" which showed a proud, intelligent woman taking control of her otherwise scary destiny to commit suicide rather than face the ravages of MS. Very well written, but for me, mostly forgettable.
    • 3/5
      I wish I had not read the previous reviews who disliked the short stories by Ellen Gilchrist, one of my favorite authors. I read the book in one sitting and just drank it all in. Having read most her books it was at times like visiting old friends and to gage how they are doing. I love Rhoda, the younger version and the aging version. I find EG's writing style intriguing and thoroughly engaging and this book no exception. I am not a fan of short stories yet will read the worst of EG and enjoy it.
    • 5/5
      I am not a big fan of disaster movies so I was not sure I would like disaster stories. This collection is more about the people involved in the disasters than the actual disaster. It is a great book for traveling which is where I read most short story collections.
    • 4/5
      I'm a big fan of Ellen Gilchrist; I've read and I ow all her books, except 'Anabasis,' now out of print. I love her eccentric Southerners, their family entanglements, connections and obsessions. That said, this was not my favorite collection of her stories. I did love the Rhoda story, as I think that Rhoda Manning as an older lady is much more fun than Rhoda in her youth, when she was concerned about what other people and her daddy thought of her. If you had never met Rhoda before, though, I don't know if the reader would get it. I also enjoyed the story of the exemplary National Guard woman who worked on a rescue helicopter during Katrina, and whose life takes a dramatic turn for the better on her return. Chance encounters change lives and women show their courage in Gilchrist's stories. Those are the themes she returns to over and over, with varying success.
    • 3/5
      3.5 stars

      Best quote: "The human race. You have to love it and wish it well and not preach or think you have any reason to think you are better than anyone else. Amen. Good-bye. Peace…"
    • 4/5
      Ellen Gilchrist has long been considered one of our finest short story writers. And “Acts of God,” her latest story collection, is sure to reinforce her reputation and assure fans that Gilchrist is still very much at the top of her game. The characters in all ten of the book’s stories experience “acts of God” that will forever change – or, perhaps, end - their lives. Whether they suffer hurricane, tornado, flood, terrorist attack, or simply a new neighbor whose dogs never seem to stop barking, most of them manage to benefit from the experience. In fact, even those who die, do so on their own terms.Two stories, “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor” and “The Dogs,” are particularly outstanding in the way they display the author’s wit and insight into the culture and gentry of the old South. Gilchrist is herself a product of the Mississippi Delta, and she knows her people well. “Toccata” tells of three middle-aged Vanderbilt sorority sisters traveling together to Italy for a much anticipated reunion. Comfortably settled in one of Heathrow’s first class lounges while waiting for their final flight connection, the women are suddenly caught up in an airport lockdown that threatens to scuttle their plans. The conversations between themselves and their fellow travelers are brilliant in the ease with which Gilchrist manages to fully develop so many characters in a handful of pages.“The Dogs” is told through a series of letters exchanged by a writer and her neighbor whose constantly-barking dogs make it impossible for the writer to work at home. As things between the two escalate, there are letters to and from the writer, her attorney, other neighbors, and the dog owner. The unexpected resolution of the story involves a lesson about shifting alliances that is both funny and ironic. Other favorites of mine include the title story about an elderly couple that escapes their “sitter” for one final day of independence and another titled “Miracle in Adkins, Arkansas” that recounts the day that a tornado positively changes the life of a 16-year-old girl forever. Ellen Gilchrist’s characters, be they witty, irritating, or sentimental ones, are always memorable, and the stories in “Acts of God” offer just such a cast. They, along with Gilchrist’s remarkable sense of time and place, assure that this collection will be appreciated by her fans.