| reviews |
Michael Brooks in New Scientist's Christmas Books Special: Best of 2008
"THE title story in this book is everything fiction should be: inspiring, moving, comical, provocative and heartbreaking - and all that in just seven and a half pages. The rest of the stories in this collection are similarly remarkable. Some are also remarkably short: Go Away is, essentially, a well-told joke (and laugh-out-loud funny). Hershman's economy with words cloaks her subtlety and power, though: a second reading uncovers hidden moments in each story. Inspired by scientific progress and science journalism, including articles in New Scientist, and driven by an author dripping with talent, this is as good as modern reading gets."
"Perhaps the most satisfying element
of The White Road & Other Stories (and this could be the secret
key to successful short stories the world over), Hershman has a keen
mind, can concoct the sort of slippery knot that hooks you, that has
you turning pages to see what happens next (which is rare in short
story land, or at least in the short story land I’ve visited). In
‘Brewing a Storm’, for example, a fellow called Bloomfield (the kind of
fellow who rates his hotel breakfast on a scale of 1-10) learns there
are drawbacks to a new device able to drive bad weather out of the sky.
In ‘Evie & the Arfids’, a middle aged woman is caught up in a
murky bit of industrial espionage. You read because there is no option,
you have to find out what happens next.... Whether
you’re a fan of short stories or not, do yourself some good and get
hold of a copy of Tania Hershman’s The White Road & Other Stories.
If enough of us do that, then maybe Salt will ask her for another
collection and that would be a very good thing indeed.
Read
the full review here.
John Lloyd in The BookBag (5 Star Review)
"Let
me
assure you that what small sense there is of the strange in
these many short stories is instantly quashed by the strong
sense of a
writer grounded firmly in reality, and finding big truths in amongst
the little details of life...This collection is one of
those rare instances of a sustained
brilliance, introducing to me a true artist with a high degree of
quality control
Read
the full review here.
Roxane Gay on PANK magazine's blog
"The
eponymous story of this
collection is worth the price of admission. It is, without a doubt, one
of the best short stories I’ve ever read. A woman, at the end of the
world, who has endured the loss of a child but more than that, seen his
dead body, that death from his own hand, and so she finds a way to see
nothing but bright white ever again. I was genuinely moved and shocked
by this story. So remarkable.....The one constant through each of these
stories is the care Hershman has taken with her characters. This was a
collection that was written with love.
Read
the full review here.
Dominique
Wilson in Wet Ink Issue 14 March 2009 "This
collection exemplifies everything that is best about the short story.
With succinctness rarely seen in the work of someone new to fiction,
Hershman extracts the very essence of a moment to reveal the poignant
fragility of human relationships. ...Extremes of weather is a recurring
theme, as is parenthood, but each story is so different from the next
that you are tempted to read 'just one more' until you find you have
read the whole book in one sitting. " Find
out more about Wet Ink. In her
review, Sally Zigmond says: "As I now read more novels than
short stories, I had expected to prefer the longer stories in this
collection to the flash fiction (as some reviewers have) but to me the
longer ones were either too long or too short--not quite right for this
Goldilocks. The flash fiction, on the other hand, I loved for its
brevity, its inventiveness and its poetic quality.... Heart
is one such moment. It is probably the shortest story in the collection
but it has stayed with me the longest because I am still there with
that heart in my hand and then the cold wine glass. I feel what the
surgeon feels. I am her. I don't need any more. I don't want any
more." Read
the full review here.
"The White Road is a very fine collection, containing enough wonder and humor and heartbreak to overflow its slim pages, forcing the reader to share in the great emotion contained within. Hershman's talent is obvious, and I look forward to seeing it continue to grow across whatever new stories and new books might follow this excellent start."
Read the full review here.
(posted on
Facebook)
"Just started reading Tania Hershman's The White Road and other stories, and is blown away by the originality and piercing prose. And for someone who doesn't normally choose short stories, that's very special."
Jeremy Page, The Frogmore Papers, Issue 73
The
short short story is Hershman’s preferred form, and there are some very
short shorts in this, her debut collection. For the most part her
experiments are a resounding success – in fact, for this reader, she is
at her most effective when at her most concise. ‘I am a camera’
comprises two short paragraphs which say everything that needs to be
said, no more, no less.
Find
out more about The Frogmore Papers.
"Many of Hershman’s stories dwell on loss, despair, frailty and weakness – on the human drive to face these obstacles and overcome them or at least carry on living in their wake. Hershman adds more variety by countering the science-inspired stories with flash fiction, most of it lighter, more humorous fare. “Heavy Bones”, for example, is a quick, amusing look about reversing roles on a wedding night tradition. The White Road may not be hard-hitting short fiction but it shows there is more than one way for writers to separate their work from the pack of safe and boring mainstream writing. Props to Hershman for showing readers that not all short fiction is dull and formulaic. "
Read the full review here.
"Hershman's
other strength is her ability to keep the reader on her
toes. She weaves the warbly, neon threads of magical realism together
with the steel rods of science, and the effect often is very
satisfying. In ths story "Self-Rising," a woman whose career in the
laboratory is derailed by the arrival of marriage and children opens a
cake business that specializes in "lab cakes," cakes shaped like DNA or
test tubes or petri dishes. Despite the seeming-cliched "making
lemondade out of lemons" plot, Hershman crafts an ending that is both
fantastical and touching. "Sunspots" and "Rainstiffness" are equally
imaginative and lovely."
Read the full review here.
Anne Brooke in Hags, Harlots and Heroines
"This
collection of short stories takes as its theme the edgy and sometimes
difficult relationship between humanity and science. There is a great
deal of energy about the stories, as well as a strong and distinctive
voice. Not all main characters are sympathetic but, then again, they're
not meant to be - and each one does have a gripping issue to raise or
an arresting tale to tell. ..."
The 27 stories collected here are short, but full of feeling. Weather is important, catastrophic, extreme. It rains and the rain causes paralysis, the sun is blinding, lightning strikes. The other recurrent theme is that of being a parent: women who fear for their unborn child, loathe their child, resent them, or mourn the child they cannot have, who will do anything for a baby. Hershman has a talent for concision, and her tiny flash fictions ‘Plaits’ and ‘Go Away’ encapsulate entire relationships in just over a page. A clever, warm and thoroughly recommended debut. –Sara Crowley
LabLit:
But if it were real, by Amy Charles
Hershman
is an interested, dreaming science observer who pays serious and at
times myopic attention to sci-tech news stories and considers what they
might mean...."
Read
the full review here.
Goodreads:
"Very
enjoyable. ... The themes cover parenthood (or lack of it),
loss, and some aspect of science (usually), these elements are blended
well with elegance and grace. Many are set in cold climates but the
book as a whole has a warm and cheering heart."
"This
slim volume ... contains stories
with colour, life, passion, precision and pathos. The shortest is just
half a page but it packs a terrific punch. You could read the whole
collection in one sitting but I recommend taking your time, allowing
the stories to sink in, get under your skin and sing."
