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A review by eileen_daly_boas
A Perfect Universe: Ten Stories by Scott O'Connor
5.0
The good short story is no easy task. Ten good ones together is really surprising. This one has many great stories-even the one that didn't strike an emotional chord with me fit so well with the others that I didn't hold a grudge.
These all pull you into a full universe right at the start, and make you feel like an explorer for the few pages that you're in them. Heartbreak and hope, the small heroic actions and the long-term consequences of a momentary lack of attention- they dance with each other in these LA-based stories.
The fictions that sustain us and the ones that break us are all a part of this wonderful universe of stories. It reminded me of my favorite parts in Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders: the truly human, American stories of life and love as well as the stories we tell ourselves. Writing the truth in fiction is Scott O'Connor's greatest strength, and his writing is elegant.
These all pull you into a full universe right at the start, and make you feel like an explorer for the few pages that you're in them. Heartbreak and hope, the small heroic actions and the long-term consequences of a momentary lack of attention- they dance with each other in these LA-based stories.
The fictions that sustain us and the ones that break us are all a part of this wonderful universe of stories. It reminded me of my favorite parts in Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders: the truly human, American stories of life and love as well as the stories we tell ourselves. Writing the truth in fiction is Scott O'Connor's greatest strength, and his writing is elegant.