The Pacific and Other Stories
by Mark Helprin
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Book Summary Information
Author: Mark HelprinEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-06-28
ISBN: 0143035762
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Book Reviews of The Pacific and Other Stories
Book Review: A mixed collection of short stories
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a mixed collection of short stories reflecting many different moods. The stories range from the lighthearted to the dark. Many are set during wars, some are about survivors after wars. Il Colore Ritrovato is about a bookkeeper who becomes an impresario when he discovers a gifted singer; Reconstruction is about a man whose mind escapes into his past; Monday about a contractor doing a good deed after 9/11; A Brilliant Idea of His Own is a man surviving during a special wartime mission during World War II; Vandevere's House is about a man obsessed with his possessions; Prelude is a somewhat funny story about the ultimate bureaucrat set to an assignment and then forgotten as he sets his own schedule (but he draws a paycheck).
The next story, Perfection, is a long, somewhat surreal story about a boy who saves the New York Yankees. The stories after that seemed to drift into a somewhat dark tone. Sidney Balbion is a washed up jewish entertainer in 1939, heading to his home country of Poland. Mar Nueva is a tragedy. Rain is about a deputy inspector of customs, getting old, and carrying on after the death of his son. Passchendaele is about a man's obsession with his neighbor's wife. Jabob Bayer and the Telephone I really do not know how to classify - it is set in a Russian Jewish community prior to World War I where people are breaking away from old traditions. Sail Shining in White is about a man confronting death. Charlotte of the Utrechtseweg is about a British officer dying at Arnhem. Last Tea at the Armorers is about a Jewish woman, survivor of a death camp when she was child, who is finding a new life in Israel.
The last story, The Pacific, is about the woman left behind when her husband goes off as a young U.S. Marine Corps officer in World War II to fight the battles in the Pacific. She works in a defense plant with 500 other women, and telegrams periodically arrive with bad news for women - a telegram was always bad news.
The stories are worth reading, but not everyone will like every story. I did not give the collection five stars because of the major mood swings, plus the fact that I could really not get into a couple of the stories
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