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captainjemima's review against another edition
3.0
Ox-Tales Earth is part of a series of money-raising books by Oxfam, filled with short stories from well-known authors. The others in the series are Fire (which I have read), Water, and Air. Each is supposed to focus on a different area of Oxfam's work - Earth being Agricultural Development.
The stories included:
The Jester of Astapovo by Rose Tremain
The Nettle Pit by Jonathan Coe
Boys in Cars by Marti Leimback
Lucky We Live Now by Kate Atkinson
Fieldwork by Ian Rankin
The Importance of Warm Feet by Marina Lewycka
Long Ago Yesterday by Hanif Kureishi
Telescope by Jonathan Buckley
The Death of Marat by Nicholas Shakespeare
As I found with the Fire book, this one contained some short stories that I really didn't connect with. My favourites were Boys in Cars, Lucky We Live Now, and The Death of Marat.
In Boys in Cars, young Alex is autistic, and his mother goes through all the complications behind something so simple as being invited to another boy's birthday party. This was a touching observational piece, and I could really feel Alex's frustration with himself. "I'm a silly boy", he says, but his mother manages to calm him down and they go to the party.
Lucky We Live Now was a strange narrative, following Genevieve as her world falls down around her - literally. Everything turns back into what it was made of, and some strange moths follow her about. There was no real story, but it was an interesting narrative.
The Death of Marat is a story of Dilys, a white fifty-something woman born in Africa. She becomes enamoured with a painting by Munch called The Death of Marat and begins to do some research into the woman who murdered Marat, Charlotte Corday. As she does her research, we learn that the president of the unnamed African country Dilys lives in is a cruel dictator letting thugs destroy homes and snatch land from the whites. As a parallel, Dilys aligns herself with Charlotte Corday, their stories sharing a dictator and an opportunity to "take care of" these powerful men.
It's always quite nice having a book of short stories to read, if I don't feel like a novel. I must say that I didn't enjoy the stories as much as those in the Fire book, but they were still enjoyable.
The stories included:
The Jester of Astapovo by Rose Tremain
The Nettle Pit by Jonathan Coe
Boys in Cars by Marti Leimback
Lucky We Live Now by Kate Atkinson
Fieldwork by Ian Rankin
The Importance of Warm Feet by Marina Lewycka
Long Ago Yesterday by Hanif Kureishi
Telescope by Jonathan Buckley
The Death of Marat by Nicholas Shakespeare
As I found with the Fire book, this one contained some short stories that I really didn't connect with. My favourites were Boys in Cars, Lucky We Live Now, and The Death of Marat.
In Boys in Cars, young Alex is autistic, and his mother goes through all the complications behind something so simple as being invited to another boy's birthday party. This was a touching observational piece, and I could really feel Alex's frustration with himself. "I'm a silly boy", he says, but his mother manages to calm him down and they go to the party.
Lucky We Live Now was a strange narrative, following Genevieve as her world falls down around her - literally. Everything turns back into what it was made of, and some strange moths follow her about. There was no real story, but it was an interesting narrative.
The Death of Marat is a story of Dilys, a white fifty-something woman born in Africa. She becomes enamoured with a painting by Munch called The Death of Marat and begins to do some research into the woman who murdered Marat, Charlotte Corday. As she does her research, we learn that the president of the unnamed African country Dilys lives in is a cruel dictator letting thugs destroy homes and snatch land from the whites. As a parallel, Dilys aligns herself with Charlotte Corday, their stories sharing a dictator and an opportunity to "take care of" these powerful men.
It's always quite nice having a book of short stories to read, if I don't feel like a novel. I must say that I didn't enjoy the stories as much as those in the Fire book, but they were still enjoyable.
ashleighm11's review against another edition
3.0
The Jester of Astapovo
I had trouble getting into this, but when it got going I really enjoyed it. Nice writing style. =) 3/5
The Nettle Pit
I thought this one was both funny and quite heart-wrenching. I particularly loved the 'competition' between Max & Chris! My favourite bit though, "Daddy, why is the grass green" - and the answer "Well, every night the fairies come out with their paint pots and paint it green" 4/5
Boys in Cars
I really liked this one =) It was both interesting and poignant. I loved it, actually. I thought it was a good, solid story and it had a bit of everything. 4/5
Lucky We Live Now
Oh dear. I had trouble getting into this one, but once I did I laughed so hard! I really enjoyed it! 4/5
Fieldwork
Not long enough! Good but really, really not long enough! 3/5
The Importance of Having Warm Feet
Oh I liked this one <3 I loved the look back, we all have embarrassing moments and I think this was a prime example of one. But I think it was just a lovely story 4/5
Long Ago Yesterday
The story I've least enjoyed so far. It was confusing and, though quite good, I really just didn't enjoy it very much. 3/5
Telescope
Didn't enjoy it. Really didn't enjoy it. Couldn't get into it and the flow wasn't there 2/5
Death of Marat
It's not that this was awful, because it wasn't. It just didn't have a flow to it, it seemed a bit 'meh' and I simply just couldn't get into it 3/5
I had trouble getting into this, but when it got going I really enjoyed it. Nice writing style. =) 3/5
The Nettle Pit
I thought this one was both funny and quite heart-wrenching. I particularly loved the 'competition' between Max & Chris! My favourite bit though, "Daddy, why is the grass green" - and the answer "Well, every night the fairies come out with their paint pots and paint it green" 4/5
Boys in Cars
I really liked this one =) It was both interesting and poignant. I loved it, actually. I thought it was a good, solid story and it had a bit of everything. 4/5
Lucky We Live Now
Oh dear. I had trouble getting into this one, but once I did I laughed so hard! I really enjoyed it! 4/5
Fieldwork
Not long enough! Good but really, really not long enough! 3/5
The Importance of Having Warm Feet
Oh I liked this one <3 I loved the look back, we all have embarrassing moments and I think this was a prime example of one. But I think it was just a lovely story 4/5
Long Ago Yesterday
The story I've least enjoyed so far. It was confusing and, though quite good, I really just didn't enjoy it very much. 3/5
Telescope
Didn't enjoy it. Really didn't enjoy it. Couldn't get into it and the flow wasn't there 2/5
Death of Marat
It's not that this was awful, because it wasn't. It just didn't have a flow to it, it seemed a bit 'meh' and I simply just couldn't get into it 3/5
katheastman's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting collection of short stories or extracts from WiP's - some from writers I know and love (Kate Atkinson, Rose Tremain) and a good introduction to others I have heard of but not yet got around to reading.
bookmagpie's review against another edition
3.0
The Atkinson, Rankin, and Lewycka are recommended. The Leimbach is terrible and quite upsetting if you know anything about ASD.
halfmanhalfbook's review against another edition
3.0
Good little collection of short stories that was written in support of Oxfam.
There was the odd duff one, but I did like Fieldwork by Ian Rankin and Telescope by Jonathan Buckley
There was the odd duff one, but I did like Fieldwork by Ian Rankin and Telescope by Jonathan Buckley
trin's review against another edition
3.0
I think I like the design of this short story collection better than anything else about it, even the [a:Kate Atkinson|10015|Kate Atkinson|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1253439701p2/10015.jpg] story (which was good but not close to her best). The tales themselves were a mixture, some good, some bad, with no real standouts. I still want the other books in this series, though. THEY ARE JUST SO PRETTY.
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