Review by Madeline Salmon
William Trevor’s Selected Stories will not give you much fuel for laughter. In fact, each one of the 48 stories pulled together for this weighty volume will break your heart in its own way. Sometimes while reading the book I wondered what right some elderly Irish author had to invade my living room and toy with my heart so carelessly, and yet I kept reading. In no other author have I encountered the ease and brilliance with which Trevor creates the realistic and painfully human characters that populate each of his stories. Some of those stories are sad, some creepy, some irritating, and some even subtly joyful, but all have something to tell about humanity. I recommend reading “Selected Stories” along with another book because I felt the need to take breaks between stories. I could only take so much at once and many of the stories command reflection.
William Trevor’s Selected Stories will not give you much fuel for laughter. In fact, each one of the 48 stories pulled together for this weighty volume will break your heart in its own way. Sometimes while reading the book I wondered what right some elderly Irish author had to invade my living room and toy with my heart so carelessly, and yet I kept reading. In no other author have I encountered the ease and brilliance with which Trevor creates the realistic and painfully human characters that populate each of his stories. Some of those stories are sad, some creepy, some irritating, and some even subtly joyful, but all have something to tell about humanity. I recommend reading “Selected Stories” along with another book because I felt the need to take breaks between stories. I could only take so much at once and many of the stories command reflection.
But don’t let the heaviness of the material turn you off—Trevor drops in just enough glimmers of light to help you remember what that light looks like, and why we need it so desperately. And even the darkest moments possess a richness no one should miss out on.
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