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Book Tour // Mendocino Fire by Elizabeth Tallent

November 10, 2015November 10, 2015 Crystal // Dreams, etc. 2 comments

Mendocino Fire (394x600)

Note – I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

About Mendocino Fire

Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Harper (October 20, 2015)

The long-awaited return of a writer of rare emotional wisdom

The son of an aging fisherman becomes ensnared in a violent incident that forces him to confront his broken relationship with his father. A woman travels halfway across the country to look for her ex-husband, only to find her attention drawn in a surprising direction. A millworker gives safe harbor to his son’s pregnant girlfriend, until an ambiguous gesture upsets their uneasy equilibrium. These and other storiesóof yearning, loss, and tentative new connections dcome together in Mendocino Fire, the first new collection in two decades from the widely admired Elizabeth Tallent.

Diverse in character and setting, rendered in an exhilarating, exacting prose, these stories confirm Tallent’s enduring gift for capturing relationships in moments of transformation: marriages breaking apart, people haunted by memories of old love and reaching haltingly toward new futures. The result is a book that reminds us how our lives are shaped by moments of fracture and fragmentation, by expectations met and thwarted, and by our never-ending quest to be genuinely seen.

Profound yet elemental, Mendocino Fire marks the welcome return of a sage and surprising voice in American fiction.

My Thoughts

I’ve been interested in reading short stories again for awhile now, so when I saw a tour for this collection of short stories I jumped at the opportunity to read it. This is my fist experience with Tallent and it won’t be my last. She is a master storyteller and I loved both her writing style and the beauty of her words. I want to check out her other short story collections at some point in the future.

This isn’t a collection to read quickly. I read it too fast and I wish I had taken more time with each story. Read a story a day and take time to really process and digest each story before moving onto the next. What I loved about this book is that Tallent introduces the reader to a fascinating array of characters and we meet these characters at pivotal moments in their lives, but to fully appreciate all that she put into the stories, I think you need time with each one.

As always with a collection like this, some stories will stand out more than others. I had trouble getting into the first story in the collection, The Wrong Son, but it picked up for me with the second story. My favorite in the collection was Mystery Caller and I will be going back to read that one again soon.

I highly recommend Mendocino Fire, especially if you’re looking for a break from what you typically read. I’ve been looking for something like this for awhile and it was a joy to read.

 

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Purchase Links

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Elizabeth TallentAbout Elizabeth Tallent

Elizabeth Tallent is the author of the story collections Honey, In Constant Flight, and Time with Children, and the novel Museum Pieces. Since 1994 she has taught in the Creative Writing program at Stanford University. She lives on the Mendocino coast of California.

 

 

 

 

 

tlc tour host

About Crystal

About Crystal

Hi! I'm Crystal, a millennial learning how to live slowly and sustainably, while still seeking adventure and following my dreams, etc.

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2 comments

  1. Kim M says:
    November 10, 2015 at 5:25 pm

    And now I have another to add to my “want to read” list. Sounds interesting. Thanks for sharing! It will be a nice break from the mush stuff I have been sucked into! LOL

    Reply
  2. Heather J @ TLC Book Tours says:
    November 15, 2015 at 1:27 am

    I’ll keep in mind that this is a collection that needs to be savored slowly over time. It sounds fantastic but also intense.

    Thanks for being a part of the tour!

    Reply

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hi!

I'm Crystal, the storyteller behind Dreams, etc. I'm all about learning how to live slowly & sustainably, while also seeking adventure as we follow our dreams, etc.

May 2023. Savannah, Georgia. Lots of Mina. Lots of May 2023. Savannah, Georgia. Lots of Mina. Lots of new growth on plants.
The other day I realized that there is no Savannah The other day I realized that there is no Savannah on my feed and…well, Savannah is beautiful and needs to be there. These were taken in Lafayette Square on my second day in Georgia.
Picture it. It’s the day after Thanksgiving. I d Picture it. It’s the day after Thanksgiving. I didn’t go on my weekly dam walk earlier in the week when I was excited about it. On this day I was tired after a long week and my least favorite holiday. My bed was oh so comfortable. I forced myself to roll out of bed and journey to the dam. It was filled with people and I was pokey…taking my time to get there and even journeying down one of the other paths to avoid walking across the dam. (Which isn’t long.) I finally joined the crowd and walked across. And then came back, happy to have made my weekly journey. This is when the top layer of the water started to freeze.
From March: an old mini vlog from a bagpipe rock c From March: an old mini vlog from a bagpipe rock concert, which is mostly me trying the say bagpipe rock. Some word combinations are hard! 😂 There was a sign asking us not to film, which is why there’s no concert footage.
Some of my weekly dam walks have been therapeutic Some of my weekly dam walks have been therapeutic and while the walks haven’t fixed the problems, they’ve help me breathe and connect with the world and relieve stress. 💕
April 2023. We got more snow, but it also melted. April 2023. We got more snow, but it also melted. The dam was almost overflowing. The animals are beginning to emerge. Spring is here!
Happy Independent Bookstore Day! After a coffee st Happy Independent Bookstore Day! After a coffee stop (of course) a friend and I checks out two indie bookstores that we have never been to before. I definitely want to go back to Uncle Hugo’s and Uncle Edgar’s! Did you do anything for #independentbookstoreday

#indiebookstore #indiebookshop
After watching some shopping ASMR videos I had to After watching some shopping ASMR videos I had to try it.

#asmr #groceryshopping #groceryshop  #asmrvideos
I’m a little behind in weekly dam walk reels. Le I’m a little behind in weekly dam walk reels. Let’s go back to the third week in November when there was just a little snow on the ground and the footprints in the snow seemed notable.
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