#27: Stars at Elbow and Foot by Amy Bloom

Available: A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You

Author's site: Amy Bloom

Amy Bloom is fucking excellent.

She's excellent because at no point does she let the voice of hesitancy enter her writing, or if she does, it has left long before the final draft of the story. She writes frank, perfectly paced stories about emotions. Some of these emotions are ugly as hell but she'll be damned if that will stop their surfacing within the narrative.

Even better: the cover of this book looks like bloke-lit hell, a Tony Parsons wander through middle-aged lad-ville with an obligatory pause for a kinks memory, a rant about men and women, or a scooter montage as the main character finds himself on the streets of Manchester.

Thankfully, this is an Amy Bloom book, and all that has been left to thicker books with thinner plots.

The Story

I had to toss up between this and Hold on Tight, both of which are incredible stories. I chose this because I had a stronger visceral reaction to Stars , rather than the sadness I felt at the end of Hold Tight.

I want to move on to Stars now, but Hold Tight is still gnawing away at me. It holds a greater truth for me. The truth in Stars is assumed, but it's a woman, a child and her husband, and I can't say if I will ever understand that; the massive shift that motherhood brings, the cocktail of emotions that surface within such a huge biological shift. I can't say what it would feel like to lose a child (and I'm not giving anything away here, the story starts at this point), or how such loss might take you to unexpected thoughts or pathways, a mutation of traditional maternal desire.

What I do know is a more general loss, people leaving before their time, and Hold Tight overflows with this. It's about a mother, a father, and a daughter. It's about art too, and illness and identity, and by the end it's a strangely positive take on what we have, what we lose and what remains.

Why it Sticks

I realise I have painted myself into a corner. I'm meant to be writing about one story, and yet I'm still discussing both. All degrees of worthiness are blurring. Why should Stars win out, when Hold Tight clearly resonates more with me as a reader? Does Hold Tight resonate more because of what's going on in my own life, and if so, does that make it a more worthy story?

I could do a post on both stories but that would be cheating. This blog is about recounting a great story, as and when it is read. Amy Bloom had to go mess it up by writing two (more actually, but we won't go into that) stories that have left me struck dumb with emotion.

So what do I do? I put my hands up in the air, say "alright, you got me" and walk away. And then, before I leave, I turn back, and tell you to read this collection, not because no one has ever written fiction of this quality (they have, and will continue to do so) but because only Amy Bloom writes like this, moments lost and found, and whether it barely touches you or blows you away, your life will still be better for reading her.