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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
“Crocodile Tears Didn’t Cause the Flood” by Bradley Sides
In this short story collection, Bradley Sides has crafted a carnival of melancholy oddities. A boy with a much loved monster in his backyard pond. A vampire who wants to leave the family garlic farm. A boy praying for snow. A man protecting his family from apocalypse in unusual consequences. Each short story, most of them technically flash fiction, aims to give voice to human longing through the lens of magical realism, of the weird and absurd.
To be honest, I wanted to like this collection more than I did. I did enjoy quite a few of the stories, such as “Our Patches,” “Festival of Kites,” “2 Truths & A Lie About the Monsters Atop Our Hill,” “Claire & Hank,” and “From 1973.” But for me, my enjoyment was surface level, a tickle of engagement as opposed to the immersion. I think this is because Sides tends to lean toward direct narration in the stories, directing the story directly at the reader in various forms (such as instructions for caring for a pond monster or a quiz on a questionably diabolical monster). The focus is on what was said as opposed to what is seen. Additionally, the brevity of Sides’s stories, some of them exceedingly short, means I felt like there wasn’t time to build an experience the way I like in my magical realism stories. Anyone who has followed me for a while knows that for me the pinnacle of short story writing is Karen Russell and it is her immersive worldbuilding that captures me; Sides simply doesn’t do that.
This does NOT mean, however, that this is a subpar short story collection. I do think it’s astounding what Sides is able to do in terms of displaying the depth and variety of how humans can long, can yearn, can want for something more. There are some clever premises here as well, often with a wry twist (a family of vampires owning an organic garlic farm is a stroke of ridiculousness to the point of genius, in my opinion). For me, “Crocodile Tears Didn’t Cause the Flood” is a simple case quality against preference. Did I enjoy reading this? Mildly, but to be honest it just wasn’t the writing style I find most satisfying in short fiction. Is this a good collection? Yes, arguably even a great one! There are some really incredible pieces here and, if you are a fan of flash fiction, I can definitely recommend this book.
apocalyptic flash fiction stories of monsters and families. not all of these worked for me but i did enjoy the different formats the author worked with!
favorites:
- the guide to king george
- our patches
- festival of kites
- 2 truths and a lie about the monsters atop our hill
favorites:
- the guide to king george
- our patches
- festival of kites
- 2 truths and a lie about the monsters atop our hill
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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What The $#*! Did I Just Read?
This is a selection of short—sometimes very short—stories that the publisher describes as “magical realism.” Which I guess is fitting—some seem more like SF, Fantasy, or somewhere in-between, than what I think of as “magical realism.” But I’m not going to be finicky about the label—call it whatever you want, as long as “strange” fits into the definition. Because “strange” is the best word to describe every story (even if other words would do better for specific entries). And I truly mean that in the best of ways.
The other element element that characterizes these stories is “Southern Fiction.” This is incredibly apt—even when a story doesn’t mention a locale, or use a colloquialism or slang to show that this is Southern, there’s something about them that just screams Southern Fiction. You know it when you see it.
Economy Of Words
Other than “strange,” “weird,” and so on, the word that comes to mind when describing this book is “Economical.” How anybody can create a tone/tenor, voice, world, and characters in so few words time and time and time again is beyond my ken.
Sure, there are a handful of apocalypses in this book—but they’re distinct. The stories don’t feel like they’re talking about the same World-Ending Event (and they’re not, but you’d halfway expect them to feel similar). The monsters in Story X wouldn’t fit into Story Y, and probably wouldn’t even be noticed as all that monstrous in Story Z.
Bradley Sides is a skilled and gifted writer and you can see that on pretty much every page.
* I think “every page” would be a better way to put it, but let me understate it just in case there are 1-3 that miss.
So, what did I think about whatever that $#*! was?
The question that I started this post with is something I put in my notes more than once. And with maybe one exception, I followed it with “But I’m glad I read it.”
So, the collection started roughly for me—I liked the writing, but the story did nothing for me, but the second? “The Guide To King George” knocked my socks off. Most of the rest did, too. The titular story seemed like a miss to me, too (but what a great title).
Some of these made me laugh and/or chuckle—like the story of the young vampire girl who is desperate to leave her family farm, or the Choose Your Own Adventure story about a Father and Son during an apocalypse—but I stopped chuckling soon and shifted into something else. The setup to “Nancy R. Melson’s State ELA Exam, Section 1: The Dead-Dead Monster” was delightful, even if I felt guilty for being delighted by the end.
Then there are the sobering stories, the heart-wrenching stories. So many captivating, unnerving, and something-in-the-neighborhood of hopeful ways to look at death.
I really can’t explain this collection, as I think I’ve demonstrated pretty well here. I’m sure others can, and you should look for their comments. But I’ll tell you this, you’re not going to find many collections that are as pound-for-pound good as this one. Even when the story doesn’t quite strike you as successful or entertaining as the rest, you’re not going to forget it soon, or regret the experience.
Go grab a copy.
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My favorites were The Guide to King George, There Goes Them Ghost Children and Nancy R. Melson's State ELA Exam.
I feel like the most frequent themes are grief and loneliness but it's handled in a very everyday kind of way. The stories stand on their own and sometimes share similar elements which makes for a good blending from story to story. Only one entry is jarringly different in tone, which weirdly made it easy for me to forget.
There are some experiments in how to tell the stories which was great fun. I would for sure recommend checking it out. <3
I feel like the most frequent themes are grief and loneliness but it's handled in a very everyday kind of way. The stories stand on their own and sometimes share similar elements which makes for a good blending from story to story. Only one entry is jarringly different in tone, which weirdly made it easy for me to forget.
There are some experiments in how to tell the stories which was great fun. I would for sure recommend checking it out. <3
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
experiments with form and it works