"THE
title story in this book is everything fiction should be:
inspiring, moving, comical, provocative and heartbreaking
- and all
that in just seven and a half pages. The rest of the stories in this
collection are similarly remarkable. Some are also remarkably short: Go
Away is, essentially, a well-told joke (and laugh-out-loud
funny). Hershman's
economy with words cloaks her subtlety and power, though: a second
reading uncovers hidden moments in each story. Inspired by scientific
progress and science journalism, including articles in New
Scientist, and driven by an author dripping with talent, this
is as good as modern reading gets."
"A remarkable thing about The White Road
and Other Stories is that for all that there are over twenty
stories in this collection, each character possesses a distinct voice,
molded by childhood histories and informed with deep-rooted desires and
loves. Where the story concepts begin with science, fiction becomes a
laboratory for examining the most intimate secrets of the human heart,"
says Ilana Teitelbaum. Read the full review.
RobAroundBooks
"Lyrical in her prose, and patient in her build up, Hershman drops little
caveats throughout the story which not only suggests to the reader that
all is not as rosy as it seems, but that story is leading to some
dramatic event..."
Read the full review here
Alison Wells's Head Above Water blog
"The collection is inspired by articles from science magazines but Tania,
a former science journalist, creates her own utterly original and often
beautifully surreal interpretations of the science prompt. From the
striking title story to the magically unusual Rainstiffiness, each story has something unexpected and weirdly wonderful.
As a reader I read in open-mouthed awe and joy, as a writer I writhed with envy. This is a must read collection...."
Read the full review
here
Jim Murdoch's The Truth About Lies blog
"...I
think this collection works because the flash pieces are interspersed
between the longer stories. I have a few books that contain nothing but
flash and I find them hard work en masse like that. So what did move
me? Well for me it was the title story as I’ve said. It’s not long – 7½
pages, a touch over 2000
words – but it was the perfect length for me. I recommend you read it
right now. It’s online here. That way you won’t feel that I’ve ruined
it for you when I talk about it.
Go on. Do it just now. I’ll wait.
..."
Read the full review here
A capella Zoo
"Over
the years,
I’ve made an effort to become more aware of short stories and why
readers tend to either love or ignore them; I’ve fallen for two types
of
experiences:
The
first type was
easy to recognize and crave: that quick pow of an image or
feeling that lingers long after an investment of only minutes of
reading. When I first read Tania Hershman’s The White Road and other
stories, I did not feel that pow. I confess the collection bored me,
and later I remembered only two or three of the longer, more developed
stories.
The
good news is
that by the time I plucked the collection from my shelf again, I was
much more open to another type of short story experience: the brief,
in-the-moment pleasure that comes from beautiful prose. The White
Road became engrossing on second read. The even better news is that
the allure of this pleasure warmed me up to some major pows that I
had somehow missed a year before.
Now
I can
whole-heartedly recommend these stories...."
Read the full review here.
Bookmunch
"Perhaps the most satisfying element
of The White Road & Other Stories (and this could be the secret
key to successful short stories the world over), Hershman has a keen
mind, can concoct the sort of slippery knot that hooks you, that has
you turning pages to see what happens next (which is rare in short
story land, or at least in the short story land I’ve visited). In
‘Brewing a Storm’, for example, a fellow called Bloomfield (the kind of
fellow who rates his hotel breakfast on a scale of 1-10) learns there
are drawbacks to a new device able to drive bad weather out of the sky.
In ‘Evie & the Arfids’, a middle aged woman is caught up in a
murky bit of industrial espionage. You read because there is no option,
you have to find out what happens next....
Whether
you’re a fan of short stories or not, do yourself some good and get
hold of a copy of Tania Hershman’s The White Road & Other Stories.
If enough of us do that, then maybe Salt will ask her for another
collection and that would be a very good thing indeed.
Read
the full review here.
John Lloyd in
The BookBag (5 Star Review)
"Let
me
assure ysou that what small sense there is of the strange in
these many short stories is instantly quashed by the strong
sense of a
writer grounded firmly in reality, and finding big truths in amongst
the little details of life...This collection is one of
those rare instances of a sustained
brilliance, introducing to me a true artist with a high degree of
quality control
Read
the full review here.
Roxane
Gay on PANK magazine's blog
"The
eponymous story of this
collection is worth the price of admission. It is, without a doubt, one
of the best short stories I’ve ever read. A woman, at the end of the
world, who has endured the loss of a child but more than that, seen his
dead body, that death from his own hand, and so she finds a way to see
nothing but bright white ever again. I was genuinely moved and shocked
by this story. So remarkable.....The one constant through each of these
stories is the care Hershman has taken with her characters. This was a
collection that was written with love.
Read
the full review here.
Dominique
Wilson in Wet Ink Issue 14 March 2009
"This
collection exemplifies everything that is best about the short story.
With succinctness rarely seen in the work of someone new to fiction,
Hershman extracts the very essence of a moment to reveal the poignant
fragility of human relationships. ...Extremes of weather is a recurring
theme, as is parenthood, but each story is so different from the next
that you are tempted to read 'just one more' until you find you have
read the whole book in one sitting. "
Sally
Zigmond's Book Blog
In her
review, Sally Zigmond says: "As I now read more novels than
short stories, I had expected to prefer the longer stories in this
collection to the flash fiction (as some reviewers have) but to me the
longer ones were either too long or too short--not quite right for this
Goldilocks. The flash fiction, on the other hand, I loved for its
brevity, its inventiveness and its poetic quality....
Heart
is one such moment. It is probably the shortest story in the collection
but it has stayed with me the longest because I am still there with
that heart in my hand and then the cold wine glass. I feel what the
surgeon feels. I am her. I don't need any more. I don't want any
more."
Read
the full review here.
Matt Bell
"The White Road
is a very fine
collection, containing enough wonder and humor and heartbreak to
overflow its slim pages, forcing the reader to share in the great
emotion contained within. Hershman's talent is obvious, and I look
forward to seeing it continue to grow across whatever new stories and
new books might follow this excellent start."
Read
the full review here.
Nicola
Morgan
(posted on
Facebook)
"Just started
reading Tania Hershman's
The White Road and other stories, and is blown away by the originality
and piercing prose. And for someone
who doesn't normally choose short stories, that's very
special."
Jeremy
Page, The Frogmore Papers, Issue 73
The
short short story is Hershman’s preferred form, and there are some very
short shorts in this, her debut collection. For the most part her
experiments are a resounding success – in fact, for this reader, she is
at her most effective when at her most concise. ‘I am a camera’
comprises two short paragraphs which say everything that needs to be
said, no more, no less.
Find
out more about The
Frogmore Papers.
Front&Centre
"Many of
Hershman’s stories dwell on loss, despair, frailty and weakness – on
the human drive to face these obstacles and overcome them or at least
carry on living in their wake.
Hershman adds more variety by countering the science-inspired stories
with flash fiction, most of it lighter, more humorous fare. “Heavy
Bones”, for example, is a quick, amusing look about reversing roles on
a wedding night tradition.
The White Road may not be hard-hitting short fiction but it shows there
is more than one way for writers to separate their work from the pack
of safe and boring mainstream writing. Props to Hershman for showing
readers that not all short fiction is dull and formulaic.
"
Jen
Michalksi in The JMWW Journal Winter Issue 2008/9
"Hershman's
other strength is her ability to keep the reader on her
toes. She weaves the warbly, neon threads of magical realism together
with the steel rods of science, and the effect often is very
satisfying. In ths story "Self-Rising," a woman whose career in the
laboratory is derailed by the arrival of marriage and children opens a
cake business that specializes in "lab cakes," cakes shaped like DNA or
test tubes or petri dishes. Despite the seeming-cliched "making
lemondade out of lemons" plot, Hershman crafts an ending that is both
fantastical and touching. "Sunspots" and "Rainstiffness" are equally
imaginative and lovely.
Read
the full review here.
"This
collection of short stories takes as its theme the edgy and sometimes
difficult relationship between humanity and science. There is a great
deal of energy about the stories, as well as a strong and distinctive
voice. Not all main characters are sympathetic but, then again, they're
not meant to be - and each one does have a gripping issue to raise or
an arresting tale to tell. ..."
Read
the full review here.
Pulp.net
The
27 stories collected here are short, but full of feeling. Weather
is important, catastrophic, extreme. It rains and the rain causes
paralysis, the sun is blinding, lightning strikes. The other recurrent
theme is that of being a parent: women who fear for their unborn child,
loathe their child, resent them, or mourn the child they cannot have,
who will do anything for a baby. Hershman has a talent for concision,
and her tiny flash fictions ‘Plaits’ and ‘Go Away’ encapsulate entire
relationships in just over a page. A clever, warm and thoroughly
recommended debut. –Sara Crowley
LabLit:
But if it were real, by Amy Charles
"Hershman
is an interested, dreaming science observer who pays serious and at
times myopic attention to sci-tech news stories and considers what they
might mean...."
Read
the full review
here.
"Very
enjoyable. ... The themes cover parenthood (or lack of it),
loss, and some aspect of science (usually), these elements are blended
well with elegance and grace. Many are set in cold climates but the
book as a whole has a warm and cheering heart."
"This
slim volume ... contains stories
with colour, life, passion, precision and pathos. The shortest is just
half a page but it packs a terrific punch. You could read the whole
collection in one sitting but I recommend taking your time, allowing
the stories to sink in, get under your skin and sing."
