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sharkycharming 's review for:
The Ocean House: Stories
by Mary-Beth Hughes
I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
This is a collection of connected short stories, but any of them could be read as a stand-alone. I think it's well-written on the sentence level, with beautiful prose and intriguing details. However, I felt a great deal of distance between myself and the characters, and that kept me from engaging as much as I prefer when I'm reading fiction. I was flat-out confused by what was happening in one story about a farm; I felt like I was reading Faulkner or something. So if you're intellectual and enjoy complex literature, I think this could be a book you love. I am more of a populist in my taste for contemporary fiction, so it wasn't my cup of tea. But I am still glad I read it, because I like to know what's out there in the world of literary fiction.
This is a collection of connected short stories, but any of them could be read as a stand-alone. I think it's well-written on the sentence level, with beautiful prose and intriguing details. However, I felt a great deal of distance between myself and the characters, and that kept me from engaging as much as I prefer when I'm reading fiction. I was flat-out confused by what was happening in one story about a farm; I felt like I was reading Faulkner or something. So if you're intellectual and enjoy complex literature, I think this could be a book you love. I am more of a populist in my taste for contemporary fiction, so it wasn't my cup of tea. But I am still glad I read it, because I like to know what's out there in the world of literary fiction.