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A review by srpraveen
Stories: Collected Stories by Susan Sontag
3.0
Until I saw this collection in the public library racks, I'd never associated Susan Sontag with fiction. Other than her essays, my only other experience of reading her was the much acclaimed book 'On photography'. The first story itself, titled 'Pilgrimage', was quite a surprise, portraying her awkward meeting with Thomas Mann in her childhood days. The whole narrative leading up to the meeting, her anger with her friend for dialing up Mann's house directly and requesting for the meeting and her own wish for that meeting not to happen, all that make for an engaging read as much as their meeting with the writer, during which he is surprised at their "serious" reading at that young age.
The story 'Project for a trip to China', with its fragmented structure and its subject of travel, reminded me of 'Flights' by Olga Tokarczuk. 'Old complaints revisited' is also an elaborate plan, though not a fragmented narrative, with the protagonist planning to leave from a secret organisation. Structure-wise, the story 'Baby' is quite inventive with each successive chapter having a couple and taking turns meeting a counsellor to discuss an issue that has been simmering between them. We get to see only their answers to the counsellor's questions, not the questions themselves, and often end up playing a guessing game, until the reveal in the end. But, it has to be said that not every story in this collection is as engrossing as the best ones in the collection.
The story 'Project for a trip to China', with its fragmented structure and its subject of travel, reminded me of 'Flights' by Olga Tokarczuk. 'Old complaints revisited' is also an elaborate plan, though not a fragmented narrative, with the protagonist planning to leave from a secret organisation. Structure-wise, the story 'Baby' is quite inventive with each successive chapter having a couple and taking turns meeting a counsellor to discuss an issue that has been simmering between them. We get to see only their answers to the counsellor's questions, not the questions themselves, and often end up playing a guessing game, until the reveal in the end. But, it has to be said that not every story in this collection is as engrossing as the best ones in the collection.