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In the Time of Foxes
‘A fox could be a shape-shifter, a spirit being. It could appear in human form if this suited its purposes; it could come and go as it pleased, play tricks, lead men astray.’
A film director in Hackney with a fox problem in her garden; an escapee from a cult in Japan; a Sydney café-owner rekindling an old flame; an English tutor who gets too close to an oligarch; a journalist on Mars, face-to-face with his fate.
The world has taught these men and women to live off their wits. They know how to play smart, but what happens when they need to be wise?
In the Time of Foxes is both compellingly readable and deeply insightful about the times in which we live, each narrative a compressed novel. With an exhilarating span of people and places, woven together by the most mercurial of animals, it shows the short story collection at its most entertaining and rewarding, and introduces Jo Lennan as a captivating new storyteller.
A film director in Hackney with a fox problem in her garden; an escapee from a cult in Japan; a Sydney café-owner rekindling an old flame; an English tutor who gets too close to an oligarch; a journalist on Mars, face-to-face with his fate.
The world has taught these men and women to live off their wits. They know how to play smart, but what happens when they need to be wise?
In the Time of Foxes is both compellingly readable and deeply insightful about the times in which we live, each narrative a compressed novel. With an exhilarating span of people and places, woven together by the most mercurial of animals, it shows the short story collection at its most entertaining and rewarding, and introduces Jo Lennan as a captivating new storyteller.
304 pages, Paperback
First published April 20, 2020
About the author
Jo Lennan
2 books6 followersJo Lennan has published short stories in Australia and the United Kingdom. She studied in Sydney, Japan and Oxford, and has worked as a lawyer and journalist. Her reportage appears in Time, the Economist, Intelligent Life and the Monthly.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
July 31, 2020
A series of short stories about life, it’s challenges and the choices we make to survive. At least, that’s my take on it. A parallel is drawn between the people featured in the stories and foxes, who have the reputation of being crafty and devious. One story – possibly the one I enjoyed the most - features a family of foxes who inhabit a London garden, but for the most part the inclusion of references to the mammal are peripheral and often somewhat abstruse.
Of the thirteen stories here I enjoyed about half of them with the remainder rather floating past me without making a significant impact. In truth, I’m already struggling to recall details of more than about half a dozen. They are set far and wide (England, Australia, Japan and Mars are all host venues) but that doesn’t really change the fact that they are all gritty, rather downbeat tales that share a similar mood and atmosphere.
I listened to an audiobook version which was very well read by actress Geraldine Hakewill. My only reservation is that with stories featuring a large cast of male and female characters and having just one reader meant that I was sometimes temporarily confused by the gender of a given character.
My thanks to Simon & Schuster Audio UK and NetGalley for providing a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
Of the thirteen stories here I enjoyed about half of them with the remainder rather floating past me without making a significant impact. In truth, I’m already struggling to recall details of more than about half a dozen. They are set far and wide (England, Australia, Japan and Mars are all host venues) but that doesn’t really change the fact that they are all gritty, rather downbeat tales that share a similar mood and atmosphere.
I listened to an audiobook version which was very well read by actress Geraldine Hakewill. My only reservation is that with stories featuring a large cast of male and female characters and having just one reader meant that I was sometimes temporarily confused by the gender of a given character.
My thanks to Simon & Schuster Audio UK and NetGalley for providing a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
July 12, 2021
This book makes for the perfect bedside table reads. As each story is between 20 and 30 pages. The theme running through the book is foxes. The first story is about a family of foxes in the garden, with comparisons made to life. I listened to the stories and had to stop when each new one began and go back to the beginning of it. I am not a short story lover as I often read a book a day and see short stories more of a coffee break or bedtime read.
The stories are very different from each other, with the fox or its traits appearing in each one. I particularly liked the ground Zero story as it had a twist I had not seen. We often don’t listen to people and miss what they are trying to say, in these sorts of situations. I had been too busy keeping my eye on the narrator of this story and done just that.
For some of the stories, I had to try to find the connection to the fox theme. In the end, I decided to just enjoy each story, and not over analyse them too much. From that point, I liked the book much more. I will look out for other books from this author. It has a good variety of stories from all over the world.
I wish to thank the publisher and Net Galley for a copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.
The stories are very different from each other, with the fox or its traits appearing in each one. I particularly liked the ground Zero story as it had a twist I had not seen. We often don’t listen to people and miss what they are trying to say, in these sorts of situations. I had been too busy keeping my eye on the narrator of this story and done just that.
For some of the stories, I had to try to find the connection to the fox theme. In the end, I decided to just enjoy each story, and not over analyse them too much. From that point, I liked the book much more. I will look out for other books from this author. It has a good variety of stories from all over the world.
I wish to thank the publisher and Net Galley for a copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.
December 21, 2020
A solid selection of short stories, all of which include at least a brief appearance or mention of a fox. Lennan writes about people on the verge of change, about complicated relationships that shift across the pages of the stories, about rivalry, mistakes and more. She tells a good story, but none of these were transcendent (I know that's a high bar, but that's what I want from a short).
March 24, 2023
This is a collection of 12 short stories from Australian author Jo Lennan, some set in Australia but the remainder set all over the world including UK, Japan and China, and even one on Mars, and in a range of time settings, including quite a few in dystopian future worlds.
I wouldn't say that this is my favourite collection of short stories and indeed none really stood out for me as one I would remember in the future. A couple that did show promise of this disappointed with an inconclusive ending that left me wanting to know more.
An interesting read nonetheless - 6.5/10.
I wouldn't say that this is my favourite collection of short stories and indeed none really stood out for me as one I would remember in the future. A couple that did show promise of this disappointed with an inconclusive ending that left me wanting to know more.
An interesting read nonetheless - 6.5/10.
June 4, 2020
'Some acts happened offstage, unseen. That was what life was like. The death of Pickles, for example. They never saw the fox, the culprit. She saw no disappearing tail, no paw prints in the gutter. And maybe it didn't matter whether they saw it or not. What did it matter what sort of fox it was, a thin fox or a fat one, good or evil or in between. Maybe what mattered was what came next, what you did about it...'
This is a compellingly readable collection of stories in which each piece follows a different storyline and set of characters. In each piece there is either an allusion to a fox or a fox directly present in a scene, and the animal is often used by the narrator as a metaphor for describing a situation. Linking short stories together in this way is a clever idea and not one I've seen before, and Lennan executes it well.
Despite the large variety of stories and the differences of the characters we follow within them, the narratives aren't fragmentary. Each story feels as if it is part of a 'whole.' It is also to Lennan's credit that there wasn't one story in this collection that I didn't enjoy. Every character was well-written, believable and, considering the short legnths of each piece, impressively fleshed out.
The sentences are short, descriptive, to the point. Lennan has a way of getting across a characters' thoughts and feelings without using dispensible or convoluted language and this helps the reader attune to the narrative voice.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable collection and I will definitely be interested to read any future works by Lennan.
I am thankful to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK to for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
This is a compellingly readable collection of stories in which each piece follows a different storyline and set of characters. In each piece there is either an allusion to a fox or a fox directly present in a scene, and the animal is often used by the narrator as a metaphor for describing a situation. Linking short stories together in this way is a clever idea and not one I've seen before, and Lennan executes it well.
Despite the large variety of stories and the differences of the characters we follow within them, the narratives aren't fragmentary. Each story feels as if it is part of a 'whole.' It is also to Lennan's credit that there wasn't one story in this collection that I didn't enjoy. Every character was well-written, believable and, considering the short legnths of each piece, impressively fleshed out.
The sentences are short, descriptive, to the point. Lennan has a way of getting across a characters' thoughts and feelings without using dispensible or convoluted language and this helps the reader attune to the narrative voice.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable collection and I will definitely be interested to read any future works by Lennan.
I am thankful to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK to for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
July 5, 2023
Manged to read half the book but couldn't go on.
Each story consists of a small part of some random persons day to day life, with no real excitement or intrigue. Each story ended before it had really began.
Each story consists of a small part of some random persons day to day life, with no real excitement or intrigue. Each story ended before it had really began.
August 27, 2022
In the Time of Foxes, as you'd probably guessed, has a running theme of foxes and the animals are often used as metaphors. This, along with the variety of settings (which span the globe and beyond); and each story managing to come to a conclusion just before a key resolution is realised by the character made each story quite fulfilling. I don't think there was a single story that I disliked.
June 2, 2020
I’ll be honest. It took me a while to pick this one up to read. I’m not sure why. Maybe it was the book cover, the broad description, or unique topic choice. Who knows, but once I did pick it up, I couldn’t put it down.
Jo Lennon is a brilliant writer. The tiniest details are delivered in sparse sentences for maximum impact. A look, a feeling, a seemingly everyday scene, is left lingering with the next chapter of each of these stories left for your own mind to ponder. I found myself taking a little break in between in story to digest before moving on.
I followed Lennon’s characters to bustling Tokyo, a back garden in London, a cafe in Sydney and an oligarch’s home in Russia. Each story is united with the theme of the fox. Are they always cunning? Or, are they just superb survivors? I loved the use of different locations and uniquely different plots. There wasn’t one story I skipped. Each story stood alone and equal to the others.
There seemed to be something else which linked these characters and that was a feeling of slight melancholy and heaviness. I can’t quite describe it, but there were a couple of characters, in particular, who stayed with me for a bit after I finished reading.
Jo Lennon has a talent for writing convincing stories in a contemporary world, highlighting the struggles we all face at different times in our lives. The only problem with this collection of short stories is that you’ll forever be wondering ‘what happened next?’ to some of the characters.
Jo Lennon is a brilliant writer. The tiniest details are delivered in sparse sentences for maximum impact. A look, a feeling, a seemingly everyday scene, is left lingering with the next chapter of each of these stories left for your own mind to ponder. I found myself taking a little break in between in story to digest before moving on.
I followed Lennon’s characters to bustling Tokyo, a back garden in London, a cafe in Sydney and an oligarch’s home in Russia. Each story is united with the theme of the fox. Are they always cunning? Or, are they just superb survivors? I loved the use of different locations and uniquely different plots. There wasn’t one story I skipped. Each story stood alone and equal to the others.
There seemed to be something else which linked these characters and that was a feeling of slight melancholy and heaviness. I can’t quite describe it, but there were a couple of characters, in particular, who stayed with me for a bit after I finished reading.
Jo Lennon has a talent for writing convincing stories in a contemporary world, highlighting the struggles we all face at different times in our lives. The only problem with this collection of short stories is that you’ll forever be wondering ‘what happened next?’ to some of the characters.
June 14, 2020
Awesome 😎
August 2, 2020
My thanks to Simon & Schuster U.K. /Scribner for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘In the Time of Foxes’ by Jo Lennan in exchange for an honest review.
Additional thanks to Simon & Schuster Audio for the companion audiobook edition also via NetGalley. It is narrated by Geraldine Hakewill with a running time of 9 hours, 54 minutes at 1x speed.
As I had both the eARC and audiobook to review, I was able to do a combined read/listen for an immersive experience.
“A kitsune could be a shapeshifter, a spirit being. It could appear in human form if this suited its purposes; it could come and go as it pleased, play tricks, lead men astray.“ - from ‘Fox Face’, on the nature of the legendary Japanese fox spirit.
Foxes find their way into each of the twelve stories of this debut collection, whether as women being described as ‘fox-faced’ and being secretly a kitsune as in the above story, as actual foxes in a London back garden or as metaphoric ones when an attractive older man is nicknamed the Silver Fox.
As foxes are depicted as tricksters the various men and women depicted within the stories have learned how to adapt to their circumstances, to be cunning, and change shape as needed. The question asked is have they also learned to be wise?
I love folklore linked to foxes as well as foxes in nature, and appreciated the fox theme running through the stories. I also enjoyed the international settings with stories being set in the U.K., Australia, Japan, and one futuristic one set on a Mars-like planet.
As with most short story collections this was an eclectic mix though overall I enjoyed all of them. The highlights for me were ‘In the Time of Foxes’, ‘Animal Behaviour’, ‘Fox Face’ and ‘Day Zero’.
Jo Lennan clearly has an excellent grasp of the short story format as for the most part these felt complete in themselves rather than leaving me wondering ‘so what happened next?’.
In terms of the audiobook this was a very pleasant listening experience. Being short stories I could choose to listen to one or two in a sitting.
Its narrator, Geraldine Hawkwill, is an Australian actress whose work I enjoyed when she played the title character in the Australian tv series, ‘Ms. Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries’. She has a light effervescent voice that was well suited to this collection. She was its reader rather than seeking to voice the various characters. Her soft Australian accent was sometimes evident especially in the stories set there.
Overall, an engaging short story collection.
Additional thanks to Simon & Schuster Audio for the companion audiobook edition also via NetGalley. It is narrated by Geraldine Hakewill with a running time of 9 hours, 54 minutes at 1x speed.
As I had both the eARC and audiobook to review, I was able to do a combined read/listen for an immersive experience.
“A kitsune could be a shapeshifter, a spirit being. It could appear in human form if this suited its purposes; it could come and go as it pleased, play tricks, lead men astray.“ - from ‘Fox Face’, on the nature of the legendary Japanese fox spirit.
Foxes find their way into each of the twelve stories of this debut collection, whether as women being described as ‘fox-faced’ and being secretly a kitsune as in the above story, as actual foxes in a London back garden or as metaphoric ones when an attractive older man is nicknamed the Silver Fox.
As foxes are depicted as tricksters the various men and women depicted within the stories have learned how to adapt to their circumstances, to be cunning, and change shape as needed. The question asked is have they also learned to be wise?
I love folklore linked to foxes as well as foxes in nature, and appreciated the fox theme running through the stories. I also enjoyed the international settings with stories being set in the U.K., Australia, Japan, and one futuristic one set on a Mars-like planet.
As with most short story collections this was an eclectic mix though overall I enjoyed all of them. The highlights for me were ‘In the Time of Foxes’, ‘Animal Behaviour’, ‘Fox Face’ and ‘Day Zero’.
Jo Lennan clearly has an excellent grasp of the short story format as for the most part these felt complete in themselves rather than leaving me wondering ‘so what happened next?’.
In terms of the audiobook this was a very pleasant listening experience. Being short stories I could choose to listen to one or two in a sitting.
Its narrator, Geraldine Hawkwill, is an Australian actress whose work I enjoyed when she played the title character in the Australian tv series, ‘Ms. Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries’. She has a light effervescent voice that was well suited to this collection. She was its reader rather than seeking to voice the various characters. Her soft Australian accent was sometimes evident especially in the stories set there.
Overall, an engaging short story collection.
August 10, 2021
Short Stories set around the world with the fox at their heart
“Foxes are misunderstood creatures… They’re not deceitful in the least. Just marvellous survivors, the way they live and thrive in the most extreme conditions..”
This is the second anthology of short stories, linked by the appearance of an animal, that I have read recently. The last was The Cat and the City by Nick Bradley, who works a calico cat into each featured story, all set around Tokyo. It’s a very appealing concept and both that novel and In the Time of Foxes have been a pleasure to read. The anticipation in each story is spotting the appearance and wondering in which of their many guises the ‘fox’ will manifest and what the chosen scenario will be.
The book opens with the story of a family on the cusp of having to depart Hackney to Sydney, where the woman’s mother is hurtling into Alzheimer dementia, and she needs to join her brother in deciding the future. Whilst the family is away, contractors come in to remove a den of foxes in an old tree stump. Are they a pest in Hackney, as one of the neighbours contests; or are the capable of adapting and surviving in the urban environment?
Then it’s back to Sydney for the second story and on to Russia and Moscow for a crazy and rather doomed love affair in the world of a small oligarch. Tokyo and Oxford each form tangible backdrops to their stories and then it’s on to surfing exploits in the Basque country, where two cousins explore their surfing options (taking along pipas on their trips – sunflower seeds – which are the snack of choice for the Spanish).
There are further locations that may prove familiar and not so familiar. The author really creates a credible and colourful backdrop for each story. Each story really truly is “a compressed novel“, short and sharp and incredibly rich in detail given the short format. An immersive collection that is sure to do well and a perfect choice for anyone who loves a good anthology of short storytelling (and for anyone who is fond of foxes and what they can symbolise).
“Foxes are misunderstood creatures… They’re not deceitful in the least. Just marvellous survivors, the way they live and thrive in the most extreme conditions..”
This is the second anthology of short stories, linked by the appearance of an animal, that I have read recently. The last was The Cat and the City by Nick Bradley, who works a calico cat into each featured story, all set around Tokyo. It’s a very appealing concept and both that novel and In the Time of Foxes have been a pleasure to read. The anticipation in each story is spotting the appearance and wondering in which of their many guises the ‘fox’ will manifest and what the chosen scenario will be.
The book opens with the story of a family on the cusp of having to depart Hackney to Sydney, where the woman’s mother is hurtling into Alzheimer dementia, and she needs to join her brother in deciding the future. Whilst the family is away, contractors come in to remove a den of foxes in an old tree stump. Are they a pest in Hackney, as one of the neighbours contests; or are the capable of adapting and surviving in the urban environment?
Then it’s back to Sydney for the second story and on to Russia and Moscow for a crazy and rather doomed love affair in the world of a small oligarch. Tokyo and Oxford each form tangible backdrops to their stories and then it’s on to surfing exploits in the Basque country, where two cousins explore their surfing options (taking along pipas on their trips – sunflower seeds – which are the snack of choice for the Spanish).
There are further locations that may prove familiar and not so familiar. The author really creates a credible and colourful backdrop for each story. Each story really truly is “a compressed novel“, short and sharp and incredibly rich in detail given the short format. An immersive collection that is sure to do well and a perfect choice for anyone who loves a good anthology of short storytelling (and for anyone who is fond of foxes and what they can symbolise).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 2, 2020
This was an interesting collection from a debut writer, with plenty of short stories I'd happily read as full novels. Overall, the collection was a little hit and miss and I'm not sure the fox thread was as present throughout as it could have been. I'd be interested to see what the author writes next.
on-hold
April 26, 2020In the time of foxes 3.5/5: 21 pages
An interesting parallel is drawn here between the narrator's decision to have workers come in and remove the foxes from her back yard and then pave over it so they won't return, and the realisation that her mother needs to go into full-time care and the narrator's childhood home must be sold.
Definitely a short and quick read at 21 pages, but there's also a lot of information given in those pages and a picture of the narrator's life well-painted for the reader. And comments on the way that sometimes we make decisions because they need to be made, and we don't realise the impact they will have on us until we have a moment to let ourselves fall apart.
The invitation /5: 25 pages
Joyride /5: 23 pages
How is your great life? /5: 19 pages
Animal Behaviour /5: 21 pages
The best left in Europe /5: 29 pages
The understudy /5: 25 pages
Unsuccessful breakup /5: 17 pages
Fox face /5: 27 pages
Catch and release /5: 21 pages
Day Zero /5: 32 pages
High country /5: 19 pages
An interesting parallel is drawn here between the narrator's decision to have workers come in and remove the foxes from her back yard and then pave over it so they won't return, and the realisation that her mother needs to go into full-time care and the narrator's childhood home must be sold.
Definitely a short and quick read at 21 pages, but there's also a lot of information given in those pages and a picture of the narrator's life well-painted for the reader. And comments on the way that sometimes we make decisions because they need to be made, and we don't realise the impact they will have on us until we have a moment to let ourselves fall apart.
The invitation /5: 25 pages
Joyride /5: 23 pages
How is your great life? /5: 19 pages
Animal Behaviour /5: 21 pages
The best left in Europe /5: 29 pages
The understudy /5: 25 pages
Unsuccessful breakup /5: 17 pages
Fox face /5: 27 pages
Catch and release /5: 21 pages
Day Zero /5: 32 pages
High country /5: 19 pages
July 2, 2023
I wish the blurb had been more accurate.
Basically, this was a collection of artsy character-driven short stories about people who as far as I can tell the author wanted to be street smart, living off their wits types. However, these characters were so poorly written it's genuinely impossible to describe them as such. All of the characters felt completely flat and I understand that it's difficult to ensure good characterisation in a 10-page short story but god I genuinely couldn't tell these people apart- they were less like characters and more like narrators: spelling out all their motives without any attempt at subtlety. Want an example? Here you go:
'As uneasy cohabitants, they staked out separate domains.'
I don't think Jo believes that her readers have the required IQ to infer things because I'm pretty sure that if she just said 'They staked out separate domains', with the context, we'd have understood why.
Oooh here's a good one:
'He had a right to be irate, she thought; she had attacked him, after all.'
YOU DON'T SAY
Oh, and just so you know, both of those quotes were taken from the same page so I'm sure you can imagine the superfluous comment to plot ratio of this book.
And as for the foxes (which, let's be honest, were the only attribute separating this book from any other 'insightful' short story collection) , I think they were supposed to be woven into the stories in a really pseudo-intellectual, on the nose kind of a way; but in most of the stories they weren't even there at all. Maybe I just missed the brief mentions of them because I was so bored I was skim reading, but even in the stories where they were mentioned, it was just that somebody had a photo of them on their wall or something like that.
Anyway, onto a whistle-stop tour of my criticisms of each story (also I only remember two characters' names so sorry about that):
IN THE TIME OF FOXES
Actually paid attention to this one, characters lacked the nuance for me to care about them, except for the mother - my primary reason for disliking her* comes from her being a raging Townie (Townies irritate me).
*That's not to say that she has nuance though, because of course she doesn't.
THE INVITATION
The 'having an affair with the scary rich guy's wife' trope is so overused and never hits right to be honest.
JOYRIDE
Would have worked better if it was a story about perceptions of others because the narrator held a really romanticised viewpoint of the woman which made her seem very caricature-ish but I think that Jo genuinely thought that she'd written a realistic character so I don't know what was going on there. Also, what was with the random Vietnam references?
HOW IS YOUR GREAT LIFE?
Genuinely don't remember what happened in this one.
ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR
One of the more interesting stories but Jo does a lot of withholding information until the end but then doesn't leave time for thought on this information which I guess is for Shock Value™ but it's not like I was invested in what was going on so it didn't work.
THE BEST LEFT IN EUROPE
I struggled to tell which cousin was which because they just read the same, and talked the same. The irony of this is at the end of the story, one cousin decided to go through some kind of personality revamp but I don't know which cousin it was so that ending was kind of nullified.
THE UNDERSTUDY
The plot of this was 'Maybe women shouldn't hate on other women so much for no reason because you never know what's going on in their lives'
Truly groundbreaking.
UNSUCCESSFUL BREAKUP
Ah yes, it's perfectly normal to invite your daughter's ex to live in your house without her knowledge, hmm yes, people would definitely do that in real life.
FOX FACE*
The cult dynamic just wasn't explained at all, like what are we talking here, are they going to hunt her down and kill her lest she spill their secrets to the world? What are the stakes!?
*This is the story the quotes I used earlier are from, by the way
CATCH AND RELEASE
What I learnt from this story:
1. If you are a lawyer, don't threaten your client because even if they've only been arrested for dealing, you never know they might actually be responsible for murder.
2. If you do threaten your client and they seem to take it badly, do not get in a car with them.
3. If you do get in a car with them, check that they do not have a knife and/or duct tape because if they do, it's likely you'll be missing the high school reunion tonight.
Also, I felt like the narrator had a backstory that seemed like it was being hinted at* but never materialised which was annoying because I was almost interested.
*For example: 'That's what people used to call him around Leyton Grange, years ago in this former life' - you can't use the phrase 'former life' and then not have an interesting backstory.
DAY ZERO
YOU CAN'T JUST RANDOMLY HAVE A STORY WITH A SCI-FI SETTING THAT CONTRIBUTES NOTHING TO THE PLOT INTO YOUR COLLECTION JUST TO MAKE IT MORE QUIRKY™ AND THEREFORE MARKETABLE*!!!!!!!
*Reading the blurb makes it sound like all the stories are going to be set in different places and time periods and we're going to be sent for a genre-hopping jape across the human psyche but in reality with the exception of this one story all the main characters are English-speaking, middle class millennials in contemporary society.
HIGH COUNTRY
Why was most of the story spent with the narrator presenting Bea as the archetypal manic-pixie-dream-girl when she was completely superfluous to the plot?
So yes, if you can't tell I detested this book and maybe that's just because being my usual psychopathic self I can never really stomach this kind of character-driven literary fiction but especially in this case where the book is so poorly written and lacking in depth. In summary, this is the kind of book that non-readers read because they think it has depth, AVOID AT ALL COSTS.
Basically, this was a collection of artsy character-driven short stories about people who as far as I can tell the author wanted to be street smart, living off their wits types. However, these characters were so poorly written it's genuinely impossible to describe them as such. All of the characters felt completely flat and I understand that it's difficult to ensure good characterisation in a 10-page short story but god I genuinely couldn't tell these people apart- they were less like characters and more like narrators: spelling out all their motives without any attempt at subtlety. Want an example? Here you go:
'As uneasy cohabitants, they staked out separate domains.'
I don't think Jo believes that her readers have the required IQ to infer things because I'm pretty sure that if she just said 'They staked out separate domains', with the context, we'd have understood why.
Oooh here's a good one:
'He had a right to be irate, she thought; she had attacked him, after all.'
YOU DON'T SAY
Oh, and just so you know, both of those quotes were taken from the same page so I'm sure you can imagine the superfluous comment to plot ratio of this book.
And as for the foxes (which, let's be honest, were the only attribute separating this book from any other 'insightful' short story collection) , I think they were supposed to be woven into the stories in a really pseudo-intellectual, on the nose kind of a way; but in most of the stories they weren't even there at all. Maybe I just missed the brief mentions of them because I was so bored I was skim reading, but even in the stories where they were mentioned, it was just that somebody had a photo of them on their wall or something like that.
Anyway, onto a whistle-stop tour of my criticisms of each story (also I only remember two characters' names so sorry about that):
IN THE TIME OF FOXES
Actually paid attention to this one, characters lacked the nuance for me to care about them, except for the mother - my primary reason for disliking her* comes from her being a raging Townie (Townies irritate me).
*That's not to say that she has nuance though, because of course she doesn't.
THE INVITATION
The 'having an affair with the scary rich guy's wife' trope is so overused and never hits right to be honest.
JOYRIDE
Would have worked better if it was a story about perceptions of others because the narrator held a really romanticised viewpoint of the woman which made her seem very caricature-ish but I think that Jo genuinely thought that she'd written a realistic character so I don't know what was going on there. Also, what was with the random Vietnam references?
HOW IS YOUR GREAT LIFE?
Genuinely don't remember what happened in this one.
ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR
One of the more interesting stories but Jo does a lot of withholding information until the end but then doesn't leave time for thought on this information which I guess is for Shock Value™ but it's not like I was invested in what was going on so it didn't work.
THE BEST LEFT IN EUROPE
I struggled to tell which cousin was which because they just read the same, and talked the same. The irony of this is at the end of the story, one cousin decided to go through some kind of personality revamp but I don't know which cousin it was so that ending was kind of nullified.
THE UNDERSTUDY
The plot of this was 'Maybe women shouldn't hate on other women so much for no reason because you never know what's going on in their lives'
Truly groundbreaking.
UNSUCCESSFUL BREAKUP
Ah yes, it's perfectly normal to invite your daughter's ex to live in your house without her knowledge, hmm yes, people would definitely do that in real life.
FOX FACE*
The cult dynamic just wasn't explained at all, like what are we talking here, are they going to hunt her down and kill her lest she spill their secrets to the world? What are the stakes!?
*This is the story the quotes I used earlier are from, by the way
CATCH AND RELEASE
What I learnt from this story:
1. If you are a lawyer, don't threaten your client because even if they've only been arrested for dealing, you never know they might actually be responsible for murder.
2. If you do threaten your client and they seem to take it badly, do not get in a car with them.
3. If you do get in a car with them, check that they do not have a knife and/or duct tape because if they do, it's likely you'll be missing the high school reunion tonight.
Also, I felt like the narrator had a backstory that seemed like it was being hinted at* but never materialised which was annoying because I was almost interested.
*For example: 'That's what people used to call him around Leyton Grange, years ago in this former life' - you can't use the phrase 'former life' and then not have an interesting backstory.
DAY ZERO
YOU CAN'T JUST RANDOMLY HAVE A STORY WITH A SCI-FI SETTING THAT CONTRIBUTES NOTHING TO THE PLOT INTO YOUR COLLECTION JUST TO MAKE IT MORE QUIRKY™ AND THEREFORE MARKETABLE*!!!!!!!
*Reading the blurb makes it sound like all the stories are going to be set in different places and time periods and we're going to be sent for a genre-hopping jape across the human psyche but in reality with the exception of this one story all the main characters are English-speaking, middle class millennials in contemporary society.
HIGH COUNTRY
Why was most of the story spent with the narrator presenting Bea as the archetypal manic-pixie-dream-girl when she was completely superfluous to the plot?
So yes, if you can't tell I detested this book and maybe that's just because being my usual psychopathic self I can never really stomach this kind of character-driven literary fiction but especially in this case where the book is so poorly written and lacking in depth. In summary, this is the kind of book that non-readers read because they think it has depth, AVOID AT ALL COSTS.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 29, 2024
I am curious as to why the author chose to write a book of short stories in correlation to foxes. Some of them had more interaction with foxes than others, some felt like little to none. I’d thought perhaps it was to educate people of foxes lifestyle and/or ways of behaviour, but after finishing the book, I wouldn’t say that was the case. Perhaps the author simply loves foxes, or I missed the link.
The writing is nice, the stories are varied and some are more of a hit than others, however, I believe that can be the outcome with short story books.
I would have liked to be more invested with the characters, as I felt with the short stories, I didn’t really get a chance to.
I give this book 1.5 stars
The writing is nice, the stories are varied and some are more of a hit than others, however, I believe that can be the outcome with short story books.
I would have liked to be more invested with the characters, as I felt with the short stories, I didn’t really get a chance to.
I give this book 1.5 stars
May 22, 2023
2.5
Note to self: look for foxes. they might help you find a job.
Note to self: look for foxes. they might help you find a job.
February 2, 2021
In the Time of Foxes (Scribner 2020) is a collection of literary short stories by author Jo Lennan. The opening story – and probably my favourite – with the same title as the anthology, is a lovely analogy about foxes and the tunnelled caverns in which they make their homes, and the increasingly absent black spaces of the elderly as age and/or dementia tunnels through their minds. It is a simple and eloquent story.
Some readers avoid short story collections because they dislike jumping from one topic to another – that feeling that you are just getting into a story and then it ends and another begins. (I’m the opposite – I love the quirkiness of short story collections that often range far and wide in content, style and form). But for those of you who might be of the former persuasion, then In the Time of Foxes might be a good bridging collection from which you start. For while each of these stories is completely different, there is a certain sameness to the writing, a consistency, a familiarity with the characters that almost makes it read like a novel.
And of course there is the theme of foxes which permeates the entire book. Every story has some reference to a fox. In the opening story, foxes are front and centre. In some of the stories they make only a passing appearance, or it is not an actual fox that is referred to, but someone of foxlike appearance, or a plant with fox in its name, or in some stories it is just the word fox used somewhere in the text, with a very tangential link. But again, this serves to collate the stories together and to bind them with a common theme.
My other favourite in this collection is Catch and Release – a meeting between a lawyer and his client that doesn’t go to plan; the rising tension and sense of impending danger is compelling.
Overall, this is a sound, strong collection that is accessible and easy to read and that covers a lot of ground while managing to keep the reader tethered. And the fox metaphor is a really nice touch.
Some readers avoid short story collections because they dislike jumping from one topic to another – that feeling that you are just getting into a story and then it ends and another begins. (I’m the opposite – I love the quirkiness of short story collections that often range far and wide in content, style and form). But for those of you who might be of the former persuasion, then In the Time of Foxes might be a good bridging collection from which you start. For while each of these stories is completely different, there is a certain sameness to the writing, a consistency, a familiarity with the characters that almost makes it read like a novel.
And of course there is the theme of foxes which permeates the entire book. Every story has some reference to a fox. In the opening story, foxes are front and centre. In some of the stories they make only a passing appearance, or it is not an actual fox that is referred to, but someone of foxlike appearance, or a plant with fox in its name, or in some stories it is just the word fox used somewhere in the text, with a very tangential link. But again, this serves to collate the stories together and to bind them with a common theme.
My other favourite in this collection is Catch and Release – a meeting between a lawyer and his client that doesn’t go to plan; the rising tension and sense of impending danger is compelling.
Overall, this is a sound, strong collection that is accessible and easy to read and that covers a lot of ground while managing to keep the reader tethered. And the fox metaphor is a really nice touch.
December 13, 2020
In the Time of Foxes - Jo Lennan
Ok so this is my first collection of short stories. When I started reading this I had no idea and assumed it was a fiction novel... Cue me doing the tiniest bit of research on the book and figuring out why it wasn’t making sense... 😂🤦♀️
I started off really struggling with this book. I couldn’t understand the many different timelines, characters, locations and the complexity of all the different storyline’s. Once I figured out it was short stories I made the decision to put it down and read a few stories in between books which ended up working really well.
Having a break and then acknowledging them as individual stories rather than chapters saved me trying to make unnecessary connections between characters and settings which were not at all connected and made me actually enjoy the book!
Overall the book is really well written and quite contemporary. Foxes make a feature in all of the stories and are usually used as clever metaphors for some sort of deeper meaning.
I think I prefer my usual method of reading novels etc. that connect and each chapter contributes to a bigger story but this was definitely an interesting reading experience very different to my usual. It’s always good to broaden our horizons! 📚
Purchased from @thecolombobookstore
#nzbookcommunity #books #booksbooksbooks #nzbookstores #nzbooksellers #readingtime #bookreview #bookrecommendations #booklover #bookreader #shortstories #collection #inthetimeoffoxes #jolennan #scribner @scribnerbooks #fiction #fictionbooks #shortstorycollection #auskiwibooksta #australianauthor #australianwriters #nzbookstagrammer #nzbookstagram #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookaddict #newzealand #chooksandbooks
Ok so this is my first collection of short stories. When I started reading this I had no idea and assumed it was a fiction novel... Cue me doing the tiniest bit of research on the book and figuring out why it wasn’t making sense... 😂🤦♀️
I started off really struggling with this book. I couldn’t understand the many different timelines, characters, locations and the complexity of all the different storyline’s. Once I figured out it was short stories I made the decision to put it down and read a few stories in between books which ended up working really well.
Having a break and then acknowledging them as individual stories rather than chapters saved me trying to make unnecessary connections between characters and settings which were not at all connected and made me actually enjoy the book!
Overall the book is really well written and quite contemporary. Foxes make a feature in all of the stories and are usually used as clever metaphors for some sort of deeper meaning.
I think I prefer my usual method of reading novels etc. that connect and each chapter contributes to a bigger story but this was definitely an interesting reading experience very different to my usual. It’s always good to broaden our horizons! 📚
Purchased from @thecolombobookstore
#nzbookcommunity #books #booksbooksbooks #nzbookstores #nzbooksellers #readingtime #bookreview #bookrecommendations #booklover #bookreader #shortstories #collection #inthetimeoffoxes #jolennan #scribner @scribnerbooks #fiction #fictionbooks #shortstorycollection #auskiwibooksta #australianauthor #australianwriters #nzbookstagrammer #nzbookstagram #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookaddict #newzealand #chooksandbooks
August 9, 2020
What an insightful collection of short stories! They cover such a range of characters, personalities and situations, some more interesting than others (depending on your personal taste and interests really, although I’d say that there ought to be something here for everyone), but all well-written, offering a brief but insightful look in the characters’ lives.
I really enjoyed probably half of the stories such as the one about the lady whose mother suffered of dementia, the one about the tense relationship between two cousins gone surfing, the story of the student hostessing in Japan, the unsuccessful break up story of the couple from
Hong Kong, the druggie teen and his lawyer- see how eclectic the topics are ?! But Jo writes them all well (even those I didn’t find that interesting) and what I perhaps loved the most about the book is the way these stories take place in different countries of the world, yet Jo describes them with such know how, as if she’s lived there her entire life!! I think that is a sign of a good storyteller.
I had the audiobook version of the book (thank you so much NetGalley!) which is narrated by Geraldine Hakewill. She has a lovely voice and accent (I believe she’s an Australian actress, but her Aussie accent doesn’t necessarily come across unless she means for it to) and it was a pleasure to listen to her in the garden on warm summer evenings. However there were a few instances where I ended up a little confused regarding who was talking when it came to dialogues as she does not act the dialogues, but simply reads them.
October 31, 2020
It was the title of this book that grabbed my attention. And there is a theme of foxes running through most (probably all, though maybe I missed it in a couple) of the short stories in this collection. I'm reviewing it weeks after reading it, which isn't ideal, but I can still recall many of the stories so I think that is testament to the strength of them. And this is a strong collection - as is often the case, there was variation in how much I liked one story to the next, but overall it was really enjoyable and Lennan is a very talented writer. She can see and show human nature really well on the page, and often in situations which are compellingly readable. A lot of these stories could have been more than shorts, and I think that is both a good and not-so-good thing. Good, because I obviously wanted to stick around for more. But not-so-good, because I often felt that the story ended before...well, before the end of the story. I know it's quite common for short stories to be left unresolved, but it happened so often in this collection that I wondered if it's because the writer didn't know how to end them. But I would love to read a novel by this author, and I would recommend this collection.
I was gifted a NetGalley version of this book by Simon and Schuster UK in return for a review. All thoughts are my own.
I was gifted a NetGalley version of this book by Simon and Schuster UK in return for a review. All thoughts are my own.
August 15, 2022
This was a pretty good debut. Though I think I struggle with getting into short stories. I prefer longer pieces of fiction. I enjoyed this, it’s quite contemporary, and foxes feature in every story and are usually used in a clever way as a metaphor for some sort of deeper meaning. I like how these stories examines human behaviour in challenging times and the effect we have on the environment. Some of my favourites are ‘Fox Face’, ‘Animal Behaviour’, ‘Day Zero’, and ‘In the Time of Foxes’.
‘Some acts happened offstage, unseen. That was what life was like. The death of Pickles, for example. They never saw the fox, the culprit. She saw no disappearing tail, no paw prints in the gutter. And maybe it didn't matter whether they saw it or not. What did it matter what sort of fox it was, a thin fox or a fat one, good or evil or in between. Maybe what mattered was what came next, what you did about it...'
‘Some acts happened offstage, unseen. That was what life was like. The death of Pickles, for example. They never saw the fox, the culprit. She saw no disappearing tail, no paw prints in the gutter. And maybe it didn't matter whether they saw it or not. What did it matter what sort of fox it was, a thin fox or a fat one, good or evil or in between. Maybe what mattered was what came next, what you did about it...'
September 27, 2020
'But I am getting ahead of things. There was a sequence of events, a progression. Or an escalation. It was one thing and then another, and another and another. Yet even then, at the start of things, I felt apprehensive, like something bad was going to happen. ' From High Country
A collection of short stories that have eclectic settings, which each have a reference to a fox. In my favourite story, 'The Invitation,' the authors intent is made clear:
''Foxes are misunderstood by humans, ' he told Paul when he saw him pausing in front of the prints. 'They're not deceitful in the least. Just marvellous survivors, the way they live and thrive in the most extreme conditions. ''
It examines human behaviour in challenging times and the effect we have on the environment. Although I overall enjoyed the read, the majority of stories evaporated from my consciousness, rather than lingered.
A collection of short stories that have eclectic settings, which each have a reference to a fox. In my favourite story, 'The Invitation,' the authors intent is made clear:
''Foxes are misunderstood by humans, ' he told Paul when he saw him pausing in front of the prints. 'They're not deceitful in the least. Just marvellous survivors, the way they live and thrive in the most extreme conditions. ''
It examines human behaviour in challenging times and the effect we have on the environment. Although I overall enjoyed the read, the majority of stories evaporated from my consciousness, rather than lingered.
December 30, 2021
Shortlisted for the fiction prize in the 2021 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards with good reason.
A collection of affecting short stories that manage to leave the reader just before a key resolution is about to be made. So you are always kept wondering or considering what the outcome could be.
All the stories are detailed and highly readable.
All focus on the human condition and the choices we make, the conscience calls.
The underlying theme is the fox creature in all different guises.
This is clever writing and quite a teasing set of stories, in that anyone of them could have been developed into a whole book. The blurb states that each narrative is a compressed novel.
As with the genre of short stories in general - I wanted the stories to go on.
This author definitely has the potential for a novel/memoir.
A collection of affecting short stories that manage to leave the reader just before a key resolution is about to be made. So you are always kept wondering or considering what the outcome could be.
All the stories are detailed and highly readable.
All focus on the human condition and the choices we make, the conscience calls.
The underlying theme is the fox creature in all different guises.
This is clever writing and quite a teasing set of stories, in that anyone of them could have been developed into a whole book. The blurb states that each narrative is a compressed novel.
As with the genre of short stories in general - I wanted the stories to go on.
This author definitely has the potential for a novel/memoir.
September 8, 2020
A series of short stories of which about half I enjoyed. The theme of the fox is the link between the stories although the mood set is quite consistent throughout each story too. The fox is an intriguing animal and one I have a slight obsession with in general. For that reason I will keep my eyes open for a hard copy of this book to dip in and out of. The settings of this collection span the globe and beyond.
The narrator was easy to listen to and the stories that didn’t grab my attention passed me by. I did have to concentrate to keep track of the narrator for each story.
My thanks to #Simon&SchusterAudioUK and #NetGalley for gifting the audiobook of #inthetimeoffoxes by #jolennan in exchange for an honest review .
The narrator was easy to listen to and the stories that didn’t grab my attention passed me by. I did have to concentrate to keep track of the narrator for each story.
My thanks to #Simon&SchusterAudioUK and #NetGalley for gifting the audiobook of #inthetimeoffoxes by #jolennan in exchange for an honest review .
September 8, 2020
A series of short stories of which about half I enjoyed. The theme of the fox is the link between the stories although the mood set is quite consistent throughout each story too. The fox is an intriguing animal and one I have a slight obsession with in general. For that reason I will keep my eyes open for a hard copy of this book to dip in and out of. The settings of this collection span the globe and beyond.
The narrator was easy to listen to and the stories that didn’t grab my attention passed me by. I did have to concentrate to keep track of the narrator for each story.
My thanks to #Simon&SchusterAudioUK and #NetGalley for gifting the audiobook of #inthetimeoffoxes by #jolennan in exchange for an honest review .
The narrator was easy to listen to and the stories that didn’t grab my attention passed me by. I did have to concentrate to keep track of the narrator for each story.
My thanks to #Simon&SchusterAudioUK and #NetGalley for gifting the audiobook of #inthetimeoffoxes by #jolennan in exchange for an honest review .
August 27, 2022
Contains: Settings that span the world and beyond, diverse characters, and clever metaphors.
Genre(s): Short Story Collection, Contemporary Fiction
Summery: An anthology of short stories with foxes as a central link.
Favourite quote/extract: " "
What I enjoyed: These were some bloody clever stories! All well rounded with an "aha!" moment of realisation for the characters that you have to pay attention for otherwise you might miss it. My applause to the author!
What I didn't enjoy: There wasn't anything I particularly disliked, but then again there wasn't anything that blew my mind either.
Official rating: 4
Reason for reading: Scribd TBR
Genre(s): Short Story Collection, Contemporary Fiction
Summery: An anthology of short stories with foxes as a central link.
Favourite quote/extract: " "
What I enjoyed: These were some bloody clever stories! All well rounded with an "aha!" moment of realisation for the characters that you have to pay attention for otherwise you might miss it. My applause to the author!
What I didn't enjoy: There wasn't anything I particularly disliked, but then again there wasn't anything that blew my mind either.
Official rating: 4
Reason for reading: Scribd TBR
July 5, 2024
This is book 6 of my 20 books of summer 2024.
This was a collection of short stories that focus on the choices that people make in life, with the use of foxes used very sparingly but quite poignantly.
As with many short story collections, some stand out more than others and for me the stories featuring the female characters were the ones that I connected with more and enjoyed. The stories focus on family relationships and the connection between humans and it was fascinating to see the different scenarios, which then all bled into the next story.
The stories take you to many countries and many different scenarios and made for a really engaging and thought provoking read.
This was a collection of short stories that focus on the choices that people make in life, with the use of foxes used very sparingly but quite poignantly.
As with many short story collections, some stand out more than others and for me the stories featuring the female characters were the ones that I connected with more and enjoyed. The stories focus on family relationships and the connection between humans and it was fascinating to see the different scenarios, which then all bled into the next story.
The stories take you to many countries and many different scenarios and made for a really engaging and thought provoking read.
August 30, 2025
Bought this randomly at a charity shop,having never heard of the author. The blurb sounded interesting though. Anyway - enjoyed it and there is a great variety in the stories. Some are modernist,Katherine Mansfield-ish stories where nothing really happens but you are taken into an ordinary life. One of them was a science fiction story. And one was a short novel in itself almost, about a teacher turning up to take over a course at a college where a student and he share a dark secret. Foxes appear - fairly randomly - in most of the stories, but they are never central. It's a sort of jokey conceit but it's fun. Well worth reading.
Read
August 10, 2020DNF at 18%
Unfortunately I don't think this was for me at all.
I didn't enjoy the story or any of the characters, I spent the whole time confused as the switching of the characters was done abruptly and I honestly struggled to care about the story.
I think short story collections just aren't for me, and this has solidified that for me.
*thank you to netgalley and Simon and Schuster UK for the eArc*
Unfortunately I don't think this was for me at all.
I didn't enjoy the story or any of the characters, I spent the whole time confused as the switching of the characters was done abruptly and I honestly struggled to care about the story.
I think short story collections just aren't for me, and this has solidified that for me.
*thank you to netgalley and Simon and Schuster UK for the eArc*
August 28, 2020
I received this on audio from Net Galley for an honest review.
The cover of this fascinated me, and the blurb just piqued my interest.
What I didn't realise going into it was that it was a collection of short stories. I always find short story collections hard to give a rating, because some will always resonate more than others. It was the same with this, some of the stories were a definite five stars, but some more a three so an overall rating of four seemed fair.
The collection covers many themes, family and loss and love. The theme of foxes runs through each connecting them.
I really liked Jo Lennan's writing style and would love to see a novel from them. It is often lyrical and descriptive but has a very human touch. The characters are what I really connected with. There were so many incredible rounded characters, which for short stories is an achievement. I kind of wish that some of these had their own longer pieces of work.
I would recommend this for anyone who wants to start out in short stories. Anyone who is interested in character drive pieces that are thought pieces more than action.
The cover of this fascinated me, and the blurb just piqued my interest.
What I didn't realise going into it was that it was a collection of short stories. I always find short story collections hard to give a rating, because some will always resonate more than others. It was the same with this, some of the stories were a definite five stars, but some more a three so an overall rating of four seemed fair.
The collection covers many themes, family and loss and love. The theme of foxes runs through each connecting them.
I really liked Jo Lennan's writing style and would love to see a novel from them. It is often lyrical and descriptive but has a very human touch. The characters are what I really connected with. There were so many incredible rounded characters, which for short stories is an achievement. I kind of wish that some of these had their own longer pieces of work.
I would recommend this for anyone who wants to start out in short stories. Anyone who is interested in character drive pieces that are thought pieces more than action.
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