Book Notes: Complete Short Stories by Elizabeth Taylor

I love Elizabeth Taylor’s novels (discussed here and here) but what I didn’t know is that what she did best was write short stories. Her stories are… almost better than Chekhov’s, and I never say this about anybody’s short stories.

There’s a story of a man and a woman whose marriage was demolished by what happened to them during the war. They come on vacation to the ruined French countryside, and as he looks at the people trying to resume their lives amidst the rubble, the husband understands that he must do everything to heal his marriage. It’s all conveyed in such an understated manner that the story becomes a masterpiece. Every word is in the right place, every image, every sound.

Then there’s one about a little Spanish boy brought to England as a refugee during the Spanish Civil War. The cultural differences between the boy and his host family are narrated with gentle humor that grabs you by the heart.

Some stories are very short. There is one about a woman who just gave birth to her third child and is recovering in bed. Her transition from the almost mystical state of being in labor back to normalcy is depicted perfectly. Then there’s a story about a woman whose mother just died after a long illness. Again, if you lost a parent, it’s incredible how spot-on Taylor’s description is of its emotional state. There is a story titled “I Live in a World of Make-believe” that’s about a woman who’s exactly like my mother. Read the story if you are curious about how I grew up. It’s exactly like Taylor describes but in the USSR.

Some of Taylor’s stories shock with a twist at the end but most do something a lot more important. They take a moment in life – falling in love, giving birth, waiting for a neighbor to come to tea, realizing that you grew irrevocably apart with a friend – and let you feel that experience at its very core.

Excellent writing, incredible insight. This is an outstanding writer.