Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
A strong 3.5 stars.
Stories which came after “The Scattering: a story in three parts” faltered for me. The author still has some wicked writing skills so I would love to read more of her work in the future.
Stories which came after “The Scattering: a story in three parts” faltered for me. The author still has some wicked writing skills so I would love to read more of her work in the future.
One of my favorite short story collections on the year! Johnson does an excellent job of mixing the fantastic with the mundane. Also some truly fantastic lines made me regret I borrowed this from the library and couldn't mark up my copy.
For fans of Aimee Bender, Carmen Maria Machado, Kelly Link, and women of that ilk.
For fans of Aimee Bender, Carmen Maria Machado, Kelly Link, and women of that ilk.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
I listened to LaVar Burton read this story as part of his "LaVar Burton Reads" podcast. While this wasn't a story I would have chosen on my own, I found it to be rather interesting. I may have to give the short story collection it is in a try.
Fen by Daisy Johnson, is the second novel from this wonderful and brilliantly talented young, man booker prize novelist.
You all know how much I loved and raved about Everything Under last year, and has since then become one of my favourite books of all time.
Fen is a mixture of short, wonderful stories all of which seem to focus around main key points. I feel that these are strong female sexuality, head strong women, with a touch of anxiety and depression. The stories are all unique, though in someway attached to each other, but by only a small fraction. The imagination in the book is exceptional, the words alone manage to creep up and under your skin, pulling you in more and more.
At times I must admit I did feel a bit confused, going from one story to the next. Though I loved it non the less. I think my favourite story would be the one with the girl and the wall, or the very first one in the book. There's just something about the story telling that captured me and drew me in.
Johnson's books never fail to amaze me, there is something so strange and peculiar about them and her writing style is gorgeous. They're ever so quirky, magical and downright strange and that is precisely why I love them. Whilst I did love this book, I don't know if I loved it as much as Everything Under, but she has quickly become a favourite author of mine.
You all know how much I loved and raved about Everything Under last year, and has since then become one of my favourite books of all time.
Fen is a mixture of short, wonderful stories all of which seem to focus around main key points. I feel that these are strong female sexuality, head strong women, with a touch of anxiety and depression. The stories are all unique, though in someway attached to each other, but by only a small fraction. The imagination in the book is exceptional, the words alone manage to creep up and under your skin, pulling you in more and more.
At times I must admit I did feel a bit confused, going from one story to the next. Though I loved it non the less. I think my favourite story would be the one with the girl and the wall, or the very first one in the book. There's just something about the story telling that captured me and drew me in.
Johnson's books never fail to amaze me, there is something so strange and peculiar about them and her writing style is gorgeous. They're ever so quirky, magical and downright strange and that is precisely why I love them. Whilst I did love this book, I don't know if I loved it as much as Everything Under, but she has quickly become a favourite author of mine.
There's no denying that Fen is structurally impressive. Any reader new to Johnson's writing will find a perfect introduction to her magical realism style as the first story takes a realistic start and winds deeper and deeper into the bizarre, hovering unconcluded in the background until the final story of the collection closes the book. Though Johnson's tendency to take the hypothetical very literally remains constant through Fen, the stories are organized in such a way that the reader's expectation of magical discovery never spoils the tactic Johnson will use next.
My favorite aspect of this collection is the fact that the characters (human and animal) keep coming back into play. Often it's just a quick appearance, a recognized face in an otherwise new situation, but its fascinating to see how these people move about in each others' lives. There's even a paragraph that felt very reminiscent of Johnson's novel, Everything Under, which was published later but clearly occupies some of the same fictional space as the stories of Fen:
"There wasn't room on the boat for more than a few books but they'd swap them at the docks and the baby would puzzle them out, quote them, grow a language only they understood. They would not need anyone else."
But the most remarkable aspect of Johnson's magical realism is probably the way that it entertains so successfully on the surface even as it unearths the emotions moving underneath. The characters seem- if not ordinary- at least ordinarily relatable. They express the same fears and desires that many readers will recognize from their own experiences; the strangeness emerges where these usual emotions meet the fantastic that Johnson weaves through the collection. It's an engaging blend.
But there are two main obstacles that held me back from appreciating this collection as much as I wished I could have.
The first is simply that having already read Everything Under, Johnson's tricks with the magical realism never quite surprised me in the way that they seemed intended to. Fen feels like a new writer exploring fresh territory that readers of Everything Under have already begun to uncover. I'm afraid I read Johnson's books in the wrong order.
Second, though I loved the fact that many of these stories were left rather open-ended (which allowed for the characters to move about more freely in each other's narratives), it did also leave me with the impression that the collection was never quite finished. I wanted more from almost every single one of these stories. More length, as Johnson seems to drive her characters straight to a brink and then leave them there, but more depth as well- though the characters' impressions and motivations feel very human, the magical realism elements seem to accomplish little more than shock and entertainment; I think that if Johnson had allowed these pieces more pages and exploration, she could have teased out more underlying significance.
A shoutout to my favorite Fen stories: "How to Fuck a Man You Don't Know" (a failed romance written in reverse chronology), "A Heavy Devotion" (a son steals his mother's memories), " and "The Scattering" (twin boys' fascination with chasing foxes goes awry).
My favorite aspect of this collection is the fact that the characters (human and animal) keep coming back into play. Often it's just a quick appearance, a recognized face in an otherwise new situation, but its fascinating to see how these people move about in each others' lives. There's even a paragraph that felt very reminiscent of Johnson's novel, Everything Under, which was published later but clearly occupies some of the same fictional space as the stories of Fen:
"There wasn't room on the boat for more than a few books but they'd swap them at the docks and the baby would puzzle them out, quote them, grow a language only they understood. They would not need anyone else."
But the most remarkable aspect of Johnson's magical realism is probably the way that it entertains so successfully on the surface even as it unearths the emotions moving underneath. The characters seem- if not ordinary- at least ordinarily relatable. They express the same fears and desires that many readers will recognize from their own experiences; the strangeness emerges where these usual emotions meet the fantastic that Johnson weaves through the collection. It's an engaging blend.
But there are two main obstacles that held me back from appreciating this collection as much as I wished I could have.
The first is simply that having already read Everything Under, Johnson's tricks with the magical realism never quite surprised me in the way that they seemed intended to. Fen feels like a new writer exploring fresh territory that readers of Everything Under have already begun to uncover. I'm afraid I read Johnson's books in the wrong order.
Second, though I loved the fact that many of these stories were left rather open-ended (which allowed for the characters to move about more freely in each other's narratives), it did also leave me with the impression that the collection was never quite finished. I wanted more from almost every single one of these stories. More length, as Johnson seems to drive her characters straight to a brink and then leave them there, but more depth as well- though the characters' impressions and motivations feel very human, the magical realism elements seem to accomplish little more than shock and entertainment; I think that if Johnson had allowed these pieces more pages and exploration, she could have teased out more underlying significance.
A shoutout to my favorite Fen stories: "How to Fuck a Man You Don't Know" (a failed romance written in reverse chronology), "A Heavy Devotion" (a son steals his mother's memories), " and "The Scattering" (twin boys' fascination with chasing foxes goes awry).
It’s dark, it’s weird, it’s surreal, it’s folklore, it’s myth, it’s earthiness, uneasiness and bleakness. And I don’t know why – these are not things I necessarily tend to gravitate towards in books – but I dig it. I really dig it. This is what good writing is. This is what it means when someone (this particular compliment used by a reviewer to describe West, which I recently read) says of a book that it’s ‘whittled to perfection’. Every word and sentence have been meticulously chosen – or at least that’s the impression you get when reading it. As is usual with collections, some stories are stronger than others, but it's just generally a treat to read Johnson's writing.
It reminds me a lot of Lucy Wood’s collection The Sing of the Shore, where all the stories take place in Cornwall in the southwestern part of England, which I absolutely loved reading last year. I love collections that revolve around a specific place, and where the particulars of that place become a character in their own right, influencing the mood and atmosphere of every story. Here, it’s the Fens in eastern England. The landscape and its folklore and legends play an enormously important role in the lives of the characters in these stories, which are mostly about young people on the brink of adulthood coming to terms with themselves, their identity and sexuality, and the world around them. And they do that by transforming into eels and foxes, by eating men, by consuming and being consumed by superstitions and myths.
Fair warning: there’s a lot of sexual content in this collection, so if that’s not your thing or it makes you uncomfortable, don’t pick it up.
/NK
It reminds me a lot of Lucy Wood’s collection The Sing of the Shore, where all the stories take place in Cornwall in the southwestern part of England, which I absolutely loved reading last year. I love collections that revolve around a specific place, and where the particulars of that place become a character in their own right, influencing the mood and atmosphere of every story. Here, it’s the Fens in eastern England. The landscape and its folklore and legends play an enormously important role in the lives of the characters in these stories, which are mostly about young people on the brink of adulthood coming to terms with themselves, their identity and sexuality, and the world around them. And they do that by transforming into eels and foxes, by eating men, by consuming and being consumed by superstitions and myths.
Fair warning: there’s a lot of sexual content in this collection, so if that’s not your thing or it makes you uncomfortable, don’t pick it up.
/NK
Excellent way to start the new year, with the last story in this collection. They all take place in the same area in England and you really feel that place as you read the stories. There's some magical realism that made me sometimes surprised to realize this was taking place in the modern world with cell phones etc. So it made for an interesting combination, actual magic living alongside the most ordinary life.
Here’s what you will encounter when reading Daisy Johnson’s short story collection Fen:
Bodies, boats, marshes,eels, good sex, bad sex, confusing sex, weird sex, female emancipation, rivers, foxes, dogs, Albatrosses, flesh, bones, flesh disappearing, flesh reappearing, bicycles, arms, legs, touch, touch, touch, tongue, mouth. Breath a sigh of relief.
Honestly that’s the best way I can describe Daisy Johnson’s unique point of view. In her world women are constantly breaking free from the shackles of society, be it food or freedom from a dead man. This quirky set of stories will be bound to affect the reader in some way.
It’s also surprisingly consistent. There are loads of highlights. The epic meta The Scattering is a fave. I also liked the opener Starver, The Superstition of Albatross and Language were ones which kept me riveted in my bus seat (I read half the book on a long commute)
Earlier this year I read Johnson’s debut novel Everything Under and I thought it was fantastic. Fen does not reach those heights but it does display a singular voice and an interesting worldview, which begs to be expanded upon (No worries in Everything Under, it does)
Bodies, boats, marshes,eels, good sex, bad sex, confusing sex, weird sex, female emancipation, rivers, foxes, dogs, Albatrosses, flesh, bones, flesh disappearing, flesh reappearing, bicycles, arms, legs, touch, touch, touch, tongue, mouth. Breath a sigh of relief.
Honestly that’s the best way I can describe Daisy Johnson’s unique point of view. In her world women are constantly breaking free from the shackles of society, be it food or freedom from a dead man. This quirky set of stories will be bound to affect the reader in some way.
It’s also surprisingly consistent. There are loads of highlights. The epic meta The Scattering is a fave. I also liked the opener Starver, The Superstition of Albatross and Language were ones which kept me riveted in my bus seat (I read half the book on a long commute)
Earlier this year I read Johnson’s debut novel Everything Under and I thought it was fantastic. Fen does not reach those heights but it does display a singular voice and an interesting worldview, which begs to be expanded upon (No worries in Everything Under, it does)
Listened to this via LeVar Burton Reads, and it was a lovely story about a woman with her own path and own choices and though the ending was left somewhat to interpretation, I liked it.