A Pair of Silk Stockings: Best of Women's Short Stories 2, Vol. 2 Book

To start with I have no idea why the publishers decided on that specific cover image. It reminds me of Hollywood Starlets of the 1930's, and I honestly don't see any correlation between that image and the stories of this anthology.

The Watsons, by Jane Austen, 3/5
I'm always hesitant over a well-beloved writers "unfinished work" - anything published posthumously lacks the genuine eye that only an author can have. The Watson's feels like a typical Austen piece, with her gift for creating unique characters, but it also shows the darker sides of sibling rivalry and jealousy, that we have never seen from her before. Its hard to say where Austen intended for this story to go, but she does an excellent job of setting the story up. I can't help but feel for the deeply sheltered Emma, yet also identify with her older sisters who were denied the sense of luxury she was raised with simply because they were older, and less "in need" after their mothers death.


The Half Brothers, by Elizabeth Gaskell, 4/5
This was excellent! Elizabeth Gaskell does such an amazing job of building characters and plots in such a short time. I loved the bittersweet relationship between the two half brothers, but especially concerning Gregory who is only ever seen through someone else's eyes. The fathers repentance at the end was so satisfying.


A Pair of Silk Stockings, by Kate Chopin, 3/5
This story can be read one of two ways:

1.)A housewife who is ultimately oppressed, dedicates what little money she has to buying her children new clothes, but the weight of her oppression makes her too weak to the lure of silk stockings, or,

2.)A housewife who is ultimately oppressed, spends the day how she chooses, spending what little money she has on luxury stockings and a day out at the theater where she realizes she, like the players, and the bored woman around her, are all merely acting out their parts.


The Wronged Woman, by Winifred Holtby, 3/5
This one started off really slow, but ended up being completely fascinating in the end. It tells the story of a spinter who by chance meets and "entangled" herself with a promising doctor. After fearing/faking a pregnancy , they marrry, only to discover who incompatible they really are for one another.

The story becomes particularly interesting when the woman the doctor has been having an affair with confronts the wife and attempts to gain a divorce because she herself is expecting a child.

This one ended way too soon!


The Red Room, by L.M. Montgomery, 2/5
One of the weakest stories in the series. L.M. Montgomery has such a natural innocence to her writing, and with her go-to choice of utilizing young narrators, this gothic tale of oppressed wives trapped in ghostly red rooms just does not work.


The Parvenue, by Mary Shelley, 2/5
Another weak addition, unfortunately. The story of a young poor woman suddenly finding herself on the receiving end of a wealthy mans ardore, just didn't work for me. The added complication of her families moneygrubbing and her husband's miserly behavior felt underdeveloped.


Bliss, by Katherine Mansfield, 4/5
The moral of this story is that there will always be two people in a marriage. Just because you feel absolute bliss doesn't mean your husband's not diddling a woman you may or may not have sexual feeling for.


The Legacy, by Virginia Woolf, 3/5
My biggest complaint with this was that I saw the plot twist coming from a mile away. The characterization was also lacking the usual richness I expect so see from Woolf's writing.