Reviews

Storytown: Stories by Susan Daitch

jaccarmac's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

It's the Borgesian elements - mirrors, doppelgangers, more-than-a-little criminal artwork - not intricacy of language, which gives the best of the tales here the feel of little ciphers. Daitch clearly likes her words, though: They're not a weak point, just not the point. The real strong elements are the original themes: The relationship with work, backs and basements, less-than-comfy living arrangements, the calls to and challenges of passing language barriers, American war. Storytown was a little bit uneven but surely special fiction.

huncamuncamouse's review

3.0

I read the title story in a high school English class several years ago, and loved it--returning to it over and over again. For some reason I resisted buying the book, and was unable to locate a copy at local libraries until I came to university. I always hoped to read the book before I graduated, and I finally got around to beginning Storytown this semester. The title story was as poignant as I remembered--easily 5 stars on its own. Unfortunately, the rest of the book failed to match Daitch's finest work in "Storytown." Daitch is clearly a masterful writer, and I appreciated the themes and motifs that united this collection of stories--such as museums, doppelgangers, art forgery, etc. Several stories felt impersonal, perhaps a bit cold; I was never emotionally invested in the stories I read, which disappointed me since I found "Storytown" to be so moving. The collection is worth leafing through, though I'd argue that it's uneven and nothing comes close to matching the final story, the title story, which I still consider a lovely piece of writing.