Do Not Deny Me, stories, by Jean Thompson

Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It, stories, by Maile Meloy

Novels I always read one at a time, but I will frequently read two or three short story collections at a time.  I like to alternate between writers while reading story collections.  This has made for some strange juxtapositions over the years, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Joyce Carol Oates, Nicola Barker and John Updike, Theodore Dreiser and Lorrie Moore.

My latest juxtaposition is not so strange.  It is of two living United States woman writers, Jean Thompson and Maile Meloy.

I’ve been reading Jean Thompson for about five years now, and she is one of those few authors whom I actively try to keep up with all her books. She is from Illinois. On the back cover of this book, they say, “Jean Thompson has been called the United States’ Alice Munro.”  This is probably over-stating the case for Thompson, but I do find her stories very entertaining and thought provoking.    .

Her technique is to get deep inside the head of the main character in each of the stories so that for the time of the story the reader is living the life of that person.  For her, writing is an act of complete empathy.

Maile Meloy is a young rising star of the United States literary world.  This is my first acquaintance with her work.  As a side story, her brother Colin Meloy is the leader of an odd, interesting rock band called the Decemberists, who have appeared on the Stephen Colbert show several times.  I listened to one of their albums where Colin sang seriously and joyously in the character of some sort of duck.

I would classify Maile Meloy as a writer as a hard-edged realist, no families of ducks.  Her stories tend to be shorter than those of Jean Thompson, more omniscient.  She accomplishes a lot in a short number of pages.

I was amazed at the range of stories which both of these writers includes in their collections.  No two stories were similar.

Which collection is the better?  I’m going to wimp out on that question.    This is another strong book from Jean Thompson, and the Maile Meloy book was a revelation.  Maile Meloy is now on my list of must-read authors.