If I loved you, I would tell you this
SHORTLISTED FOR
FRANK O’CONNOR SHORT STORY PRIZE
And
Chosen as SUMMER READING PICK, O. Magazine, July 2010
“If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This offers the kind of storytelling that’s so deft, so understated, and so compelling that you have to slow down to savor each vignette. Fans of Mary Gaitskill, Amy Bloom, and Miranda July will feel like they’ve found gold in a river when they discover Robin Black.”
–O. Magazine
And this!
“Will Robin Black win [the PEN/Hemingway first fiction prize] for this book? If I were a judge, she would . .”
- Alan Cheuse, special to the Chicago Tribune
MORE PRAISE FOR
If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This:
“. . . in Black’s case, the usual publicity-speak (‘Heralding the arrival of a stunning new voice’) happens to be true.”
- The San Francisco Chronicle
“Should Alice Munro ever fulfill her threat of retirement, readers can turn to Black for solace.”
- Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Black’s assurance and command are matched throughout by the subtlety with which she builds intricate layers of emotional residue and follows the circuitous pathways of memory.”
-The Daily Beast
“Many fiction readers slight the short story as a form less compelling or engaging than the novel. If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This may be the collection that changes their minds.”
- The Australian
“Eight years of writing and revision result in a high-caliber short story collection reminiscent of works by Atwood and Paley. . . Like fine chocolate or wine, a little Black goes a long way. Savor this collection slowly and reflectively, then share with a friend.”
- Library Journal, Starred Review
“. . .lovely and evocative. . . ”
Publisher’s Weekly
“Poignant . . . well-written explorations of characters and situations sure to appeal to readers of Alice Munro and Mary Gaitskill.”
―Booklist
If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This named as one of five books to look forward to, by the Louisville Courier Journal:
“Here’s a wonderfully rich and rewarding story collection by a debut writer that’s not to miss for fans of Alice Munro or Lorrie Moore.”
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20101010314
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From early readers:
“This collection of short stories might more accurately be called a collection of short novels, such is their richness of characterization and plot. And the writing! It’s the best I’ve seen in years, literally. I was immediately engaged with and entertained by every story here, without exception, and I was moved and enlightened by them, as well. Robin Black is an old soul who is a new addition to my short list of favorite authors. She is worthy of every bit of the high praise that is sure to come her way.”
– Elizabeth Berg, author of The Last Time I Saw You
“Robin Black knows people. She knows us, she loves us, she takes pity on us and she offers us back to ourselves in clear-eyed and graceful prose. Her people are alive on these pages in all their glory–heartache and joy, infidelity and loyalty–and stay with us.”
–Amy Bloom, author of Away and Where the God of Love Hangs Out
“Robin Black’s men and women have been around the block—in fact, they’ve done laps around the block—and are suffused with a fierce and hard-won knowledge about life, about love and loss. It’s wisdom that fills these characters. Like bulletins from the front, these magnificent stories shine a light on what it means to be human.”
– Dani Shapiro, author of Devotion
“Robin Black’s stories are beautifully measured and composed in their engagements with emotional crises that are harrowingly intense, if not catastrophic. Few first collections – few collections of any sort — are as intelligent and as moving about both the durability of love and the implacability of loss, or about the ways in which contingency can undo and remake us; about, finally, the damage done and the repair work to come.”
–Jim Shepard, author of Like You’d Understand, Anyway
“These stories are full of surprises. They start with the familiar, drawing the reader in with the beauty and precision of their prose until, suddenly, in the middle of a suburban family drama, Italian bandits appear. But what makes If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This such an exquisite collection is the way Robin Black brings these same unpredictable elements into the emotional lives of her characters, creating that special kind of literary magic, where a reader experiences everything, right alongside, and it all feels new.”
– Hannah Tinti, author of The Good Thief
