After Rain: Stories

William Trevor delves deeply into the human heart. His characters range from the pure of heart to stone killers and those in between. In this collection two young criminals ponder their failure to kill a witness to a minor burglary; a mother is haunted by the darkest fears about her eccentric adult son; a strongly protestant family deals quite harshly with their teenage son who claims to have visions of a catholic saint and is compelled to preach about it; an unusual arrangement is made by a family after a daughter’s unplanned pregnancy; a childless wife is quietly devastated after accidentally discovering her husband has been having a long-term affair; and parents of an adult daughter are shattered upon the return of a frequently show more divorced ne’er-do-well that their daughter declared she would marry as a child.

Family pressure and intransigence weighs heavily in many of the twelve stories. All capture extremes of love and cruelty that are even more powerful in Trevor’s understated voice. show less

I thought this was my first experience with William Trevor, however, when I got to the story "A Day" I realized I had read it before. How strange, since I rarely read anthologies. Except for one story that I didn't care much for this collection was phenomenal. I found myself pulled into the stories so quickly but so smoothly that I found myself wondering how it happened. The emotion each story generated in me seemed so softly drawn but was so poignant, so sharp. Reading these stories was a truly memorable experience, and I am excited that William Trevor has written much more because I very much want to read more that he had written.

There is a transcendent elegance and authority in his story tellling. It's rare when I am not thinking about the author's artifice and only drawn to the mystery and beauty of the story. Running out for more books by Mr. Trevor.

This was the first time I read Trevor's short fiction and I thought he was a master of the craft. I will be more reading more of his stories. 4.5 stars

This is my first read from William Trevor and I have at least one more on the TBR. I appreciate the writing in these stories, he is truly gifted. However, I did find the style a little, um, old fashioned? The language did not seem to fit for the subjects of some of the stories. Notwithstanding, I plan on digging out his other work in my stack and look forward to reading more of his work.

This book consists of 12 short stories, most of which have depressing plots, but they are so memorable. Mr. Trevor is a master when it comes to writing about ordinary people, their relationships, and domesticity. In each story, he explores deep feelings, many of which we can all relate to. Eleven of the settings are in Ireland and England, the twelfth in Italy.

I've also read Mr. Trevor's novels Love and Summer (4 Stars), Death in Summer (4.5 Stars), Felicia's Journey (4.5 Stars), The Story of Lucy Gault (4.5 Stars), and The Silence in the Garden (2 Stars). I recommend all of those that I rated 4 and 4.5 Stars.

Brilliantly written, finely tuned stories with compelling characters by one of the master's of the genre.