Women in Their Beds: New and Selected Stories

by Gina Berriault

Book Overview

This remarkable collection received the National Book Critics Circle Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the Rea Award for the Short Story, a gold medal from the Commonwealth Club of California, and the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1887178384
• ISBN13: 9781887178389
• Release Date: May 1997
• Publisher: Counterpoint LLC
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.19 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Beautiful writing

Interestingly, the first few and last few stories in this collection are not enjoyable or interesting. The majority of the collection however, is filled with amazing tales and beautiful prose. In sometimes only 7 pages, Berriault creates characters that seem so real. The stories typically don't climax or resolve, but they leave you thinking about their implications.

The Miracle of Humanity Depicted

I picked up this book from the bargain bin and have given five copies of it as gifts since then.. It is truly one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. Yes, some of the stories are sad. They are meant to be. Some of the stories left me with chills (most notably "The Cove"); their subtlety, perception and depth are breathtaking, often heartbreaking. Reading to escape seems like a giant waste of time to me. We have been given these stories, these little windows to a soul, to help us see each human we meet as a fascinating miracle waiting to be revealed to an unflinching eye.I am grateful for the moment I picked this book from the half price bin.

How to read

How do I want to begin this? It seems the majority of the complaints leveled against this wonderful collection of short stories centers around the 'lack of plot'. Now, while not wishing to do a disservice to plot, which has its place and uses and wonderments, I do not think it is the reason to read a book. (Usually I am more eloquent than this, but there is this ghoulish little boy screaming in my ear and the taste of death has been in my mouth for the past 4 days, so I am a bit out-of-sorts, so please forgive me) Everyone says that the book is beautifully written... THEN THAT IS THE REASON FOR READING IT!! Great writing is what makes literature, and it contains plot, character, emotions, joy, everything a reader needs within itself. If you can't see all of these in this book, then you haven't quite learned how to read, and aren't completely aware of the power of language. This collection is astonishing in its depth and breadth of writing, and Berriault's breathtaking prose drives each story, giving it wings to soar above other books which focus on plot, or offer the reader some trite 'meaning of life' or answer to one of life's questions. Berriault is a writer who is above such absolutes and doesn't subscribe the the 'how-to' theory of fiction. I will promote this collection until the day I die, and hopefully afterwards as well.

Women in Their Beds is full of light

I don't understand why some other readers find this book depressing - it seems to me full of light and life. It's one of the books I recommend most often to friends.

Beautifully crafted stories

If you are looking for a blissful escape from reality (i.e. Disney's Fantasia), this collection may not be the ideal book for you. If, however, you are enchanted by disturbingly subtle nuances, you will enjoy the book as much as I did. Gina Berriault creates characters I found identifiable from real life in San Francisco -- characters corresponding to people that most tourists ignore, avoid or categorize as "local color" -- and grants the reader a brief insight into their lives, hopes and fears. These stories do not all have happy endings. Welcome to life.The stories are superbly written and unapologetic in their frankness. I recommend it highly.