Michelle Berry
Author of What We All Want
About the Author
Michelle Berry, 1968 - Michelle Berry was born in 1968. She is the author of two critically acclaimed short story collections, How To Get There From Here from Turnstone Press in 1997 and Margaret Lives in the Basement from Somerville in 1998. She has published short fiction in magazines and show more journals throughout Canada, is a reviewer for The Globe and Mail and Quill and Quire, teaches at Ryerson University and also serves on the Board of PEN. show less
Works by Michelle Berry
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Life is like that - no one helps anyone out ahead of time but everyone seems ready to give advice after. To chide you. Laugh at your mistakes. Page 47
In a small Canadian town, life is busily filled with the simple acts that make up our days. Interspersed are the large events that make the small, easily ignored things insignificant in comparison and yet life is a convoluted mixture of both, moments we forget and moments that will change our lives forever.
Interference is a story of multiple show more lives, failed marriages, the drama of navigating the teenage years, coping with cancer, the relationships between strangers, friends, lovers and community. The myriad of storylines converge to highlight the simple fact that living, that merely existing, is a messy business by nature. An enjoyable read that reflected the realness of being human and the importance of relationships in shaping and defining our lives. show less
In a small Canadian town, life is busily filled with the simple acts that make up our days. Interspersed are the large events that make the small, easily ignored things insignificant in comparison and yet life is a convoluted mixture of both, moments we forget and moments that will change our lives forever.
Interference is a story of multiple show more lives, failed marriages, the drama of navigating the teenage years, coping with cancer, the relationships between strangers, friends, lovers and community. The myriad of storylines converge to highlight the simple fact that living, that merely existing, is a messy business by nature. An enjoyable read that reflected the realness of being human and the importance of relationships in shaping and defining our lives. show less
Berry's Shorts
Review of the first edition Somerville House Publishing paperback (1998)
This was an excellent early collection of short stories by Michelle Berry of Hunter St. Books in Peterborough, Ontario. It was her second book of short stories and has been followed by novels. Each of these had a somewhat quirky element with setups that combined drama, pathos and humour. I was fortunate to borrow a copy of the original 1998 edition thanks to *Karan*!
1. Fire **** A spontaneous dinner by a show more couple hosting a new neighbour couple breaks down into various unexpected revelations about each person's issues and life worries.
2. The Woodshed *** A woman finds a dead body in her garden shed one morning after her husband has left her for a younger woman. A bizarre discussion with neighbours and a solution appears when the police are too busy to respond to the 911 call (due to a fire in the town).
3. Margaret Lives in the Basement ***** A heavy-set black woman orders a tanning bed to be installed in her basement apartment to the puzzlement of her neighbours.
4. Burning Builds Character *** A husband is living in a motel after being kicked out by his wife for being associated with a sexual assault. He chats poolside with a woman and her daughter who are passing through on vacation.
5. Dust *** A couple are hallucinating about dust in the house or mold in the bathroom after the loss of their unborn child.
6. Darlene **** A man who has separated from his wife and been dumped by his girlfriend becomes fixated on a voicemail message that was mistakenly left on his phone.
7. Do You Want to be in the Movies? ***** A young girl at a bus station is creepily groomed by two 'movie-biz' grifters.
8. Heat ***** During a heatwave, a woman avoids her grumpy husband by going across the street to help an apparently befuddled senior woman who lives alone.
9. Under the Apple Tree ***** A couple that are house-sitting for a relative invite a passing woman and her child to join them for the day when their car temporarily breaks down nearby. This was excellent for the underlying tension that develops throughout.
10. Rosemary's Vacation *** A single woman vacationing on the beach can't seem to make any connections with prospective husbands or anyone else, except for the elderly couple also vacationing nearby.
11. Duck Blind **** A couple find out that their relationship is strained and that they really don't know each other at all, when they go on a duck hunt together. show less
Review of the first edition Somerville House Publishing paperback (1998)
This was an excellent early collection of short stories by Michelle Berry of Hunter St. Books in Peterborough, Ontario. It was her second book of short stories and has been followed by novels. Each of these had a somewhat quirky element with setups that combined drama, pathos and humour. I was fortunate to borrow a copy of the original 1998 edition thanks to *Karan*!
1. Fire **** A spontaneous dinner by a show more couple hosting a new neighbour couple breaks down into various unexpected revelations about each person's issues and life worries.
2. The Woodshed *** A woman finds a dead body in her garden shed one morning after her husband has left her for a younger woman. A bizarre discussion with neighbours and a solution appears when the police are too busy to respond to the 911 call (due to a fire in the town).
3. Margaret Lives in the Basement ***** A heavy-set black woman orders a tanning bed to be installed in her basement apartment to the puzzlement of her neighbours.
4. Burning Builds Character *** A husband is living in a motel after being kicked out by his wife for being associated with a sexual assault. He chats poolside with a woman and her daughter who are passing through on vacation.
5. Dust *** A couple are hallucinating about dust in the house or mold in the bathroom after the loss of their unborn child.
6. Darlene **** A man who has separated from his wife and been dumped by his girlfriend becomes fixated on a voicemail message that was mistakenly left on his phone.
7. Do You Want to be in the Movies? ***** A young girl at a bus station is creepily groomed by two 'movie-biz' grifters.
8. Heat ***** During a heatwave, a woman avoids her grumpy husband by going across the street to help an apparently befuddled senior woman who lives alone.
9. Under the Apple Tree ***** A couple that are house-sitting for a relative invite a passing woman and her child to join them for the day when their car temporarily breaks down nearby. This was excellent for the underlying tension that develops throughout.
10. Rosemary's Vacation *** A single woman vacationing on the beach can't seem to make any connections with prospective husbands or anyone else, except for the elderly couple also vacationing nearby.
11. Duck Blind **** A couple find out that their relationship is strained and that they really don't know each other at all, when they go on a duck hunt together. show less
The Mount siblings are reunited when there mother Becka dies from liver cancer. The family home is cluttered by hundreds of dolls, bottles of preserves, and a rock floor that Hilary has installed so that she and her mother who have chosen to be housebound can experience the rocky shore near a beach. Hilary has looked after her mother her entire life. Billy is a drunk, married to Tess with a goth teenage daughter who is pregnant. Thomas is a successful gay architect. Dick Mortimer, Hilary's show more childhood friend is the funeral director, who agrees to the burial in the family home's backyard. show less
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- Works
- 16
- Also by
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- Members
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- Rating
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