Ms. Hen reviews Sing To It

Sing To It

Amy Hempel

Scribner

2019

Ms. Hen learned of a reading by Amy Hempel at a local bookstore, and she decided to attend. She knew Ms. Hempel at the writing program where she was a student, though she never worked with her directly, Ms. Hen was in a workshop in which she was the co-teacher. Amy is a cool lady and a great teacher, and Ms. Hen was excited about the reading.

Ms. Hen managed to get one of the last seats available in the room. She listened to Amy read, and was entranced. A magic moment occurred when Amy finished reading the story, “Four Calls in the Last Half Hour,” when she said the last line, “He picks up the phone again.” Right at that moment, the phone in the bookstore rang. Everyone laughed. Amy was gracious when she met Ms. Hen, and she remembered her, and signed her book.

Ms. Hen read this book, but when she did, she did not carry it around with her, since it is an autographed first edition, and she didn’t want it to get messed up. She loved the stories in this collection, a lot of which straddle the world between poetry and fiction; several flash fiction pieces deal with the essence of a subject, and not an entire story.

One of the stories that affected Ms. Hen is “Full-Service Shelter,” about a woman who volunteers at an animal shelter that euthanizes dogs. She takes care of the dogs before they die to make them more comfortable. Ms. Hen thinks this story is disturbing and uncomfortable, but she knows such places exist.

Another story Ms. Hen liked is “The Chicane,” about a woman who had an affair with a movie star in Spain, then got married to a Portuguese man, and afterwards committed suicide. Amy said at the reading that this story is about her aunt, and she spent thirty years writing it, because she didn’t know how the ending should be. This fascinated Ms. Hen. She can’t imagine spending that much time writing a story, but sometimes the right conclusion can be difficult to find.

One more story Ms. Hen admired is “Cloudland,” about a woman who moves to Florida and is haunted by the child she gave up for adoption years before. This is the longest story in the collection. The character is obsessed with the daughter she gave away, and sees her everywhere, and imagines the girl is in her life. She doesn’t know where her daughter is, and there is no way to trace her. The woman walks through life almost as if a shadow. She doesn’t know what she wants.

A lot of these stories deal with lost and troubled love, and people who live in rented houses. Several of the characters are confused about the purpose of their lives, and want to find some beauty and meaning in mundane situations, sometimes through nature and animals. 

Ms. Hen thinks this is a quiet collection with a loud voice, something to read on a rainy August afternoon. Ms. Hen can’t recommend this book enough, and thinks everyone should run out and buy it, and read it slowly, to stop and notice what matters, to learn to appreciate the scent of spring air.