A Dove of the East: And Other Stories

By Mark Helprin

Book Overview

The twenty stories here, many of which first appeared in The New Yorker and have since been anthologized throughout the world, are strikingly beautiful essays on enduring and universal questions: In Rome, in the hour of his death, and American priest must choose between his Church and his God. An Israeli scout risks the safety and respect of his comrades in an act of transfiguring gentleness and charity. In a hot, dirty typewriter ribbon factory in the Bronx, a young man finds love. A Dutch child in a Canadian orphanage carries in her heart, her love for her parents and the pain of war. A soldier is overpowered by his days of burying the dead. A Sicilian widow meditates on the end of her family line. These twenty stories are strikingly beautiful pieces on enduring, universal questions by a writer the San Francisco Review of Books calls "a master crafter of the short story."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0156031019
• ISBN13: 9780156031011
• Release Date: June 2005
• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A Wonderful Collection of Stories

Helprin truly is, as a friend observed, one of our greatest living writers. These stories are sublime and affecting. Katrina, Katrin' is as moving a story as I have read, and A Dove of the East does extra duty - it's a thought-provoking examination of the human condition on one level, and a look back in time at the Middle East. These stories do what good stories should: Make their impact during and immediately after reading, and then reappear in your consciousness at a later time, triggered by a tangential event perhaps, or an emotional shard.

Helprin's short stories are lovely.

If you are wondering if it is worth while to read one of Helprin's mammoth novels (they are all, uhm, Big), you can get an idea from reading either a book in the Swan Lake trilogy (hard-to-find children's books, illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg), or one of his short story collections. I cherish his short stories, and this collection is one of my favorites. The variety of time, place, and subject matter, the vividness of the telling, and the kindness and sympathy he gives his subjects - all make the stories worthwhile. Mark Helprin's novels, and many of his short stories, make me feel as though constellations are coruscating in my mind. Richard Powers's novels, e.g. The Gold Bug Variations, also have this effect on me. I wish the whole world would read their books!