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A review by szeglin
May We Shed These Human Bodies by Amber Sparks
5.0
Copy received through the Goodreads First Reads program.
"There were no books in the Afterwards, which the people thought was some serious bullshit." I fell in love with that line instantly, and it's only 3 pages into the book!
What an odd little collection of short stories. I don't mean that in a disparaging way at all--I think there was only one story in here that didn't really work for me. Several stories toy with experimental story structure, which often puts me off. Here, though, it works. The overarching tone of these tales makes any sort of deviation from the standard seem like a completely natural fit.
Amber Sparks has written diverse set of extremely short, off-kilter, whimsical tales. Many of the stories in this collection are inspired by fairy tales, either directly or in flavor. They are quite short, too. The longest is 12 pages, but there are many that are only a page or two long.
The thing that strikes me most about these stories is how much Sparks says by NOT saying it. One of my literature professors explaining the “iceberg theory” and Hemingway’s writing style. The most important elements of the story lie in what is NOT said. 90 percent of an iceberg is below the water’s surface, and 90 percent of the meaning of a story lies below the surface, too. The stories in May We Shed These Human Bodies take up a lot more space than the slim volume would indicate.
This is a solid literary effort. I’m looking forward to reading more from Sparks.
"There were no books in the Afterwards, which the people thought was some serious bullshit." I fell in love with that line instantly, and it's only 3 pages into the book!
What an odd little collection of short stories. I don't mean that in a disparaging way at all--I think there was only one story in here that didn't really work for me. Several stories toy with experimental story structure, which often puts me off. Here, though, it works. The overarching tone of these tales makes any sort of deviation from the standard seem like a completely natural fit.
Amber Sparks has written diverse set of extremely short, off-kilter, whimsical tales. Many of the stories in this collection are inspired by fairy tales, either directly or in flavor. They are quite short, too. The longest is 12 pages, but there are many that are only a page or two long.
The thing that strikes me most about these stories is how much Sparks says by NOT saying it. One of my literature professors explaining the “iceberg theory” and Hemingway’s writing style. The most important elements of the story lie in what is NOT said. 90 percent of an iceberg is below the water’s surface, and 90 percent of the meaning of a story lies below the surface, too. The stories in May We Shed These Human Bodies take up a lot more space than the slim volume would indicate.
This is a solid literary effort. I’m looking forward to reading more from Sparks.