Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Algonquin Books (2009), Edition: 1, Hardcover, 272 pages
Description
"[A] remarkable collection . . . Bold and addictive, Going Away Shoes is a find." --People The foibles of the people in Jill McCorkle's world are so familiar that we want nothing so much as to watch them walk into--and then get out of--life's inevitable traps. Here, in her first collection in eight years, McCorkle collects eleven brand-new stories bristling with her characteristic combination of wit and weight. In honeymoon shoes, mud-covered hunting boots, or glass slippers, all of the women in these stories march to a place of new awareness, in one way or another, transforming their lives. They make mistakes, but they don't waste time hiding behind them. They move on. They are strong. And they're funny, even when they are sad. These stories are the work of a great storyteller who knows exactly how--and why--to pair pain with laughter.… (more)
Media reviews
Sometimes fiction gives us a close-up, and other times a wide-angle shot. When we’re lucky, a story delivers delivers two-for-one, that intimate picture of a face, a kitchen table or a pair of work boots that illuminates the entire so-called human condition.
Jill McCorkle has the eye -- and the
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ear -- for that kind of portrait. In this collection of stories, her first in eight years, she renders life's complexity with a sure, light touch and a small-town twang. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member rmckeown
When I first began collecting fiction published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, two things attracted me: Kaye Gibbons’ Ellen Foster and the small format (5x7 inches) of their books. Jill McCorkle ranks number three. Ferris Beach and Tending to Virginia are high on my list of favorite novels.
This fine collection of quirky stories mostly revolves around the theme of entrapment. Some of the characters find themselves cornered by parents, children, grandchildren, or relationships, and even a lie that takes on a whole life of its own. McCorkle’s easy, quiet prose subtly leads the reader through complex situations with humor and even a touch of biting satire.
My favorite story is “PS” – a letter from a dumped spouse to her therapist reviewing all the failures of her marriage and the attempts to mend the relationship. Unfortunately, this book will not be published until September 22, 2009, so I can’t quote from it, but take my word, you could find many, many worse ways to spend some quiet hours rather than read this collection. I highly recommend McCorkle, and if you have never heard of her, this is a great place to start. 5 stars
--Jim, 8/27/09
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This seems like a year of reacquainting myself with favorite writers I have neglected lately (see Anita Brookner’s Strangers).This fine collection of quirky stories mostly revolves around the theme of entrapment. Some of the characters find themselves cornered by parents, children, grandchildren, or relationships, and even a lie that takes on a whole life of its own. McCorkle’s easy, quiet prose subtly leads the reader through complex situations with humor and even a touch of biting satire.
My favorite story is “PS” – a letter from a dumped spouse to her therapist reviewing all the failures of her marriage and the attempts to mend the relationship. Unfortunately, this book will not be published until September 22, 2009, so I can’t quote from it, but take my word, you could find many, many worse ways to spend some quiet hours rather than read this collection. I highly recommend McCorkle, and if you have never heard of her, this is a great place to start. 5 stars
--Jim, 8/27/09
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LibraryThing member shawse
The prose, character development, and story building are all very good; but for the most part I didn't like the stories. The subject matter mode seemed to be unhappy relationships (mostly marriages, occasionally other family relations) and escaping (occasionally resolving) them. Many of the
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characters and their attitudes I simply didn't like. Show Less
LibraryThing member candacekvance
I went to a reading from McCorkle, never having read any of her work. I bought this book and loved it. I will definitely read more of her work.
LibraryThing member OvertheMoonBooks
Listening to Jill McCorkle read "Me and Big Foot" at Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia inspired me to read more of this treat of a book. The author captures, in a phrase, the twisty bits of a character's personality and I fall in love with her humanity. Slowing down to savor each word in the
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beautiful North Carolina accent of this author is pure delight. Show Less
LibraryThing member OvertheMoonBooks
Listening to Jill McCorkle read "Me and Big Foot" at Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia inspired me to read more of this treat of a book. The author captures, in a phrase, the twisty bits of a character's personality and I fall in love with her humanity. Slowing down to savor each word in the
Show More
beautiful North Carolina accent of this author is pure delight. Show Less
LibraryThing member OvertheMoonBooks
Listening to Jill McCorkle read "Me and Big Foot" at Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia inspired me to read more of this treat of a book. The author captures, in a phrase, the twisty bits of a character's personality and I fall in love with her humanity. Slowing down to savor each word in the
Show More
beautiful North Carolina accent of this author is pure delight. Show Less
LibraryThing member OvertheMoonBooks
Listening to Jill McCorkle read "Me and Big Foot" at Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia inspired me to read more of this treat of a book. The author captures, in a phrase, the twisty bits of a character's personality and I fall in love with her humanity. Slowing down to savor each word in the
Show More
beautiful North Carolina accent of this author is pure delight. Show Less
LibraryThing member OvertheMoonBooks
Listening to Jill McCorkle read "Me and Big Foot" at Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia inspired me to read more of this treat of a book. The author captures, in a phrase, the twisty bits of a character's personality and I fall in love with her humanity. Slowing down to savor each word in the
Show More
beautiful North Carolina accent of this author is pure delight. Show Less
LibraryThing member blhooley
This group of stories seem to be written by a woman whose experience with men has now evolved / devolved / certainly migrated to some position in which women view men much like one would dogs. They can be dependable companions, occasionally heroic, but also vicious attackers. Only a fool, and there
One of my favorite stories in this collection is "Magic Words" in which several women's lives intersect one evening when all three make disastrous mistakes. Two escape narrowly, the third not so well. Paula, the main protagonist, is a middle-aged woman who is bored with her standard, pretty-good marriage. She has two teenage children. She decides to have an affair. On her way she gets detoured by Lauren, a troubled high school girl who gets involved with a psychopathic boy gangster who has every intention of raping her and killing an old woman who he sees everyday at his grocery store job as bagger. Lauren is in the boy's car because she's been hurt by her boyfriend (one of the good guys if only a puppy) and is seeking inappropriate comfort and acceptance. Lauren narrowly escapes, leaving behind both her shoes and coat. Paula sees her, recognizes her from her daughter's school, and picks her up and takes her home. Meanwhile, Agnes, an aging widowed schoolteacher is home alone thinking of a male student she befriended until she realized he was resentful of her efforts. She still misses him. She wishes he would stop by so she could see how he is doing. Instead this new boy, the psychopath, parks outside her home and breaks in either to scare her or kill her. I won't spoil the ending, but like the news these days, it doesn't allow us to feel easy, comfortable in our own little isolated worlds.
We still get wit and pathos well balanced from McCorkle, and the telling is rendered with precision of plot and authenticity of dialogue that make the stories seem simple, but they are darker. The shoe motif, woven in seamlessly, works well as a symbol of what women put on and take off to make our way through a confusing world. Highly recommended.
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are many fools among us, who try to remake dog pals into human pals. In other words, these stories are narrated by women who have had serious man problems, who see the world no longer through rose colored glasses, whose hopes for goodness among men and sweet children and caring grannies is mediated by the front page of a newspaper every morning, whose life experiences have brought them to realize the princess pabulum they were fed while growing up female in America was not a full and healthy diet for 21st century womanhood. The characters are fierce, usually very flawed, sometimes bitter, thoroughly wry, full of spunk and energy, and often willing to look at themselves and the world with high-beam surgical lighting and precision.One of my favorite stories in this collection is "Magic Words" in which several women's lives intersect one evening when all three make disastrous mistakes. Two escape narrowly, the third not so well. Paula, the main protagonist, is a middle-aged woman who is bored with her standard, pretty-good marriage. She has two teenage children. She decides to have an affair. On her way she gets detoured by Lauren, a troubled high school girl who gets involved with a psychopathic boy gangster who has every intention of raping her and killing an old woman who he sees everyday at his grocery store job as bagger. Lauren is in the boy's car because she's been hurt by her boyfriend (one of the good guys if only a puppy) and is seeking inappropriate comfort and acceptance. Lauren narrowly escapes, leaving behind both her shoes and coat. Paula sees her, recognizes her from her daughter's school, and picks her up and takes her home. Meanwhile, Agnes, an aging widowed schoolteacher is home alone thinking of a male student she befriended until she realized he was resentful of her efforts. She still misses him. She wishes he would stop by so she could see how he is doing. Instead this new boy, the psychopath, parks outside her home and breaks in either to scare her or kill her. I won't spoil the ending, but like the news these days, it doesn't allow us to feel easy, comfortable in our own little isolated worlds.
We still get wit and pathos well balanced from McCorkle, and the telling is rendered with precision of plot and authenticity of dialogue that make the stories seem simple, but they are darker. The shoe motif, woven in seamlessly, works well as a symbol of what women put on and take off to make our way through a confusing world. Highly recommended.
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Awards
Physical description
272 p.; 7.1 inches
ISBN
1565126327 / 9781565126329