The Mechanics of Falling and Other Stories

by Catherine Brady

This work deals with a range of circumstances and relationships, and with characters who must decide what they are willing to risk for the sake of transformation, or for the right to refuse it. The... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0874177634
• ISBN13: 9780874177633
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: University of Nevada Press
• Length: 227 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

An Elegant, Beautifully Crafted Collection of Stories

Catherine Brady's The Mechanics of Falling is a graceful collection of stories, an example of a writer in her prime with the power to horrify and delight, and always to surprise. Swinging from the shocking violence of "Looking For a Female Tenet" to the vine entangled claustrophobia of "This Dazzling World," and finally to the heartbreak of "Those Who Walk During the Day," Brady's abilities as a storyteller are dizzying. With prose both lucid and startling, Brady grabs and holds us, her sentences so emotionally resonant they are unforgettable. In a story like "Slender Little Thing," she demonstrates a profound compassion and patience for her characters, sketching out a lifetime before a mother and daughter in a way that seems effortless. These are people without affectation; what they say is true and real, what they do is true and real, even when marred by bad decisions that haunt them beyond the borders of the story. In the last few years we have seen several strong story collections - Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us - meet with critical and commercial acclaim. Catherine Brady's The Mechanics of Falling most certainly deserves a place among these celebrated collections.

Beautiful story collection

This is a beautiful story collection, so well crafted that one never even notices the craft or thinks about them being written at all. The characters in these stories make one reconsider what it means to be a parent, a son or daughter, a sister or brother, and about one's place in the world. Although they are a collection of stories, I found myself reading the book like a novel, not wanting to let these people go, not wanting to leave the mood and atmosphere that I had entered. These are stories I will read again and again.

Spectacularly written...

I got lost in these stories over and over again. This gifted writer makes you feel every page--and you can't wait for the next one. Her insight hooks you and leaves you wanting more with every story. So many times when I'm reading, even the books I'm enjoying, parts feel contrived and like I've read it somewhere before. These stories are original and such a gift to the reader. Catherine Brady is my favorite author!

Precision, style and backbone

This collection contains nicely structured stories of average Bay Area people, ordinary folk who either experience a cathartic life event or stand on a precipice needing to acquire the courage to make that one leap of faith. Each narrative is filled with precise prose yet retains a stylistic edge. The thematic thread provides a backbone that renders these tales both personal and universal.

Falling from the Heavens

Catherine Brady's had a lot of practice writing short stories, and it shines through in The Mechanics of Falling and Other Stories (WEST WORD FICTION). In "Slender Little Thing," Brady modifies a poetic form, known as Pantoum, in which the second and fourth lines of the first stanza are repeated as the first and third lines of the next stanza. The Pantoum is a variation of the Villanelle, in which the first and third lines in a three line stanza poem are repeated as a refrain alternately throughout the poem. Here's an example of a Pantoum and an example of a Villanelle. Poets interested in form will enjoy this story because it uses a version of these forms to hammer home the heart of the story where a mother, Cerise, struggles with her lot in life as a nanny to richer parents and as a nurse assistant in a nursing home while trying to raise her daughter, Sophie, to be more than she is. "The Dazzling World" packs a punch when Judith and Cam are robbed at gunpoint in a foreign country on their way to meet Judith's sister at her archaeological dig site. Not only does this story immerse readers in a foreign nation, it also leads them on a journey of discovery, almost rediscovery for Judith. While these stories are each around 20-30 pages each, the characters are complex and on the verge or dealing with a perspective shattering event. Many of these characters are somber, and more than complacent--resigned--until an event jars them awake to look at their world through different eyes. Settings in this volume of short stories are varied; the characters share common traits, but lead different kinds of lives--two young waitresses trying to pay for college and find themselves, a horse rancher and his roommate's game of relationship chess, a mother trying to raise her daughter successfully and send her off to college, a couple whose relationship is disintegrating, and many more. Readers will enjoy the surface of these stories as well as their deeper meanings beneath the layers of protective skin. Brady's prose is captivating and thought provoking all in just a few lines, and she easily fuses poetic lines and techniques into her narratives.