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William Ottoway's Utopia
‘Dream is the new reality’ – so claims William’s friend, Henry, as the two of them seek to escape the real world for perfect, utopian life on a remote Pacific island. Together with Henry’s fiancé, Emily, they leave England behind and realise their dream away and across the ocean waves. But they have been warned, most of all by Henry’s mother, that such venture may well meet with the world’s difficulty, and soon enough there is trouble when William’s estranged brother Tom makes passage to their island paradise.
For Tom does not come alone but bears with him that piece of technology, the humble television, which has been banned outright by William from his fledgling community. As Tom starts to take charge, the appliance itself becomes idol, then god over all members of Utopia’s society and William is forced to watch as first Emily, then Henry succumbs to its lure, leaving the isle’s founder alone with its priest, Manou, to attempt to maintain order in an increasingly chaotic actuality where dream and reality not only merge but increasingly seem to cancel each other out.
Can William turn the tide of fantasy back, or will the sea that surrounds his real home bare its teeth and flood the entire enterprise?
For Tom does not come alone but bears with him that piece of technology, the humble television, which has been banned outright by William from his fledgling community. As Tom starts to take charge, the appliance itself becomes idol, then god over all members of Utopia’s society and William is forced to watch as first Emily, then Henry succumbs to its lure, leaving the isle’s founder alone with its priest, Manou, to attempt to maintain order in an increasingly chaotic actuality where dream and reality not only merge but increasingly seem to cancel each other out.
Can William turn the tide of fantasy back, or will the sea that surrounds his real home bare its teeth and flood the entire enterprise?
- GenresHistoricalFantasy
41 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 20, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 23, 2021
4 stars
This was such a different read for me. The author is obviously a gifted writer and a master in his language. The entire book is written in short syntaxes, as a poem or a play, and we, readers, need to get involved to make sense of it and fill in the gaps.
~
It took me time and effort to get into it, but once I got it, it was a pleasure to read the last stories. I am glad I didn't give up. -I almost did though, which is why I gave it four stars. :( -
~
If you want to enjoy another kind of mystery and like to feel clever at the end of a story, dive into these. You won't regret it.
*** Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, Christopher Griffith. ***
This was such a different read for me. The author is obviously a gifted writer and a master in his language. The entire book is written in short syntaxes, as a poem or a play, and we, readers, need to get involved to make sense of it and fill in the gaps.
~
It took me time and effort to get into it, but once I got it, it was a pleasure to read the last stories. I am glad I didn't give up. -I almost did though, which is why I gave it four stars. :( -
~
If you want to enjoy another kind of mystery and like to feel clever at the end of a story, dive into these. You won't regret it.
*** Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, Christopher Griffith. ***
April 12, 2021
Utopia is a place of ideal perfection and not looking for such a place would nearly be impossible. The chaotic and mundane life forces us to escape the monotony by concocting our lives in cloud-cuckoo-land. Hence, this method of escapism often helps us reset our minds and be back to the salt mines with a renewed spirit. William Ottoway’s Utopia and Other Stories is a collection of five short stories that portray the innate quest to search for peace and ease amidst the tumultuous incidents of life.
Read the complete review here:
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Read the complete review here:
https://www.aliveshadow.com/category-...
January 30, 2021
I must be brutally honest here and say that I was torn by how I was going to rate this book; I decided to go with 3 stars, and truthfully this was the generous option. I’ve don’t mean offence; it is not that I don’t rate Christopher Griffith – quite the opposite, in fact; he is clearly a tremendously gifted author, and it was for precisely this reason that I felt unable to sing the book’s praises. In short, it could have been very, very good. Paradoxically, then, this was also the very same reason that I felt it deserved the higher star rating.
I feel I should clarify. The latter couple of stories in this five-tale anthology show the sublime language and syntax of which Christopher is capable – almost melodic in its quality; were his writing like this all the way through, the book would be a shoe-in. But it isn’t; rather, the author has opted for strange, punchy narrative formatting, in single sentences almost throughout. He is clearly an intellectual and a wordsmith, of that there is no doubt, and the fact is shared explicitly, but the quickfire sentences which make up the majority of this book, often without context, may not be to all tastes. Don’t get me wrong, I like different styles and formats used within a fiction book, and I think that Christopher should have more unambiguously selected and used them, in earnest. There is the opening title story, which seems written in large parts in the style of poetic prose, and may perhaps have been better suited to commit to one style or the other. The next two tales are rich in dialogue, particularly the farce-style comedy “Break Out the Bubbly!!” which I felt might be more suitable as a stage play. I believe that a conventional choice of style for each story would have improved the book immensely.
Christopher clearly knows his classic literature, and you can definitely see homage to Shakespeare in his work, as well as Golding’s Lord of the Flies, both of which are explicitly referenced. Indeed, “William Ottoway’s Utopia” (the story) could be described as the result were Lord of the Flies written by Shakespeare in 21st century language. As it is, this and all of the tales in the book were written by a fantastic author, with good, creative stories and tremendous prose, but the lack of sentence construction and conventional formatting did not showcase his capabilities enough, and let the book down quite a lot for me.
I feel I should clarify. The latter couple of stories in this five-tale anthology show the sublime language and syntax of which Christopher is capable – almost melodic in its quality; were his writing like this all the way through, the book would be a shoe-in. But it isn’t; rather, the author has opted for strange, punchy narrative formatting, in single sentences almost throughout. He is clearly an intellectual and a wordsmith, of that there is no doubt, and the fact is shared explicitly, but the quickfire sentences which make up the majority of this book, often without context, may not be to all tastes. Don’t get me wrong, I like different styles and formats used within a fiction book, and I think that Christopher should have more unambiguously selected and used them, in earnest. There is the opening title story, which seems written in large parts in the style of poetic prose, and may perhaps have been better suited to commit to one style or the other. The next two tales are rich in dialogue, particularly the farce-style comedy “Break Out the Bubbly!!” which I felt might be more suitable as a stage play. I believe that a conventional choice of style for each story would have improved the book immensely.
Christopher clearly knows his classic literature, and you can definitely see homage to Shakespeare in his work, as well as Golding’s Lord of the Flies, both of which are explicitly referenced. Indeed, “William Ottoway’s Utopia” (the story) could be described as the result were Lord of the Flies written by Shakespeare in 21st century language. As it is, this and all of the tales in the book were written by a fantastic author, with good, creative stories and tremendous prose, but the lack of sentence construction and conventional formatting did not showcase his capabilities enough, and let the book down quite a lot for me.
March 23, 2021
This is an excellent time to begin using your imagination.
I struggled to understand “William Ottoway’s Utopia” because of how sparsely it was written. So many of the sentences in it were either fragments or extremely short, and it wasn’t always clear to me how they fit together. It would have been helpful to have more details of the plot and character development. The bits and pieces I figured out about the island and the serpent were intriguing.
The main character in “Rick with a (Bipolar) View” wondered if his Bipolar disorder was going to affect his dreams of becoming a DJ. Like the first tale in this collection, this one was also so sparsely written that I had trouble following it at times. With that being said, I liked the main character quite a bit and hoped he’d figure out a way to follow his dreams. He certainly had the determination to do so!
As soon as I began reading “Break Out the Bubbly,” I began wondering what really happened to the missing champagne in Sheila’s struggling shop. Each character had their own opinion on this matter, and some of them expressed their views sharply. The more I read, the more curious I became to figure everything out. This tale was well written and included just enough mystery elements to keep me guessing.
Mr. Griffith’s writing style worked well with the fantasy elements of “Saman’s Revenge,” especially in the beginning when the narrator observed a battalion of mythological creatures fleeing a foe too terrible to describe. There were times when the plot wandered so far away from the original theme that it took me a while to figure out how it was all connected, but I did appreciate putting the pieces together once I had more information about what was going on with the characters.
“Young Shakespeare” was a tantalizing look at what Shakespeare might have been like as a young man. There was a twist here that I can’t mention without giving away major spoilers. What I can say is that it perfectly fit the opening scene that explored Shakespeare in his youth. I smiled when I made the connection between these two things and patiently waited to learn more about it.
William Ottoway’s Utopia and Other Stories was an eclectic mixture of tales that I’d recommend to anyone who enjoys reading a little bit of everything.
I struggled to understand “William Ottoway’s Utopia” because of how sparsely it was written. So many of the sentences in it were either fragments or extremely short, and it wasn’t always clear to me how they fit together. It would have been helpful to have more details of the plot and character development. The bits and pieces I figured out about the island and the serpent were intriguing.
The main character in “Rick with a (Bipolar) View” wondered if his Bipolar disorder was going to affect his dreams of becoming a DJ. Like the first tale in this collection, this one was also so sparsely written that I had trouble following it at times. With that being said, I liked the main character quite a bit and hoped he’d figure out a way to follow his dreams. He certainly had the determination to do so!
As soon as I began reading “Break Out the Bubbly,” I began wondering what really happened to the missing champagne in Sheila’s struggling shop. Each character had their own opinion on this matter, and some of them expressed their views sharply. The more I read, the more curious I became to figure everything out. This tale was well written and included just enough mystery elements to keep me guessing.
Mr. Griffith’s writing style worked well with the fantasy elements of “Saman’s Revenge,” especially in the beginning when the narrator observed a battalion of mythological creatures fleeing a foe too terrible to describe. There were times when the plot wandered so far away from the original theme that it took me a while to figure out how it was all connected, but I did appreciate putting the pieces together once I had more information about what was going on with the characters.
“Young Shakespeare” was a tantalizing look at what Shakespeare might have been like as a young man. There was a twist here that I can’t mention without giving away major spoilers. What I can say is that it perfectly fit the opening scene that explored Shakespeare in his youth. I smiled when I made the connection between these two things and patiently waited to learn more about it.
William Ottoway’s Utopia and Other Stories was an eclectic mixture of tales that I’d recommend to anyone who enjoys reading a little bit of everything.
March 9, 2021
Every story, no matter its format, is birthed and goes through growing pains before it is unleashed into the world. Christopher Griffith freely admits these short stories are a combination of novels, poetry, scripts, and plays. What an imaginative concept. In William Ottoway's Utopia, a man dreams to escape the stresses of life and winds up in the tropics. But William's brother is also there along with the dreaded television. Is it a dream utopia or a nightmare? In Rick With a (Bipolar) View, we read about Rick and his struggle with bipolar disorder as he chases his dream of becoming a pro DJ. In Break Out the Bubbly, we discover the antics of a supermarket manager and the disappearing champagne. In Saman's Revenge, there's a miffed hero set on revenge to a goddess with a group of teenagers caught in the middle... or are they the key? In Young Shakespeare, we follow Will as he navigates London and figures out what to do with his life. Which story will you find most appealing?
William Ottoway's Utopia and Other Stories is an inventive collection of short stories I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Each story included elements of literature, poetry, and plays which made for powerful storytelling. The surprise element as each story unfolded only added to my enjoyment as I read. Never have I experienced multi-formats to tell one story before and it was an intoxicating experience. My favorite story is Young Shakespeare. Christopher Griffith's a gifted writer with a unique flair for the dramatic. He writes in such a way as to plunge the reader into the story, so they're emotionally invested without even realizing it. William Ottoway's Utopia and Other Stories is a feast for readers and one I highly recommend!
Disclaimer: I read this on Kindle Unlimited.
My Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by: Mrs. N
This review first appeared: https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/po...
William Ottoway's Utopia and Other Stories is an inventive collection of short stories I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Each story included elements of literature, poetry, and plays which made for powerful storytelling. The surprise element as each story unfolded only added to my enjoyment as I read. Never have I experienced multi-formats to tell one story before and it was an intoxicating experience. My favorite story is Young Shakespeare. Christopher Griffith's a gifted writer with a unique flair for the dramatic. He writes in such a way as to plunge the reader into the story, so they're emotionally invested without even realizing it. William Ottoway's Utopia and Other Stories is a feast for readers and one I highly recommend!
Disclaimer: I read this on Kindle Unlimited.
My Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by: Mrs. N
This review first appeared: https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/po...
February 5, 2021
William Ottoway by Christopher Griffith is a short, abstract collection of stories written in a poetic style.
There were five stories in this collection, with a writing style that got progressively better the longer I read. In fact, it was the last two stories that brought my rating up to a 3, as I didn’t enjoy the first three. I felt the earlier stories to be jarring, and “Break out the Bubbly” was a roller coaster of emotions, leaving my head spinning at the end.
But the final two stories (especially "Young Shakespeare") seem to have fixed these problems. The transitions are much better, the writing is creative, and it shows his potential as a writer. My favorite quotes are:
“What acidic precept had the nation’s womenfolk been scorched by on that accord!”
“...with the fraudulent riding crest of a foul, gluttonous wave whilst the gentle were churned over in its grim, muddy wash beneath.”
“They were purged by the very selfless and noble actions wrought to aid society.”
There were moments I enjoyed this book, but overall, it wasn’t for me.
There were five stories in this collection, with a writing style that got progressively better the longer I read. In fact, it was the last two stories that brought my rating up to a 3, as I didn’t enjoy the first three. I felt the earlier stories to be jarring, and “Break out the Bubbly” was a roller coaster of emotions, leaving my head spinning at the end.
But the final two stories (especially "Young Shakespeare") seem to have fixed these problems. The transitions are much better, the writing is creative, and it shows his potential as a writer. My favorite quotes are:
“What acidic precept had the nation’s womenfolk been scorched by on that accord!”
“...with the fraudulent riding crest of a foul, gluttonous wave whilst the gentle were churned over in its grim, muddy wash beneath.”
“They were purged by the very selfless and noble actions wrought to aid society.”
There were moments I enjoyed this book, but overall, it wasn’t for me.
February 4, 2021
William Ottoway's Utopia by Christopher Griffith is a vibrant short story collection of diverse nature showcasing different varieties of narration.
This collection contains 5 tales and I liked reading all of them. I liked this book mostly because of the assorted nature of all the stories. They all had a very different setting, characterisation, narratives, and ever time periods and crossed different realms even. Each and every one of them was very different from each other but equally good and engaging. I liked the way characters were brought to life in a fitting way and the pacing that was set by the clever use of varied types of sentence structures.
I'd recommend this book to readers of all genre especially if they like reading experimental styles of narrative prose.
You can also read this review on thereadingbud.com
This collection contains 5 tales and I liked reading all of them. I liked this book mostly because of the assorted nature of all the stories. They all had a very different setting, characterisation, narratives, and ever time periods and crossed different realms even. Each and every one of them was very different from each other but equally good and engaging. I liked the way characters were brought to life in a fitting way and the pacing that was set by the clever use of varied types of sentence structures.
I'd recommend this book to readers of all genre especially if they like reading experimental styles of narrative prose.
You can also read this review on thereadingbud.com
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews