A fascinating collection! "Pilgrims" is a fascinating work - like a vice slowly tightening, Gilbert clamps on to the reader and never lets go. My personal favorite story is the gentle beautiful narrative about 15 year old Denny Brown. Gilbert balances the innocence and naivity of youth with the hidden lustiness that every teen encounters.
No praise high enough Of all the darned good stories I've come across, Elizabeth Gilbert writes the darnedest goodest, perhaps "the best." "The Famous Torn and Restored Lit Cigarette Trick" in particular has all the mistifying charms of the sleight of hand illusions she describes therein: it's dexterous and surprising, baffling and revelatory. Be warned--Gilbert writes seatbelts-off short fiction that reinvigorates the sleepy genre and makes it buy us all a drink.
Wonderful debut! Gilbert's writing is magical and this debut holds forth the promise America's next great writer. It is a must read.
Good Elizabeth Gilber is certainly a talent. The tales were diverse and interesting but I felt cheeted of completeness and closure. Each character faces his or her own pilgramage in each short story, and in the end, they are no closer than when they began. There is no "ah hah" so this is it. I felt each one was the begining of a to be continued series.
