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Mean
A collection of hair-raising literary short stories about crime, lowlifes, petty thieves and other characters.
A cast of puzzling, curious characters inhabits these tales by Michael Botur, a literary writer and journalist who delves into the quirky and gritty areas of our societies.
There is nothing 'ivory tower' or academic about the tales in MEAN; instead this is real people, street life, the bizarre and harsh realities of state housing, prisons, and seamy backstreets, alongside schools and childhood.
Many of these stories have been previously published in literary fiction journals and magazines, but are brought together in this collection for the first time.
A cast of puzzling, curious characters inhabits these tales by Michael Botur, a literary writer and journalist who delves into the quirky and gritty areas of our societies.
There is nothing 'ivory tower' or academic about the tales in MEAN; instead this is real people, street life, the bizarre and harsh realities of state housing, prisons, and seamy backstreets, alongside schools and childhood.
Many of these stories have been previously published in literary fiction journals and magazines, but are brought together in this collection for the first time.
204 pages, Paperback
First published July 31, 2013
5 people want to read
About the author
Michael Botur
19 books101 followersMichael Botur, born 1984 in Christchurch, New Zealand, living in Whangarei, Northland, is the author of eight short story collections, five novels, a children's book and the poetry collection 'Loudmouth: Page & Pub Poems.' He has won awards for short fiction in the US, Australia and New Zealand. Botur has published journalism in most major newspapers and magazines in New Zealand and is an emerging screenwriter.
Botur has published creative writing in most NZ literary journals, has won various prizes for short stories and poems since beginning writing in 2005 and has been included in numerous anthologies.
Botur has published news articles in VICE World News, the Listener, New Zealand Herald, Herald on Sunday, Sunday Star-Times, The Spinoff, Noted, Mana and North & South.
In 2021 Botur was the first Kiwi winner of the Australasian Horror Writers Association Short Story Award for 'Test of Death' and has been runner-up twice since.
Botur has published creative writing in most NZ literary journals, has won various prizes for short stories and poems since beginning writing in 2005 and has been included in numerous anthologies.
Botur has published news articles in VICE World News, the Listener, New Zealand Herald, Herald on Sunday, Sunday Star-Times, The Spinoff, Noted, Mana and North & South.
In 2021 Botur was the first Kiwi winner of the Australasian Horror Writers Association Short Story Award for 'Test of Death' and has been runner-up twice since.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 22, 2015
Steve Braunias writes of Mean:
“Some of the writing is first-class and all of it’s original; maybe my favourite moment was this sentence, which is impossible to improve on: “You notice straightaway how starving she looks so you have to go over there and fill her up with you.” That’s got so much going for it – the sharp observation, the way it sets up a scene, the absence of commas. It makes you want to read more. In fact there’s a moreish quality to the stories but also a lessish quality – that is, less would have been more in some cases, as in less capital letters, less slang, less blather. More action, more things happening – that’s what the stories need, I think, and less chatter.
The story I liked best was “Body Without a Head”. It told strange stories from different perspectives, and also it did away with the first-person style of most of the stories, which became irritating. This story was you inhabiting the lives and thoughts of other characters, and showed real imagination, and also a sympathy towards characters. Too often the people in the first-person stories weren’t really presented to the reader in any detail but “Body” gave the reader a real sense of the characters.”
“Some of the writing is first-class and all of it’s original; maybe my favourite moment was this sentence, which is impossible to improve on: “You notice straightaway how starving she looks so you have to go over there and fill her up with you.” That’s got so much going for it – the sharp observation, the way it sets up a scene, the absence of commas. It makes you want to read more. In fact there’s a moreish quality to the stories but also a lessish quality – that is, less would have been more in some cases, as in less capital letters, less slang, less blather. More action, more things happening – that’s what the stories need, I think, and less chatter.
The story I liked best was “Body Without a Head”. It told strange stories from different perspectives, and also it did away with the first-person style of most of the stories, which became irritating. This story was you inhabiting the lives and thoughts of other characters, and showed real imagination, and also a sympathy towards characters. Too often the people in the first-person stories weren’t really presented to the reader in any detail but “Body” gave the reader a real sense of the characters.”
December 16, 2015
I read this book with interest as Michael Botur's short stories have been widely published both in NZ and internationally.
I was not disappointed. The stories have a rawness and inventiveness that won't be everyone's cup of tea, but no reader will put down this book without being shaken to their core. From the young son in "Mr Impatient" watching his delinquent father to the subversive Justine in "U R My Goddess" you won't be able to help but feel upended by these gritty tales. This is exciting and confronting writing from an exciting new voice.
I was not disappointed. The stories have a rawness and inventiveness that won't be everyone's cup of tea, but no reader will put down this book without being shaken to their core. From the young son in "Mr Impatient" watching his delinquent father to the subversive Justine in "U R My Goddess" you won't be able to help but feel upended by these gritty tales. This is exciting and confronting writing from an exciting new voice.
April 12, 2017
Try-hard hipster racism where the author thinks he's not racist because he's being so "ironic". Eyeroll.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews