Reviews

Sweet Home by Wendy Erskine

literary_velvet's review

dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

apurvanagpal's review against another edition

4.0

Sweet Home is a debut short story collection by Wendy Erskine and a really good one at that. Set in contemporary Belfast, spanning 10 stories and about 15-20 pages per story, the author creates the mundane day to day events in the life of her ordinary characters with a slight disconnect and discomfort.

I really liked the author’s writing style and how she managed to keep me engaged more with the characters rather than just the storyline. You get to see what mostly goes unnoticed; a little backstory, flawed characters and what makes them flawed, multiple perspectives etc. She pulls out the most unexpected detail from their lives and gets us emotionally invested as a reader and I appreciate that a lot!

All in all, I really liked most of the stories from the collection, some being more impactful than the others and highly recommend it if you’re looking for something character driven that makes you think out of the box.
I give this 4/5

pap3rcut__'s review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Eleven short stories full of regret, sorrow and desire told through the eyes of strong characters with very distinct voices. Erskine gets under the skin of her characters to portray real life situations that makes the reader feel sympathetic towards the characters as they go about in their own damaged ways.

rodillagrande's review

challenging dark emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

cathutch's review

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

olivia_c's review against another edition

4.0

Admittedly I saw Gary Lightbody reading this on a documentary following a Snow Patrol tour, a documentary that I can't recall the name of. I'm glad I made several attempts to pause the screen just at the right time to see what he was reading. The stories in this collection take the mundane grayness of East Belfast and puts it and it's people under a microscope, the results are nothing short of a breakthrough.

admacg's review

5.0

One of the best collections of short stories I've read in a while, all the better for being set in Belfast. The characters had strong, authentic, local voices, living real lives. There's an undercurrent of loneliness to some of these stories ('Inakeen' 'lady and dog'), sometimes regret, and the sense that lives had taken a turn from which people hadn't fully recovered, leaving them slightly broken, but that they were just getting on with things, best they could. There are glimpses of the troubles, and some of the characters had a quiet menace to them, like Kyle from the superior opener 'to all their dues', and there is a rich seam of black humour through - green pastilles made me laugh.

Best of the lot for me was 'sweet home', it was just the creeping tension throughout, just felt like it wasn't going to end well. Though it's hard to choose as I found 'Last supper' funny and oddly moving and I liked the quiet assertiveness in 'Locksmiths.' The author writes about these people and their lives with a real honesty and the dialogue was just so sharp and rhythmical throughout, having lived in Belfast I felt I could be eavesdropping on some of these conversations in a wee cafe somewhere in the east of the city. Sad to finish this, looking forward to more from this author.

gowiththefleur's review

dark funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

henrietteolesen's review

slow-paced

3.0

han4's review against another edition

4.0

Ten short stories that focus on working class lives in contemporary Belfast. In my opinion, this is an absolute gem that contributes to the small but hopefully growing voices that are coming from Northern Ireland. While the sociopolitical backdrop is ever there, it does not dilute the individuality and personal clarity of these wonderfully crafted stories.
With generosity and natural humour, as well as that wonderful jarring feeling that lingers after each story, this is an astounding collection. Last Supper, The Soul Has No Skin and Arab States (which has a complete Spark Driver's Seat feel) were particular standouts, but saying that, as I scan the contents I could easily list each in the collection as a favourite!