Actually two brief novellas, I really liked the one called "A Simple Tale" for its depiction of Ukranian immigrant's life in America. The story called "The Hunters" was not quite as good, but fascinating in that the protagonist's gender was never revealed. I kept guessing different ways. She's a very good writer. If you're looking for something short, this would be a good read.

Two stories, both excellent - Messud writes very rich characters

There are actually two novellas included in my copy-The Hunters and A Simple Tale and, though they are quite different from eachother, they both possess such an eerie strangeness that make you contemplate them long after you finish. They are memorable in the same subtle sinking way that the characters themselves are memorable to other characters they meet within the novellas. A Simple Tale has a great deal to do with being a Displaced Person or peasant in the Ukraine around the time Hitler came to power. Our protagonist, who remembers her girlhood trauma tells us of her life at the labor camps then immigrating to Canada and starting a family there afterwards. It is just as much about pride, dignity, and family as it is about experiences and things that can never be truly wiped clean. We get a sense of Maria the caretaker and mother...Maria the proud peasant who has very strong opinions and we admire her even though she is strange herself and sometimes distant. I really appreciated another side of the story of the Holocaust and, while it's very important to learn about the persecution of the Jewish population, it seems that isn't the complete story which should be told. I really believe one of the only ways to prevent this atrocity from happening again is to understand all facets of it and this is one facet I hadn't really come across before.

Hunters is a much different sort of novella and takes place in England with a visiting American professor who wants a nice temporary home to write his novel about death. And, of course, he stumbles upon a strange woman who (like Maria in the first novel though quite different in terms of life experiences and personality) is a caretaker. Her problem, however, is that the people she keeps taking care of (elderly mainly) keep dying and so there's a sinking possibility she could be the cause of it that slowly gets planted in our heads and the head of the protagonist. This is a tricky one and there's quite a bit of symbolism between rabbits and Polaroids. The reader really has to examine the situation and the characters closely...I'd say more but I don't want to give anything away.

I liked the first novella, "A Simple Tale," very much but couldn't really get into the second one (for which the volume is named). That said, I finished the whole thing in a couple hours on a plane so certainly didn't dislike it.

Mar 1, 2013

The audiobook was so nice I had to listen to it twice! The voice acting with the varying accents made this audiobook stand out, and i was simply blown away by the precision, the wittiness and the mastery of Messud’s writing. Upon my second go-around, I was able to pick up on even more intricate details that I missed the first time, and I still found myself bursting out laughing. In truth this is a 4.5 star book but 4 stars is just too low for this quality of writing.

Best novellas I’ve read in quite a while. The writing is amazing. “A Simple Tale” is more straight forward in style. “The Hunters” leaves the reader guessing. Not much is known about the narrator and the subtle suspense keeps one reading to the end.

I've read and loved Messud before and I certainly don't remember all the maddening, writerly affectations that I found in this book: In every sentence, she'd capture my interest, then take off, inserting new clauses between everything.

This little book contained two novellas. The first was the story of a woman who escaped WWII and lived out her remaining years in Toronto. In the second, a New England professor (man or woman? Messud never tells us) stays in London for a summer, his/her peace disturbed by a pesky neighbor. The New York Times called it "Exceptional, a work of near-miraculous perfection." I call it "Huh?" Baffling, inconclusive, no pay-off.

My dear Claire M., I liked you so much in The Emperor's Children. What gives?

What odd stories! And so different from each other! I’m not sure I liked or could even relate to any of the characters.

And yet. From the very first words I was drawn in by masterful writing. The styles (different in each story), the word choice, the phrasing and pace. Delicious.

This was my first book by Claire Messud, and I’m eager to read more.

Went back to an earlier work, Messud's showcases of talent in two shortish novellas, that underrated literary form. They are very different- one plain, one florid- but both rewarding.

These two short stories are deceptively simple, but they really do show a writer who knows her craft. And at the end of The Hunters, who can't really feel a bit guilty himself?