The Motion

by Lucy K. Shaw

The debut collection of short prose by Lucy K Shaw.

"There were so many layers of art upon art, everywhere. I was trying my best to ignore every one of them for a little while. But it never worked. I was always analysing from too many points of view. Always identifying intention when it didn’t have to matter."

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Poetry

78 pages, ebook

First published April 1, 2015

About the author

Lucy K Shaw is a writer and artist from the internet. She is the founding editor of Shabby Doll House and a member of Bunny Collective. She lives in Berlin.

Reviews

[Oliver Mol · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is what writing should be like, to me. This made me feel so much. It made me feel human. I already posted on Lucy's facebook about how it made me feel: crazy, sad, excited, depressed - but im reposting here because try and stop me. Try and stop Lucy from writing too because she won't. We need literature like this in this world. We need it and I need and you need it I promise. Read it and you will see you need it too x

[Sean Doyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Devoured this book on a plane while a young boy sitting next to me kept on offering me sugary treats. An incredible collection of words/thoughts/heartbeats. Have read it twice more, and the sweetness of the young boy trying to get me to help him eat an entire package of Twizzlers has stayed with me. LK Shaw is for real.

[Leesa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LIKED THIS A LOT.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in the morning. It reminded me to watch for the sunset. Even in turbulent times, we are individuals thinking and feeling. Our bodies are our boundaries for our minds. I needed this book right now.

LK reminds us that there are not always answers, but there are always sunsets and awareness that if you keep doing what you love, you will exist. LK's writing makes me feel like everything is tiny and huge at the same time.

'The satisfaction comes in the creating.'I said, thinking out loud. 'The way people perceive it is their own business. It's terrible to concern ourselves with it, as long a the work remains a compulsion.' (48)

[James Payne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear, concise prose that doesn't sacrifice complexity; stories that deftly integrate the subjective with the narrative. I valued its lack of pretension and its resistance to making the stories about the writer writing the stories.

[Susie Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is really good! I actually haven't read very much of LK's work apart from the story that appears in this collection "The British Museum". I've been meaning to tell her that I had a similar experience going thru the British Museum myself when I was last in London.. I felt like .. really captivated by that room of clocks and I also think the notion of measuring time is so weird, like why we would even as a human race start to do that is nuts. There were a lot of things in 'the Motion' that made me go YESSSS and compel me to write an eager book review about it on Goodreads.

The one thing that I wanted from this is to have been plunged more into the stories, which could just be due to the length of the book or LK's sparse writing style. But I think it is conscious, so it's not that this was a bad thing, but more that it was noticeable to me, that the prose itself is distant in some way.

It's a short collection but it is one of those ones that makes you feel vital and that things are important. To me, when a book has that effect on you it is a good book. All we can do as writers or artists is try to be memorable or make a small impact on someone for a moment, or a few more moments.

[Mellow Pages Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucy. I don't know how you did it, but I was crying this morning on the way to work, reading about life like I've never read before. I want to read this at least thirty more times before I die, and give it to at least 50 people who I care about. You're amazing. Also don't know why I'm addressing you but seems funny.

[Noura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was strange. The good kind of strange. The kind of strange I needed in my life. The oddly comforting kind of strange.

I don't know if I would have felt this way if I read it at any other time. But I didn't so for now I'll keep the oddly comforting strange memory of reading this book close by.

[Ishaq Fahim · Rating 5 out of 5]

reads the way life feels, sometimes

[Reid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely little book. I especially liked the chapter(?) "Robert Burns".

When I ordered it it came with a little hand-written post it note on the cover saying "DI4E" or maybe "D14E". I don't know what that means so I left it on for now...

[Brooks Sterritt · Rating 5 out of 5]

"To what extent can one ever really be in control of one's gmail account?"