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Read A Dove Of The East: And Other Stories (2005)

A Dove of the East: And Other Stories (2005)

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Author
Rating
4 of 5 Votes: 2
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ISBN
0156031019 (ISBN13: 9780156031011)
Language
English
Publisher
mariner books

A Dove Of The East: And Other Stories (2005) - Plot & Excerpts

Every story in this book is gorgeous. I love Mark Helprin, and I wish I could say that I found this book to be as flawless as ELLIS ISLAND AND OTHER STORIES or WINTER'S TALE, but for some reason I can't bring myself to do it. It's obvious that some of these stories were written when Helprin was younger and had yet to fully marry his way with words to his poetic vision, but let that not be too great a detraction from this wonderful, wonderful book of short stories.To read these stories is to be uplifted. They are meditations on beauty, love, right and wrong, and truth. Helprin has a sound heart. Take his heart to yours.

Helprin's short stories are as brief and intense as fables, and they have the same sort of mythic quality. The people in them don't talk much, but a single one of their gestures or observation speaks volumes. Somehow they are both spare and emotionally detailed. In tone they are generally tragic and romantic, culminating in the title story, in which which a lone ranchhand in post-WWII Palestine holds a kind of deathwatch over an injured dove. In less able hands this would just be four-hanky melodrama, but Helprin is a master.

What do You think about A Dove Of The East: And Other Stories (2005)?

Short stories ??? Many struck me as little more then character sketches. Halfway through the collection I found myself shaking my head and somewhat exasperated, oh no, not another young woman with green eyes wearing a white dress. Last time I checked there are four seasons. Maybe pretty green eyed women in white dresses and young men captivated by them only come out in the autumn. Mark Helprin may have been young when these were written, in the thrall of love and still cutting his teeth on a literary career. That said he is a favorite author of mine, and I look forward to a next novel.
—Paul Piro

Wow! That's my review of this collection. Mark Helprin is a master of elegiac writing. Though he employs great simplicity in his style of writing, understanding his work requires thought. From reading this collection, I believe him to be one of the best contemporary American novelist! My favorites so far are "First Russian Summer" and "Katrina, Katrin." You can tell that he has used his life experiences to help in writing and also he believes in the power of his love. His words are beyond beautiful and I love the epigraph: "Love moved me and made me speak." -Dante's Inferno
—Natalie Joseph

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