A review by thaliasoul
The Fahrenheit Twins by Michel Faber

4.0

Here comes my lousy attempt to review a selection of short stories...: Not only has this book been my first contact with Michel Faber and his writing but I am also still new to the short story genre. All in all I was surprised by the depth and ruthlessness some of the stories had to offer since the writing style in general was very easy to read, fast-paced and easing you into a fake sense of comfort. Some of the stories, such as the first one - 'The Safehouse' made no real sense to me and left me with tons of questions. Actually, when I think about it, in a way all of the stories were rather unsatisfactory, starting at a seemingly random points in time and ending abruptly without bothering to resolve anything really. But it seems to me that that was actually the beauty of the stories - witnessing random situations, being allowed to observe for a while but not too long.
My personal favourites were 'The Eyes of the Soul' (A tale about modern loneliness), 'Serious Swimmers' (A painfully beautiful account of an ex-addict mother desperatly trying to connect with her son), 'Tabitha Warren' (A witty and thougth-provoking comment on the role and importance of 'true' and/or commercial literature) and finally 'Vanilla-bright like Eminem', which made me cry just because it describes how happiness is but a fleeting moment, imposing itself on you when you least expect it.