The History of Sound: Stories by Ben Shattuck

4.39 AVERAGE

em0301's profile picture

em0301's review against another edition

5.0
emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

ktteacher's review against another edition

5.0
adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

supkevs's review against another edition

3.75
adventurous challenging mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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: Yes
sea_level's profile picture

sea_level's review against another edition

4.5
adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
lemonwedge's profile picture

lemonwedge's review

3.75
emotional reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: N/A
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
thewitchofnj's profile picture

thewitchofnj's review against another edition

5.0
emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

valpo79's review against another edition

4.75
challenging dark reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

january_one's review against another edition

4.25
challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
Beautifully written connected stories. I liked how they were back and forth in time and how there were in a particular order A BB CC DD EE FF A in terms of their interconnectedness. 
bookedtothemax's profile picture

bookedtothemax's review against another edition

5.0
The History of Sound by Ben Shattuck is a collection of interconnected short stories spanning different centuries in New England. 
This is easily the best set of short stories I have read. It examines a multitude of themes from grief, loneliness, sisterhood, regret, culminating in how deeply interconnected people are to one another and the past. There was not one story in this collection that I found boring or inferior to the other. My favourite was the titular story (which will be adapted into a movie with Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor), ’The Journal of Thomas Thurber’, ’The Children of New Eden’, and ’The Auk.’
Shattuck’s writing style is beautiful and gut-wrenching. He managed to make every character shine and be as visceral and engaging as the next. 
This is one of my favourite books of the year so far, and at around 300 pages it is perfect material to read in a day (which you’ll want to do its that good)!

brynpemery's review against another edition

4.5
emotional reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated