Bad Dreams and Other Stories (Harper Perennial Olive Editions)

Ms. Hadley is an amazing writer. She captures the sweet melancholy of our half-remembered youth - the endless days, the dreams, the wants, the fears. I'm only half way through this book, but so glad to have it on my Kindle. It's good reading in the morning, mid-day, but mostly at night. Savor it, enjoy.

There is a very clear and common theme to Hadley’s stories in this collection—a character moves from innocence to a necessary though often upsetting at first glimpse into experience and the reality of things. Many protagonists are young girls in guarded families or communities who meet up with the surprise appearances of boys out for a joy ride, or a rebellious teacher, or a suddenly widowed family friend. The sudden introduction to the complications of relationships, or the struggles of womanhood, are committed on them personally, or they observe such things and are changed by the knowledge of what they’ve seen.Though interesting, this theme proves redundant after a while, making the pursuit through Hadley’s writing style a bit of a strain. Hadley’s method very much echoes that of Alice Munro—stories are often set in an antiquated time associated with innocence, where tradition and manners are sacrosanct, a veneer Hadley challenges, but while Munro often proves unskimmable, as her flowing style often proves so subtle a character’s death can even pass you by if you’re not reading closely, Hadley’s redundancies can be foregone once you see what she’s up to again.

The writing is quite good in terms of describing the characters and the scenes. I would have given it a higher rating by the stories just end. I like a twist or a coming back around at the end to tie things up.

All these stories are excellent. Some of them really stay in the mind. I particularly like "The Abduction," which I had read a few years ago in The New Yorker and was very happy to revisit. I'd recommend this book strongly.

Write with the detail of Alice Munro about the small gestures and action that lead to deeper understand of domestic situations.

The separate stories each curiously unfinished in mesmerizing ways allow one's imagination to carry them on to a variety of conclusions.

I’m totally not worthy to review this excellent collection of stories, but I’m trying to reach the twenty word mark to say at least that much. This book is so so so good, and I’m thankful to have found a new author to read.

As always, from Tessa Hadley, beautiful and haunting details -- ordinary lives that aren't ordinary once illuminated.

Pretty good book

Tessa Hadley is one of my favourite contemporary authors: I've read all her novels bar 'The Past' (next on my reading list) and thoroughly enjoyed them, and also very much enjoyed her first two collections of short stories, and some of the individual stories she has anthologized. 'Bad Dreams' demonstrates many of Hadley's strengths: beautiful descriptive language, the ability to really get inside a character's psychology, a thorough understanding of complicated family dynamics. But somehow, I found it appealed to me rather less than her other work.I think the sense of disappointment that pervades the book may have something to do with it. All these stories are about thwarted hopes, and the painful process of losing innocence. In 'An Abduction', aimless teenager Jane is carried off for a wild afternoon with three older boys; her subsequent obsession with one of them damages her psychologically, while the youth in question can barely remember her. 'The Stain' deals with the relationship between cleaner Marina and her South African employer; he leaves her a substantial bequest, but his family pressurize her to turn it down, due to his links to Apartheid. The historical story 'Deeds Not Words' explores how two female teaches in early twentieth-century become damaged: one physically through being imprisoned as a suffragette, the other mentally through an affair with a married man. 'Flight' deals with the aftermath of a family quarrel over money, which has left two sisters estranged. In 'Under the Sign of the Moon' a man develops a creepy obsession with a cancer recoveree visiting her daughter. And so on, and so on. Most of the characters are miserable and frustrated, a fair number of the protagonists (particularly Jane in 'An Abduction' and the would-be child novelist Ruby in 'Her Share of Sorrow') are rather drab, and there's a strong sense that very little that's enjoyable or good happens to anyone.In some of the stories, this does not matter so much, because the writing is so good. 'An Abduction' captures very well the excitement Jane feels in discovering a wilder, freer life than that at home. 'Bad Dreams' powerfully evokes the contrasting feelings of malaise experienced by a daughter and her mother - and their very different reactions. The closing 'Silk Brocade' contains superb analyses of friendship, both its positive and negative sides. 'Deeds Not Words' captures the flavour of pre-World War I Britain so well that it makes me wish that Hadley would write a historical novel. 'Under the Sign of the Moon' has an excellent central section in which Greta compares her daughter Kate's life with her own.All these things - and more - make this collection well worth reading (and led me to giving it four stars rather than three). And yet, overall it made me feel a little depressed, and a little claustrophobic. Hadley's novels and stories are usually enjoyable to read - however bleak their content - because of the way in which she celebrates the pleasures of the arts, of rewarding work and of friendship, even in the most unremarkable lives. This celebration - along with any trace of humour - is missing from her third short story collection - and I'm afraid, for all its fine writing, it's the poorer for it.

Some stories more enjoyable than others but enough gripping ones to justify the price.

Disappointed felt the short stories were more like the start of maybe a longer story.

Very enjoyable read.