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A review by maree_k
The Rest Is Weight: Stories by Jennifer Mills
4.0
For me this is an interesting, but uneven, collection of short stories. A couple blew me away and of the others, some impressed me and some didn't. There were a few stories that I felt were almost but not quite there and others I wanted to linger over.
Mills is not afraid to experiment, and one thing I like about this collection is that some of the stories give the impression they could have been written by different authors. The opening story, Look Down With Me, holds the kind of horror that seeps into your bones, while in the middle of the collection, A Selfish Prayer is beautifully evocative of the pain of family love mixed with frustration. The Air You Need is a stunningly original story, and Heat is a simple story told with love. Other stories in the collection didn't work for me at all, however, they may be the stories that other readers love.
There are definitely some gems in this collection, but the writing was not equally polished across all the stories, and in a few I got the feeling Mills was reaching to express something but just missing the mark.
If you're a fan of short stories in all their wild variety, however, this is a collection worth picking up and dipping into, despite its flaws. Recommended.
Mills is not afraid to experiment, and one thing I like about this collection is that some of the stories give the impression they could have been written by different authors. The opening story, Look Down With Me, holds the kind of horror that seeps into your bones, while in the middle of the collection, A Selfish Prayer is beautifully evocative of the pain of family love mixed with frustration. The Air You Need is a stunningly original story, and Heat is a simple story told with love. Other stories in the collection didn't work for me at all, however, they may be the stories that other readers love.
There are definitely some gems in this collection, but the writing was not equally polished across all the stories, and in a few I got the feeling Mills was reaching to express something but just missing the mark.
If you're a fan of short stories in all their wild variety, however, this is a collection worth picking up and dipping into, despite its flaws. Recommended.