Impossible Things

"Ado" is a super short story about an English teacher trying to get her class to study Shakespeare. The problem is this, every play is contested by some watchdog group. Mortician International takes offense to the word, "casket" in Act III, Students Against Suicide protest Ophelia's drowning, and so on. Even the students are allowed to refuse to learn a subject. Willis prefaced the story with an explanation, "political correctness is getting out of hand" (p 115).

"At the Rialto" had me laughing from the very first pages. Dr. Ruth Baringer is a quantum physicist attending a chaos conference in Hollywood, California. Only she can't even check into her room because her name isn't in the registry. In fact, nothing is where it's supposed to be. Rooms where lectures are supposed to be occurring either have talks on channeling or stand empty. To make matters worse there is a colleague who is hell bent on trying to distract Dr. Baringer from attending a single lecture even if it is the wrong one. The chaos is just trying to attend the conference on chaos. ( )

I think I'm forced to finally conclude that there are only so many Connie Willis books one can read before the repeated themes make all the rest kind of redundant. They are still great stories, but they start feeling like all the same story with the names changed: the female lead, battling bureaucracy and political correctness, joins forces with the male lead and, after many amusing complications and misunderstandings caused by the ineptitude and illiteracy of those around them, not to mention some annoying children, together make an astounding discovery about the way the world works, and another astounding discovery about the fact that they've fallen in love.

That said, the World War II story in this collection had a new twist, and “Winter's Tale" was different from her usual; “Chance", too, was abnormally dark (though thankfully not as dark as “All My Darling Daughters" from another collection). And of course "Even The Queen" (though I'd read that one before). ( )

This book has eleven stories, three of which were Hugo and/or Nebula award winners. But, if you ask me, these stories are all winners.

Every one of these stories drew me in. They are all well-crafted and I enjoyed the broad range of subjects that she presented -- from quantum physics to menstruation. "Jack" was probably my favorite story to read as it was set during the Blitz and I think she just does a fantastic job every time she writes in that time period. The story didn't get a five though because I thought one tiny aspect of it was a bit cheesy. (If anyone is familiar with the story, I would love to chat about it!) "Ado" and "Spice Pogrom" were comedies and I thought they were hilarious. "Spice Pogrom" was probably really a 4/4+ story but I had so much fun reading it that I gave it full marks. Some of the reviewers on LT really didn't like her sense of humor (and yet they claimed to have loved To Say Nothing of the Dog -- go figure!) but I really enjoyed it. I think I do best with science fiction when there's an element of humor involved, like with Douglas Adams and Jasper Fforde.

http://webereading.com/2013/02/eleven-impossible-to-ignore-stories.html ( )

What I learned from this book: I either love or hate Connie Willis short stories. Despite being a big fan of To Say Nothing of the Dog, I am going to have to pass on Willis doing comedy in the future.

I'm not sure what aspect of her humorous writing is the most annoying. Candidates are 1. it feels like there is a (pause) at the end of each zinger (and they are very self-consciously zingers) for the benefit of the reader to schedule time to guffaw; 2. her targets are often one of these knee-slapping topics: doddering professors, red tape (gosh, isn't it silly?), and Idiot Manchild Husbands (did she have a bad divorce or something?); and 3. the relentless stupidity and obtuseness of others, which makes me sad that she has to go through life thinking so many other people are stupid and obtuse.

On the plus side, I very much enjoy her stories that aren't trying to be screwball comedies. In this collection, there was a terrific one about Shakespeare conspiracies and a really good one about the London bombings (although, interestingly, not exactly a Firewatch story).

Grade: Meh. C+? B-?
Recommended: if I had this to do over, I would have ditched the stories I wasn't enjoying and skipped ahead to find ones I liked better. ( )

In this collection of short stories, mostly published in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, Connie Willis showcases her remarkable imagination, humor, love of literature, and knowledge of quantum physics. I’ve really enjoyed all of her books that I’ve read so far, and this anthology is no exception. Though I enjoyed some stories more than others, they’re all interesting and unique – no clunkers! Here are my thoughts on the individual stories:

.....“The Last of the Winnebagos” – Sometime in the near future, it’s a felony to kill animals, and the Humane Society has become a totalitarian secret police. I found this story a bit hard to follow at first, but it all came together in the end.
.....“Even the Queen” – After a radically egalitarian revolution called the Liberation, women no longer have to experience menstruation. This was a very funny story about the far-reaching implications that such a development might have.
.....“Schwarzschild Radius” – A young scientist’s thesis about black holes becomes tied to a German soldier’s horrific experiences in World War I. One of the darker stories in this collection, it’s also one of the least emotionally impactful, in my opinion.
.....“Ado” – A college professor tries to teach Shakespeare without offending anyone. This is a lightweight but extremely funny satire about what would happen if political correctness were taken to its logical extreme.
.....“Spice Pogrom” – A woman on a space colony desperately attempts to communicate with the local aliens, but she is frequently hindered by overcrowding, language barriers, and two insufferable little girls. I absolutely loved this homage to the great Hollywood screwball comedies – definitely one of my favorites in the bunch!
.....“Winter’s Tale” – Willis takes on the question of Who Was Shakespeare, Really from a unique perspective. I disagree with her ultimate theory but thought the story was extremely interesting.
.....“Chance” – An unhappily married woman, having just moved back to her college town, relives a tragic incident from her past. This is a great but ultimately heartbreaking story.
.....“In the Late Cretaceous” – A university’s paleontology department must face radical reorganization and budget cuts; the professors are trapped in this madness until one of them decides she’s had enough. I enjoyed this satire about academia, especially the jokes about the parking Nazis (it’s not every day you read a story where a character is described as “an adolescent Himmler”!).
.....“Time Out” – A science experiment intended to prove that time travel is possible wreaks havoc on a small Midwestern town. I really liked this story, which had an interesting balance of humor and psychological insight.
.....“Jack” – In World War II-era London, a group of air raid wardens struggles to survive the war while rescuing people who have been trapped beneath piles of rubble. At first this story seems like an average horros-of-war story, but it soon takes a really cool turn!
.....“At the Rialto” – Confronted with the chaos of a physics convention being hosted in a Hollywood hotel, a scientist begins to draw parallels between the insanity around her and quantum physics. This comic story is another one of my favorites in the collection.