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Literary Friday: The Color Master

Friday, October 25, 2013



Welcome to Literary Friday!  This is a weekly linky where we share what we've been reading and/or what we want to read.

This week I read The Color Master by Aimee Bender.  I've also read The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, and it is a very unique story.  You can read my review here.  

The Color Master is a collection of 15 short stories, and each story explores people desperately trying to connect with others usually through coercion or exploitation.  I found most of the stories fascinating!  I'll share with you a quick blurb of my five favorites from the collection:

"Appleless" is an odd story of obsession.  A group of apple eaters in an orchard lure a fascinating golden-haired girl who refuses to eat apples into their midst.

"Faceless" explores a mother's quest to help her son who has prosopagnosia, or face blindness.

"Tiger Mending" takes us to Malaysia where the world's best needle artists repair tigers.  The painting below inspired Bender to write the story.


"Mending Tigers" by Amy Cutler


"The Devourings" is about an ugly woman who marries an ogre.  When he eats their children by accident, they have a slight crisis in their marriage.  This twisted fairy tale reminds me of "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury.

My favorite story is "The Color Master," and I first read it in the anthology My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me.


I wonder if Aimee Bender is also a visual artist because of how she describes color and the observation of color.  In this story, a group of tailors create color-specific clothing and accessories. For example, what colors should one mix to dye a dress the color of the moon?  I think this short story should be required reading for all artists.  It makes me smile every time I read it.

I highly recommend this well-written collection of short stories.  Some of the stories are dark, and many of her characters are obsessive-compulsive, self-loathing, and dangerous.  Do you like to read short stories?  I've read three very good collections in the past year.

Today is the last day to enter my 1,000th Post Giveaway!  Click on the link at the top of my sidebar. Good luck!

Until next time...

Happy reading!
Ricki Jill

10 comments

  1. Very interesting. The father eats the children and their is a slight crisis in their marriage?!! I love it!! I love short stories. You hate to see them end but then you're starting a new one! Thanks for the great review! I have to think about this one.

    XO,
    Jane

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  2. LOL- That is hysterical- xo Diana

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  3. The titles alone are intriguing and yes, I do like short stories.

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  4. my reading days are about to BEGIN!!!

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  5. I love when an anthology contains mostly excellent stories (instead of, say, one good one and the rest mediocre). Yay! I usually shy away from short stories and anthologies because of that, and because when I find a good one, I always want it to last longer than it does. :)
    Thanks for sharing this one! I need to check out The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake.

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  6. I am reading Songs of Willow Frost by Jamie Ford. He wrote Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet which is an all time favorite.

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  7. Not being a short story reader myself, thank you for suggestions... These should be a wonderful introduction.

    Tessa~

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  8. I usually don't read short stories but The Color Master sounds really interesting!!
    I love the illustration of the last book here !!

    Pamela xo

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  9. I love books that compile short stories Ricki. It's like given a bucket of different reads, each has a different theme, character and plot to discover.

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  10. I nearly forgot about linking up this week! I enjoyed your review but as I am not a fan of short stories will not be adding these to TBR.

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I'm Ricki Jill. Welcome! I'm honored that you're reading my blog. I enjoy sharing my creative lifestyle @ The Bookish Dilettante. For more information about my blog, please read the Start Here page. Thank-you for stopping by, and I hope you'll consider following me via email.

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