Dreaming of Her and Other Stories

It might be smaller than it is in your imagination and you might be ready to face it. Losing a tooth as a child can be quite scary. The emotions around that time are really strong. Anderson says dreams about death are very common. It could involve your own mortality or the death of someone in your life. How you react to the death in the dream can tell you a lot. Is it an amazing feeling? Or do you feel scared? Is there a physical obstacle in front of you, like powerlines or bird or plane?

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This is the absolute worst. Think of three words you would use to describe the person in your dream.

Log in No account? Yes, a marvellous collection with every story brimming with exquisitely written moments. Donny Ross's pursuit of Ann was as intent and tense as a stalking cat's: They lay close together but not touching, in the long grass under a tall ginko tree Although not quite as layered and complex, Hadley seems to me to be England's answer to Alice Munro.

Tessa Hadley is a god. This is the sixth of Hadley's books I've read, and up until now I had contrary to most critical opinion considered her a better novelist than short story writer. I enjoyed her previous two collections and they contain some memorable pieces but I wasn't wowed by them. So what a surprise to read 'Bad Dreams' and to find it for me her strongest book to date in either form - just a brilliantly written set of stories.

May 27, Victoria Sadler rated it really liked it. This was an interesting one as I adored this collection of rather dark short stories though I wasn't a fan of The Past, the last full-length novel by Tessa I read. And I know why it worked out this way. Tessa's languid, unsettling prose is intoxicating.

It feels almost like dreamscape, like we're in a place that is this world but something a bit out of the ordinary.

Howev This was an interesting one as I adored this collection of rather dark short stories though I wasn't a fan of The Past, the last full-length novel by Tessa I read. But give Tessa a shorter scene to draw and, wow! What is it about Tessa Hadley? In the less than two years since I first discovered her, she's become not just a favorite author but my writing mascot, an author and other writers know what I'm talking about, I hope I'd like to imagine I could be. I liked this neither more nor less than Married Love —maybe that collection is a little more vivid to me for having been first—and both story collections a bit better than the novels Everything Will Be All Right and The Past , so far.

But everything I What is it about Tessa Hadley? But everything I've encountered is of such uniformly high quality and so suffused in an essential Tessa Hadley-ness that these distinctions are pretty small. She writes stories about everyday life. And I mean really, aggressively ordinary, picayune swaths of life.

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As a fiction writer, I can attest there's often a pressure to make something dramatic happen in one's stories, even literary-realistic ones. Inevitably it's the kind of thing that happens rarely if at all in reality: Hadley resorts to none of these things, and suffers none of the cheesiness and predictability that commonly ensues.

The stories here often hinge on something dramatic that doesn't quite happen again, no spoilers, but "Experience," "Bad Dreams," and "Flight" could all be examples , and Hadley's ability to spin up interest and tension out of situations with no more than an ordinary amount of dramatic charge is impressive; you never feel her straining for a hook. She also ends stories in surprising places, often while you're still waiting for it to happen, whatever it is. For people who've consumed enough narratives that they can feel a climax coming from a mile away, this is refreshing.

Her endings can create a breathtaking feeling, like stopping short at the edge of a cliff. In spite of Hadley's investment in "the everyday," she does offer variety in terms of setting, time, and class. Her stories are set from the s to the present, and once in a while, even farther back; they take place in London and other cities, and the country; a lot of her characters are well-off, but many are working class, and she does them all convincingly. She must be a phenomenal observer in real life because the details she offers nearly always tell, and tell a lot, very specifically.

I'll never forget reading the first story of hers I came across, "Dido's Lament," in the New Yorker in The main character is a young woman in London, of African descent, and reading it, I just assumed that Tessa Hadley was the same. And not from London. And she published her first novel at Besides admiring Hadley's powers of observation and her ability to convincingly inhabit other lives, I take inspiration from the example she provides, that it's possible, at least if you're kind of a genius, to write great fiction that people connect to without apparently having anything more than an ordinary, middle-aged, white-lady life to draw from.

The prose is great. There is a sweet spot between fancy and plain, elaborate and conversational, Jamesian and text message-y, and to my mind, Tessa Hadley hits it perfectly. Reading her, I seldom if ever pause and say "Really? It's not full of fifty-cent words, and you can read it fast, but almost every sentence bears slowing down and savoring, too. I think it goes back to her command of detail. The acuity especially visual is extraordinary. Again and again, she pulls just the right detail, the right word. It's like coming across someone who looks fantastic, not because their clothes are flashy or trendy, but because they're well-tailored, expertly chosen, flattering, absolutely the right shade.

I have a feeling that because of the way they're written, these stories will stand the test of time: There's a psychology so subtle it almost feels magic. Her work reminds me again and again of my admittedly sketchy understanding of "the uncanny. There is a fair amount of doubling events in the past presage similar events in the future, or events in the present recall in strange form events in the past , and cases where x leads to y in a way that's surprising but feels right.

It's as if what Hadley does as a writer is to lay bare the magic and mystery that exist in the everyday—to say that the real drama is here, right under our noses, if only we can attune to it. It's a feat I'd be proud to pull off even once, while she clears the hurdle gracefully, again, and again, and again. From the title I expected more unpleasantness, if not actual horror, in these stories, but mostly they are gentle tales of discomfort - "unhappiness" is too strong, even. Girls who feel out of place in their family but do all right when they grow up, and that kind of thing.

I see that Tessa Hadley was born in and in many cases the characters are that age - if the main character is a child the setting is the s, if a young adult it's the s, etc. One story is set in The writing is wonderful and I'd love to read more stories by this writer, though they're probably best read slowly rather than all at one sitting.

Sep 02, Kiki rated it really liked it. I enjoyed these short stories from Tessa Hadley. I've read a couple of her novels, and especially loved The Past which I've recommended to many customers at work. It seemed a natural transition from Hunt's The Dark Dark to these more grounded but equally meaningful stories of women of all ages and walks of life.

Both collections hold a truth at their kernel that life is often dangerous for women. Jun 22, Amy rated it really liked it. Decisions reverberate far into the future; while reading, one feels as if they are hanging on by a thread, about to slip into something they can't take back, should they want to. I'm eager now to read more of Hadley's work. The author writes so beautifully and, somewhat more detailed than the average short story author, her subtle slap in the face adjectives feels like a gentle autumn breeze ruffling fallen leaves.

One thing I did espy is her love for freckles. Hence, the use of them in every story. Hadley gave the reader a glimpse of everyday life. She allowed her characters to show how things happen in life and how one can either meditate on it momentarily like a bad dream or let it consume them. An Abduction was The author writes so beautifully and, somewhat more detailed than the average short story author, her subtle slap in the face adjectives feels like a gentle autumn breeze ruffling fallen leaves.

An Abduction was one of my favorites. A female child, Jane is picked up, shoplifts so that in her words, she won't seem to the guys mainly Daniel to be naive and childlike. The group ends up doing drugs and in the latter part of the story, Jane has sex for the first time with Daniel but later discovers him in the bed naked with Fionna.

Was she abducted and taken advantage of?

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The reader is left to form their own opinions. I also enjoyed The Stain. Marina the oddball was employed as a caretaker by an old man's daughter, Wendy to watch after him. The old man had his moments when he tried kissing her and coming to her inappropriately but Marina reprimanded him. After time passed and working for him for quite some time, the old man desired to leave his mansion to her.

Marina wasn't having it. Later on in the narrative, she found out from his grandson that his travels to Africa actually turned out to be his involvement in special operations for the South African Defence Force. When he passed, he still ended up changing his will and leaving his home to Marina but she was now even more determined not to hold any part of his gift. The authors use of the title, The Stain made it to Marina to be a mark on her dignity that she knew would be laborious to remove had she accepted his or his daughters, handouts.

I won't go into detail about each story, but all were very compelling. Met weinig verwachtingen begonnen aan deze verhalenbundel, de zoveelste poging dit jaar van 'Ik ben al in tien boeken bezig, maar mijn hoofd staat er niet naar en laat me tegen beter weten in - een mens moet toch blijven lezen, niet lezen is nog erger - toch proberen of dit boek geen lichtpuntje kan bieden'.

Maar de aanhouder wint: Subtiel geschreven, elk verhaal heel knap afgerond. Ook bij The Guardian waren ze fan: En terecht zoals deze zinnen bewijzen: She was needy, too. They might as well keep each other company. This was a tough book to rate. The stories are lessons in craft, exquisite in detail.

I caught myself burrowing through for the silk scarf at the bottom of the baggage "Flight". It wasn't always there. Like readers before me, I had to wonder if I had read some of the stories before. The impermanence and possibility of change or the threat of change seems This was a tough book to rate. The impermanence and possibility of change or the threat of change seems to be a thread in this book of ordinary lives.

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Hadley's characters can't always seem to move beyond themselves. How I wanted them to. Maybe that's the point. Aug 23, AJ rated it liked it. I'd give this book 2.

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I love short stories but some of these just felt like they didn't make sense or were unfinished. Feb 04, Cara Devine rated it it was ok. I have not been a big short story reader but am developing an appreciation. In a few short pages, a good writer can deliver a good emotional punch or jolt you into a memory that was long buried. Not sure about the title of this collection because nothing hideous happens yay!



Real life can be hideous enough. Jun 11, Natalie rated it really liked it Shelves: Tessa Hadley has a way of getting right to the core of her characters and these short stories are finely crafted slices of deeply revealing real life. Oct 03, Milly Potter rated it it was amazing. Apr 02, Beth Chats Books rated it liked it. I found that each story was set up for a reveal or a plot twist that never happened.