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Other Worlds: Stories
The award-winning author of Fifteen Dogs conjures up worlds – real, invented, uncanny – in this ingenious, electrifying collection.
A Trinidadian Obeah man finds himself reborn, a hundred years after his death, in the body of a Canadian child. A writer takes up a seasonal job as the caretaker of a set of mysterious large sacks hanging from the rafters of the houses in a small town. A woman starts a relationship with the famous artist who painted portraits of her mother. The contents of a sealed envelope upend a woman’s understanding about a tragic crime she committed at the age of six.
In this dazzling collection of stories, André Alexis draws fresh connections between worlds: the ones we occupy, the ones we imagine, and the ones that preceded our own. He introduces us to characters during moments of profound puzzlement, and transports us from 19th century Trinidad and Tobago to small-town Ontario, from Amherst, Massachusetts to contemporary Toronto.
These captivating stories reveal flashes of reckoning, defeat, despair, alienation, and understanding, all the while playfully using a multitude of literary genres, including gothic horror and isekai, and referencing works from greats like Jane Austen, Jonathan Swift, Yasunari Kawabata, Witold Gombrowicz, and Tomasso Landolfi.
Masterfully crafted, blending poignant philosophical inquiry and wry humour tinged with the absurd, here are worlds refracted and reflected back to us with pristine clarity and stunning emotional resonance as only André Alexis can.
A Trinidadian Obeah man finds himself reborn, a hundred years after his death, in the body of a Canadian child. A writer takes up a seasonal job as the caretaker of a set of mysterious large sacks hanging from the rafters of the houses in a small town. A woman starts a relationship with the famous artist who painted portraits of her mother. The contents of a sealed envelope upend a woman’s understanding about a tragic crime she committed at the age of six.
In this dazzling collection of stories, André Alexis draws fresh connections between worlds: the ones we occupy, the ones we imagine, and the ones that preceded our own. He introduces us to characters during moments of profound puzzlement, and transports us from 19th century Trinidad and Tobago to small-town Ontario, from Amherst, Massachusetts to contemporary Toronto.
These captivating stories reveal flashes of reckoning, defeat, despair, alienation, and understanding, all the while playfully using a multitude of literary genres, including gothic horror and isekai, and referencing works from greats like Jane Austen, Jonathan Swift, Yasunari Kawabata, Witold Gombrowicz, and Tomasso Landolfi.
Masterfully crafted, blending poignant philosophical inquiry and wry humour tinged with the absurd, here are worlds refracted and reflected back to us with pristine clarity and stunning emotional resonance as only André Alexis can.
288 pages, Paperback
Published May 6, 2025
42 people are currently reading
1526 people want to read
About the author
André Alexis
21 books618 followersAndré Alexis was born in Trinidad and grew up in Canada. His most recent novel, Fifteen Dogs, won the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. His debut novel, Childhood, won the Books in Canada First Novel Award, the Trillium Book Award, and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. His other books include Pastoral (nominated for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize), Asylum, Beauty and Sadness, Ingrid & the Wolf, Despair and Other Stories of Ottawa and Lambton, Kent and Other Vistas: A Play.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
November 10, 2025
If you know me in person you know that I'm absolutely obsessed with Alexis' writing style and the way he handles themes of language and home and that I can't shut up about it (I'd say I'm sorry but I'm not, you knew how I was when you decided to let me stick around). I have to do myself violence to not devour his back catalogue, this collection of short stories has done absolutely nothing to reduce the amount of violence I have to do myself.
Some of these stories flirted with horror quite heavily, the imagery often made it to the heavy petting stage with horror, and I was enthralled.
I loved the way locales were quietly made to be characters of their own, it was something that happened in the small details and small connections/parallels between stories and I was delighted by it.
I read this book while there was a minor kerfuffle in the boktok/boosta world about a reviewer who thought that words like personified and forwardness were thesaurus words and thusly berated the author for using big words so Alexis casually dropping words like phonemes made me chuckle. So, yeah, If you like an elegant use of language this book and author will most likely charm you.
Some of these stories flirted with horror quite heavily, the imagery often made it to the heavy petting stage with horror, and I was enthralled.
I loved the way locales were quietly made to be characters of their own, it was something that happened in the small details and small connections/parallels between stories and I was delighted by it.
I read this book while there was a minor kerfuffle in the boktok/boosta world about a reviewer who thought that words like personified and forwardness were thesaurus words and thusly berated the author for using big words so Alexis casually dropping words like phonemes made me chuckle. So, yeah, If you like an elegant use of language this book and author will most likely charm you.
May 16, 2025
New favourite author unlocked.
May 20, 2025
I finally got around to a Canadian author I’ve been meaning to read, wanting to read, feeling like I was the only book lover who hadn’t read him yet: André Alexis. His latest collection of short stories Other Worlds was released just a few weeks ago, and as May is short story month, I dove right in. He is best known for his award-winning novel Fifteen Dogs which won a TON of awards. It’s about a bunch of dogs who talk and live in their own world, so Alexis is no stranger to including the supernatural or magical in his work. Other Worlds is about just that; worlds like ours but incorporating an unexpected element of whimsical difference. And more talking animals, in this case, a horse.
Book Summary
There are 9 stories spread over 276 pages in this collection, so some are quite long. The stories aren’t linked, however the first and second last story seem to reference the same family, but they are told from such different perspectives that I can’t quite say that it’s the exact same people for certain. Regardless, both “Contrition: An Isekai” and “Consolation” are powerful stories on their own, the first following the rebirth of an old man into a young boy’s body 100 years later, while the second details a man’s musings about his parents’ marriage after his father dies. “Winter, or A Town Near Palgrave” is my favourite, but also the creepiest; it’s about a writer who is invited to take on a caretaking job in a town where all its inhabitants hibernate over the winter in burlap sacks hung up in their homes. “The Bridle Path” also has an uneasy atmosphere to it, where the protagonist is excited to be meeting new and very wealthy friends, but he missteps socially when he questions whether his hosts are cannibals. “Pu Songling: An Appreciation” is the strangest of the bunch, following a medicine man desperate to find an apprentice, but instead he discovers a young woman who he learns just as much from as they discuss their experiences with people returning from the dead.
My Thoughts
The very last story in the collection, “Elegy”, reads much like an analysis of what the author’s intentions were with the collection. The speaker is an author himself, and the life experiences he speaks about match of those of Alexis quite closely, so I’m assuming this character is meant to be a mouthpiece of sorts. In it he writes:
“Predictably, much of my work is a re-creation of the bewilderment that was a dominant emotion of my childhood self – bewilderment and resentment. Rather than directly expressing this bewilderment, however, I have tried to create worlds in which a sympathetic reader will feel a familiarity while struggling to interpret the appearance of certain things, certain signs, certain utterances” (p. 273 of Other Worlds by André Alexis, ARC edition)
I’m strangely desperate to think of myself as a sympathetic reader, but I wholeheartedly agree with what he set out to do, and I believe he accomplishes it. For example, “Houyhnhnm” is the story that incorporates the aforementioned talking horse, and although that is something that we would never recognize as part of our world, (or at least my current reality), the story isn’t about how weird this horse is. The story is about grief; it’s about the connection between the protagonist, the horse, and the protagonist’s parents. And as the story continues we discover it’s actually about the manifestation of grief, and how this grief looks different to all three characters.
Alexis uses these odd circumstances to capture the reader’s attention; the hanging bags of humans for instance. It’s an uncomfortable image, it begins to feel more like a work of horror as he interacts with this bags, even begins to ‘tend’ to them like a Queen Bee or something similar. And yet, it never crosses into the horrific, it leaves lingering questions about our tendency to hibernate in the colder months (at least up here in Canada) but it also addresses this question of creativity, and the distractions we create or focus on when avoiding doing our work, as the author does in this story.
I understand why Alexis’s work is so highly lauded now. There’s so many layers to his writing, and I suspect that if I re-read these stories, I’d continue to find threads I didn’t pick up on my first pass through. These magical elements may not appeal to some, but if you’re willing to just go with it, I think there’s lots to appeal to a wide range of readers here.
To read the rest of my reviews, please visit my blog:
https://ivereadthis.com/
Book Summary
There are 9 stories spread over 276 pages in this collection, so some are quite long. The stories aren’t linked, however the first and second last story seem to reference the same family, but they are told from such different perspectives that I can’t quite say that it’s the exact same people for certain. Regardless, both “Contrition: An Isekai” and “Consolation” are powerful stories on their own, the first following the rebirth of an old man into a young boy’s body 100 years later, while the second details a man’s musings about his parents’ marriage after his father dies. “Winter, or A Town Near Palgrave” is my favourite, but also the creepiest; it’s about a writer who is invited to take on a caretaking job in a town where all its inhabitants hibernate over the winter in burlap sacks hung up in their homes. “The Bridle Path” also has an uneasy atmosphere to it, where the protagonist is excited to be meeting new and very wealthy friends, but he missteps socially when he questions whether his hosts are cannibals. “Pu Songling: An Appreciation” is the strangest of the bunch, following a medicine man desperate to find an apprentice, but instead he discovers a young woman who he learns just as much from as they discuss their experiences with people returning from the dead.
My Thoughts
The very last story in the collection, “Elegy”, reads much like an analysis of what the author’s intentions were with the collection. The speaker is an author himself, and the life experiences he speaks about match of those of Alexis quite closely, so I’m assuming this character is meant to be a mouthpiece of sorts. In it he writes:
“Predictably, much of my work is a re-creation of the bewilderment that was a dominant emotion of my childhood self – bewilderment and resentment. Rather than directly expressing this bewilderment, however, I have tried to create worlds in which a sympathetic reader will feel a familiarity while struggling to interpret the appearance of certain things, certain signs, certain utterances” (p. 273 of Other Worlds by André Alexis, ARC edition)
I’m strangely desperate to think of myself as a sympathetic reader, but I wholeheartedly agree with what he set out to do, and I believe he accomplishes it. For example, “Houyhnhnm” is the story that incorporates the aforementioned talking horse, and although that is something that we would never recognize as part of our world, (or at least my current reality), the story isn’t about how weird this horse is. The story is about grief; it’s about the connection between the protagonist, the horse, and the protagonist’s parents. And as the story continues we discover it’s actually about the manifestation of grief, and how this grief looks different to all three characters.
Alexis uses these odd circumstances to capture the reader’s attention; the hanging bags of humans for instance. It’s an uncomfortable image, it begins to feel more like a work of horror as he interacts with this bags, even begins to ‘tend’ to them like a Queen Bee or something similar. And yet, it never crosses into the horrific, it leaves lingering questions about our tendency to hibernate in the colder months (at least up here in Canada) but it also addresses this question of creativity, and the distractions we create or focus on when avoiding doing our work, as the author does in this story.
I understand why Alexis’s work is so highly lauded now. There’s so many layers to his writing, and I suspect that if I re-read these stories, I’d continue to find threads I didn’t pick up on my first pass through. These magical elements may not appeal to some, but if you’re willing to just go with it, I think there’s lots to appeal to a wide range of readers here.
To read the rest of my reviews, please visit my blog:
https://ivereadthis.com/
August 11, 2025
4 5 stars
If you've read Fifteen Dogs by this author you might understand how this collection of short stories can get under your skin.
To me some of these stories were more successful than others in the collection, but all were beautifully written and thought provoking with some being weirdly funny and some just kind of weird. But I liked them all.
If you've read Fifteen Dogs by this author you might understand how this collection of short stories can get under your skin.
To me some of these stories were more successful than others in the collection, but all were beautifully written and thought provoking with some being weirdly funny and some just kind of weird. But I liked them all.
September 15, 2025
In the quiet moments when I am thinking about nothing in particular, two books wander into my thoughts (this and “the Haunting of Hill House,” not to say that they are similar). I can’t stop thinking about Other Worlds. It is—phew—something. Stays with you, that’s for sure!
November 13, 2025
4.75*
A stunning collection of short stories, all so different from one another yet connected by the same threads — themes of language, rebirth, identity, and death.
Stories of reincarnation, talking horses, spirituality. Stories of lessons passed down through generations. Stories that certainly felt otherworldly.
When I really pause to think about what I took away from this book, it’s how much I appreciate the way Alexis explores all of these ideas. The way language can be misunderstood, deciphered, interpreted and the implications of each of those actions. The possibility of death and rebirth, the explanations for things we can’t fully make sense of, but that happen anyway. The idea that maybe the reasons lie outside our own breadth of understanding.
But what I found most humbling, concerning, and oddly calming was this reminder that we really only know what we know and, to some extent, what we don’t. There will never come a time when we understand everything there is to know. We’ll always be seeking and searching, and maybe words will never do us justice… or maybe, they’ll simply be enough.
A stunning collection of short stories, all so different from one another yet connected by the same threads — themes of language, rebirth, identity, and death.
Stories of reincarnation, talking horses, spirituality. Stories of lessons passed down through generations. Stories that certainly felt otherworldly.
When I really pause to think about what I took away from this book, it’s how much I appreciate the way Alexis explores all of these ideas. The way language can be misunderstood, deciphered, interpreted and the implications of each of those actions. The possibility of death and rebirth, the explanations for things we can’t fully make sense of, but that happen anyway. The idea that maybe the reasons lie outside our own breadth of understanding.
But what I found most humbling, concerning, and oddly calming was this reminder that we really only know what we know and, to some extent, what we don’t. There will never come a time when we understand everything there is to know. We’ll always be seeking and searching, and maybe words will never do us justice… or maybe, they’ll simply be enough.
December 3, 2025
Great collection, with some more captivating than others. None were too short or too long, and some stories were loosely linked.
“The past preys on the present, but it does no harm, unless you let it.”
“The past preys on the present, but it does no harm, unless you let it.”
December 11, 2024
André Alexis is one of my fave authors so when I saw that he had a new book coming out I was so excited and I read this book right away. I loved Other Worlds! These short stories are so fun and showcases his true masterful storytelling. I really enjoyed his other short story collection The Night Piece and I can tell the evolution to this collection. I loved the nostalgia and how meta these stories are. Several of these stories draw from his life and experiences as they feature characters of Jamaican descent living in Canada and specifically Toronto. The specific mention of Shoppers Drug Mart selling “fresh food” was so funny. Several elements he featured in his previous books such as God and animals are in this book too. The last story which was autofiction was especially good. I’m so glad I got to read this book early!
Thank you to the publisher via NetGalley for my ARC!
Thank you to the publisher via NetGalley for my ARC!
July 24, 2025
André Alexis is a Canadian national treasure
August 9, 2025
3.31 - a book of short stories just isn’t my thing. Many of them were weird too. It wasn’t unenjoyable to read, but I never felt the urge to pick it up and keep reading
August 10, 2025
Andre Alexis casually throwing his hat into the ring for author of short stories that will haunt you for the rest of your life
November 20, 2025
Interesting and original stories! Liked, but didn't love.
November 8, 2025
first book for my new book club in Vancouver and absolutely loved it!! beautifully written and such an evocative but subtle depiction of diaspora through the stories. loved the blurry line between magic and medicine
October 21, 2025
“it is difficult to find home when neither you nor those around you are certain who you are and when no physical place corresponds to it” (from ‘an elegy’)
stories about belonging, about loneliness, about shame & delusion, about family, about connection. i need to reread this.
stories about belonging, about loneliness, about shame & delusion, about family, about connection. i need to reread this.
December 5, 2025
Some hits and misses, overall not bad. Not as other worldly as I was hoping, tho...
July 8, 2025
I always look forward to new stories by André Alexis; his prose is gorgeous, his insight and inventiveness terrific, and this collection of short stories does not disappoint.
They range across history and countries, and consider relationships in families, art, the effects of colonialism, and immigration, but the stories within "Other Worlds" are not screeds or polemics. Each is a self contained world and uses humour, keen observation, fantasy and horror elements that are subtly dropped in, and all these together make for interesting reading.
I had my favourites:
-Contrition: An Isekai: where a obeah man misinterprets a colonizer's actions, dies, and is reborn as a descendant of the colonize.
-Houyhnhnm: A son deals with his grief over his father's death, by getting to know and care for his father's horse, who can talk.
-A Certain Likeness: A woman gets to know the artist who painted her mother's likeness years earlier.
-Pu Songling: An Appreciation: An elderly medicine mad is looking for an apprentice.
-An Elegy: An author writes of moving from Trinidad to Canada, and becoming a writer.
There are also images that lingered in my mind, though the one most shocking, was of human-sized bags hanging within houses…
I greatly enjoyed this collection, which again demonstrates Alexis' versatility, imagination, and sensitivity.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Farrar, Straus and Giroux for this ARC in exchange for my review.
They range across history and countries, and consider relationships in families, art, the effects of colonialism, and immigration, but the stories within "Other Worlds" are not screeds or polemics. Each is a self contained world and uses humour, keen observation, fantasy and horror elements that are subtly dropped in, and all these together make for interesting reading.
I had my favourites:
-Contrition: An Isekai: where a obeah man misinterprets a colonizer's actions, dies, and is reborn as a descendant of the colonize.
-Houyhnhnm: A son deals with his grief over his father's death, by getting to know and care for his father's horse, who can talk.
-A Certain Likeness: A woman gets to know the artist who painted her mother's likeness years earlier.
-Pu Songling: An Appreciation: An elderly medicine mad is looking for an apprentice.
-An Elegy: An author writes of moving from Trinidad to Canada, and becoming a writer.
There are also images that lingered in my mind, though the one most shocking, was of human-sized bags hanging within houses…
I greatly enjoyed this collection, which again demonstrates Alexis' versatility, imagination, and sensitivity.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Farrar, Straus and Giroux for this ARC in exchange for my review.
July 8, 2025
Every once in a while I come across a book that is just my brand of weird and Other Worlds is one of those books. I absolutely loved the stories in this book for how unsettling they were. The word he used in his Elegy section, “bewilderment” is exactly the feeling conjured by this collection. A lot of people don’t like to sit in that kind of discomfort and confusion, but I adored this.
April 2, 2025
Thank the Publisher for granting me this ARC on Netgalley. Alexis is my favorite contemporary author. To me, this short story collection serves as a window into the inside world of André Alexis himself. Though the name of this book is Other Worlds, I saw a lot of similarities between the characters and the author. I like A Certain Likeness and Consolation the most, one for the plot and the other for the deep insight into the author’s childhood trauma. Pleases continue writing!
附中文书评：【Other Worlds：在异世界找寻故土】https://book.douban.com/review/16616775/
我第一次读André Alexis是他去年刊载在纽约客上的短篇《Consolation》，这个故事深刻震撼了我，它探讨家庭秘密，隐瞒欺骗和极致的爱（妻子对丈夫）与极致的轻视（丈夫对妻子）。读到一半，我忍不住说，这一定是作者本人亲身经历，不然他不可能写得出如此细腻的感受和人物反应。
在后记中Alexis提到，他的大部分作品都是对他儿时体验的复刻，那时他是一个迷茫的孩子，对一切困惑不解，又对发生在家庭和自己身上的不公感到怨恨不满。《Consolation》在我眼里，正是他的核心创作意图的完美体现，更是他积淀多年的成果。从开头的平淡到中部的爆发，Alexis用文字回溯了他始自童年又贯穿一生的噩梦——他父亲如何轻视他的母亲，不爱她却把她绑在身边，自己又不停地出轨。Alexis用文字和故事探索记忆和创伤的黑暗边界，过程中，又透露其正直坦诚的内核，这部短篇深深打动了我，也启发我去阅读他其他的作品。
这本25年新书《Other Worlds》正收录了《Consolation》，此外还有其他一系列主题各异的短篇，共同点是“异世界”，它们都带着奇异的世界观设定——《Contrition》是穿越到七岁男孩身上的七十岁男巫，《Houyhnhnm》里的父亲养了一匹能够阅读阿西莫夫的马，《The Bridle Path》里的主角误入富豪食人族。正如结尾后记所说，Alexis在类型小说中构建异世界，用故事让读者共情儿时最困扰他的两种情绪：迷茫和怨恨，又随着人物一同得到解脱。
下面按照我对这些故事的理解，把它们分为两类再按篇目记录一下阅读感受：
一、Alexis本人的人生故事：《Contrition: An Isekai》，《Houyhnhnm》，《Consolation》
这三篇的设定和叙事都与作者本人的经历十分接近，而《Contrition》和《Consolation》分别被编排在第一篇和最后一篇，形成了一种巧妙的回环。
在《Contrition》里，一个七十岁的老男巫穿越到了七岁孩子的身体里。他有一对深爱他的父母，但，由于灵与肉的矛盾，他时常感到不适。男巫透过七岁孩子的身体观察世界，视角很像作者的另一本书《Fifteen Dogs》。另外，书中还有他一贯的，对家庭关系和道德的探讨，以及以一个非英语母语者视角对英语的凝视甚至鄙视。后者特别矛盾，我能透过角色感受到Alexis本人对英语的复杂心态——一面痛恨它，一面又被英语的美深深折服。
故事里的元素，在他以前的作品中都能找到痕迹：出轨的父亲、隐忍的母亲、知晓一切的神父。Andre Alexis写了许多个故事，但实际上他不断回溯不断重述的只有那一篇，他的人生故事。这是一件很浪漫又很悲伤的事。无论他努力多少遍，构想出何种魔法元素。已经发生的现实都不会被一本小说改变。但或许这是他为了生存作出的努力。而我尊重他的选择。
《Houyhnhnm》则虚构了一个会说话会阅读文学经典的马Xan，而且“Houyhnhnm”这个看起来像乱码的词实际上在词典里是有对应的，意思就是“文学马”。主人公的父亲很爱这匹马，临死前把马托付给主人公，而在生前，父亲更是整日与马形影不离而疏远了主人公和他的母亲——这一设定又是对作者本人童年经历的隐喻和复刻。
但比较令人惊异的是，主人公在父亲死后也跟随了父亲的脚步，和文学马关系亲密。马是他的母亲的替身。本该被他父亲爱着的他母亲，本该被他关心着的母亲：
It was only then that I began to wonder about the exact nature of Mom’s relationship with Xan, that I began to consider the intrusions of Xan into her life, that I had my first inkling of how selfish my grief had made me. And in the days that followed, I found it difficult to speak to her.
在父亲死后，他靠照顾Xan跟父亲保持着灵魂的沟通，可是母亲却一直被父子二人排除在外。这篇文章真正说的是“我”靠近父亲而疏远母亲的故事。
《Consolation》则是被包装成小说的非虚构，实际上就是作者对自己童年经历的完全描述（作者在纽约客访谈中有亲口承认），写得非常好，算是他短篇里我最喜欢的一部。
二、完全异世界：《Winter, or A Town Near Palgrave》，《A Certain Likeness》，《A Misfortune》,《The Bridle Path》，《Pu Songling: An Appreciation》
这几篇的世界观就完全异质化了，不再执着于回溯作者的个人经历，时而奇幻时而恐怖。其中，《A Certain Likeness》和《The Bridle Path》相当出彩，是整本书里情节最精彩且富有深度的两篇。
《Winter, or A Town Near Palgrave》里的主角应邀前往一个小镇，镇上的居民会在12月-3月冬眠，把自己裹入厚厚的茧中熟睡。主角负责照顾他们。故事里沉睡的冬季小镇让我想起他的长篇《Days by Moonlight》。这篇比较平淡无趣。
《A Certain Likeness》是我除了《Consolation》以外最喜欢的一篇，母亲把女儿转化为自己复仇意志的客体，可最终在遇到母亲仇人之后，对方反而帮女儿化解了她身上承载的怨恨诅咒，让她得到了解脱。故事很美，而情节的走向更折射出作者André Alexis本人解读仇恨的方式，如此正直明亮......这正是我喜欢这个作家的理由。
《The Bridle Path》有关权力和伪装，所有肮脏的秘密被利益和人情包裹，摇身一变成了一种美丽的存在。主角怨恨自己出身平民的父亲，可是到头来却发现，自己也在不知不觉中成了他父亲一样，谄媚权贵，曲意逢迎的小人。另外，这篇里还有富人把自己的孩子做成菜食用的设定，这种对现实的精妙讽喻让我感到毛骨悚然，又忍不住叫好。
《A Misfortune》之前在著名的文学期刊格兰塔上发表过，我已经读过一遍了，同样有关家族秘密和被隐瞒的主角，前半部分很精彩，循序渐进，步步为营，可惜结尾戛然而止，感觉故事才进展到1/2处却仓促结束了。
《Pu Songling: An Appreciation》的灵感显然来自《聊斋志异》，是一个巫师和他年轻学徒（白发浅肤色黑人）的故事。不过我完全没看懂。
整本书看完之后，觉得在读到新故事的同时，对作者本人又多了更多的理解。很高兴有机会在正式出版前提前阅读这本小说集！好开心！希望有更多的人能喜欢上这个作家，还希望Alexis本人笔耕不辍，继续创作好看的小说！
附中文书评：【Other Worlds：在异世界找寻故土】https://book.douban.com/review/16616775/
我第一次读André Alexis是他去年刊载在纽约客上的短篇《Consolation》，这个故事深刻震撼了我，它探讨家庭秘密，隐瞒欺骗和极致的爱（妻子对丈夫）与极致的轻视（丈夫对妻子）。读到一半，我忍不住说，这一定是作者本人亲身经历，不然他不可能写得出如此细腻的感受和人物反应。
在后记中Alexis提到，他的大部分作品都是对他儿时体验的复刻，那时他是一个迷茫的孩子，对一切困惑不解，又对发生在家庭和自己身上的不公感到怨恨不满。《Consolation》在我眼里，正是他的核心创作意图的完美体现，更是他积淀多年的成果。从开头的平淡到中部的爆发，Alexis用文字回溯了他始自童年又贯穿一生的噩梦——他父亲如何轻视他的母亲，不爱她却把她绑在身边，自己又不停地出轨。Alexis用文字和故事探索记忆和创伤的黑暗边界，过程中，又透露其正直坦诚的内核，这部短篇深深打动了我，也启发我去阅读他其他的作品。
这本25年新书《Other Worlds》正收录了《Consolation》，此外还有其他一系列主题各异的短篇，共同点是“异世界”，它们都带着奇异的世界观设定——《Contrition》是穿越到七岁男孩身上的七十岁男巫，《Houyhnhnm》里的父亲养了一匹能够阅读阿西莫夫的马，《The Bridle Path》里的主角误入富豪食人族。正如结尾后记所说，Alexis在类型小说中构建异世界，用故事让读者共情儿时最困扰他的两种情绪：迷茫和怨恨，又随着人物一同得到解脱。
下面按照我对这些故事的理解，把它们分为两类再按篇目记录一下阅读感受：
一、Alexis本人的人生故事：《Contrition: An Isekai》，《Houyhnhnm》，《Consolation》
这三篇的设定和叙事都与作者本人的经历十分接近，而《Contrition》和《Consolation》分别被编排在第一篇和最后一篇，形成了一种巧妙的回环。
在《Contrition》里，一个七十岁的老男巫穿越到了七岁孩子的身体里。他有一对深爱他的父母，但，由于灵与肉的矛盾，他时常感到不适。男巫透过七岁孩子的身体观察世界，视角很像作者的另一本书《Fifteen Dogs》。另外，书中还有他一贯的，对家庭关系和道德的探讨，以及以一个非英语母语者视角对英语的凝视甚至鄙视。后者特别矛盾，我能透过角色感受到Alexis本人对英语的复杂心态——一面痛恨它，一面又被英语的美深深折服。
故事里的元素，在他以前的作品中都能找到痕迹：出轨的父亲、隐忍的母亲、知晓一切的神父。Andre Alexis写了许多个故事，但实际上他不断回溯不断重述的只有那一篇，他的人生故事。这是一件很浪漫又很悲伤的事。无论他努力多少遍，构想出何种魔法元素。已经发生的现实都不会被一本小说改变。但或许这是他为了生存作出的努力。而我尊重他的选择。
《Houyhnhnm》则虚构了一个会说话会阅读文学经典的马Xan，而且“Houyhnhnm”这个看起来像乱码的词实际上在词典里是有对应的，意思就是“文学马”。主人公的父亲很爱这匹马，临死前把马托付给主人公，而在生前，父亲更是整日与马形影不离而疏远了主人公和他的母亲——这一设定又是对作者本人童年经历的隐喻和复刻。
但比较令人惊异的是，主人公在父亲死后也跟随了父亲的脚步，和文学马关系亲密。马是他的母亲的替身。本该被他父亲爱着的他母亲，本该被他关心着的母亲：
It was only then that I began to wonder about the exact nature of Mom’s relationship with Xan, that I began to consider the intrusions of Xan into her life, that I had my first inkling of how selfish my grief had made me. And in the days that followed, I found it difficult to speak to her.
在父亲死后，他靠照顾Xan跟父亲保持着灵魂的沟通，可是母亲却一直被父子二人排除在外。这篇文章真正说的是“我”靠近父亲而疏远母亲的故事。
《Consolation》则是被包装成小说的非虚构，实际上就是作者对自己童年经历的完全描述（作者在纽约客访谈中有亲口承认），写得非常好，算是他短篇里我最喜欢的一部。
二、完全异世界：《Winter, or A Town Near Palgrave》，《A Certain Likeness》，《A Misfortune》,《The Bridle Path》，《Pu Songling: An Appreciation》
这几篇的世界观就完全异质化了，不再执着于回溯作者的个人经历，时而奇幻时而恐怖。其中，《A Certain Likeness》和《The Bridle Path》相当出彩，是整本书里情节最精彩且富有深度的两篇。
《Winter, or A Town Near Palgrave》里的主角应邀前往一个小镇，镇上的居民会在12月-3月冬眠，把自己裹入厚厚的茧中熟睡。主角负责照顾他们。故事里沉睡的冬季小镇让我想起他的长篇《Days by Moonlight》。这篇比较平淡无趣。
《A Certain Likeness》是我除了《Consolation》以外最喜欢的一篇，母亲把女儿转化为自己复仇意志的客体，可最终在遇到母亲仇人之后，对方反而帮女儿化解了她身上承载的怨恨诅咒，让她得到了解脱。故事很美，而情节的走向更折射出作者André Alexis本人解读仇恨的方式，如此正直明亮......这正是我喜欢这个作家的理由。
《The Bridle Path》有关权力和伪装，所有肮脏的秘密被利益和人情包裹，摇身一变成了一种美丽的存在。主角怨恨自己出身平民的父亲，可是到头来却发现，自己也在不知不觉中成了他父亲一样，谄媚权贵，曲意逢迎的小人。另外，这篇里还有富人把自己的孩子做成菜食用的设定，这种对现实的精妙讽喻让我感到毛骨悚然，又忍不住叫好。
《A Misfortune》之前在著名的文学期刊格兰塔上发表过，我已经读过一遍了，同样有关家族秘密和被隐瞒的主角，前半部分很精彩，循序渐进，步步为营，可惜结尾戛然而止，感觉故事才进展到1/2处却仓促结束了。
《Pu Songling: An Appreciation》的灵感显然来自《聊斋志异》，是一个巫师和他年轻学徒（白发浅肤色黑人）的故事。不过我完全没看懂。
整本书看完之后，觉得在读到新故事的同时，对作者本人又多了更多的理解。很高兴有机会在正式出版前提前阅读这本小说集！好开心！希望有更多的人能喜欢上这个作家，还希望Alexis本人笔耕不辍，继续创作好看的小说！
July 9, 2025
Whoa. This is the best collection I've read in a very, very, very long time. Amazing range and dexterity and restraint even amid the extremes. I have been waiting ever since I heard Alexis read the astonishing "Houyhnhnm": https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
(please listen to this ASAP! What a great reader, too)
and there are tales I'll return to many times in this life. "Winter, or A Town Near Palgrave" is exceptional. The longer stories are captivating. "Consolation" could be an Alice Munro story, and "Elegy" sums it all up . . .
Most of the windows were shuttered or curtained, but one was not. And through it I saw a man and a woman, naked in the middle of what looked to be a living room.
The sight was not appealing, and I would have turned away, but I was struck by what they were doing. The man, corpulent and awkward, looking like a monstrously oversized baby, was climbing a ladder, a bale of thick rope around his forearm. Unfurling the rope, he threw the bulk of it over a beam and, coming down, gave his wife the other end, before climbing up again with another bale of rope.
How quickly one falls into other lives!
(from "Winter, or A Town Near Palgrave")
(please listen to this ASAP! What a great reader, too)
and there are tales I'll return to many times in this life. "Winter, or A Town Near Palgrave" is exceptional. The longer stories are captivating. "Consolation" could be an Alice Munro story, and "Elegy" sums it all up . . .
Most of the windows were shuttered or curtained, but one was not. And through it I saw a man and a woman, naked in the middle of what looked to be a living room.
The sight was not appealing, and I would have turned away, but I was struck by what they were doing. The man, corpulent and awkward, looking like a monstrously oversized baby, was climbing a ladder, a bale of thick rope around his forearm. Unfurling the rope, he threw the bulk of it over a beam and, coming down, gave his wife the other end, before climbing up again with another bale of rope.
How quickly one falls into other lives!
(from "Winter, or A Town Near Palgrave")
November 1, 2025
In an interview with Toronto Life, André Alexis said that the stories in this collection were written “under the sword of Damocles, which was the death of my father in 2019 and the progressive loss of my mother from dementia. They’re all elegies for the parental—what it means, how strange it is and how strong that love is.”
Those themes certainly come across clearly through these stories, but there are so many other layers to each story that it would be reductive to just say that this is a collection of stories about the nature of parenthood, or the complexities of parent-child relationships (even though that’s a true statement). This is one of those collections from which different readers will pull different meanings, at different times.
As with most short story collections, some of the stories are stronger than others; Houyhnhnm is a standout for me, as a surprisingly nuanced meditation on grief in the form of a story about a talking horse, which perhaps provides a bit of an idea of the sort of strangeness that pervades most of the stories. In fact, I’d say the weakest stories in the collection, for me, were the ones that didn’t have a fantastical element in them.
These are deceptively simple stories with a great deal of emotional depth, and you’ll likely still be thinking about them days after reading them.
Those themes certainly come across clearly through these stories, but there are so many other layers to each story that it would be reductive to just say that this is a collection of stories about the nature of parenthood, or the complexities of parent-child relationships (even though that’s a true statement). This is one of those collections from which different readers will pull different meanings, at different times.
As with most short story collections, some of the stories are stronger than others; Houyhnhnm is a standout for me, as a surprisingly nuanced meditation on grief in the form of a story about a talking horse, which perhaps provides a bit of an idea of the sort of strangeness that pervades most of the stories. In fact, I’d say the weakest stories in the collection, for me, were the ones that didn’t have a fantastical element in them.
These are deceptively simple stories with a great deal of emotional depth, and you’ll likely still be thinking about them days after reading them.
July 30, 2025
Imagine stepping into a book where every story feels like a dream you almost remember—strange, magical, and a little spooky. Other Worlds by André Alexis is a collection of nine short stories that take you to places that feel familiar but are filled with weird surprises. One story has a man who dies in Trinidad and wakes up 100 years later as a Canadian kid. Another has a town where people hibernate in giant sacks during winter. There’s even a tale about a woman who starts dating the artist who painted her mom. Each story mixes real life with fantasy, making you wonder what’s possible and what’s just plain bizarre.
Alexis doesn’t just tell cool stories—he makes you think. His characters are often confused, curious, or trying to figure out something big about themselves or the world. He uses different styles, like horror and even anime-inspired plots (like isekai), and references famous writers from the past. But the best part? He writes in a way that’s funny, deep, and sometimes a little sad, all at once. If you like stories that feel like puzzles or that make you go “wait, what just happened?”, this book is like a treasure chest of strange, thoughtful adventures.
Thank you to NetGalley and FSG Originals for this ARC!
Alexis doesn’t just tell cool stories—he makes you think. His characters are often confused, curious, or trying to figure out something big about themselves or the world. He uses different styles, like horror and even anime-inspired plots (like isekai), and references famous writers from the past. But the best part? He writes in a way that’s funny, deep, and sometimes a little sad, all at once. If you like stories that feel like puzzles or that make you go “wait, what just happened?”, this book is like a treasure chest of strange, thoughtful adventures.
Thank you to NetGalley and FSG Originals for this ARC!
October 31, 2025
Reading short stories is a very different experience than a novel. Cause usually when I find a good book I can't stop reading it until it's done, it's the only thing I can think about while I'm in the story. But this book I had to pick up and put down after each story cause I'd be uninterested in the next until I read a few pages. But that doesn't mean this wasn't a good book, it was pretty good tbh. My favorite was the first story, it made me think about people who were indigenous to their respective lands, and their perspective on Colonizers. How different it could've been if each lands people were left to it's own devices. And each story had it's own interesting device, the one with the people who hibernated all winter felt freaky, but also comforting at the same time? Towards the end it felt more introspective, less flashy storylines, more about the human condition. Which I enjoyed as well, it honestly felt like the author was writing diary entries, using these stories to flesh out thinking about aspects in his own life. I was a bit confused when many of the themes were reaccuring, it was hard to separate each story from another. But by the end I weirdly felt like I had a little understanding of the author as a person.
March 31, 2025
I’m sorry to say this was not for me. Part of the problem is Alexis’s novel “Fifteen Dogs” is such a perfect book that my expectations are very high for anything else this author writes. Specifically my problem with the stories here is the amount of exposition, which I eventually lost patience with. Okay let’s say the first story in the collection is set in a natural cadence of an older lusher style of writing that begins with a languid description of place and character. Fine, fine. But even granting its written in this style it goes on and goes on and goes on, until I was itching to get to the transition, the sentence that begins with ‘One day…’ or something like it, and the action begins. I felt the same irritable way about most of the other stories: too much explaining. That said I feel I might be an outlier here because after all what is the rush when things are so beautifully painted on the page? I’m a lout, my mind kept interrupting my reading to mutter: too many words.
August 24, 2025
Andre Alexis is a Trinidadian-Canadian writer, and although I have read several of his books, this book of short stories is the first of his writing that I have read with some stories set in Trinidad or featuring Trinidadians, and it includes the last chapter in the book, titled "An Elegy", that gives us some of Alexis' personal story growing up in Trinidad and then coming to Canada. All of his stories have premises that are "weird" (for lack of a better word) - or experimental, absurd, imaginative? Like a story about a relationship with a talking horse, or a story about a small town in Ontario where people literally cocoon for the winter. The longest story in this collection is about a Trinidadian obeah man who returns in the body of a Canadian child, 100 years after his death. I found this book slower going - it was not a quick read for me - but lots to digest and contemplate, if you don't mind the dark humour and weird angles of some of these stories.
June 4, 2025
I am a huge fan of Alexis and to my utter lack of surprise I found this short story collection a pleasure to sink into.
Told in Alexis' trademark patient style, this is the work of a sophisticated and interesting writer positing questions, working through themes and quietly entertaining.
Many of the stories feature recurring themes or characters (many lawyer sons of doctors, many unfaithful parents, many Trinidadians) but each story is distinct and unique and it was a pleasure to read them.
My particular favourites were:
A Misfortune - a woman who shot her father by accident as a child recieves a strange letter from her mother
Pu Songling: An appreciation - a master and his apprentice/mentee share stories within the story each gently examining moral weight and what consequence actions have.
They were all enjoyable and good though. I loved them a lot.
Told in Alexis' trademark patient style, this is the work of a sophisticated and interesting writer positing questions, working through themes and quietly entertaining.
Many of the stories feature recurring themes or characters (many lawyer sons of doctors, many unfaithful parents, many Trinidadians) but each story is distinct and unique and it was a pleasure to read them.
My particular favourites were:
A Misfortune - a woman who shot her father by accident as a child recieves a strange letter from her mother
Pu Songling: An appreciation - a master and his apprentice/mentee share stories within the story each gently examining moral weight and what consequence actions have.
They were all enjoyable and good though. I loved them a lot.
August 5, 2025
As a longtime André Alexis fan, I knew that I would enjoy this. Even though I am not usually a big fan of short stories, these were of course excellent and I loved the creepier ones!
A sweet quote:
“It has always seemed to me that intimacy is oddly timeless. When intimacy exists, it feels as if it had always existed, so that I’m surprised when I think that, for instance, there was a time when I did not know Xan, a time when I did not know the taste of cherries, or the sounds of New York, or the feel of snow on my eyelashes, and so on through all the small things that seem timeless before coming to an end.”
One of my favourite things about this author is the love that he has for Toronto and Ontario, and the way he communicates that love throughout his novels so beautifully that it makes me want to visit Ontario!
A sweet quote:
“It has always seemed to me that intimacy is oddly timeless. When intimacy exists, it feels as if it had always existed, so that I’m surprised when I think that, for instance, there was a time when I did not know Xan, a time when I did not know the taste of cherries, or the sounds of New York, or the feel of snow on my eyelashes, and so on through all the small things that seem timeless before coming to an end.”
One of my favourite things about this author is the love that he has for Toronto and Ontario, and the way he communicates that love throughout his novels so beautifully that it makes me want to visit Ontario!
October 11, 2025
Eh. I like this author. His work is very Murakami-like in that fantastic things happen in otherwise ordinary lives. And I liked a couple of the short stories in this book. But overall they felt more like stillborn novel ideas than true short stories. Too often the protagonist doesn’t seem changed by the weirdness or anything that happens in the story. It is more like, “this bizarre thing occurred, ended, and then my life went on.” Again, as if he started to write a novel and then realized it wasn’t going anywhere. Short stories also need to go somewhere. And to end on with a bang, not a sigh. Lotta sighs, sadly.
November 29, 2025
Andre Alexis is a genius. I loved the entire Quincunx series and I loved this book of short stories too. Not every story was a 5 star read, but this was a really strong collection so I'm giving it 5 stars overall. My favourite stories were Houyhnhmn, Winter or a Town Near Palgrave, and Pu Songling: an Appreciation. One of the things I love most about Andre Alexis's writing is the way reality becomes slippery. These are silky stories (Selkie stories?), changeling stories shot through with magic that fits seamlessly into the concrete world. There's always something of the uncanny and it's chilling and fantastic.
October 20, 2025
Other Worlds has stayed with me. In particular, the author delves into the shared experience of grief in a masterful way. The mystery of these stories is compelling. I particularly loved the stories exploring the relationship with the father figure. This was made all the more compelling for me— as for many years our family physician in Ottawa, Canada was Dr. Horace Clayton Alexis, the father of the author. Dr. Alexis saved my mother's life and was an excellent physician. I wish I had asked him more about his background in Trinidad.
June 11, 2025
I received this book for free from Goodreads.
I enjoyed all the short stories in this book. I found them very interesting and thought provoking.
I'll be reading more of this author's books!
Oh, I also noticed several times when the author gave some of the characters names that just fit the story he was telling (ex Furaha Yao, which means "their happiness" in Swahili just fit her character's actions)
I enjoyed all the short stories in this book. I found them very interesting and thought provoking.
I'll be reading more of this author's books!
Oh, I also noticed several times when the author gave some of the characters names that just fit the story he was telling (ex Furaha Yao, which means "their happiness" in Swahili just fit her character's actions)
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