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essjay1's review against another edition
3.0
A mixed bag, my favourites Comma, The Long QT & Winter Break - all short and dark. I read this over a six month period, dipping in when I just had time for a quick read.
jennagrace_m's review
3.0
Well written and enjoyable to read, however I felt like nearly every story in this collection ended abruptly right when it really started to get going. I was also craving for these stories to have some sort of deeper meaning or impact me more, but mostly they're just weird little stories that don't really scratch any further than the surface level.
booksnpunks's review against another edition
2.0
This was a good book. The reason I gave this two stars was because I personally don't enjoy reading short story collections. I find that because they are shorter than novellas they fail to hold my attention long enough for me to really get into them, and the only one I really have ever liked a lot is Salinger's Nine Stories for obvious reasons. I'm aware that this collection was very good though, the stories were written superbly and had some great themes, but I just can't read short stories in this way. I just hope that when I study it in the autumn I will come to enjoy it more and change my rating. Mantel, it's not you, it's me.
jessicarc88's review
3.0
I think there's a good chance that I'm not really one for short stories. Here's the thing: Mantel's stories were interesting. But they were brief glimpses into the lives of different people. You didn't really get to know them. I think I need the plot development. But, Mantel's characters were interesting; their situations unique. Every story seemed to cover a person when they were not at their best: a father leaving his family for his secretary, a man being caught cheating on his wife, a woman leaving a crippled girl in a creepy hotel, a couple fighting over having children, a hostage watching an assassination attempt, a family dealing with an eating disorder. But with such brief glimpses it really is hard to remember at the end of the collection what it was that you just read and learned.
susannavs's review
5.0
This book, and Mantel's style, reminded me a lot of Daphne du Maurier's short stories - they are dark, twisted, and confusing, often with an unexpected ending. But also lyrical.
ruthnessly's review
1.0
OKAY. I only read this over like 3 days or so, but it felt like a life time.
I'm beginning to think Mantel and I just don't get on. This is the second book I've read of hers and this conclusion is irritating, because I have Wolf Hall in my bedroom to be read but!! Fundamentally, her prose doesn't grip me. I don't care about her characters, in general, and that's one of the most frustrating parts to me.
BUT I have other complaints about this collection. For one, the title alone suggests that the stories will be politicised and tbqh I find it SUPER LAZY that they aren't. Many of these are, in fact, strangely apolitical -- there are some exceptions, obviously, with the actual Assassination of Margaret Thatcher story, the first one and perhaps some hints in others but overall nope. There's a lot of alluding to and playing with the supernatural here but, honestly, it's fucking boring. It's not terribly creative. I didn't see anything new or interesting here. One of my biggest complaints, though, is where is the unifying theme??? HONESTLY. I don't like collections which are random assortments of stories, all shelved together. I don't see any common thread here, uniting everything. There's some tenuous links, but I find the lack of cohesion incredibly frustrating. I've heard people say they're linked by the supernatural, by eeriness, and I guess that could be a link -- EXCEPT not all of them are supernatural so HUGE QUESTION MARK. I also don't agree that Mantel is good with creating suspense and horror (especially here, but that was my opinion of Beyond Black as well).
Reading this was, overall, a really frustrating experience. I wanted to like it so much more than I did. I know the rating is low, but I didn't enjoy this. After a certain point, I was reading because I wanted to know with grim certainty that I was right and that this was terrible.
Of course, there were some stories I liked -- the titular one was pretty good, I liked the story about Morna fading away (warning for eating disorders though!) called The Heart Fails Without Warning. I don't think I minded the story about the author but I forget what it's called and tbh I would rather eat my own fist than go back and find out.
rallyk's review against another edition
4.0
Ревю: https://bloodyrosered.wordpress.com/2017/06/07/purvi-doseg-s-hilari-mantel/
leemac027's review against another edition
4.0
I love the way Hilary Mantel puts words together and each of these short stories draws you in. Every story has excellent characterisation and there are a few surprises, some of which are disturbing.
It is an easy and entertaining collection. I found Winter Break incredibly magnetic in its style with an ending that made me shiver.
The final story is the Assassination of Margaret Thatcher and I particularly liked the way Mantel develops the relationship between the witness and the assassin - fascinating.
It is an easy and entertaining collection. I found Winter Break incredibly magnetic in its style with an ending that made me shiver.
The final story is the Assassination of Margaret Thatcher and I particularly liked the way Mantel develops the relationship between the witness and the assassin - fascinating.
stefanie_ann's review against another edition
5.0
Technical, precise, and sinister stories of adulterers, that weird lady at reception, weary travelers--but with a light touch and a good dose of dark humor. Wonderful.