Ideas of Heaven: A Ring of Stories

“Ideas of Heaven” (A Ring of Stories), by Joan Silber (2004), is the 6th book by Silber that I’ve read this year, and my favorite. Clearly I enjoy her “signature” and highly effective structure of interrelated stories and varying points of view. It really is her forte!These stories come “full circle” in a most satisfying way. My favorite was the eponymous “Ideas of Heaven” story about a missionary family during the Boxer Rebellion. What a gut-punch in SO MANY WAYS.

I have just ordered Joan Silber's new volume of short stories, "The Size of the World," and, thinking back onhow much I enjoyed this book, I decided to take the time out of my life to be a bit generous, to take the timeto tell others--you, who happen to be reading this review just now--how very, very good the book is.This book of inter-connected stories is one of the best reading experiences I've had in the last ten years.Oh, yes, there are one or two or three novels which outpace this book, but right behind those three giantscomes this smallish book. The stories are enormously varied, and yet each one is imbued with the veryessence of truth. A story about a would-be dancer who simply doesn't have the stuff? Oh, I believed every word. A story about a family of people who pull up stakes in America and go off to save souls for Christianityin China? Unforgettable.Again, you will think back and say, "Oh, yeah, that guy who wrote that review on e-bay helped me make upmy mind to buy that Silber book. He was right. I do thank him."

The title alone is enough to capture the interest of a thoughtful reader, but the author's approach of using a "ring" of six stories to tell an even larger, far more panoramic story of life on earth and the human condition is even more fascinating -- though, perhaps, not always successful, since some of the inter-story connections seem a tad more forced and obscure than revealing. But the gradual, collective force and impact of this work are remarkable by the time one finishes the aptly titled sixth story, "The Same Ground." It is satisfying and reassuring to encounter an author who has thought deeply and felt deeply, and as a consequence has richly imagined this world. (In spite of the title or because of it, this world is what this book is about.)

Silber's loosely connected "ring" of stories is a must-read for anyone who loves stories. So many modern short stories seem to be about half there--the writer leaves out the beginning and the end, as if leaving readers hanging and mildly disoriented is a literary virtue. In "Ideas of Heaven" you get the whole story along with a quiet reminder that there's really no such thing. Brilliant book.

Wow what a gorgeous collection of stories. Silver creates deep and credible worlds and characters in each chapter, loosely linked but more importantly, individually grounded and richly studied. There's a lot to learn about life, love and human nature in this book.

Silber's book did exactly what readers hope books will do: it transported me into different time periods, let me become different characters. It was a joy to read.

Affected and boring. Changing the name/sex/setting and repeating basically identical stories about the shallow thoughts of self-absorbed, uninteresting characters didn't hold my attention for long.

This book is a National Book Finalist, the reason I decided to read it. I have never heard of this writer. It contains six short stories, three men, three women tell of their walk through life.The stories are tell, not show, but this way of writing does work. The narrator tells of his or her life from youth into older years or death. They are sad, some die at their endings, others lose loved ones. Some characters are bitter and cynical about life.When I began reading I thought I would not like these stories, but found I was pulled into them.The first story begins with a large Breasted woman who wants to be a dancer on Broadway, but she isn't talented enough. She goes to France, the marriage doesn't work out. She takes lessons from a man who insults her, she pays well for both. She moves back to Paris, meets a man, life goes on.Budhism is important to some of the characters in this book.Second story is about an ageing gay man. He tries to become a dancer. He is not good enough. He gives lessons which doesn't work out, falls in love with a young man who doesn't love him. He dreams and longs for his male love, his young man loves another. Painful story.Third is about Gaspara Stampa, a Brilliant, gifted Italian poet who dies young. The story tells of her male lovers and her heart aches. Much of this book deals with unrequited love."Ashes of Love" and "Ideas of Heaven" are my two favorite stories.A New England family mores to China. They are missionaries who want to change the world of China, make them good Christian people. Then comes the Boxer Rebellion, the missionaries are considered foreign devils who don't belong in China. Last story, a French man feels guilty about cheating on his wife with a mistress.