Given my not-so-new-found delight in short stories I was keen to read Janice Galloway’s Jellyfish having enjoyed both her memoirs and The Trick is to Keep Breathing. Galloway prefaces her collection with David Lodge’s assertion that literature is mostly about having sex and not much about having children; life’s the other way round. With its themes of parenthood, relationships, death and loss as well as sexuality and desire, Jellyfish is her response. Comprising sixteen stories, it’s a reissue of a collection first published by Freight Books with the addition of two new pieces: ‘Peak’ and ‘Gold’
Galloway’s stories range in length from the two-page celebration of male beauty and desire ‘Looking at You’ to ‘Gold’ which stretches over fifty pages charting a woman’s quiet, solitary life which takes a surprising turn after sharing her admiration of a Chagall with a stranger, then another when a camping trip with a friend is interrupted. ‘That Was Then, This Is Now (1)’ in which lust is coupled with ignorance is laced with the mordant humour running through several of these pieces, at its darkest in ‘Burning Love’ which sees revenge prove lethal. In ‘Peak’ a psychiatrist finds herself faced with an unusual request on a second date and is surprised at how much she enjoys herself while ‘Greek’ sees a woman make a drastic choice when she realises she’s pregnant by her hedonistic lover. Galloway bookends her collection with two stories about parenthood beginning with the titular piece in which a mother takes her carefully raised four-year-old on a day out, knowing that he’ll soon be exposed to all manner of influences other than hers, and ending with ‘Distance’ in which a child’s fall sparks a fear of just about everything in his mother leading to a radical solution at great emotional cost to herself.
Part of the joy of these stories is Galloway’s writing. I could stuff this review full of quotes but I’ll keep it to just a few favourites:
His skin didn’t crease, she thought. Whatever he did with his face, it unfolded again smooth as soap (Jellyfish)
Murray needed the freedom to flit in and out of lives as though they were incidental train platforms between his journey to himself (Fine Day)
The Guggenheim was made in bright white slices, an unmissable space-ship of a building parked off-road for the afternoon (Gold)
If she thought I’d forgotten about the shed, she had another think coming. I’d poke her fucking shed-sheltered library with a poker and burn it to funerary ash (Burning Love)
In her acknowledgments, Galloway graciously thanks her publishers noting that:
Publishers are shy of short stories in the here and now, shy like people are shy of three-legged puppies, which is to say they’d love to give them a home, but are nervous of their apparent handicap in that they are not novels.
What a lovely way to end this thoroughly enjoyable, thoughtful, wryly amusing yet often poignant collection.
I really must read Galloway.
Oh, you must. I’m sure you’d like her and this would be a good place to start. I loved The Trick is to Keep Breathing but it’s a tough, harrowing read, best read when in the right state of mind.
A new author on my TBR list, thanks!
Great to hear that! I hope you like her.
It sounds like a strong collection of stories, very tight and psychologically astute – an interesting reissue. I couldn’t help but surrender to a wry smile at the view of short stories in the acknowledgements. They can be an uncertain prospect for publishers, even when the writer is successful and relatively well known. Kudos to Granta for supporting this collection.
It’s a lovely, gracious acknowledgement, isn’t it. Collections are often seen as the poor relations of novels by booksellers, too, and I’m afraid I’ve been guilty of that. Seen the light now, though.
This sounds absolutely brilliant. I really like the story outlines and the quotes are great. I really must read her!
It is, and there are many more gems than the quotes I pulled out. It’s a great collection.
I really enjoyed this, particularly for its focus on child / parent relationships. As an owner of the original collection, though, the additional two pieces are rather annoying!
Have you read her first collection, Blood?
Ah, annoying in that you want to now need to buy a second copy? No, I haven’t read Blood but I’ll add it to my list, and everything else by her I haven’t read!
Janice Galloway was at the Edinburgh Book Festival last summer talking about Muriel Spark – how I wish I had been able to attend! This collection sounds wonderful – I will definitely look out for it.
Ah, such a shame you missed it. Her writing is razor sharp and so smartly honed. I first came to it through her memoirs but I’m enjoying exploring her fiction now.
Thanks for this excellent review. I like reading short stories and will put this collection on my list of to-reads.
It’s been. great year of reading for me; so far I’ve read six books in February alone, so am well on my way to meeting my challenge of finishing 125 books in 2019. Reviews are forthcoming on my blog. Some superb books!
Thank you, and I do hope you enjoy it. Pleased to hear your reading year’s got off to such a fine start. Have you got a favourite?
Have I got what, Susan? Would like to tell you if I knew what you were asking about.
Thanks,
Karen
I wondered which was your favourite read of the year so far, Karen.