"Crash Diet" (the first and title story) is brilliantly funny, and "Waiting for Hard Times to End" hits you hard right where it's aiming. The New York Times Book Review called the collection (in apocalyptic prose) an indictment of the "shoddiness of the pleasures" of the world--to which I would say, um well sort of...--still, I agree with them that readers everywhere will pick up the book and cry, 'That's just how it is!' in the best way possible. When a book has me wondering why I keep buying the latest Elle, I start to like it. There's a witty, funny, slightly self-loathing/slightly world-wizened, highly identifiable voice which women use to speak to themselves and to each other (see the columns of E. Jean), and which I am drawn to every time it appears in fiction (Margaret Atwood, especially in her early stuff like Lady Oracle; Lori Moore, who picks up on the women's magazine trend with SELF HELP; sometimes Amy Hempel). Jill McCorkle has that voice down. She, like Lee Smith, pays fine, poet-like attention to the language she uses: the repetition of "I know him like the back of my hand," for instance. I've never read Jill McCorkle (except for an interview in the back of Lee Smith's FAIR AND TENDER LADIES) and the reason I chose to start with this collection was the great one-liners she opens with: "Kenneth left me on a Monday morning before I'd even had the chance to mousse my hair, and I just stood there at the picture window with the drapes swung back and watched him get into that flashy red Mazda, which I didn't want him to get anyway, and drive away down Marnier Street, and make a right onto Seagrams," and "I don't believe in non-violence. I never have." I know that "voice fiction" is sometimes considered too cutesy (or "quirky without being truthful" to borrow a phrase) but whenever the author succeeds in showing the vulnerability of a character beneath his or her idiosyncrasies, I find it irresistible--most of the best stuff (Barry Hannah, Amy Hempel, Jim Shepard, Mark Richard, McCorkle herself) that's being written today.
Crash Diet is McCorkle's first collection of stories, originally published in 1992 (she's since published three more, along with five novels). She tells stories of Southern women—some old, some young, some happy, some sad. The situations are relatable without being too generic, the emotions are raw and real, and the voices ooze honesty.My three favorite stories in this collection—"Gold Mine," "Departures," and "Waiting for Hard Times to End"—I deem absolute perfection. "Gold Mine" tells the story of a young mother of two as her high school sweetheart husband carries on an affair and their roadside motel struggles for business after the newly opened interstate bypasses their small town. "Departures" is about the daily adjustments of a woman recently widowed as she comes to terms with her own emotions while shielding herself from the behaviors of everyone around her. "Waiting for Hard Times to End" was perhaps the most heartbreaking of the collection, as a sixteen-year-old girl waits daily by the mailbox for word from her older sister who was disowned by the family. These stories had such compelling characters and situations that they will stick with me for sure. Do you ever run across a book or author where you feel the need to underline about every line because it's just so poetic and perfect? That's McCorkle to me, particularly in these stories.
Do You like book Crash Diet (1992)?
I was first introduced to McCorkle via her short, "Hominids," which I found harsh, beautiful, and darkly comic. I'd always meant to check out more of her work but haven't done so until now. And even though this collection wasn't quite in the same vein as "Hominids," I still enjoyed many of the stories.Her ability to capture the hurt and frustrations of these various characters is rather incredible. The collection as a whole serves as this "shared hurt" feel, that regardless of our background, we all experience the same feelings of betrayal and a futility to change the things around us. Even still, though, we push on and--if anything--lash out.Not all of the stories worked for me, and some felt rather weak in comparison to others, but the humor laced throughout made each story--no matter how heartbreaking--enjoyable enough.
—Chris
Eleven short stores about Southern women who don't wait for events to carry them along in life. Instead, they try to take matters into their own hands and seize opportunities whatever the consequences. The women range in age from high school students to those widowed and retired and each is involved in conflicted and troubled relationships. McCorkle is able to capture the personalities of each woman in such a way that readers are reminded of episodes and emotions in their own lives. While the stories are set in the South and clearly paint a picture of life in that region of the country, their appeal is universal.
—Judy
