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8little_paws's review against another edition
4.0
These nine stories all focus on loss of some kind--death, injury, end of a friendship, etc. My personal favorites were Something Amazing, Hungry, and Thunderstruck. What I thought was interesting about her stories is that I often found that who I thought would be the main character from the beginning of the story ends up not being the main character as I kept reading. She has a way of twisting the story around like that to have your focus travel to different places. I never found myself to be a "short story" fan but between this, Tenth of December, and Bark this year, they've been some of the best reading I've done in 2014.
pyrrhicspondee's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed all of these stories. Like a lot of short story collections, the first one--"Something Amazing"--is the best and the rest of the stories never quite live up to its promise. BUT ALSO there wasn't a single story in here that I didn't get really into as it spooled out.
lonesomereader's review against another edition
5.0
I’ve read such positive reviews of Elizabeth McCracken’s fiction and enjoy her engaging Twitter account so much, that I’ve been very eager to read her writing for quite some time. “Thunderstruck” is a collection of short stories which is vibrantly alive and demands the reader’s attention. If I were to hazard a comparison, her fiction is as inventive as AL Kennedy’s whose story collection All the Rage I reviewed earlier this year. It’s a cliché but the language and metaphors McCracken uses are really so refreshing that they make the reader re-view the world. There is also an absurdist tinge to her fiction (informed no doubt from authors like Ionesco who is referenced in one story) which is a form of writing that really thrills me. The stories are full of engaging, quirky characters who chaotically navigate through the narratives in ways which surprise and left me thinking about their meaning long after.
Read my full review at LonesomeReader review of Thunderstruck by Elizabeth McCracken
Read my full review at LonesomeReader review of Thunderstruck by Elizabeth McCracken
savaging's review against another edition
5.0
McCracken wants to write about loss, and she wants to throw it on the table with a heavy thunk. Like:
"Whatever you have lost there are more of, just not yours."
Or:
"A dead person is lost property. [ . . .] You can’t hear those same fingers on a computer keyboard or feel them on your shoulder at a time you need them. People take their hands with them, no matter where they go."
And the woman who sings like a saw, and the three-legged dogs, and the unwitting subject of a documentary against sleezeball economists. Maybe my favorite story was the first one, "Something Amazing," about a ghost and her mother:
"The soul is liquid, and slow to evaporate. The body’s a bucket and liable to slosh. Grieving, haunted, heartbroken, obsessed: your friends will tell you to cheer up. What they really mean is dry up. But it isn’t a matter of will. Only time and light will do the job."
"Whatever you have lost there are more of, just not yours."
Or:
"A dead person is lost property. [ . . .] You can’t hear those same fingers on a computer keyboard or feel them on your shoulder at a time you need them. People take their hands with them, no matter where they go."
And the woman who sings like a saw, and the three-legged dogs, and the unwitting subject of a documentary against sleezeball economists. Maybe my favorite story was the first one, "Something Amazing," about a ghost and her mother:
"The soul is liquid, and slow to evaporate. The body’s a bucket and liable to slosh. Grieving, haunted, heartbroken, obsessed: your friends will tell you to cheer up. What they really mean is dry up. But it isn’t a matter of will. Only time and light will do the job."
pattydsf's review against another edition
3.0
“I’m so sorry,” he said, because after Pamela died, he promised himself that if anyone told him the smallest, saddest story, he would answer, I’m so sorry. Meaning, Yes, that happened. You couldn't believe the people who believed that not mentioning sadness was a kind of magic that could stave off the very sadness you didn't mention – as though grief were the opposite of Rumpelstiltskin and materialized only at the sound of its own name.”
To me, McCracken appears to be an author who uses her real life as part of the writing process. I am not saying that she once knew a very tall boy (see The Giant’s House), but that there are times when I am reading her writing that I see glimpses of real life. This may all be my imagination. Maybe it is because I have read her memoir, An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination. I know that readers often see things that authors did not write.
I am mentioning my impressions because I felt grief so strongly in these stories. If I had lost a child, as McCracken did, grief would tinge my life forever. These stories are amazing. They were wonderfully written. However, I took my time reading them because I found the grief hard to take at times. There was so much sadness.
It was an accident that I came across this collection and I am happy for serendipity. I didn’t know I had been missing McCracken’s way with words until I found her again. However or whatever way that these stories came about, I am grateful for them and look forward to reading McCracken’s next book.
To me, McCracken appears to be an author who uses her real life as part of the writing process. I am not saying that she once knew a very tall boy (see The Giant’s House), but that there are times when I am reading her writing that I see glimpses of real life. This may all be my imagination. Maybe it is because I have read her memoir, An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination. I know that readers often see things that authors did not write.
I am mentioning my impressions because I felt grief so strongly in these stories. If I had lost a child, as McCracken did, grief would tinge my life forever. These stories are amazing. They were wonderfully written. However, I took my time reading them because I found the grief hard to take at times. There was so much sadness.
It was an accident that I came across this collection and I am happy for serendipity. I didn’t know I had been missing McCracken’s way with words until I found her again. However or whatever way that these stories came about, I am grateful for them and look forward to reading McCracken’s next book.
aemsea26's review against another edition
4.0
Just great. Particularly loved Juliet and Thunderstruck, but they were all wonderful.
amym's review against another edition
3.0
A couple of the stories were outstanding; the main story, Thunderstruck, was a major disappointment (just fell flat). Mostly unique and complex characters.
innatejames's review against another edition
3.0
Collected stories from the author of The Giant’s House.
My favorites were Something Amazing, Thunderstruck and Juliet. I had a hard time getting into The Lost & Found of Department of Greater Boston.
My favorites were Something Amazing, Thunderstruck and Juliet. I had a hard time getting into The Lost & Found of Department of Greater Boston.
ginkgotree's review against another edition
Depressing short stories. A lot of bad things happening to children. Hard to get through.
jodiwilldare's review against another edition
5.0
Once you have fallen so hard for someone’s work and gone on record for being kind of loony when it comes to it, new records or new books fill you with an odd sort of trepidation and excitement. What if it sucks? What if it sucks and then I have to rethink my entire system of belief? Oh my god, I hope it doesn’t suck. Please don’t suck, becomes a sort of chant you say as you flit through the songs on the latest record or turn the pages of the book.
I’m happy to report that Thunderstruck & Other Stories does not suck. Of course it doesn’t suck. Read more
I’m happy to report that Thunderstruck & Other Stories does not suck. Of course it doesn’t suck. Read more