Enjoyable stories, and I really liked the premise. We returned to the same situation several times, and some either ended without a good purpose or I just didn't get it. Overall quite good. ( )

This was a slog to get through. SO many of the characters were the same - teachers, from Minnesota or the Midwest, traveling abroad, having relationship issues. It was too much sameness! I read all of the stories because I’m a chronic book finisher, but I wouldn’t recommend this collection. ( )

This collection of stories was beautifully written, unsentimental, but sad. ( )

Interesting that the collection opens with one of the weakest stories. We are in a world of Mid Westerners who happen to be lesbians but that does nothing to mitigate the repression and constraint. The power of the work accumulates. It is not evident if you read a story or two. It is only through repetition that you begin to sense the gothic suffering of those who can't speak. The most glaring example is the story about the main character's lover returning from an overseas trip with her head shaved and the main character can't bring herself to mention it. Ostlund works in both first and third though the first person stories are the more successful. One story stood out and that was Children Under the Seat where the lesbian couple ride on a bus in southern Morocco and witness the abuse of children. Of course they can't say anything but at least in that story the language and imagery escaped. ( )

The Bigness of the World by Lori Ostlund is a highly recommended award winning collection of eleven short stories originally published in 2009. This review copy is for the eBook and the paperback release. As a debut collection, The Bigness of the World, received the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, the California Book Award for First Fiction, and the Edmund White Debut Fiction Award. It was shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, was a Lambda finalist, and was named a Notable Book by The Short Story Prize.

Contents include: The Bigness of the World; Bed Death; Talking Fowl with My Father; The Day You Were Born; Nobody Walks to the Mennonites; Upon Completion of Baldness; And Down We Went; Idyllic Little Bali; Dr. Daneau’s Punishment; The Children Beneath the Seat; All Boy; an Excerpt from 'After the Parade.'

Common themes presented are emotional isolation and reserve, separation, complex and deteriorating relationships, disappointments, the loss of love, and the pain of loss. Many of the damaged relationships depicted are either between two women or children and parents. In many stories the women involved are teaching in foreign countries. There is a similarity in the characters and the circumstances in several of the stories which can feel repetitive.

All of the stories are exquisitely well written but, honestly, all of the stories are also profoundly sad, or at least they left me feeling sad and reflecting on the loss and isolation that is present in these fragile lives. It might behoove the reader to take these little gems one at a time, and take a break between reading them. An excellent collection, but the emotional heaviness it leaves you with begs considering refraining from reading them all at once. This would also help with the feeling that several stories are very similar to each other and simply repeating the same theme in a slightly different way.

Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Scribner for review purposes. ( )