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Fiction. Literature. Short Stories. HTML: A landmark new collection of stories from Richard Ford that showcases his brilliance, sensitivity, and trademark wit and candor In Sorry for Your Trouble, Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times-bestselling author Richard Ford enacts a stunning meditation on memory, love and loss. "Displaced" returns us to a young man's Mississippi adolescence, and to a shocking encounter with a young Irish immigrant who recklessly tries to solace the narrator's sorrow after his father's death. "Driving Up" follows an American woman's late-in-life journey to Canada to bid good-bye to a lost love now facing the end of this life. "The Run of Yourself," a novella, sees a New Orleans lawyer navigating the difficulties of living beyond his Irish wife's death. And "Nothing to Declare" follows a man and a woman's chance re-meeting in the New Orleans French Quarter, after twenty years, and their discovery of what's left of love for them. Typically rich with Ford's emotional lucidity and lyrical precision, Sorry for Your Trouble is a memorable collection from one of our greatest writers..… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member browner56
A man and woman, lovers 35 years earlier, have a chance meeting in New Orleans and consider their futures and their pasts. A middle-aged American lawyer living in England contemplates life as he takes the ferry to Dublin to finalize a divorce from his Irish wife. A mother and her son in 1950s
Those are the basic plotlines explored in several of the stories comprising Richard Ford’s collection of short fiction Sorry For Your Trouble. Most of the nine tales in the volume are fairly brief, although two of them—‘The Run of Yourself’ and ‘Second Language’—are long enough to be labeled as novellas (wherever that line is actually drawn). If there is a common theme that connects these stories it is the focus on people who must live beyond some sort of traumatic loss, such as a divorce, the death of a loved one, or losing a job. However, there is also a distinct feeling of sameness that pervades the entire book; it really felt at times that I was reading a too-similar version of the same melancholic account over again as I moved from one story to another. In fact, the entire book felt more like multiple variations of the same idea rather than a series of distinct and original treatments, as if the author’s intention was to create a literary riff on something like Bach’s Goldberg Variations.
To be sure, Ford is a masterful wordsmith, who has long been one of my favorite writers. His insight into human nature and ability to capture the joys and angst of living have made both his Bascombe novels (especially Independence Day) and short fiction (Rock Springs) some of the most memorable books I have read. While this collection shows flashes of the same brilliance—including many stunningly crafted sentences scattered throughout—it does suffer a bit by comparison. In particular, I did not find any of the stories to be all that engaging and many of the shorter ones felt far too fragmentary to be anything other than easily forgettable. Also, these are all overly serious, relentlessly depressing tales without a shred of humor or much in the way of redemption for any of the characters who have experienced significant losses. So, while I am certainly glad to have read Sorry For Your Trouble, I would not place it near the top of the author’s considerable catalog of work.
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Mississippi face reduced circumstances after the death of the father. A lawyer in New Orleans tries to move on after his Irish wife commits suicide in their Maine summer home. A lawyer, recently divorced from his unfaithful wife, takes his bitter 12-year old daughter to say goodbye to a classmate whose family is leaving New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. A divorced school teacher from rural Ireland has an affair with the husband of her college roommate. A woman divorced from an Irishman and a widowed man get married in New York City, but then see their relationship dissolve after only two years while on a trip to Maine.Those are the basic plotlines explored in several of the stories comprising Richard Ford’s collection of short fiction Sorry For Your Trouble. Most of the nine tales in the volume are fairly brief, although two of them—‘The Run of Yourself’ and ‘Second Language’—are long enough to be labeled as novellas (wherever that line is actually drawn). If there is a common theme that connects these stories it is the focus on people who must live beyond some sort of traumatic loss, such as a divorce, the death of a loved one, or losing a job. However, there is also a distinct feeling of sameness that pervades the entire book; it really felt at times that I was reading a too-similar version of the same melancholic account over again as I moved from one story to another. In fact, the entire book felt more like multiple variations of the same idea rather than a series of distinct and original treatments, as if the author’s intention was to create a literary riff on something like Bach’s Goldberg Variations.
To be sure, Ford is a masterful wordsmith, who has long been one of my favorite writers. His insight into human nature and ability to capture the joys and angst of living have made both his Bascombe novels (especially Independence Day) and short fiction (Rock Springs) some of the most memorable books I have read. While this collection shows flashes of the same brilliance—including many stunningly crafted sentences scattered throughout—it does suffer a bit by comparison. In particular, I did not find any of the stories to be all that engaging and many of the shorter ones felt far too fragmentary to be anything other than easily forgettable. Also, these are all overly serious, relentlessly depressing tales without a shred of humor or much in the way of redemption for any of the characters who have experienced significant losses. So, while I am certainly glad to have read Sorry For Your Trouble, I would not place it near the top of the author’s considerable catalog of work.
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LibraryThing member brangwinn
This book of short stories packs a punch. It is the stories of the middle-aged, widowed or divorced, who are trying to figure out who they are and put the pieces back together. You can open the book anywhere and find a surprise you did not expect. I have heard Ford compared to Ralph Waldo Emerson
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in his style of writing. And it is true. Choose to read these stories at a time when you are not rushed, that you can sip your cup of tea and ponder what you just read. Show Less
LibraryThing member RandyMetcalfe
Of the nine stories in this collection, two are considerably longer than the others, bordering on short novellas. All of the stories, I think, share a melancholic air. The central figures are often tired, of life or of trying to figure out their lives, it’s not clear which. Certainly failures of
The stories are peopled by lawyers, engineers, real estate agents — professions which can be gestured at in shorthand. Marriages abound, along with their collapse. Children are either perfunctorily precocious or adult and distant both emotionally and in space. Nearly all of the stories touch on Ireland in one way or another. New Orleans features prominently, often with characters from that southern city living elsewhere, either in New York or New England or Paris. Politics are mostly absent, with some protagonists announcing that they are Democrats but living and acting in ways indistinguishable from their Republican counterparts. Class is present but at a remove. Characters often go to ivy league schools but set out to make their fortunes in cities where old family ties are not a necessity. And yet wealth abounds. For some.
As ever, the writing is careful and measured. I find I sometimes get tripped up by his diction because of a tendency to bring southern words into new locales or due to such an effort for the apposite adjective that I get momentarily thrown out of the story altogether in appreciation. There’s a kind of last century (or the century before that) feel to both the writing and perhaps the subjects. Inevitably, relations between women and men lie at the heart of things, accompanied by a fair amount of disappointment in oneself. Or maybe those just are the enduring themes of the short story.
Gently recommended.
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understanding, which often result in failures of communication figure large. But so too does longing, whether for understanding or for communion or something undefined. And if Ford is not always innovating on the form of the short story, he is still always challenging himself to better capture the image or idea that lies just out of reach, as evidenced most clearly by his Jamesian effort in the final, longer, story, “Second Language.”The stories are peopled by lawyers, engineers, real estate agents — professions which can be gestured at in shorthand. Marriages abound, along with their collapse. Children are either perfunctorily precocious or adult and distant both emotionally and in space. Nearly all of the stories touch on Ireland in one way or another. New Orleans features prominently, often with characters from that southern city living elsewhere, either in New York or New England or Paris. Politics are mostly absent, with some protagonists announcing that they are Democrats but living and acting in ways indistinguishable from their Republican counterparts. Class is present but at a remove. Characters often go to ivy league schools but set out to make their fortunes in cities where old family ties are not a necessity. And yet wealth abounds. For some.
As ever, the writing is careful and measured. I find I sometimes get tripped up by his diction because of a tendency to bring southern words into new locales or due to such an effort for the apposite adjective that I get momentarily thrown out of the story altogether in appreciation. There’s a kind of last century (or the century before that) feel to both the writing and perhaps the subjects. Inevitably, relations between women and men lie at the heart of things, accompanied by a fair amount of disappointment in oneself. Or maybe those just are the enduring themes of the short story.
Gently recommended.
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LibraryThing member nivramkoorb
Richard Ford is one of my favorite writers. His Frank Bascombe novels are classic. In this collection of short stories you get to see his great prose. The 9 stories have two that are almost novellas. The themes deal with loss from divorce, death and how the characters deal with life changes. The
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stories take place in the south, New England, and England. Most of the lead characters are male and the stories always touch on the relationships between men and women. I think this a good book for older people to read because the characters reflect on their lives and it is easy for those of us of a certain age to identify with what the characters are going through. If you have never read Ford, this might be a good introduction. He can be a bit wordy at time and in some of the stories he would throw in too many characters to follow, but there is no doubting his creativity and writing skill. Show Less
LibraryThing member muddyboy
A quality collection of not so short stories based on characters of the author's age group (late middle age). There are also connections to New Orleans and Ireland. The stories take a close look at loss and the struggle to kindle and rekindle relationships later in life. Ford's words ring true but
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for a narrow segment of our society.. No age, ethnic or racial diversity here. It is what it is - but Ford is a skilled author who knows his audience. Show Less
LibraryThing member jphamilton
It was such a joy to read what Richard Ford can do with his characters in these short stories from his most recent collection, Sorry for Your Trouble. The mix of the big events and everyday things that happen between his characters is beautifully captured in these stories. It is so rewarding when
“The Run of Yourself” is a brilliant story of a widower from New Orleans, Peter Boyce, who travels to Maine to rent a cabin near a beach. Peter is not looking to have an idyllic vacation, as he’s rented the cabin right next door to where his wife committed suicide two years previously. His late wife Mae had had cancer and had saved up her medications and sent him off to get some melons at a fruit stand, while she took her deadly dose. [I find myself thinking about her whenever I see melons nowadays.]
The couple had regularly come to that other cabin every August. At first his mind runs wild with all the reminders of Mae and their time around these cabins. Then the story heads in several new directions, as he considers buying a cabin, his estranged daughter Polly shows up for a brief visit, and then he meets a young girl in need of help. Polly’s anger over her mother’s death and Peter’s actions leads Peter to say the following to her. “I’m just learning to get along, darling. Like you are. It’s only been two years.” Before I lost my wife Vicky, I would have read that comment about the two years, and thought that this guy just needs to move on. Now that I know the intensity and the emptiness of such a loss, two years, and time in general, have taken on an entirely different scale. This story of a cabin has lodged in my head. It also contained this telling line. “He simply realized that being a widower was not, in spite of what others thought, the same as being single.”
The last story, “Second Language,” was a beautifully tragic piece of work. A woman’s husband never returns from a far-ranging solo sailing trip, and another man witnesses the following at his kitchen table. “[Mary Linn] sat down with a cup of tea, looked across the table at Johnny, smiled curiously and remarked that she’d probably feel better if she would just lay her head on her folded hands a moment, which she did. And died before Johnny could reach to touch her. She had cancer … Dying was likely the only real symptom she’d experienced.” The two survivors eventually meet and decide a second marriage is called for after just three months. Yet, in the end, it doesn’t work out and they seem better off being friends. The writing is so subtle and tender. At another point in the story, it was as if Ford was writing a scene that Vicky and I had lived out while looking at a blissful blue screen before a movie started at a funky movie theater in Sacramento.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?
Charlotte smiled in the shadows. “Oh, nothing. There’s usually not much going on in my head, Johnny. Sometimes I just have a feeling and let myself completely feel it. Don’t you do that?”
One more quote that could easily fit in many of Ford’s stories, was from a story titled “Crossing.” “A moment can come from nowhere and life is re-framed. Stupid. But we all know that it can.”
So, on a warm northern California day, this was a voice from my reading past, the words of Richard Ford were impressive in the breeze of the backyard. It was all about his characters living segments of their lives, Mr. Guinness in a cool bottle with condensation running down it, and me reading these excellent stories and thinking about life. I brought little to the table; I was just an appreciative reader. Normally I just start with the first story and cruise through a collection in order, but I jumped in here, went to there, and came back around to another. I chose by the initial impression of a story’s first few lines. I did finish with the last story last, and it slayed me. Yep, put dying spouses, divorces, and second marriages in a story and I’m definitely interested. The collection has gotten some mixed reviews, and granted a few of the stories are somewhat weaker, but when he impressed me, he wowed me with his best.
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you pick up a book by one of your all-time favorite writers and they show you all over again why you love their writing. Everybody knows about the ups and downs in their own relationships with people, but reading Ford’s story allows one to step back and see how his characters experience many of the same tensions, the ones that slam people around as they simply attempt to live around each other. And yet the tenderness that he captures in his writing is stunning. It also has to do battle with the pettiness that often fills many people’s lives. He’s a master. “The Run of Yourself” is a brilliant story of a widower from New Orleans, Peter Boyce, who travels to Maine to rent a cabin near a beach. Peter is not looking to have an idyllic vacation, as he’s rented the cabin right next door to where his wife committed suicide two years previously. His late wife Mae had had cancer and had saved up her medications and sent him off to get some melons at a fruit stand, while she took her deadly dose. [I find myself thinking about her whenever I see melons nowadays.]
The couple had regularly come to that other cabin every August. At first his mind runs wild with all the reminders of Mae and their time around these cabins. Then the story heads in several new directions, as he considers buying a cabin, his estranged daughter Polly shows up for a brief visit, and then he meets a young girl in need of help. Polly’s anger over her mother’s death and Peter’s actions leads Peter to say the following to her. “I’m just learning to get along, darling. Like you are. It’s only been two years.” Before I lost my wife Vicky, I would have read that comment about the two years, and thought that this guy just needs to move on. Now that I know the intensity and the emptiness of such a loss, two years, and time in general, have taken on an entirely different scale. This story of a cabin has lodged in my head. It also contained this telling line. “He simply realized that being a widower was not, in spite of what others thought, the same as being single.”
The last story, “Second Language,” was a beautifully tragic piece of work. A woman’s husband never returns from a far-ranging solo sailing trip, and another man witnesses the following at his kitchen table. “[Mary Linn] sat down with a cup of tea, looked across the table at Johnny, smiled curiously and remarked that she’d probably feel better if she would just lay her head on her folded hands a moment, which she did. And died before Johnny could reach to touch her. She had cancer … Dying was likely the only real symptom she’d experienced.” The two survivors eventually meet and decide a second marriage is called for after just three months. Yet, in the end, it doesn’t work out and they seem better off being friends. The writing is so subtle and tender. At another point in the story, it was as if Ford was writing a scene that Vicky and I had lived out while looking at a blissful blue screen before a movie started at a funky movie theater in Sacramento.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?
Charlotte smiled in the shadows. “Oh, nothing. There’s usually not much going on in my head, Johnny. Sometimes I just have a feeling and let myself completely feel it. Don’t you do that?”
One more quote that could easily fit in many of Ford’s stories, was from a story titled “Crossing.” “A moment can come from nowhere and life is re-framed. Stupid. But we all know that it can.”
So, on a warm northern California day, this was a voice from my reading past, the words of Richard Ford were impressive in the breeze of the backyard. It was all about his characters living segments of their lives, Mr. Guinness in a cool bottle with condensation running down it, and me reading these excellent stories and thinking about life. I brought little to the table; I was just an appreciative reader. Normally I just start with the first story and cruise through a collection in order, but I jumped in here, went to there, and came back around to another. I chose by the initial impression of a story’s first few lines. I did finish with the last story last, and it slayed me. Yep, put dying spouses, divorces, and second marriages in a story and I’m definitely interested. The collection has gotten some mixed reviews, and granted a few of the stories are somewhat weaker, but when he impressed me, he wowed me with his best.
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LibraryThing member rocketjk
This is a recent (2020) collection of longish short stories by Ford, best known, perhaps, as the author of [The Sportswriter] (and three other novels about that book's protagonist, Frank Bascombe). These stories are mostly about relatively successful people who are at or post middle age. In one way
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or another, the characters here are all navigating the dimming of expectations that that time of life can engender. Marriages are either over or have become everyday and humdrum. Ford, as I think is usual for him, spends a lot of time describing his characters' histories and states of mind. This might all sound tedious, and in some of the stories (the book's final tale, "Second Language," in particular) it is. But in the book's better entries, Ford still displays an ability to put his characters into relatable situations, and give them enough self-awareness of their own foibles to create sympathy in the reader. He also generally avoids marching the storylines to predictable endings. I guess Ford's writing style is not necessarily for everyone. I found most of these tales enjoyable and gave the whole schmear 3 1/2 stars. Show Less
LibraryThing member bookfest
I was generally disappointed with this collection of short stories. Ford's character portrayal is excellent, but none of the stories seem to go anywhere.