The Orange Fish: Stories

By Carol Shields

Book Overview

Winner of the Marian Engel Award: Passion, longing, regret, and transformation infuse these twelve tales by one of our most "shrewd and skillful" storytellers (Chicago Tribune) "Milk Bread Beer Ice" is a road trip shared by a husband and wife who no longer communicate through meaningful dialogue. Fifty-year-old "Hazel" is forced to enter an alien workplace after the sudden death of her husband. In "Today Is the Day," the village women gather together for their annual ritual of planting blisterlilies. And "Family Secrets" travels to DeKalb, Illinois, and the First World War, as the narrator searches for a missing year in her mother's life . . . and unearths a surprising connection to Ernest Hemingway. From a group of musicians who discover they share more than classical "Chemistry" to an unhappily married couple who may get a second chance, this remarkable collection, like the ageless orange fish of the title story, is filled with the wonder and magic of everyday life.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1480459852
• ISBN13: 9781480459854
• Release Date: December 2013
• Publisher: Open Road Media
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.77 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.3" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A Great Collection

This collection was much better than I expected. Many of the stories in the dozen that make up the collection touched me, made me think, and changed how I look at a few important things in life. The first story, the Orange Fish, was very interesting and I loved the many messages and interpretations that the lithograph brought out in the different characters. The couple in this story undergoes a metamorphosis because of their purchase of a lithograph of an orange fish; the idea that a purchase can tranform a marriage seems preposterous, but Shields makes it believable. 'Hazel' was another one of my favourite stories, about a widow who acquires job skills and confidence and expects to take control of her destiny and realizes that much of what happens in her life and in the lives around her occurs by accident. Another story, 'Times of Sickness and Health' struck a chord with me, as it has a precise poetic quality to it and a magical element.

Each Story a Little World

Each book that I read by Carol Shields only strengthens my admiration. "The Orange Fish", a collection of short stories, is my recent discovery. Although one of her earliest collections, it still bears her signature mark of strong, daring prose/poetry that draws you into the individual worlds of each story. Most of the stories deal with simple, daily occurrences, with every truthful word Carol Shields invites the reader to enter. You feel as if you are interacting with the characters and talking with Kay about her troubled marriage over a cup of tea in "Times of Sickness and Health." You root for the success of Marta's glass-blowing movies in "Collision." You sympathize with Meershank's writer's block in "Block Out." In effect, as the reader, you inhabit the individual world of each story and want to stay longer. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to read about ordinary people reflected through the mirror of powerful prose.