I love short stories and have written previously about gifted storytellers like Alice Munro, Tegan Bennett Daylight, Angela Carter, Raymond Carver and others. I marvel at how authors can convey such depth in such brevity.
So why didn't I love Garner's collection? She is a gifted writer, and ofttimes I would marvel at her turn of phrase. She is also a laser-sharp observer of people, and can un-peel their many layers before your eyes. But the stories themselves all felt so morose and lonely. While I didn't enjoy every story in the collection, there were several stories that I thought were pretty good, like 'My Hard Heart' in which a woman is blindsided by her husband's infidelity.
In the end, perhaps my expectations were too high and I have over-Garnered myself. I have recently read Garner's brilliant novella The Spare Room and I am midway through her True Stories collection. So for now I am going to put Helen on hold and read other writers, so I can come back and enjoy her brilliance anew.