Object of Your Love

by Dorothy Speak

Book Overview

Dorothy Speak is a writer of unmistakable storytelling powers; a mesmerizing conjurer of the human heart. In these nine diamond-hard stories she writes with insight and honesty about women in love and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031218638X
• ISBN13: 9780312186388
• Release Date: May 1998
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 196 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.7" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Most read book in my house.

An unbelievably well written collection of short stories. Each is written from a mature women's point of view. The early stories are of younger women and the latter more mature. Every one could be a short play. Each narrator has a voice that rings true, someone you want to get to know. I see in each story a gentle and intelligent insight into how women deal: Each one deals with change, deals with disappointment or lost love. Each, in their own way, coming to terms with the people they love, lose or find. Stories is about life, it's problems and how each women came to handle them. Some with wonderful displays of strong will. Don't discount this as middle age chiclit: I am a guy and I have read the book, then been back to later re-read some of the stories. This is a book with three dimensional humans. I lent it to my girlfriend and she loved it. I live in a house that has hundreds of books, maybe thousands, and this book has been the most read and re-read in the last year. It's now quite dog eared. A much loved little volume. Husbands, in-laws, children and lovers all orbit around the women . Each exerting gravitational forces that pull and push like the tides of life, or the rivers that run through the stories. The voices seem so real. The words are there, but so is the thought, emotion and indirection that real people think, or mean, when speaking. I find that when I close the book I sit and ask, "Why can't other authors wright real dialog like this?" Each story is set in a landscape that's a little dreamy, but still a very real part of the story. (You will understand after you finish the book.) The last one is about an old lady and her sick husband. I won't spoil it for you, but it sums up the underlaying theme of the book, about coming to terms and carrying on. Dorathy Speak is a Canadian writer with a bit of a Canadian voice, but don't let the C word put you off. I'm from Europe, my girfriend is from Mexico and we have both lived in Florida for a total of 35 years between us. This is a truly international work. My words are simple, and I don't want to sound like a shrill, but if you are over 35, I do want you to read this book. Here are what a few choice words that others have said: "Powerful, indelible tales." --Time Out New York "Riveting...this outstanding debut reveals the private world of women's hearts...[Speak's] prose is spare, sharp and intense." --Redbook "One of the finest story collections I have read in years. Dorothy Speak can run with the best storytellers: Alice Munro, Ellen Gilchrist, Alice Adams, Joyce Carol Oates, Jayne Anne Phillips." --W.P. Kinsella, author of Shoeless Joe "One of the most readable and compelling works of fiction published this year." - Toronto Star "Forthright and pure... Very little is conveyed through implication in Object of Your Love. The truth, however audacious, is on the table." --Toronto Globe and Mail "Dorothy Speak's entrance into the world of Canadian

A must read

I read a lot. My favourite genre is short stories, and this is a collection not to miss. In each story the narrator is so compelling that you need to read to see what happens to her. The voice of each narrator is strong and true, and even though she may be flawed or merely an observor of a bigger story within she speaks authentically. All the characters drawn around the main character are sometimes given only the briefest of qualities yet those are the very qualities needed to bring the story to life. I am writing this review before I even finish the book because I do not want to finish it. I want it to last. If you have time to read one book this summer, read this one. You will not be disappointed. This is one gifted writer.

bold foray into non-PC world of women betraying women

An astonishing investigation into the ways that women compete against women. Each story traces a scene of betrayal -- of sister against sister, of wife against other woman, of mother against daughter. A bold statement in this era of political correctness and the sacrifice of unpleasant truth to comforting denials