What do You think about Victory Over Japan: A Book Of Stories (1985)?
The title is misleading. Victory Over Japan has nothing to do with Japan. It is not about slapstick G.I. hijinks in Occupied Japan, it’s not about the gruesome Pacific Island campaign, it’s not about the incendiary bombing of greater Tokyo or the horror of the A-bomb (although the A-bomb does make a brief appearance in the first story). Instead, a collection of spoiled/flawed characters from upper class families struggle their way across parts of the American south and west of the forties, fifties and sixties. These characters are girls or women in broken families, second marriages or bad relationships, with confused, failed or abusive boyfriends, husbands or brothers, wealthy, unloving fathers and mothers, and sad, spoiled, unloved children. They get falling down drunk, go on road trips, bum cigarettes, fight with their fathers and mothers, sleep with insurance salesmen, and are generally confused, angry and want to have fun. The writing is solid though the style is dated. Starts slow, but picks up quickly and ends with quite an adventure.
—Peter
Not a war book! I'm ashamed to say I only now am discovering Ellen Gilchrist, one of America's best authors, certainly of short stories.These stories must have been written in the seventies or early eighties, they were acclaimed upon publication, and deservedly so. That said, they are more fun than profound. Gilchrist writes about rich southern women who are "empowered" in a way that today's kick-boxing heroines might well look into. These ladies drink, smoke, diet and have sex as much as they want. All of the stories seem to be related, albeit loosely, and even though few of them have anything that could be described as a "plot" they are the kind of stories people who demand "a beginning, a middle, and an end" will enjoy so much they won't even notice that these three requirements hardly exist. It is all about characters. You have to think, nobody could make up people like this. And then you have to wonder, did she? Get the book. Pour yourself a glass of wine. Enjoy.
—Paul
The best known of Gilchrist's work and the winner of the American Book Award, Victory Over Japan is a collection of stories populated by such over-the-top, laugh-out-loud stereotypes of Southerners that it runs the risk of being cartoonish - but Gilchrist pulls it off masterfully. She subtly and slyly pokes fun at what she knows best, but at the same time you see her admiration and love for the culture she was raised in. It is in this collection that we first meet Rhoda Manning, Gilchrist's alter-ego and best-loved character. Fans of Gilchrist's work feel very close to Rhoda - she is insufferable, selfish, irritating and reckless...but she is also full of passion and joi de vivre. Much like Gilchrist's writing, which uses staccato sentences and Faulkner-esque descriptions to illustrate a world within a world, the American South.
—Katy
