Marisa SilverReseñas

Very good rendering of the intersection of lives based on two real people who created an icon of American history. A query into what is THE truth and what is the fabrication of A truth, how geography shapes destiny, and the strength of family connection.

Well-written and tragic story. Not something I would ever want to read again.

I'm not sure why I finished this book. It was interesting in the beginning and then it felt like it became another story altogether. Some parts were unnecessary, in my opinion. Otherwise, this book didn't really interest me but I finished it anyways.

I liked both the content and the writing of this book. It was very instructive regarding different aspects of life in the U.S. in the 1920's-1940's and even in to the 2000's. Both Dorothea Lange and the Migrant Mother she famously photographed are portrayed as they may have really been. I have not decided whether the addition of the Walker Dodge details were worth the confusion, but they added information. The writing and the metaphors were with dealing with, but I wonder if I would have learned more if the book had been clearer.½

I devoured this in one 3-hour sitting.

Not since Timothy Egan's The Worst Hard Time have I read such a moving and vivid account of families struggling through the Depression. Silver's use of small period details, as well as her "bookend" use of the present tense when telling the contemporary part of her tale, lends an immediacy to the story that made this reader feel as though she was hearing it straight from the memories of a beloved great-aunt. Truly a must-read for anyone fascinated by the lives and hardships of migrant life during the Depression, as well as those readers who recognized that -- far from being two-dimensional photographs -- our great-grandparents had loves and lives and secrets every bit as vital as ours today.

3.5 Miggy is a seven year old force of nature. She is curious, fearless, determined, strong willed and easily bored. She is like a whirlwind, flinging herself from one activity to the next. An only child indulged by her father, slightly less so by her mother, she is off putting to other children. Until one day at a dance class taught by her mother, she meets Ellen. Ellen is the perfect foil, quiet, calm, willing to indulge Miggy, follow her every lead. They are bet friends. One day though Ellen makes her own wishes, thoughts known, a day that will result in a terrible accident. Now, grief and guilt will enter their lives.

The writing, prose is wonderful, strongest when it centers on the girls. This is also the strongest part of the story, the adult world, relationships didn't have, for me, the same impact. A novel very much about relationships and the mysteries within, child, adult in different manifestations. How does one get over something that leaves a hole, not just in a family but in ones own being?

ARC from Edelweiss.½

A tragic novel with clear, precise prose. Characters that are relatable in how they think and act - written to be flawed and human. Although it is certainly not a mystery, it is a suspenseful tale about childhood. I look forward to reading more by Marisa Silver.

This a book for the intrepid reader who likes to grapple with ideas and meaning beyond plot. New York Times Book Review calls this “beguiling novel …. a powerful exploration of the relationship between our changeable bodies and our just as malleable identities….” The writing is beautiful and I love a narrator who lets the reader in on the joke –the story is narrated with an arch tone and with enough detachment to draw your own conclusions and sympathies. The story is fairy-tale-ish and takes place in an unnamed (universal) tiny country that seems vaguely Eastern-European/pre-Soviet bloc, where hunger and war are imminent and superstition and backwardness prevail. It centers on Pavla, whose name means “little” because she was born a dwarf to parents who long-awaited a living child. Agata and Vaclav are dismayed at first, but soon discover her value and her beauty, as does the rest of the village. Vaclav is a visionary and plumber, bringing the miracles of faucets and toilets to the hamlet, and Pavla is small enough to fit into the cramped places new pipes must go, becoming indispensable. The school girls call her “little nothing” and “Pavla revels in her name because she knows that if nothing is little, then it must be something indeed.” The book takes off from here, into Pavla’s adolescence where she encounters Danilo, an apprentice to a quack doctor her parents consult and the two fall in innocent love, but are thwarted by time and destiny and a host of other esoteric obstacles that require a reading leap of faith. But with the beautiful writing, themes and characters circle back around to a satisfying, if unconventional conclusion.

Historical fiction about the iconic Depression-era picture of this woman on the cover as photographed by Dorothea Lange. Names and circumstances have been changed in a compelling story of grit and survival.

‘’Love!’’, the woman exclaims. ‘’All anyone wants to know about is love! My God! Is there nothing more important on earth than that? Why don’t you ask the necessary questions: Will I have food in my belly? Will I have all my teeth? Will I be able to urinate without pain? But no, it’s always love! It’s pathetic.’’

In a country that resembles Poland during the beginning of the last century, an elderly woman gives birth to a girl. What should have been a blessing turns into an ordeal. Isolated peasants, the parents notice that the child is unusual. Whispers about changelings haunt the mother’s mind before she comes to accept that her Pavla is unique. More unique than she could ever imagine. Soon a story of transformation, desperate love and persecution begins, brilliantly written by Marisa Silver.

''Why is she staring at them? What horror does she see?''

This novel is full of horrors. Inspired by the wealth of Slavic myths related to wolves, Silver presents the complex theme of identity and transformation through the adventures of Pavla and Danilo. Using a wonderful combination of Folklore, seasoned with a sense of humour that varies from bittersweet to crude, and literary language that is raw and poetic, she chronicles the odyssey of being the Other. From the circus of extraordinary beings to the behaviour of the community of wolves, the terrifying asylums, the unspeakable horrors of war and the holiest obligation of protecting a child.

Each chapter, each page hides a surprise and there is no way the reader will be able to predict the story. Through misery, sadness, and isolation, a small glimpse of hope is born and change dictates our choices. Sometimes, though, Fate decides for us and all we can do is to adapt to new situations that may seem incomprehensible. The only problem I faced is the crude sexual remarks that were often and unnecessary, in my opinion. The story is so beautiful and constant emphasis on the brutal aspect of sex was tiresome.

The characters of Pavla and Danilo are excellent, full of surprises, their journey from innocence to the ugly face of life and whatever hope they still have left is beautifully communicated. Ivan is yet another memorable character, very realistic and his story was possibly the most moving sequence in the novel.
Little Nothing is anything but ''little''. It is one more literary gem...

''All she can do is stare out into the night sky. Once, she would have said that night was simply black. But now she knew differently about colour and pain and delusion. Russet red, indigo blue, brown, other. She chants this litany to herself over and over, building up a wall of words that protects her from the sound of her mother's voice, the feel of the chill on the tips of her ears and nose, the smell of chimney smoke carried on the wind. She needs to block out any intrusion that threatens to remind her of her being.''

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/

Wow! What a book. I, like many I am sure have "stopped seeing" the famous photo by Lange. A great novel and loved the connections between the characters. Makes you think about the past in a different sort of way.

I loved this book. The premise was fascinating and so believable that I had to keep reminding myself it was fiction. Nearly everyone has seen the photo Migrant Mother taken by photographer Dorothea Lange in the 1930's. In this novel author Marisa Silver imagines a story around these two women, their lives and their hopes, and how they came to intersect on the side of the road - resulting in this iconic photo. Adding a present day male historian who is also connected to Mary Coin (the woman in the photo) brings another level of depth to the novel.

In addition to the plot, the personalities, and a family secret, the author realistically recreates the life and lifestyle of the migrant worker during America's Great Depression. Juxtaposing this gritty, hardscrabble realism with the philosophical question asking "What is a photograph and what does it actually capture?" is one of the special qualities at the heart of this novel.

I thought this book was wonderful. It was a beautiful telling of the life of two women who had such an impact on history. Though it is fictional and not the true story of these two women I still thought it was worthwhile. I have now discovered I want to know more about the actual photographer, Dorothea Lange. I love when a book is so good it makes you curious about the subject it was written about. Definitely worth reading.

Marisa Silver weaves together a fairy tale that is as beautiful as it is haunting. The writing strikes me as a wonderful study of contrasts: grotesque imagery and disturbing themes juxtaposed with the lovely, dreamlike quality of the story and plot.

"Pavla makes her sound again and watches as her father's astonishment turns to pleasure, his smile unmasking a mouthful of brown and rotted teeth that emerge from his swollen gums at odd angles like the worn picket fence that surrounds Agata's garden and fails to keep out the scavenger deer. Pavla will do anything to keep seeing these teeth and so she laughs and waves her arms and feels, for the first time in her life, but not the last, the exquisite pain of love."

This historical fiction has three story lines which converge at different points to create a wonderful story of struggle, poverty, survival, humanity during the Great Depression of the 1930s
Mary Coin is the wife of migrant worker Toby coin in the dirty thirties in California. They have 6 children when Toby dies of pneumonia.
Walker Dodge is a modern day social history professor in California who likes to unearth personal stories by searching through archives, garage sales and libraries. His family owned fruit orchards near Porter, California.
Vera Dare is a photographer hired by the federal government to take photographs of migrant workers so that their plight during the depression can be captured and aid provided for their survival.
The story is a fictionalized account of photographer Dorothea Lange’s photograph of migrant worker Florence Owens Thompson. The photo became the face of poverty and struggle of migrant workers and made Lange famous.
The writing is so well done, the characters so well developed, the emotions and thoughts so well described that this story although sad, was a pleasure to read.½

I love the old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” In Silver’s case, a picture is an opportunity to tell the story behind the iconic “Migrant Mother” photograph of subject Florence Owens Thompson, taken by photographer Dorothea Lange and published in 1936. Bringing to life the Dust Bowl Depression of the 1930’s, the story Silver weaves is told from the point of view of three fictionalized narrators: Depression-era migrant worker Mary Coin, photographer Vera Dare and in the modern day, social historian Walker Dodge. Written more like a series of connected stories and using biographical details as a starting point, this is squarely a work of speculative fiction. The thoughts, feelings and emotions of the characters are all creations by Silver. The portrayal of the era is stark and powerful. Silver does not try to sugar coat what was a very difficult time for so many people. Relying on broad themes of identity and survival, each of the three narrators face their own unique struggles. Under Silver’s hand, Mary and Vera are rigid, almost unyielding and it is only later in the story where we get to see glimpses of the compassion and uncertainty that lies beneath the surface. Favorite quote:

“Because answers are inert things that stop inquiry. They make you think you have finished looking. But you are never finished. There are always discoveries that will turn everything you think you know on its head and that will make you ask all over again: Who are we?”

Through Mary Coin, Silver attempts to follow this line of reasoning. Does she succeed? I think she does, as this story has opened my eyes to more closely scrutinize and ask questions about the images I encounter.

Pavla's birth is difficult in many ways. Born to elderly parents whose desperation for a child has led them to consult a local witch she is born a dwarf and faces rejection from her disappointed and guilt-ridden mother. Over time the infant manages to overcome her mother's reservations and become her parents' darling but even as she grows beautiful and clever (if not tall) they worry for her future and turn to the disreputable Dr Smetanka and his assistant Danilo in the hope of a cure. As one might expect, things do not go to plan. So begins Pavla's tale of many transformations as she is buried, stretched and anointed in the quest for height and passes through forests, freakshows, prisons and several physical forms. Her story is paralleled by that of Danilo who is haunted by his role in Pavla's life and passes from doctor's assistant, carnival performer, madman and engineer as he seeks to make amends.

Silver has created a pitch-perfect modern fairy-tale with shades of the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson, Angela Carter and Catherynne M. Valente. She uses the familiar tropes of transformation and redemption with great skill and such unwavering confidence that the reader is easily swept up in the fairy-tale logic of their childhood with no inclination to break the spell with unwarranted disbelief. But despite the feeling of familiarity she manages to surprise at every turn, the sudden shifts and shocks always supported by her evocative prose.

The tales of Pavla and Danilo beautifully compliment each other, both centring on the exploration of the self whether this is through physical change, from childhood to adulthood, from dwarf to wolf-girl or a change in situation and role. It is also a meditation on the way we use stories (and stories use us) to shape our identities and speaks for the transformative power of love and the consequences that our desires for our loved ones can have, for good and for ill. "Love is not always kind," a young Pavla realises, "and it is never simple."

MY REVIEW OF "LITTLE NOTHING' by Marissa Silver

Marisa Silver has written a number of genres in her book"Little Nothing". This novel seems to have symbolic meanings for things on a deeper level. Perhaps it is the difference between good and evil. Perhaps it is dealing with the old and the new, or superstitions, magic, and even the timing at the turn of the century were there is a difference between ancient and modern. The genres for this book could be Fiction, "Subversive Fairy Tale", Thriller, and Folktale. Be warned this is a very dark, at times frightening, disgusting, horrific story. I certainly had trouble falling asleep after reading it. I found it to be disturbing, and I have to ask myself why I didn't stop reading. The easiest explanation is that the author has a way of telling a story, and I really wanted a happy ending.

The author describes her characters as complicated and complex. I find some of the characters despicable. I find some of the parts of this story despicable. Some of this story is very dark and twisted. Pavla is probably one of the innocent characters both to two elder people who had tried for years to have a baby. Desperate the mother turns to a witch or gypsy for strange tonics and strange prescriptions. Pavla is born with a physical deformity and it really takes a long time for her parents to accept her. Or do they? They turn to a charlatan claiming to be a doctor, and will do anything to fix this situation. Can Pavla be fixed? Do you want to know what happens?

It seems that only one person really cares for Pavla, and that person is an outcast as well.
There is some dark magic and superstitious beliefs that seem to surround the story.

I found some parts of the story unexplainable, or confusing. The timeline and plot seemed to jump around. For those people that like a dark and twisted tale I recommend this for you. If you like to look for symbolism and deeper meanings, this would be for you as well. I received a copy of this book for my honest review? Was there a happily ever after? You'll have to read this book to find out!

Many of the reviews for this book praise Silver's prose for its beauty. There were a few passages I found particularly striking, but for the most part I thought the language was very natural and easy to read. I wasn't constantly disarmed by the beauty of it, but it didn't slow me down either.

I liked this book. I didn't like it at first. For the first 150-200 pages, I struggled to empathize with the characters. Mary was flatly rigid for most of the book, but she came alive for me toward the end. Vera was similarly flat, but with a slightly different personality. I found the most touching parts to be the characters' grappling with their histories. Their lives were interesting, but there wasn't much during the narration of events that grabbed hold of me.

If you can embrace the weird, this is one lovely and amazing story.

(Full disclosure: I received a free electronic ARC for review through NetGalley. Trigger warning for violence, including child abuse and rape.)

Pavla revels in her name because she knows that if nothing is little, then it must be something indeed.

###

“You’re the one who said all time exists,” Danilo says. “The past exists. The future exists.”

It’s true. She did say this. And she does somehow believe that what has happened to her and what will happen to her exist simultaneously, that the story is already written but not yet told. She must be like someone in one of her mother’s stories who has existed for centuries of telling and will exist even after her mother is gone. How else to explain her life? As something random?

###

“I’m sorry it has taken so long for us to come,” he hears himself say.

###

Pavla Janáček is born at the turn of the century in a rural village located in a small, unnamed (but likely Slavic) country. She arrives in the twilight of her parents' lives: after much trying and four miscarriages, mother Agáta finally enlisted the help a "gypsy." She believes that Pavla's "condition" is a punishment from God for her blasphemy. Pavla is born a dwarf, with a head that's too large for her torso and arms and legs that are disproportionately short.

The chilly reception Pavla initially receives from Agáta gradually warms and deepens, as mother and daughter are forced into close proximity by the harsh winter weather. With spring comes love; Pavla is the child Agáta and Václav have always wanted. She ages, but grows precious little; she continues to sleep in her crib for the next fourteen years. She's a precocious child and a fast learner; she teaches herself to count using the slats on her crib and, when she turns seven, Václav takes her on as his assistant at his plumbing business. She starts school a year later, where her cunning eventually wins over her classmates.

And then Pavla hits puberty and her parents get the foolish notion to "fix" her: for what will happen to their lovely daughter (and Pavla is indeed a beauty, 'from the neck up') when they're gone? They begin dragging her from doctor to doctor, hoping for a miracle cure, until they wind up in the office of the biggest charlatan of them all: Dr. Ignác Smetanka, whose outlandish and cruel "treatments" leaved Pavla scarred, traumatized - and bearing the countenance of a wolf, seemingly overnight. But the transformation from dwarf to (average-sized) wolf-girl won't be the only metamorphosis Pavla experiences before her story's ended.

Pavla's strange journey intersects at multiple points and in unexpected ways with that of Dr. Smetanka's young assistant Danilo - the clever boy who built the rack that once again made Pavla an object of shame and terror.

Little Nothing is simply breathtaking; easily one of my favorite books of 2016, and there have been some pretty wonderful ones released into the wild this year. The early ratings were all over the place on Goodreads, such that I had no idea what to expect. Two things became obvious to me as I devoured Little Nothing: a) I should never, ever automatically discount a book due to low (less than 3.75 star) ratings, because then I might miss out on some real gems; and b) some books just aren't for everyone, and that's okay.

Some words that come to mind when I think of Little Nothing (and I've been thinking on it tons lately): Vulgar. Profane. Weird. Surreal. Beautiful. Shrewd. Penetrating. Fantastical. Lyrical. Nihilistic. Compassionate. Boundaries, The Blurring of. Human, Animal, Vegetable. Wolf girls and girl wolves. Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body. (That last one's a book; look it up.)

There are so many layers to Pavla's story, each one a little more disorienting than the last; levels of weird, I like to think of them. The circumstances of Pavla's birth are a little out of the ordinary, yet still firmly grounded in reality. This begins to slip away with each transformation. Pavla the wolf-girl is surreal, yet perhaps still scientifically explicable. Pavla the wolf, however, is completely off the fucking rails. Everything that comes next? The stuff of fairy tales.

In fact, Little Nothing feels a lot like a fairy tale - or rather, a whole bunch of them, woven and glued and stitched together such that the tapestry becomes so much more than the sum of its parts. Each disparate setting - Pavla's village; the carnival she's traveling with; the countryside she navigates through lupine eyes; the battleground where soldiers fight for independence; a prison for women; a medieval asylum; the underground tunnels of a rapidly modernizing city - could easily sustain its own 350-odd-page book. That Silver is able to condense each tale into a smaller bit, and meld it with other shrunken-yet-still-grand-in-their-own-way bits, while honoring the import of each, is a testament to her skill as a storyteller. Each chapter in the characters' lives manages to satisfy, while still leaving you wanting for more.

It's hard to pick a favorite episode; each one turns a mirror back on society, in its own unique way. During her time touring the freak show circuit with Smetanka, she uses the audience's disquiet against them: by refusing to react to their taunts and aggression, she outs them as the monsters they are. Yet as much as I loved the carnival scenes (I have a thing for stories set in carnivals, okay), Pavla's transformation into a full-fledged wolf is exquisite (and reminiscent of Emma Geen's lovely and amazing The Many Selves of Katherine North). Does a mother grieve the loss of a child any less if he is a wolf? If she is?

Of course those scenes set in the asylum and prison are also trenchant AF, revealing the many atrocities that have and do take place within their walls. ("The hole" even goes by the same name, all these decades later.) It's interesting to note that the treatment that Danilo and Pavla were subjected to was much the same - even though one was a confessed murderer deemed too "crazy" to go to jail; the other, a suspected murder who was imprisoned for her "crimes." The distinction between institutionalization and imprisonment seems superficial at best.

Silver also does her characters proud, creating people who are flawed and complex and brave - even, on occasion, heroic. Pavla is astonishing, in all her forms - and the many she's been made to assume give her a rather unique perspective on love and loss, on the nature of life, and everything (or nothing) that comes with it. During the end of her time in prison, "the woman who rarely spoke and whose introversion made her seem practically invisible becomes an object of veneration" among inmates and jailers alike.

"Veneration" just about sums it up.

If you can get past the weirdness - or, better yet, embrace it - Little Nothing is a book that will capture your imagination, along with your breath and heart. This is one amazing story, befitting the "Little Nothing" for whom it's named.

http://www.easyvegan.info/2016/11/07/little-nothing-by-marisa-silver/

What a delightful story this book turned out to be! I am really not sure what made me request this book when I saw it offered on First to Read. The cover is okay but nothing amazing. I have never read any other books written by Marisa Silver. Something made me request this one and I am so glad that I did. I was sucked into the story and ended up reading almost all of it in a single day. When I wasn't reading this book, I was thinking about it. This story is a definite win for me.

I will say that this is a strange book. I like strange stories so it worked out well for me but I am not sure that everyone will enjoy all the aspects of this story as much as I did. This book is almost like a fairy tale for adults with a bit of magic sprinkled throughout. I was enchanted by all of the magical realism that made up this story.

I started reading this book just before going to bed which ended up being a huge mistake because I didn't want to put it down once I started. The way that this story begins was hard to get out of my mind. I was immediately in love with the style of writing found throughout the story. As I continued to read, I started to fall in love with the characters and that love grew throughout the story.

I would highly recommend this book to others. This is a story where you can expect the unexpected and suspend your knowledge of what is real for a while and just enjoy the journey. This is the first book by Marisa Silver that I have read but I will be looking for more of her work in the future.

I received an advance reader edition of this book from Blue Rider Press via First to Read for the purpose of providing an honest review.

Little Nothing by Marisa Silver has an intriguing premise. Seemingly a folk tale retold (except that it's not). A woman transforming throughout her life (except in unbelieveable ways). A man devoted in his love (except that he is also responsible for hurting the one he loves). Unfortunately, I am left wondering what happened and why and not knowing quite what to make of this book. I do know that it's one of the oddest books I have read in quite a while.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2016/09/little-nothing.html.

Reviewed based on a publisher’s galley received through NetGalley

Did not finish. Ended up skim reading and just not my thing.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. That being said, I felt like I lost sight of Pavla as she grew and changed both literally and figuratively to the point that at the end the book doesn't really seem to be about her anymore. However, Danilo's story advances in new and interesting ways and I can imagine a brighter future for him after the book's end. Though I can't help but wish the ending offered a stronger, more substantial closure for Pavla.

Marisa Silver brings new life to a famous photograph of a worn out woman and her 3 small children in a shack during the depression - she tells 3 intertwining rich stories that take place over the course of the 20th century - a photographer doing her job capturing images of poverty and pain to give legislators a picture of the suffering of migrant workers - mary is that migrant mother with 7 children to feed and some difficult decisions to make - a third, more minor character is a history professor enthralled with old photos and compelled to learn more about Mary -

I loved listening to this audiobook - the 3 narrators were excellent, and the story was engrossing and simply yet beautifully presented.