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chrisljm's review against another edition
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
At first glance, I thought this short story collection was going to center around love stories. I quickly realized that was not the case after reading the first story, but I didn't mind because it came as a pleasant surprise. I found the narration to be very soft, mellow, and perfect for the winter time. Despite the warm prose, the stories are melancholic and mostly center around the loss and grief that comes with love. These are less stories on romantic love like I initially expected and more so love among the relationships and people who surround us.
Like I said, I was pleasantly surprised at first. But I think that might have more to do with how wonderful I found that initial first story to be. It's probably my favorite out of the whole collection, called 'Little Birds', which is about a boy who ends up abandoned as a baby in Paris, and is being raised by the man who found him, and his thoughts on life on his 15th birthday. However, by the halfway mark, and the further past that I went, the less I found myself enjoying the collection. I think it might have to do with the story 'Snow Falls and Then Disappears', where the narrator's mother was a Jewish woman and his father was a Nazi soldier during the holocaust. I know these short stories circle around "the difficult choices we make in order to retain our humanity and about the redemptive power of love in a violent world," but that story unfortunately left a bad taste in mouth.
I'd like to include though, that what I liked most in the book was actually not part of any of the short stories, but in the end where the author included quaint reviews of various hotels he's stayed at on each hotel's stationary. I think if he had a collection comprised of just those reviews on hotels, I would be very interested in reading that.
Like I said, I was pleasantly surprised at first. But I think that might have more to do with how wonderful I found that initial first story to be. It's probably my favorite out of the whole collection, called 'Little Birds', which is about a boy who ends up abandoned as a baby in Paris, and is being raised by the man who found him, and his thoughts on life on his 15th birthday. However, by the halfway mark, and the further past that I went, the less I found myself enjoying the collection. I think it might have to do with the story 'Snow Falls and Then Disappears', where the narrator's mother was a Jewish woman and his father was a Nazi soldier during the holocaust. I know these short stories circle around "the difficult choices we make in order to retain our humanity and about the redemptive power of love in a violent world," but that story unfortunately left a bad taste in mouth.
I'd like to include though, that what I liked most in the book was actually not part of any of the short stories, but in the end where the author included quaint reviews of various hotels he's stayed at on each hotel's stationary. I think if he had a collection comprised of just those reviews on hotels, I would be very interested in reading that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Antisemitism, and Child death
Moderate: Infidelity, Car accident, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Ableism, Bullying, Medical content, Infertility, Gun violence, Abandonment, Mental illness, Pregnancy, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Sexual content
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