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Title: Crowning the Queen of Love: Short Stories by Susan Welch ISBN: 1-56689-058-6 Publisher: Coffee House Press Pub. Date: April, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4.25 (4 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Haunting and Beautiful
Comment: This collection of stories took me by surprise. With a title suggestive of a romance collection, I was prepared for something contrived and formulaic. Instead, this book brought me close to the shadow of the modern woman's struggles with love and relationship. An excellent, and dark, book.

Rating: 3
Summary: Pretty Girls and Wild Women
Comment: I had Susan Welch as an instructor several years ago, so I can't help seeing the book in the light of certain things she taught in class, mainly that there's plots in the mostly traditional stories, just as she told us in creative writing class that we should have plots too... She's no longer my teacher, so I can say here that while it's a fairly good book, it's not spectacular, probably because of the flat tone that tends to dominate, sometimes to not-that-great effects, in the stories after the first one. That does result in a sort of lopsidedness to the way the collection is arranged. "The Time, the Place, the Loved One," the story that's made Welch famous in the small press, has a first person narrator and a much more plush, descriptive way of writing style while the others are all in the third person with a very different style; more flat, and less descriptive. I couldn't help notice when I was reading the stories how many of them were about women who were very beautiful and used that beauty to get men and define who they were, and what they do when they inevitably get older and can no longer use that beauty. Some examples are "The Time, the Place, the Loved One," and "Geography." These are the sort of women who are usually not viewpoint characters--because they aren't "brainiacs?"--as objects, not subjects.

The stories also remind me of Minnesota, where I'm currently living most of the year, and I heard a few them read here at local readings, so that adds to it. I've said a few nice things, I think, but I'm critical so I'll stick with the 3 stars.

Rating: 5
Summary: Compelling characters, haunting scenes stay with you
Comment: Susan Welch's CROWNING is an outstanding collection. Tales of relationships on the dark side, devoid of sentimental sugar-coating, sneak up with a subtle message of perseverence among the misbegotten. Welch's protagonists are three-dimensional. THE TIME, THE PLACE, THE LOVED ONE is masterful, but equally strong is HATSHETSUP (which won first place in SIDESHOW), DARCY, and STALKING ANGEL DAWAYNE. Read it--you won't be disappointed. (Note: not intended for fans of books with Fabio on the cover.)