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4.39 AVERAGE
4.39 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
reflective
sad
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
I love this collection of loosely connected stories. Not only is each story compelling on its own, but the arc of the set of stories as a whole is very satisfying. It's also interesting to read stories set in a part of the world where I lived and where I tried for several years to belong but didn't succeed.
My kind of writing. First story was my favorite. I just don't care for short stories in general. I already knew this.
Favorite lines: "Nantucket starts and ends with weather. Which way the wind was blowing and why. What clouds meant. How coming storms moved the sea." P28
Weather painted the horizon. 38
Of all the recordings that summer of 1919, I felt like we were missing the best sounds. I wanted an aural journal of the days between our work sessions. The sound of a windstorm coming up a valley. The sound of the pines' broomed limbs brushing overhead...of David whispering... I wanted all the chiseled ridges of sound that went missing.... I wanted a record of the sound from the years before. The first time David spoke his name to me in the pub... The history of sound, lost daily.13-15
Favorite lines: "Nantucket starts and ends with weather. Which way the wind was blowing and why. What clouds meant. How coming storms moved the sea." P28
Weather painted the horizon. 38
Of all the recordings that summer of 1919, I felt like we were missing the best sounds. I wanted an aural journal of the days between our work sessions. The sound of a windstorm coming up a valley. The sound of the pines' broomed limbs brushing overhead...of David whispering... I wanted all the chiseled ridges of sound that went missing.... I wanted a record of the sound from the years before. The first time David spoke his name to me in the pub... The history of sound, lost daily.13-15
History, family, heartache. Vivid landscapes and coldness. I lived in this book while I was reading it, but I don’t think about it when I’m not. The auk is my favourite story. It is genuine and sad, and I love to see one action affecting people differently.
how to put it? this type of sadness. not nostalgia. not grief. just the obvious and sudden fact that my life looked an inch shorter than it could have been. that the best year really had come when i was twenty
mysterious
reflective
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
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-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:
Yes
Wins the shiniest 5/5 I can give! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ — For me, The History or Sound is one of those magically once-in-a-decade, perfect reads that makes me wish to marinate in every detail. I’ve not felt this way about a contemporary work of fiction since reading Colum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin roughly 15 years ago, and I am exceedingly overjoyed to finally have a quality companion to that title to which I can turn. May Ben Shattuck similarly get to earn himself a National Book Award for this work, because he certainly deserves such echelons of recognition. He might even personify New England as powerfully as McCann palpably captures the breath of NYC.
In addition to sharing some of the most cohesive, consistently engaging writing I’ve encountered in a while, I treasure that The History of Sound is an expertly rendered collection of short stories that both intertwine and can stand alone — balancing multiple timelines, lifelines, and living histories with such poignancy. Again and again, it’s so deeply satisfying to get to find interwoven closures for one story embedded in another, and each time it is so deeply beautiful in a way that catches your breath. I already wish I could have the experience again of reading this work for the first time, and I’m simply glad new work like this continues to be birthed in our world.
In addition to sharing some of the most cohesive, consistently engaging writing I’ve encountered in a while, I treasure that The History of Sound is an expertly rendered collection of short stories that both intertwine and can stand alone — balancing multiple timelines, lifelines, and living histories with such poignancy. Again and again, it’s so deeply satisfying to get to find interwoven closures for one story embedded in another, and each time it is so deeply beautiful in a way that catches your breath. I already wish I could have the experience again of reading this work for the first time, and I’m simply glad new work like this continues to be birthed in our world.
Content Warnings
Minor: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Excrement, Grief, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
No
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
medium-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:
Yes
Phenomenal on audio. Expansive intersecting stories of New England, weaving together history and present