Jill McCorkleRecensioni

Twelve piercing stories, sometimes sharing characters (a waitress, Candy, in "Commandments" appears as a main character in "Baby in the Pan"; a man revered in the town as a wise and caring shop teacher who changed many lives for the better is revealed to be beastly to his wife and son at home; a student of Alton's stars in his own story of looking for somewhere that feels like home). Divorce, disintegration, secrets, silence, beauty, drama (as in theater) - overall a stellar, sometimes dark, collection.

Quotes

Epigraph: "Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets." --Arthur Miller, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan

There was a time when we had silence.
It was so quiet you could hear what someone said. ("The Lineman," 23)

They read aloud the descriptions in the program, the various plant names like incantations that might open the wrought iron gates and heavy, ancient doors that led to other lives: trumpet vines and bleeding hearts, astilbe, pulmonaria, laurel, lilac, euonymus. ("A Simple Question," 97)½

Written with wisdom, much emotional depth and insight, the stories in Old Crimes: and Other Stories by Jill McCorkle depict how secrets, mistakes, and regrets can leave an indelible impact on the human psyche and relationships. Despite the short length of each of these stories, they are emotionally heavy reads that inspire pause and reflection.

In the first story, ” Old Crimes” (4.5/5), we meet a high school teacher who ruminates on her memories of a trip to New Hampshire from decades ago when she was a college student. Her encounter with a six-year-old girl in the run-down inn where she was staying prompted her to think about her own expectations from life and influenced her perception of cruelty and evil in the world -thoughts that have remained with her through the years. “The Lineman”(4.5/5) revolves around a telephone lineman who tries to come to terms with how human connections and relationships have been impacted by dependence on technology and digitization. He regrets his failed relationships and struggles to hold on to those he holds dear, hoping that one day, when all technology fails, he will be appreciated for his skills. A woman experiences much regret over her inability to speak up for herself or her son as she reflects on the forty years, she has spent in an abusive marriage to a man who was loved and admired by everyone in town in “Low Tones”(5/5). In “Commandments” (5/5), we follow a group of women, a “self-help group of sorts”, each of whom was romantically involved with and dumped by the same man. Their interactions with the strong-willed waitress who serves them in the café where they meet once a month, inspire them to take stock of their lives and reevaluate their priorities.

Our protagonist in “Swinger”(4/5) is grappling with the recent loss of the man with whom she had been in a live-in relationship for the past three years. As she prepares to vacate the home they shared, a box of photographs she finds among his belongings seems to deepen her insecurities, prompting her to question the depth of his commitment to her. In “A Simple Question”(4/5) a woman reflects on her friendship with her older colleague, a woman twice her age, from twenty-five years ago and how own insensitivity and immaturity contributed to their drifting apart. In “Baby in the Pan”(4.5/5) we meet a young mother whose choices cause friction with own her mother, who harbors painful childhood memories. A man rents a room in his late grandparents' former home which is now a gas station when he visits his hometown to visit his dying high school shop teacher in “Filling Station”(4/5) but his attempts to surround himself with happy memories from his childhood for his peace of mind don’t quite go according to plans.

A young couple purchases an old confessional from an antique shop unprepared for the awkward and uncomfortable situations that arise from what was intended to be a source of entertainment among their friends in “Confessional”(5/5). We meet a retired elementary school librarian who does not back down from expressing her opinions and holds her own in her crusade against several social issues in “The Last Station." (4.5/5) A holiday gathering with her adult children and their families brings back memories of the years gone by for a retired high school drama teacher as she contemplates sharing news of her failing health in “Act III”.(5/5) While attending her son’s Little League matches, a young newly divorced mother of two is befriended an elderly woman who shares stories about the town in the aftermath of a recent tragedy, in ”Sparrow”. (4.5/5)

In turn, profoundly insightful, heartbreaking yet reflective and thought-provoking, these stories explore the human condition through complex yet real and relatable characters in various stages of life. The common thread among these stories is deep-rooted sorrow, loneliness and the desire for human connection, the life changing consequences of the choices people make and the emotions they choose to internalize – voluntarily or otherwise – the “crimes’’ they commit toward oneself and those they hold dear. Few of the characters appear in more than one story, allowing us to explore their character arcs from different vantage points. The tone of these stories ranges from melancholic to nostalgic and contemplative, though there are some moments of humor to be within the pages as well . Overall, I found this to be an impactful and exceptionally well-written collection of short stories that I would not hesitate to recommend this collection to those who enjoy character-driven short fiction.

Many thanks to Algonquin Books for both the digital review copy via NetGalley and the physical ARC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This book was published on January 9, 2024.

You have to swoon over a character who has quotes from Charlotte’s Web tattooed on her arm, whose life was changed by a book read by a librarian.

The characters in these stories are humanely rendered with great sympathy and insight. They make you laugh and bring tears.

There is the sister who sticks a needle into her brother’s condoms because she wants his girlfriend as a sister-in-law. And the mother who considers her gathered family and imagines a Rod Serling voiceover narrating the truth she is hiding from them.

Life is filled with unsolved mysteries, crimes unsolved, innocent people sacrificed, a young woman thinks. A lineman recalls learning his ‘sister’ was really his mother as he dwells on the tenuous lines of communication. A man esteemed by the community is abusive behind closed doors. Women gather in spiteful gossip sessions to trash the man who dumped them.

With complex and relatable characters and conjuring emotions from laughter to sadness, I loved these stories.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book.

I can't remember much about this book, after all the years since I read it.

At first, I almost stopped reading McCorkle's first novel nearly half-way through, but thankfully I stuck it out. Thereafter, McCorkle exhibits nearly masterful possession of her art form in a way that is seldom encountered in other psychological works. I hestitate to compare authors, but McCorkle shows Oates' grasp of the demonic through to a denouement that leaves readers the option of filling in the rest of Jo's life.

I read Jill McCorkle because to read her is to be connected to life. The real stuff, the plodding and sorting and trying to make sense, and the random buried jewels revelatory and epiphanic in their universal wisdom.

I received this book from LTER over a year ago. I have started to read it numerous times only to put it away. Just couldn’t get into it and had a hard time following it. I finally finished it. Multiple time frames and four narrators. It felt muddled and confusing. I have liked prior books by this author, but this one never connected.

Jumbled And Disjointed, Yet Somehow Works. This is one of those books that arguably *shouldn't* work, given how truly disjointed it is with its time period and character jumps, and yet as more of a meditation/ reflective work on life and death, it really does actually work. As we work through the various streams of consciousness of Fred, Lil, Shelley, and Harvey, we see each of their lives through their own eyes as they struggle with past, present, life, and death. We see the traumas large and small, the regrets and the victories, the confusions and the joys. Admittedly, the particular writing style will be hard to follow for some, and even I found it quite jarring despite my own abilities to largely go with any flow of a book. But in the end it really does work to tell a cohesive yet complex story, and really that is all anyone can ultimately ask of a fiction tale. Thus, there is nothing of the quasi-objective nature that I try to maintain to hang any star reduction on, even as many readers may struggle with this tale. And thus, it is very much recommended.

The story of Hieroglyphics by Jill McCorkle is like a memory. It entices and draws in with a glimmer here and a shape there only to slip away into the unknown. The idea of the book is very real and very much a part of every person's experience. That being said, as a story, the book is challenging to read because the struggles are individual and do not really come together. The idea is unifying; the fiction is not.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2021/05/heiroglyphics.html

Reviewed for NetGalley and a publisher’s blog tour.

What a book to start the year with! Sad but beautiful. Life After Life is a collection of several touching life stories woven together into one inspiring narrative. McCorkle's characters are so truthful and interesting. I fell in love with this book based on the richness of the characters: C. J., Abby, Sadie, Joanna, Rachel . . . among my favorites. The ending broke my heart because I loved the characters so much. This Life After Life novel far surpasses the other of the same name by Atkinson.

I loved this book. It is told from many different view points but I suppose the main character is Joanna. She is a hospice volunteer and eases the transition from life to death, especially in older people. I love all the older characters, especially Rachael, Toby and Stanley. There is something sinister that happens at the end and we pretty much know who did it, but he is a character that has always been on the sidelines. A really good book.

This was a slow moving book that requires a deliberate approach. The story uses the voices of 4 characters to tell the story. Frank and Lil are in their mid-80's. They have moved to North Carolina from outside Boston to be near their daughter. It is also near Frank's boyhood home. Both Lil and Frank experienced major tragedies when they were 10. Frank lost his father in a train derailment(true event) and Lil lost her mother in the Boston Coconut Nightclub fire(also a true event). Shelly is a young single mom(a court reporter) who lives in Frank's boyhood house with her young son Harvey(also one of the voices of the book). With this background we see the place that memory and events has in our lives. The book does a good job of moving between the characters and the picture of both families begins to emerge. It was not a happy book but the value of novels is that it allows us to look at lives that are different from ours. This book gave me the opportunity to see how much childhood upbringings are carried with us throughout our lives. For some, letting go of the past can be difficult. McCorkle is an excellent writer and this is a worthwhile book once you are clear about the subject matter.½

Big disappointment from one of my (formerly) favorite writers. I LOVED her early novels, especially Ferris Beach. This novel's main characters are a couple whose relationship is based upon their childhood tragedies: Lil's, the loss of her mother in the Cocoanut Grove fire; Frank's, the loss of his father in a railroad accident in N. Carolina. The third character is Shelley. a young mother of two, a court stenographer, who has been abandoned by her boyfriend. She lives in the same house in N. Carolina where Frank grew up with his mother, who survived the accident, and his stepfather. There's also the disturbing voice of Shelley's son Harvey, who seems to be haunted by Frank's childhood nightmares. I almost gave up halfway through and am not sure I made the right decision to continue. Even the reveals just left me somewhat indifferent.½

I appreciate what McCorkle is trying to do with this book, exploring the connections between people, the things we tell and the secrets we keep, the differences in our perceptions of the same story, but I am relieved to be done with it. The pace of this novel is very slow and the different storytelling voices not as distinct as I prefer in novels with multiple povs. (This is an ARC I got through LibraryThing.)

An elderly couple, Lil and Frank, move to North Carolina to be near their adult daughter. Shelley is a single mom of two boys, one in college and the other, Harvey, aged 6, living with her. is living in the house where Frank grew up, and Frank is haunted by the memories of his childhood in that house. Lil and Frank relive their pasts in detail, while trying to find purchase in their new environment. Shelley's memories of the past are painful as she struggles to raise Harvey.

It is sometimes difficult to keep track of the characters as their timelines shift with their recollections of their pasts and their presents; however, these are all engaging people with challenges from the past that connect them to their lives in the present. Hieroglyphics is a compelling title for this novel.

McCorkle's story begins with a man dropping by a home, telling the woman of the house that he used to live there, and asking to come in and look around. She puts him off, and we start learning about her life, plus his and his wife's. I found the jumping around in time a bit confusing till I had a better idea of the sequence of events. Nicely written, but I was never rushing to get back to it.

This novel is a mosaic of three lives, with ill-fitting and jagged pieces coming together to make a whole. I liked it but did not love it. I think the shifts in time and randomness of starting points, especially with Lil's narrative, were too jarring. It also didn't help that I was distracted by political events while trying to read this, so much of the fault is mine, not the author's. I did appreciate McCorkle's focus on grief and experience and the price and burden of holding onto things and memories. Her writing is very good, smooth and clear and sometimes stunning. I've read one other work of hers - Life After Life - which I remember loving. I will continue to seek out her work.

3.5 stars

(I received this book through LT's Early Reviewers program.)½

Hieroglyphics is a lovely novel that quietly adds layers to the characters until the end, when we are sorry to leave them behind.

The novel tells the story of Lil, Frank, and Shelley, all of whom end up in the same North Carolina town. In alternate chapters, we learn their stories. At first, I wasn't sure I liked this approach because I found some people's stories so much more compelling than others', but in the end, McCorkle makes it work. Slowly, we get to know Shelley, a single mom with two boys. She tries to escape a painful past. Frank and Lil, a couple in their eighties, have moved to North Carolina to be close to their daughter.

All the characters have survived painful pasts -- Frank and Lil try to hang on to the memories of Frank's dad and Lil's mom, while Shelley only wants to forget. In the process of learning about their pasts, McCorkle asks us to consider the importance of memory and the extent to which we should hang on to the past.

Maybe it's my own age which made so thoroughly enjoy Lil's writings about what she remembered because, I, too, remembered so many of the things she described, but in my own circumstances. There are at least three overlapping stories of families here...Frank's, Lil's, Shelley's, but also their interconnectedness through Shelley's house but also we see Frank's parents, and Lil's parents and then their relationships to their children. Shelley has her own story but her sons are so pulled into the distortions she finds herself providing to try and give them a childhood so different from her own. Not really a page-turning type of book....I was more afraid of missing details by reading too quickly.

I came to really love this book. The description on the book jacket describes a dear story, chronologically told. A young man and woman find each other and connect over their common experience of having lost a parent at a young age. Their marriage grows through the usual challenges of life; then, they retire and move to warmer climes where the wife starts to organize notes and letters and diary entries in order to leave their grown children some kind of personal history of their lives. Meanwhile , the husband explores the area where he grew up and experienced so much loss and adolescent confusion, locating the house he lived in and becoming fixated on gaining entry to it to try to find something he’d left behind. Now the house is inhabited by a young single mother, trying to raise her son, who understandably resists the requests of the strange old man who shows up at her door. At first, I didn’t understand the structure of the book and thought it was a sort of stream-of-consciousness narrative that I don’t often respond well to. However, in time I became comfortable with the way the tale unfolds and grew to really appreciate and admire it. The author’s depth of empathy with the human condition resulted in passage after passage that I noted down. I felt as though McCorkle had seen right into my own life, both moments in the past and also current states of mind. Example: “In short, I am homesick and I am timesick. I would be lying not to say that. It is possible to feel content and resolved and still be homesick. I miss all that no longer is,....”. Or how about in the letter to an adult son, when Lil reminds him of how he always used to hide a piece of a jigsaw puzzle that the family was putting together so that he could whip it out at the end and so be the one to finish the puzzle. My son did that too! And the era is about right. I haven’t come across any other author who could work an enthusiasm for the old “Dark Shadows” tv series into a story. That struck a chord with me. As did many other moments. With great tenderness and skill, Jill McCorkle weaves the story and brings the reader into the hearts and lives of the characters. I sank into it as though I had come upon a drawer of letters and journals that had been spilled on the floor and that I was picking up and reading, seemingly all out of order and yet coming together to create a beautiful picture of this handful of characters who crossed paths and shared a human moment

I received this book to review as a LibraryThing Early Reviewer. I will admit that I did not have high expectations going into this book, but I did enjoy the read. It was a little heavier than my usual preferred books, but ultimately fulfilling. Although I struggled a bit to connect all of the stories together, I was glad I persevered. Good book pick for a rainy weekend.

Jill McCorkle's Hieroglyphics is a slow burn of a novel that deals with memory and longing at the end of life. This story is told by alternating stories/chapters that somewhat come together in the end. If you are looking for a book that will quickly ensnare you, or a fast paced plot, look elsewhere. The alternating stories take some time to get into and follow and her novel is more about her well composed prose.

Jill McCorkle's new novel Hieroglyphics takes some time to get into because it is told from multiple points of view and goes back and forth in time from the present to earlier years in the characters' lives. But as the pieces come together, the intensity of the story grows. It is a story about parents and children, the memories they make and keep, and how they read the hieroglyphics of their family histories. The ends don't get tied up nicely, but the story will linger.

I am reviewing this novel as part of the Early Reviewers program. I started off Jill McCorkle’s Hieroglyphics in earnest, enjoying the story as it begins with Lil and Frank as they move to North Carolina from the cold north in their later retirement years. As someone who is retired and whose husband will be soon, who is considering relocating, I felt an immediate connection with Lil, and her meanderings through her memories, good and bad. I’m also dealing with aging parents, so it struck a chord of melancholy in me as well.

But then came Shelly and Harvey. Not to disparage them as characters or their place in the novel, but their story is truly heartbreaking. I struggled, in particular, to read Harvey’s chapters, and really wasn’t sure what their place was in the novel. It might have been interesting to hear memories or stories from Lil and Frank’s children, as I know my own have their perspective on what happened during their lifetime and where our relationships areNow.

I wasn’t able to finish the book - well, I read the last two chapters, but skipped about 1/4 of the end before that. I’ve been reading a lot of plot driven fiction lately and perhaps I need to exercise my character driven novel skills.