Scan barcode
ninaw2's review
3.0
it was okay i like the idea of reading different mini stories. my favorites were how'd i get away with killing an story of my life.
rosekk's review
3.0
As with any collection with so many different authors contributing to it, there were some stories I really liked, and others that I had to force myself to get through. There are stories in here which, in isolation, deserve five stars. The more I read Angela Carter the more I like her, and while I've read The Bloody Chamber before, Master was new to me and exciting. Words, by Carold Shields was brilliant. The others I particularly enjoyed: Ilse's House & In the Shadow by Alison Lurie (I shall have to read more by her), The First Year of my Life by Murial Spark, Fragility by Carol Shields, Aunt Telephone by Edith Pearlman, and several others scattered throughout the book. There were others which, though not quite as captivating were still interesting reads. I just struggled to enjoy the collection as a whole, because between the great stories there were some I could have done without reading. There is a certain tone that a lot of the kind of stories that know they'll be read as 'Literature' adopt, and I find it extremely depressing. I can only tolerate that deliberately weighty tone for so long. Of the stories in the books, most of the ones I've highlighted as favourites were the ones that took themselves the least seriously and, consequently, were more engaging, more poetic and just generally easier to spend time on. The ones I've enjoyed that did display this kind of literaryness were forgiven because the thinking behind them made the depressing prose worth it. This doesn't mean I don'd like dark or depressing stories (I have lived many a miserable piece of work), I just can't take much of the sort of cold dissecting tone some Literature adopts (the kind of thing favourable reviews might call 'well-observed', and often feels clinical and cynical to me). I can't give the collection a higher rating because I felt there was too much in here of the kind of writing that is consciously trying to be Good Literature, and not trying hard enough just to be a good story.
sara_collier's review
4.0
the sort of book a kindle is designed for. Some better than others of course but great to dip in and out of.
laumilne's review
Lovely book to own and dip in and out of, but a really long set of short stories to get read and back to the library. Really small print too, which made the reading harder.
cleoausten's review
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
zoer03's review
2.0
I am not sure about this collection.... at first I thought wow this will be great there will be a mix of stories that will explore love in all its meanings.... but as soon as I started the first short story.... (groans) I knew this would disappoint me. All of the stories do not , to me, either make me cry weep or laugh. What they do is make me bloody angry some of them and this a rare few are not too bad (which in itself I guess makes it worse) it essentially shows love to be either torrid awful or even greedy or hateful none of them show the slow burning love or the tenderness of love or the tragic love.... it’s either cruel, angry or even selfish and spiteful and just hateful. So for the love of god Victoria Hislop change the title maybe to women who most like write bitter twisted hateful and shitty love stories. Oh and some of them come across as pretentious and horrible I hope that means they either haven’t gone through that or did it themselves.
More...