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beefmaster's review against another edition
4.0
Grey Area, a collection of short stories, like all collections, is a mixed bag. For every singularly Selfian story which dazzles and impresses, there's another dark with misanthropy and bereft of the light touch of satire. Self is an audacious writer (in the same way my beloved Nicola Barker is): he writes not to relate the reader but to show off, to impress them. The stories in this collection are fantastic, satirical, vexing, imposing, breath-taking, irritating, all in the way Self's work has been. The two absolute bright spots are "Incubus (or the Impossibility of Self-Determination as to Desire)," a tale of realist marriage strife and infidelity which takes a wonderful left turn in the fantastic, and "Grey Area," another Zack Busner tale about a new medication providing patients with renewed patience and interest in their lives, and for one patient, too much interest. "Chest" is also terrific, a nightmare, especially for me, about an all-pervasive fog giving every single person respiratory problems, from pneumonia to asthma to cancer. Self's skill with detail shines in this story, as the coughing, the sputum, the breathing or lack thereof, all worked to constrict my own chest. I wheezed in sympathy more often than in laughter. The satirical bit in "Chest" comes in the form of class-based distinctions between anti-fog measures: some characters can afford gas masks, others can't. Like all the other Self I've read, the writing itself is the draw, but the imaginative leaps, the estrangement is what keeps me coming back.
survivalisinsufficient's review against another edition
I couldn't finish this. I thought I would like him, but I didn't like this. I quit when said something about words pooting from someone's lips.
josiegjackson's review against another edition
2.0
I don’t like how disconnected the book feels from each other the last one is a chapter on its own and I don’t ever feel a story in the book - at the start it feels old-fashioned in how society tolerate each other. But I read it and sometimes was engaged and sometimes not. It’s so dry and not interesting in parts of the book - nope I won’t recommend but it’s a easy read at least that you can just zone out and join in because it’s 9 short stories that shouldn’t go together.
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