Reviews for Cake

The average rating for Cake based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-09-12 00:00:00 Joseph Quirk i haven't read Cake yet but i did read a story of Tristan Davies', called "Fiesta", found in an old Glimmer Train journal, Fall 2000, issue 36. Don't think "Fiesta" is in Cake but will check it out as sounds like more of the same. i greatly enjoyed the story but not sure what it means: maybe lost opportunity for true love? maybe magic lost? maybe the confusion related to establishing a post modern long term romantic relationship? Dunno but i liked it.. characters were young adult teachers, setting was upper middle class suburban Baltimore pvt school and a school outing to Pamplona. one thing for sure is that TD can write and that he can do so with a very believable and appealing narrative voice. ------------- later on, after reading Cake, i added the following: THE SHORT OF IT: Cake is a collection of tough short stories by a skilled craftsman in which realistic characters experience and respond to the stress of modern social realities. i greatly appreciate the quality of these stories but, being an anthropologist (as well as a short story reader), I also tend to focus on the structural minefields of the modern emotional relationships Mr. Davies describes. Some of the longer pieces of Cake resonate with "Fiesta", a wonderful earlier short story by Mr. Davies. For me, the young protagonist of "Fiesta" could have grown into Philip of "Snapdragon" or Wallace of "The thing itself". Too bad about that, eh? One root of the problem relationships described in the Cake stories is that "falling in love" type people also tend to fall in love again with new people. Understandably, this causes their old lovers to become angry bitter and distrustful. Staying-together-for-the-children results in a depressing toxic stew of a marriage that does not nurture anybody. Relationships based on friendship might tend to be more durable. Evelyn and the young protagonist of "Fiesta" had friendship. But, on Evelyn's part, not the chemistry, as she had a thing for bad boys and short term sexual intimacy. Clearly a friendship marriage of this kind would have to include a lot of overlooking. (By the way, Evelyn is a fascinating character but when she grows older I can see her turning into somebody like Astrid from the Cake story "Dan, Astrid Says". Personally, I like Evelyn a lot better than Astrid.) The modern wimmin in these stories seem to have the upper hand over their men, until they have children and then their options are limited. On this structural foundation, Mr. Davies builds his artful stories describing some of the trials and tribulations of modern relationships.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-11-18 00:00:00 Kyle Brandon Stone I've owned this book of stories for years (Davies was one of my teachers at Hopkins), but didn't open it until this week, at which point I read it straight through in two days. These stories are often brilliant and elegantly push against my expectations of what a story is, or should do and in so doing he uncovers new ways to get at experience and the confusion of life. The collection is also nicely arranged, with shorter, lyrical pieces mixed in with longer, character-driven narratives. I felt, reading this book, as though Davies was never content to work in an existing rut, but always cutting straight toward his subject, which is a rare and refreshing thing to find.