If you can get your hands on it, it's worth the read. Try your public library. Robison's use of dialogue to develop rich, 3-dimensional characters is amazing. This novel will have you laughing constantly. It's refreshing to read about a dysfunctional family who don't do too much damage to each other. Also read her outstanding novel Why Did I Ever

Is Mary Robison's "Oh!" memorable? Well, tonight I was browsing for Alice Munro's new collection of short stories when I saw Robison's name. When my husband and I were first married (20 years ago), I bought a load of hardback books marked down to $1.99 each from a department store that was going out of business. While browsing tonight, I wondered if that Robison was the same who'd written "Oh!" And it was! I can't recall exactly the plot, but I do recall laughing out loud and wondering about the delightfully eccentric characters in the book. I even remembered--pretty much--what the cover looked like. In fact, it's a shame it's out of print. I'd like to read it again.

Perhaps you've seen the movie Twister. Not the one with Helen Hunt. You know, the weird one with Crispin Glover. Well, it was based on "Oh!" I enjoyed the movie so much, I looked for the book. Lo and behold, my brother found a used copy at Powell's bookshop in Oregon. All I can say is that Mary Robison writes about situations that may seem absurd, but are so true to life. Her short stories just seem to drift off, like life itself."Oh!" is the same way. This book makes me feel alive.Yes, I know this is an awful review, but as a result of reading this (and all Mary Robison I could get my hands on), she became my favorite author. She is the master of the vignette, and her characters seem so real. She grips you with life and doesn't let go...

One of the best short story collections- Robison is a genius and her style shines in these exquisitely crafted stories. Short, sharp, hits the mark and transforms you. An absolute favorite.

classic stories such as "Coach" and "Pretty Ice" and "Yours" are finally together in one volume!

I haven't read a book with a structure this unique since "The Sound and the Fury" by Faulkner. Robison has created a style that is at first confounding and then utterly engrossing. The short and short-short chapters mimic the narrator's Attention Deficit Disorder without self-pity, without melodrama, and for the reader, without annoyance. One may be tempted to think before reading this novel that the style is a hat-trick disguising a mediocre talent. Not at all. This "trick" would wear thin after a few dozen pages if not for the wit, irony, and humor that only a master craftsman can achieve. One can tell that much effort went into making this novel seem effortless, which is a gift for the reader and a mighty task for the author. The narrator's short-hand thoughts are like the picture that conveys a thousand words. Robison has accomplished a bold, stirring achievement.

Don't be fooled by the short seqences and the fast pace of Mary Robison's wry and tragic novel, "Why Did I Ever", into thinking that this is a "light" or an "easy" book. Quite the contrary; each section, however brief, is finely crafted and perfectly in tune. The pathos that runs through the story - and we get it in increasing doses as the novel unfolds - is as heartbreaking as the humor is "laugh out loud" funny. This novel is a gem, and one that I will certainly read a second and third time in case I missed anything as I was gulping it down.

Brava, Ms. Robison.

Do you remember, back in the mid-eighties, when the world seemed to be overflowing with short fiction, and you read your first Raymond Carver short story? And you thought "Oh my God, this is wonderful, perfect, classic. His work will stand the test of time and then some."?
Well, that is exactly how I felt when I read "Why Did I Ever." Each sentence, each empty space between sentences resonates with depth and meaning. Each word is exactly right, and placed perfectly. The entire novel is like a poem in its precision -- you feel like you can taste the words, they sit just perfectly on your tongue.
And then, if all of that isn't enough, the book is hysterical. Laugh-out-loud, follow-people-around-quoting-it, unbelievably funny. In the humor category it reminded me of Carrie Fisher, but it is more like if Carrie Fisher wrote like T.S. Eliot, Fisher with something to say, Fisher with the ability to write like an angel, albeit a dark angel. This book was by far the best book I've read this year, if not in the last several years. If I could give it 10 stars, I would.
Mary Robison is an author that will withstand the test of time and I can't wait, really cannot wait to see what she does next.

Yes, I'm actually writing a review for this book, Minimalism and the Short story, on the off chance that someone stumbles across this entry. First, I'll begin with some general praise. This book is worth buying, borrowing, reading at your local library, etc., if for no other reason than the fact that this book, I believe, is the only academic, professional, literary study of minimalism, a much maligned and completely misunderstood movement (even describing it as a movement is kind of troublesome) that swept through literature in the late 70s and on into the early 80s. Yes, you can probably find volumes on Carver, but there's surprisingly little out there (aside from interviews/articles in literary magazines) on Robison and Hempel. A serious examination of Robison and Hempel has been long overdue.

Professor Hallett's book provides nice background on literary minimalism's roots. In addition, Hallett does a nice job delineating minimalism from an overall economy of language (i.e. minimalism is not simply spare writing--a confusion too many book reviewers are guilty of spreading). Also, Hallett makes a decent comparison between the minimalists and the post-modernists, aruguing (rightly) that the two sides aren't so far apart.

Sure, I have some small concerns with this book. The background material on minimalism itself is more useful than Hallett's discussion of the authors themselves. If you're looking for a thorough examination of Carver, Robison, and Hempel, you're probably best off searching elsewhere. These three writers are sort of glossed over, no single story by any of them receives much treatment, and thus the reader is left with the feeling that he/she is reading synopsis rather than analysis. Of the three writers examined, Hempel probably receives the most (and best) attention. I'm not sure I've been further enlightened about Carver and Robison after reading this book.

Still, for those who want an introductory splash into a frequently misunderstood fictional movement, you should begin here.