Love, sex, death, family, friendship, betrayal, tenderness, sacrifice and revelation...
This incendiary collection of stories from acclaimed bestselling international writer Christos Tsiolkas takes you deep into worlds both strange and familiar, and characters that will never let you go.
My thoughts:
A bunch of short stories from Tsolkas. He is rather merciless, brutal and likes to shock with his words. He is honest in his words. And he writes beauty in darkness.
Here are some short thoughts about all the short ones:
Merciless Gods
Friends telling revenge stories to each other. Interesting, revenge is always good to read about,
Tourists.
Tourists in NY. The couple fight and feel lost. I did not understand the woman...
The hair of the dog
A man thinks about his mother. She wrote freaky books.
Petals.
This one was, well it was just an inner monologue (mostly).
Hung phat
I get it now. Most are short insights into lives. Normal, but interesting.
Saturn Return
He does like to write about what he knows, Greeks in Australia.
Genetic material
Sometimes these are just weird..good, but weird
Jessica Lange in Frances
And another theme is of course being gay. Knowing you are. Exploring what you might be.
The disco at the end of Communism
A man thinking about the brother he lost
Sticks, stones
A woman wondering if she hates her son
Civil war
White Au against dark AU
The t-shirt with the fist on it
Tourists in the middle east. With a twist
Porn 1
A woman finding about her son's secret life
Porn 2
The making of a porno. Sad
Porno 3
About a man who thinks loving another man is wrong.
I liked the stories. They were all different, even if the theme behind many were the same. Being Greek, having Immigrant parents and being Gay.
Conclusion:
Many times with short stories you are left thinking I want more, in that way that they felt too short, they did not work. But Tsalkos makes his short stories work. He does have that power of putting a story together in a short story, and leaving you satisfied at the end.
Many times with short stories you are left thinking I want more, in that way that they felt too short, they did not work. But Tsalkos makes his short stories work. He does have that power of putting a story together in a short story, and leaving you satisfied at the end.
Cover
meh
Paperback, 336 pages
Expected publication: September 3rd 2015 by Atlantic Books (first published November 1st 2014)
Fiction
For review
I agree I think his short stories are more complete than most others.
ReplyDeleteSo well done, short stories can annoy me a lot of the time
DeleteGood to hear these worked for you for the most part... I tend not to read many short stories personally though
ReplyDeleteI hear ya. It's difficult to read them sometimes. They might miss that balance
DeleteI like your comment: I did not understand the woman. LOL
ReplyDeleteI did not get it
DeleteGlad you were satisfied by all of these in the end even though they were short!
ReplyDeleteHe made it work
DeleteI would not say it was never sad or depressing
ReplyDeleteHrms not thinking for me either. Glad to hear he does the shorts well though. So many struggle with that.
ReplyDeleteSo many good ones even struggle
DeleteYeah, that cover is... meh. I don't think this book is for me, but I'm glad you liked it in the end.
ReplyDeleteHafsah @ IceyBooks
Very meh cover
DeleteI have bad luck with short story collections. Glad this worked for you.
ReplyDeleteI can understand that
DeleteThis is different. I'm kinda digging this man.
ReplyDeleteRead it :)
Deletethese little stories sound like they're a bit different so it's intriguing
ReplyDelete:)
DeleteI have to be in the mood for this style of storytelling, but good to know these are complete stories though short.
ReplyDeleteThat is something I can understand
DeleteGlad to see these worked well, not every author can pull this off.
ReplyDelete:)
DeleteSounds really good. I haven't read him, but if he has the ability to be merciless and so honest with his words, I ABSOLUTELY have to read him. Thanks, Linda, and have a beautiful weekend!
ReplyDeleteHe does have two full length books too ;) But I have not read those
DeleteMeh. :)
ReplyDeleteCookie?
It's a rare writer who can pull off short stories like that.
ReplyDeleteThat it is
DeleteHmmm... sounds very different. Not sure if I'll try it.
ReplyDeleteDifferent can be good
Deleteumm that's different ... I would never pick it on the cover
ReplyDeleteI hear ya
Delete