Floating

by Marian Thurm

Book Overview

Sudden marriages, unwed mothers, separation and divorce, extramarital affairs-easily recognized signposts of contemporary life in Marian Thurm's deft, wry, and startingly honest stories. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140110720
• ISBN13: 9780140110722
• Release Date: June 1988
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 210 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.0" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

A Brilliant Collection of Short Stories

This is a brilliant collection of short stories. Of special note are the following, 1) Floating - Lynn, age 24, is better friends with her step-daughter who is 16, than with her husband. 2) Winter - A young woman is married to a medical student. They are drifting apart. Her truest friend is a gay man with whom she finds emotional solace. 3) Starlight - A man leaves his wife because he thinks she is boring. Their two children choose to live with their father. They are now coming to visit their mother for the first time in months and she awaits their visit. 4) Secrets - One of the two sisters is secretive. Her husband is dying of cancer. The more open sister wants to share more of her secretive sister's life. The language in this story is extraordinarily beautiful. 5) Still Life - This story is about an estranged couple. They meet again at a party. 6) Aftermath - This is one of my favorite stories in the collection. It is about a father-daughter-new wife relationship. While the daughter's mother was alive, her father paid no attention to her. After his remarriage, he calls her all the time and tries to build a relationship where nothing exists. Again, the language is so beautiful that it defies description. 7) Light Years - A house-husband has an affair with a housewife while his wife works as a bank executive. He is writing a novel but the joy in that has dissipated and his life lacks direction - even his affair stems from boredom. 8) Markings - Michael leaves Ellen after five years of marriage because their life together has been a disappointment to him. Another one of my favorites in this collection. 9) Skaters - Another favorite of mine. So many are favorites because so many are brilliant! In this story, Polly leaves Robert for Amber, a woman she met at Jack LaLannes. Robert's father, who lives far away, travels to Robert's in order to try and help Robert in his grief. Robert's father realizes that he prefers not knowing the intimate details of his son's life and prefers things at a distance. 10) Grace - Alex leaves Grace after he suffers a stroke. There are so many wonderful stories in this collection that I can't do any of them justice with these short synopses. I urge any reader who loves short stories to read this book. You will not be disappointed.