"Gordimer’s stories, though gracefully perceptive at times, tend to become tiring. The collection’s largest successes come when she expresses her thoughts on memory, love, and politics through her characters’ intimate reflections. By placing emphasis on the individual, she makes heavy, abstract topics like race, sexuality, and political ideologies more palpable; they come alive in her caricatures of her now-defunct circle of friends in “Dreaming of Death.” Yet the thematic monotony of Gordimer’s work endures despite these brief flashes of colour.
Skimming Stories Like A Newspaper
South African author Nadine Gordimer has earned a deserved reputation for helping her country work through its complicated racial past. But one critic says that while Gordimer's latest collection of short stories offers a few perceptive insights into human psychology, the Nobel prize winning writer doesn't distinguish herself from what she's already written. From The McGill Daily.