Reviews - The History of Sound: Stories

554 reviews for:

The History of Sound: Stories

Ben Shattuck

4.39 AVERAGE

rossjenc's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

raminaunger's review against another edition

3.75

reflective relaxing fast-paced

revolutionerdy's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

fedorasommora's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: N/A

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: N/A

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

librarianaaryn's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

jill_reads's review against another edition

4.0

Somewhere from 4-4.5 stars. I really liked these short stories and I couldn’t exactly pinpoint why except that I felt their moodiness, their weather (seriously convinced that Shattuck wrote this whole book from a cold, drafty room in New England and had to incorporate that feeling into each story at some point), and their melancholy. So few happy characters, basically none I think? All at least hurting over some lost love or missed opportunity or longing, but it somehow wasn’t annoying. The moodiness fit with the whole vibe and I felt drawn into each of their lives, in quite a tender way.

That said, I think maybe my favourite part of the book was the fake Radiolab episode and the subsequent story “The Auk” of a man trying his best to reconnect with his wife who is slowly drifting away from dementia. And these two were probably two of the most hopeful and sweet stories so maybe I was craving a bit more of that and not the bleak sadness of some of the others haha.

Also started crying reading his acknowledgement section about Jenny Slate, because I also think she is great and it’s so sweet to see him express his love for her. So I was probably biased all the way through this book by knowing she loves him.