Tell Me a Riddle (1961)

by Tillie Olsen

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402	3	23,995	(3.94)	33

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▾LibraryThing recommendations

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Showing 3 of 3

still moving; amazing portrayal of working class women's burden

FKarr | Apr 4, 2013 |

This is a collection of four short stories, dealing with have-nots and people who find difficulty expressing themselves in words - a mother talking about her eldest child, the female half of an elderly couple, an alcoholic sailor. The stories are moving and very effectively written - emotions are rarely stated explicitly, but are there in every line. (

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wandering_star | Jun 22, 2010 |

intimate, sometimes heartbreaking short stories. (

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ffortsa | Dec 20, 2009 |

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Tell Me a Riddle & Yonnondio by Tillie Olsen

Tell Me a Riddle (Women Writers : Texts and Contexts) by Deborah Silverton Rosenfelt

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Series (with order)

Canonical title

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1961

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

World War II (1939 ∙ 1945)

Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1945)

Related movies

Tell Me a Riddle (1980 ∙ IMDb)

I Stand Here Ironing (2005 ∙ IMDb)

Awards and honors

San Francisco Chronicle list of The 20th Century's 100 Best Fiction of the American West (1999)

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

I stand here ironing, and what you asked me moves tormented back and forth with the iron.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

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Publisher series

Virago Modern Classics (38)

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Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0385290101, Paperback)

This collection of four stories, "I Stand Here Ironing," "Hey Sailor, what Ship?," "O Yes," and "Tell me a Riddle," had become an American classic. Since the title novella won the O. Henry Award in 1961, the stories have been anthologized over a hundred times, made into three films, translated into thirteen languages, and - most important - once read, they abide in the hearts of their readers.

(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:59:08 -0500)

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