Almost Famous Women: Stories
Ratings3
Average rating3.7
From a prizewinning, beloved young author, a provocative collection that explores the lives of colorful, intrepid women in history. “These stories linger in one’s memory long after reading them” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis). The fascinating characters in Megan Mayhew Bergman’s “collection of stories as beautiful and strange as the women who inspired them” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) are defined by their creative impulses, fierce independence, and sometimes reckless decisions. In “The Siege at Whale Cay,” cross-dressing Standard Oil heiress Joe Carstairs seduces Marlene Dietrich. In “A High-Grade Bitch Sits Down for Lunch,” aviator and writer Beryl Markham lives alone in Nairobi and engages in a battle of wills with a stallion. In “Hell-Diving Women,” the first integrated, all-girl swing band sparks a violent reaction in North Carolina. Other heroines, born in proximity to the spotlight, struggle to distinguish themselves: Lord Byron’s illegitimate daughter, Allegra; Oscar Wilde’s wild niece, Dolly; Edna St. Vincent Millay’s talented sister, Norma; James Joyce’s daughter, Lucia. Almost Famous Women offers an elegant and intimate look at artists who desired recognition. “By assiduously depicting their intimacy and power struggles, Bergman allows for a close examination of the multiplicity of women’s experiences” (The New York Times Book Review). The world wasn’t always kind to the women who star in these stories, but through Mayhew Bergman’s stunning imagination, they receive the attention they deserve. Almost Famous Women is “addictive and tantalizing, each story whetting our appetite for more” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution).
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Abandoned. Listened to first two women.
Too jumbled, not very interesting, and hard to understand.
Likely due to format, but it was hard to tell who she was talking about and when one story ends and another begins. Also it was hard for be to tell why the women were almost famous or if they were just odd (a conjoined set of twins and a woman (bicurious or lesbian) whom was a mermaid at an aquarium (or somewhere)...or if they were likable, or talented, or just desperate...and if I should care...
First off, Bergman is a wonderful story writer. She has a way of shaping stories from the most basic components and making them very much alive. Her stories are intelligent and expressive. Secondly, I love the concept of this book. Here are women we know little or nothing of, women who were “almost famous” because of the men were in the company of, or “almost famous” because they were notable, but just not quite visible enough in a patriarchal society. Here these women are reimagined, given new life and a chance to tell their stories. Many of these stories felt more to me like the product of Bergman's imagination than based on truths; however, a glance at the author's notes reveals she conducted considerable research.
All that aside, Almost Famous Women is a good book with a great concept, but the stories don't quite match the caliber of Bergman's previous effort, Birds of a Lesser Paradise. While there are many stellar stories in her first collection, Almost Famous Women is full of consistently good stories, almost great stories, but none quite as wonderful as “Housewifely Arts,” “Another Story She Won't Believe,” or “Saving Face.” Birds of a Lesser Paradise is worth the time to read because of its best stories. Almost Famous Women is worth the time because of the interesting characters it introduces the reader to.
Personal favorite included “The Siege at Whale Cay” and “Saving Butterfly McQueen.”
