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A review by ysabellabeya
Can't and Won't by Lydia Davis
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
"Suddenly the choice wasn’t so simple: either alive or not alive. It was as though not being alive did not have to mean she was dead, as though there were some third possibility."
These stories give me that kind of feel as if reading something I've read as a child. Lydia Davis can write stories where literally nothing happens and I'll still read it.
"Can't and Won't" is a collection of stories that brings daily life observation and irony, letters, flash fiction-esque proses into an expanded new form of short stories. Lydia Davis is so funny although I find some stories very confusing and doesn't made sense to me.
"A Story Told to Me by a Friend," is definitely and REMARKABLY my favorite (I tend to be dramatic in things I deeply love). "The Two Davises and the Rug" though unfinished, the ambiguity it implies made me love it. It took me quite days to finish "The Seals" and I find it hard to read since I'm not used to reading very dense paragraphs, though it touches the soft spot in my heart where I relate to this familiar sense of grief and longing. Another one that I dreaded reading was "The Letter to the Foundation" I relate to her every bits and piece of her in this story. It such a nice to have someone feel exactly the way you feel and share that identical piece of anxiety and fear with you.
A part from "The Letter to the Foundation" resonates to me, "I already knew that I had the habit of looking out from the window of a car or bus with longing at certain things in the distance that I would never visit, that I would wish to visit but that I would not visit" and "It may be hard for you to believe that I find some small enjoyment in what comes before the class itself, just because it is not the class, just because I am not yet even on the campus. For instance, I take some satisfaction in the little stages of the trip itself: first the bus from my town north to that small city, then the city bus out to the college campus. The city bus costs me nothing if I show my college ID, and I enjoy this privilege more than you would think"
I understand people have opinions on the book but I genuinely liked it. "Letter to a Frozen Peas Manufacturer" is another funny piece. I remember reading it while high off of cafeine. It was nice. I laughed more than it was necessary. "Ödön von Horváth Out Walking" is very much a wtf moment.
FAVORITES:
A Story Told to Me by a Friend ★★★★★
The Seals ★★★★☆
The Letter to the Foundation ★★★☆☆
The Visit to the Dentist, Two Undertaker, The Coachman and the Worm, My School Friend, My Childhood Friend, Molly, Female Cat: History/Findings, The Sentence and the Young Man (she is so funny for what 😭)
The Rooster (!!!!!!)
"Can't and Won't" is a collection of stories that brings daily life observation and irony, letters, flash fiction-esque proses into an expanded new form of short stories. Lydia Davis is so funny although I find some stories very confusing and doesn't made sense to me.
"A Story Told to Me by a Friend," is definitely and REMARKABLY my favorite (I tend to be dramatic in things I deeply love). "The Two Davises and the Rug" though unfinished, the ambiguity it implies made me love it. It took me quite days to finish "The Seals" and I find it hard to read since I'm not used to reading very dense paragraphs, though it touches the soft spot in my heart where I relate to this familiar sense of grief and longing. Another one that I dreaded reading was "The Letter to the Foundation" I relate to her every bits and piece of her in this story. It such a nice to have someone feel exactly the way you feel and share that identical piece of anxiety and fear with you.
A part from "The Letter to the Foundation" resonates to me, "I already knew that I had the habit of looking out from the window of a car or bus with longing at certain things in the distance that I would never visit, that I would wish to visit but that I would not visit" and "It may be hard for you to believe that I find some small enjoyment in what comes before the class itself, just because it is not the class, just because I am not yet even on the campus. For instance, I take some satisfaction in the little stages of the trip itself: first the bus from my town north to that small city, then the city bus out to the college campus. The city bus costs me nothing if I show my college ID, and I enjoy this privilege more than you would think"
I understand people have opinions on the book but I genuinely liked it. "Letter to a Frozen Peas Manufacturer" is another funny piece. I remember reading it while high off of cafeine. It was nice. I laughed more than it was necessary. "Ödön von Horváth Out Walking" is very much a wtf moment.
FAVORITES:
A Story Told to Me by a Friend ★★★★★
The Seals ★★★★☆
The Letter to the Foundation ★★★☆☆
The Visit to the Dentist, Two Undertaker, The Coachman and the Worm, My School Friend, My Childhood Friend, Molly, Female Cat: History/Findings, The Sentence and the Young Man (she is so funny for what 😭)
The Rooster (!!!!!!)
"When did she leave the tartar sauce? You wouldn’t think a person could become attached to something like a jar of tartar sauce. But I guess you can—I didn’t want to throw it out, because she had left it. Throwing it out would mean that the days had passed, time had moved on and left her behind."