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Fox Season: and Other Short Stories
Agnieszka Dale's characters all want to find greatness, but they realise greatness isn't their thing. But what is? And what is great anyway? In Peek-a-boo, a mother breastfeeds her child via Skype, at work. In Hello Poland, a man reunites with his daughter in a world where democracy has been replaced by user testing. In other short stories, people bow and are bowed to. They feed foxes or go fishing. They kiss the fingers of those they love while counting to ten. Dale writes about being Polish; being outside Poland; being a woman; being visible and invisible; from the East; from the West; from somewhere central. Dale’s world is an intimate kingdom. It’s a happy nation with no distinct nationality, a place where people still try, believe, or just are.
- GenresShort Stories
200 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 23, 2017
3 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
About the author
Agnieszka Dale
4 books4 followersAgnieszka Dale (née Surażyńska) is a Polish-born London-based author. Conceived in Chile.
Her stories were selected for “Tales of the Decongested" (2005), “The Fine Line Short Stories Collection” (2011) and Liars' League London (Feb 2013). Her flash fiction “Short Circuits” is published on .Cent Magazine’s website.
In 2013 she was awarded the Arts Council England TLC Free Reads Award. Her story "The Afterlife of Trees" was shortlisted for the 2014 Carve Magazine Esoteric Short Story Contest and longlisted for the Fish Short Story Prize 2014.
Her stories were selected for “Tales of the Decongested" (2005), “The Fine Line Short Stories Collection” (2011) and Liars' League London (Feb 2013). Her flash fiction “Short Circuits” is published on .Cent Magazine’s website.
In 2013 she was awarded the Arts Council England TLC Free Reads Award. Her story "The Afterlife of Trees" was shortlisted for the 2014 Carve Magazine Esoteric Short Story Contest and longlisted for the Fish Short Story Prize 2014.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 13, 2018
A phenomenal account of being an immigrant, an outsider, a person with a different perspective. A collection of stories that sometimes overlap thematically, utilising abstraction and abrupt turns to make you feel something that you wouldn't expect. All of this written in brilliant, sharp prose, full of interesting references and words that twist your mind.
I adored this book.
I adored this book.
October 7, 2022
This is not a good book, not for me anyway.
I'm not sure any of the stories have a point to them, either that or I am just missing it. I hate to stop a book midway through, I rarely do it but this was just too much, it felt like an utter waste of my time (and money for that matter).
The stories are very short, they are too short really, nothing much happens there doesn’t seem to be a beginning or an end, just a snapshot of life, it's quite abstract, we have odd settings, future scenarios, slightly surreal at times but none of it makes sense because there is not enough time (or pages) to explain anything well.
I will delete this book from my kindle and pretend it never happened. Such a shame.
0 stars for me but I don't think you can do less than 1.
I'm not sure any of the stories have a point to them, either that or I am just missing it. I hate to stop a book midway through, I rarely do it but this was just too much, it felt like an utter waste of my time (and money for that matter).
The stories are very short, they are too short really, nothing much happens there doesn’t seem to be a beginning or an end, just a snapshot of life, it's quite abstract, we have odd settings, future scenarios, slightly surreal at times but none of it makes sense because there is not enough time (or pages) to explain anything well.
I will delete this book from my kindle and pretend it never happened. Such a shame.
0 stars for me but I don't think you can do less than 1.
May 12, 2018
It’s difficult for me to review this one, because I’m not sure I have an opinion about it. It failed to touch me in any way, good or bad – I didn’t hate it, I didn’t love it. I didn’t look particularly forward to picking it up, but I also weren’t annoyed with reading it.
OK, one thing did annoy me. It was the use of ‘maybe’, which, firstly, was a bit overdone, and secondly, used mostly in such an odd way. It was placed at the end of a fair many sentences that did not seem to need a ‘maybe’, or at least the ‘maybe’ should’ve been placed differently. When I first noticed it, I thought it might be a character trait in that one story, but it kept propping up. Here are a few examples, from two different stories, just to give you an idea: “Polish jokes kept her so alert maybe” and “She was always one step away from an affair maybe.” I mean, what is that??
I did have a general feeling that the stories had something to say. They had a sense of importance to them. But I regret to say that at least 90 % of the time, I did not get their messages. Perhaps I'm not clever enough to get them. But the plots were so odd and ‘out there’ that I think the point drowned in the form, and they were way too short for my taste. I definitely enjoy longer short stories.
I’m not sure I can justify giving this collection more than 2 stars, even if I didn’t dislike it as such. But I’ve liked 3-star books a lot more than I liked this one, so there you go. Maybe 2.5, if I’m being generous.
/NK
OK, one thing did annoy me. It was the use of ‘maybe’, which, firstly, was a bit overdone, and secondly, used mostly in such an odd way. It was placed at the end of a fair many sentences that did not seem to need a ‘maybe’, or at least the ‘maybe’ should’ve been placed differently. When I first noticed it, I thought it might be a character trait in that one story, but it kept propping up. Here are a few examples, from two different stories, just to give you an idea: “Polish jokes kept her so alert maybe” and “She was always one step away from an affair maybe.” I mean, what is that??
I did have a general feeling that the stories had something to say. They had a sense of importance to them. But I regret to say that at least 90 % of the time, I did not get their messages. Perhaps I'm not clever enough to get them. But the plots were so odd and ‘out there’ that I think the point drowned in the form, and they were way too short for my taste. I definitely enjoy longer short stories.
I’m not sure I can justify giving this collection more than 2 stars, even if I didn’t dislike it as such. But I’ve liked 3-star books a lot more than I liked this one, so there you go. Maybe 2.5, if I’m being generous.
/NK
November 23, 2020
I must have missed something. I bought the book because one of the short stories was on the radio and it was weird but enjoyable. The rest were good in parts, but too dystopian for me. Some are set in a racist anti Semitic war zone of the future. How do people cop?. Sex and porn, hunger and sex, cynicism and delight in children. Well written in many ways, the stories certainly held my attention. But did I enjoy them? No. Not life enhancing unfortunately.
November 12, 2017
Very deep stories
Written with an amazing sense of self and life awareness. I could thoroughly relate to some of the characters and find humor in my own circumstances. Very well written
Written with an amazing sense of self and life awareness. I could thoroughly relate to some of the characters and find humor in my own circumstances. Very well written
July 26, 2021
A mix bag for me with, some good, some bad and some very confusing as to what is going on.
The writing is nice. I saw an interesting writing style with dialogue only.
The writing is nice. I saw an interesting writing style with dialogue only.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews