A review by pbobrit
England und andere Stories by Graham Swift

5.0

I got this book as a gift from my friend Cheryl and what a lovely gift it turned out to be. The book is not a long one, a little over 200 pages, but it took a really long time for me to read. This was not because it was hard to digest or badly written, quite the opposite. All of the short stories in this collection were masterclasses in the execution of the art form. If I had read it quickly I would not have done the stories justice, each was both deceptively simple and so incredibly rich in ideas, texture and feelings that it was not possible to read more than two or three in one sitting. All of the stories are set in England, and most start out with the simplest and most mundane of premises, but that is where any common thread ends. You will end up marveling at what an accomplished writer can achieve in 6-10 pages of tight prose, how much truth and meaning can be exposed in the simplest of observations. This has to be one of the best books I've read this year and certainly one of the best collections of short stories I've read in a while. I would recommend this book to anyone.