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A review by eriynali
And the Angels Sang by Lorina Stephens
2.0
A book of shortstories that was unusually difficult to get through, and I am a short story lover. Some of the stories were really lovely, especially "A Dishwasher for Michelina", "For a cup of tea" and the title story "And the Angels Sang." Others were needlessly densely written. Each story contained at least one or two beautiful or thoughtful descriptions, that were spot on.
There were moments of dissatisfaction, that I think arise from the fact that they are *short* stories. It seems as though Stephens didn't have the gumption to follow through on these to make them full fledged novelettes or even longer short stories. She tends to gloss over the actual story part, and focus on unimportant details, using multiple adjectives that mean the same thing. Many seem to be parts of a larger tale, where the reader must fill in the prior chapters, since Stephens often starts her stories in the middle of a dialogue or thought.
There is a lot of mixture of the every-day and fantasy, to the detriment of "Darkies" which seems to advocate asking spirits to protect against rape.
The story that was most different from the others, the "Green Season" (in the afterward, the author acknowledges "I admit to the cardinal sin of anthropomorphism") shows Stephens' gift for imagining the pain of human suffering in the most instinctual of situations. It follows the rebellious and deep feelings of a young lionness, in her conventional pride.
Lastly, there is artwork between each story, that has some thread to the story to come, but is not specifically related. That was lovely, but I wish the b+w reproduction had been a little bit better.
There were moments of dissatisfaction, that I think arise from the fact that they are *short* stories. It seems as though Stephens didn't have the gumption to follow through on these to make them full fledged novelettes or even longer short stories. She tends to gloss over the actual story part, and focus on unimportant details, using multiple adjectives that mean the same thing. Many seem to be parts of a larger tale, where the reader must fill in the prior chapters, since Stephens often starts her stories in the middle of a dialogue or thought.
There is a lot of mixture of the every-day and fantasy, to the detriment of "Darkies" which seems to advocate asking spirits to protect against rape.
The story that was most different from the others, the "Green Season" (in the afterward, the author acknowledges "I admit to the cardinal sin of anthropomorphism") shows Stephens' gift for imagining the pain of human suffering in the most instinctual of situations. It follows the rebellious and deep feelings of a young lionness, in her conventional pride.
Lastly, there is artwork between each story, that has some thread to the story to come, but is not specifically related. That was lovely, but I wish the b+w reproduction had been a little bit better.