The Visiting Privilege: New and Collected Stories (Vintage Contemporaries) Paperback – August 9, 2016

Great stories. I purchased this book after it was reviewed on the NY Times. I love short stories and all literary fiction, and I'm always looking for good writers. I also like Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood, Lorrie Moore, Louise Erdrich and others like that. So glad I found Joy Williams. I like writers who have a certain voice, and she has it. I also bought her novel The Quick and the Dead, which I'll read next. I will always read short stories over novels, so it's unlikely I'll read the Q&D before I finish The Visiting Privilege.I will say that the NY Times review intrigued me because they said the domestic animals in the stories don't fare well. I have two pugs that I love to death, and hate any news or suggestion of violence toward any animal. I am still reading, of course, so I haven't read anything too devastating yet. Thankfully in one of the first stories, (spoiler), the dog didn't get the Drano for dinner, for example.But in the real world, there are a lot of messed up people, and most domestic animals are utterly at the mercy of their humans (well, maybe not cats, they are pretty independent). There are certainly worse true life stories out there. (Like I just read today in the Times about a prized horse being butchered and filleted. And recently some guy went to prison for 28 years for torturing animals.) My general feeling is that we all need to be good stewards of the animals in our care. They are sentient beings.I expect as I read on, to be disturbed by the content of this book. But then I am also disturbed by the national news almost daily.

This is simply the best compilation of stories I have ever come across; it is also my first introduction to Miss. Williams. Dressing up descriptions would be easy, but it is much more clear to state that every story here is compelling, incisive, and beautiful. This book should be in every serious library, for both readers and writers. Her prose is spare and every word is essential, zero dross. I look forward to every word and go out of my way to create extra reading time, every time I pick it up. A must have.

The book came damaged, gouged across the cover. I declined to return it. This is probably how Joy Williams would want it, I thought. Imperfect. More like a human than a book.

As some others have noted, Joy Williams is best read with some distance given between individual stories, and encountering her work for the first time is a bit difficult. especially when "collected". This morning, I thought again of that T-bird a couple dragged into their living room. How does Joy get away with that? In part, I suppose, it's the acute specificity of her images -- her absolute, commanding knowledge of things, like the way the car is aging, and which parts are failing, about rust and dying in its final exquisite detail; and because of her aching accuracy, we surrender cautiously. But we don't care for these things of hers completely the way we do with stories. She doesn't write stories. And I don't think we like her very much, but we so admire her naming of the parts.

This reader was carried along from story to story through an endless assortment of characters and situations all drawn with wit and deep insight. At the end of the long trail of these diverting and profound narrations that touch on so many ineffable nuances of the human condition there was only the emptiness, loss and desperation of a story junkie who has wallowed in the good stuff for too long. The insatiable craving for more of like quality is impossible to satisfy.

If you enjoy sipping your stories slowly- perhaps one dusk, one pedicure at a time- you'll better appreciate the complex genius behind these pithy works. Read too quickly and you miss one of the greatest living American writers. These stories environments with their own vernacular and grammatical complexity. I needed time to process...and relished that.

She's a dark one, that Joy Williams. If you're going to read more than one story at a sitting, be prepared for something to drink, and I don't mean water. That said, she's a fantastic writer who's troubled characters come to life in a matter of sentences. Stay dark, Joy

I have never read more sad, depressing stories about lost, unloved hopeless people. Couldn't finish it. Too depressing.

A beautiful - well written book. Enjoyed it very much.

My first experience of Joy Williams' work. She is a truly amazing writer. I will read more of her books

I bought this book based on a short story of Joy Williams' I had read elsewhere. This collection is very well written - there is no doubt she is a great talent - but the stories were just not my cup of tea, I felt almost 'down' when I read them. The character development is excellent even though the stories may be unsettling at times.

Never heard of Joy till I read a review of this book. She is a fantastic writer!

Sadly I found these stories very heavy going with no satisfactory conclusions to any of the tales. Not uplifting at all.