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A Registry of My Passage upon the Earth: Stories
From the bestselling author of The Winter Soldier and The Piano Tuner, an immersive collection of connected stories charting men and women throughout history who go through crisis and epiphany as they seek deeper knowledge of the world around them.
The stories in A Registry of My Passage upon the Earth explore the quests and crises, the triumphs and doubts, of men and women who spend their lives pursuing adventure, knowledge, art, and glory—or simply relief from worldly suffering.
A doctor writes desperately to his learned colleagues, seeking a cure for the seizures during which a second, perhaps better, version of himself inhabits his body. A bare-knuckle fighter reckons with his cruelest impulses as he prepares to face his most fearsome opponent yet. And the explorer Alfred Russell Wallace shares a groundbreaking discovery with the eminent Charles Darwin, and waits anxiously for a response.
With luminous prose that vividly transports us to distant places and eras, A Registry of My Passage upon the Earth is a rich, gorgeously immersive portrayal of the endless human capacity for exploration and wonder.
The stories in A Registry of My Passage upon the Earth explore the quests and crises, the triumphs and doubts, of men and women who spend their lives pursuing adventure, knowledge, art, and glory—or simply relief from worldly suffering.
A doctor writes desperately to his learned colleagues, seeking a cure for the seizures during which a second, perhaps better, version of himself inhabits his body. A bare-knuckle fighter reckons with his cruelest impulses as he prepares to face his most fearsome opponent yet. And the explorer Alfred Russell Wallace shares a groundbreaking discovery with the eminent Charles Darwin, and waits anxiously for a response.
With luminous prose that vividly transports us to distant places and eras, A Registry of My Passage upon the Earth is a rich, gorgeously immersive portrayal of the endless human capacity for exploration and wonder.
256 pages, Paperback
First published May 5, 2020
432 people are currently reading
8070 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Mason
10 books2,219 followersDaniel Mason is a physician and author of The Piano Tuner (2002), A Far Country (2007), The Winter Soldier (2018), A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth (2020)--a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize-- and North Woods (2023). His work has been translated into 28 languages, awarded a 2021 Guggenheim Fellowship, the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, the California Book Award, the Northern California Book Award, and a Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Piano Tuner was produced as an opera by Music Theatre Wales for the Royal Opera House in London, and adapted to the stage by Lifeline Theatre in Chicago. His short stories and essays have appeared in The Atlantic, Harper’s, Zoetrope: All Story, Zyzzyva, Narrative, and Lapham’s Quarterly, and have been awarded a Pushcart Prize, a National Magazine Award and an O. Henry Prize. An assistant professor in the Stanford University Department of Psychiatry, his research and teaching interests include the subjective experience of mental illness and the influence of literature, history, and culture on the practice of medicine.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 372 reviews
April 16, 2020
It is almost unheard of me to award 5 stars to a short story collection, but Daniel Mason's marvellous 9 stories deserve every star, each a gem in my view, and so beautifully written. If, in these anxious times, you have been finding it hard to concentrate, then I would suggest that these stories are the perfect solution. Mason provides a breathtakingly disparate set of locations and immersive subject matter, managing to capture my attention, bewitch, surprise and satisfy. Without giving too much away, the stories include a balloonist, a 19th century bare knuckle fighter, a insect collector in search of a new species, a mother willing to do anything for her son amidst the dreaded smoky pollution of Victorian times, a doctor suffering from memory lapses where it appears a significantly better him emerges, a obsessive data collector and a immigrant willing to go to extreme lengths to prove just how super patriotic they are.
If you are normally wary of reading short stories, I think it would be more than worthwhile to make an exception in this case, I don't think you will regret it. There is the offbeat, the challenging, much wit, humour, compassion, sensitivity, and the original and moving. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Pan Macmillan for an ARC.
If you are normally wary of reading short stories, I think it would be more than worthwhile to make an exception in this case, I don't think you will regret it. There is the offbeat, the challenging, much wit, humour, compassion, sensitivity, and the original and moving. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Pan Macmillan for an ARC.
July 25, 2020
Daniel Mason’s collection of nine short stories that cover a range of eras and places, topics, and themes, begins with Death of a Pugilist, or The Famous Battle of Jacob Burke & Blindman McGraw which captured my attention from the first words.
Born a winter child in the Bristol slums, in the quayside heap known only as “The Rat,” Jacob Burke, who would come to battle the great McGraw on that fateful day in 1824, was a son of the stevedore Isaac Burke and the seamstress Anne Murphy.
Seventeen rounds of physical battering as this boxing match is shared so vividly, you can sense the tension, feel the sweat being slung around as bodies are battered and tossed around this ring, hear the jeers and cheers and see it all.
In The Ecstasy of Alfred Russel Wallace a British collector of fossil, flower, beetle, stone, even as a child, a story that follows his life in the Malay Archipelago. Nature filled him with an ecstasy that at times felt like lust.
Sometimes, during the night, she wakes to a presence, a creature sliding through the darkness, watching, waiting to descend. She doesn’t dare to look; to move even slightly is to risk waking the child, and it’s for him she knows the ghost has come. This story, On Growing Ferns and Other Plants in Glass Cases, in the Midst of the Smoke of London is a story of a mother and her son.
A Frenchman responsible for maintaining a lone railway station in the Amazon rainforest, with little connection to the outside world is the focus for The Line Agent Pascal. For the truth was that, however distant his colleagues were, he’d come to understand them intimately over the years, could describe each man, each station, with details he had never seen. He knows Pinto who is at Varzea Nova from his requests for medicine, knows he has a wife and daughter and that Pinto has lumbago, and similarly, he knows the men at all the stations, the ins and outs of their lives. Much like we come to know each other on social media, through the details shared over time.
In On the Cause of Winds and Waves, &c A woman, Celeste, is an aeronaute, a balloonist who writes her sister as this story begins, ”…something has driven me skyward … Even my baptismal name has felt like some hint of destiny. She shares her story of a flight where she ascends higher than anyone else had, when her eye catches a strange vision, a tear, a rent in the firmament. Her husband, Pierre, seeks to capitalize on this while scientists disbelieve, and so she is sent back up – this time with a man who is sure to be more rational, believable.
A Registry of My Passage upon the Earth is shared through letters, reports, a journal-ish sharing of a life. Beginnings. 22.December.1938 Midnight, accompanied by seven angels on clouds shaped like a stairway, they left me at the house, at the base of the walls. Sao Clemente Street.number.301.Botafogo.Rio de Janeiro, I alone with lance in hand. This is shared in a foggy dream-like, hallucinogenic quality, by a man whose attachment to reality is somewhat tenuous, shared through his writing he shows his delusions, obsessions and strangely beautiful thoughts. Here I register the 9 ways man walks toward things and the 11 ways he flees.
I haven’t covered all of the stories, there are nine in total, but all are worth reading, even if they are not equally captivating. In each story, you will find yourself in a different place, time and find yourself pulled into the life of another person, perhaps in a different place or time, but each will leave you thinking and, if you’re like me, enchanted. This was my introduction to Daniel Mason’s writing, and I look forward to reading more.
Published: 05 May 2020
Many thanks for the ARC provided by Little, Brown and Company
#ARegistryofMyPassageupontheEarth #NetGalley #JoyceCarolOatesPrize2020
June 11, 2021
“...he found himself marveling at this realization that he could live in the thoughts of another person, a realization that seemed no less a miracle than if somehow he’d been twinned.”
“Tomorrow, will he capsize us upon a deserted isle? Or return us to the softness of our earthly beds? Or will he have us float forever through his inkwell, until the final page is written and the book is closed?”
I’ve read two other books by this author. I loved “The Piano Tuner” but didn’t much care for “The Winter Soldier”. Other than the fact that the writing in all three books is beautiful and elegant, this book of short stories didn’t have much in common with the novels. These stories often have a lighter touch - some whimsy and tenderness that is not in the novels. Each of these stories is different and I think the variety is one of the things that kept me interested, even though I am not a huge fan of short stories.
Each of the protagonists in these stories has some sort of revelation or epiphany. There is some event that causes them to understand themselves, someone else or the universe just a little better. Among other characters, there’s a boxer outmatched by a Goliath, an obsessed naturalist, a balloonist who finds a truth in the sky, an immigrant finding his calling in Civil War re-enactments and a doctor meeting his better half. My least favorite was the title story, but even it wasn’t a dud. 4.5 stars
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
“Tomorrow, will he capsize us upon a deserted isle? Or return us to the softness of our earthly beds? Or will he have us float forever through his inkwell, until the final page is written and the book is closed?”
I’ve read two other books by this author. I loved “The Piano Tuner” but didn’t much care for “The Winter Soldier”. Other than the fact that the writing in all three books is beautiful and elegant, this book of short stories didn’t have much in common with the novels. These stories often have a lighter touch - some whimsy and tenderness that is not in the novels. Each of these stories is different and I think the variety is one of the things that kept me interested, even though I am not a huge fan of short stories.
Each of the protagonists in these stories has some sort of revelation or epiphany. There is some event that causes them to understand themselves, someone else or the universe just a little better. Among other characters, there’s a boxer outmatched by a Goliath, an obsessed naturalist, a balloonist who finds a truth in the sky, an immigrant finding his calling in Civil War re-enactments and a doctor meeting his better half. My least favorite was the title story, but even it wasn’t a dud. 4.5 stars
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
May 9, 2020
What to say about these stories! First of all, this collection is perhaps one of the most exciting that I’ve ever read. Each left me with a visceral reaction, not just an intellectual reaction of “well written” but a gut reaction of “wow”. While the collection is classified as fiction, the stories read as vignettes from real life, moving through history, capturing highlights of human moments on earth.
Mason moves from the life of a 19th century boxer to ancient Egypt, to the jungles of Brazil to France in the time of ballooning in the early 19th century. There is a story set in the South Pacific during the pursuit of the “reality” of evolution using a non-fictional person as lead; another where a man, a doctor, feels his life being subsumed by another (? better) man. There are magical moments, hints of (or more obvious) madness, stark reality, or perhaps alternative reality. So much to read and feel. I am writing this just after finishing the book, with the impact still resonating.
I also recommend reading the author’s afterword. It explains some things about his background that I did not know, which, I believe, are likely powerful influences on his work. It and the acknowledgments also explain the reality behind the titular final story.
Very highly recommended.
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
Mason moves from the life of a 19th century boxer to ancient Egypt, to the jungles of Brazil to France in the time of ballooning in the early 19th century. There is a story set in the South Pacific during the pursuit of the “reality” of evolution using a non-fictional person as lead; another where a man, a doctor, feels his life being subsumed by another (? better) man. There are magical moments, hints of (or more obvious) madness, stark reality, or perhaps alternative reality. So much to read and feel. I am writing this just after finishing the book, with the impact still resonating.
I also recommend reading the author’s afterword. It explains some things about his background that I did not know, which, I believe, are likely powerful influences on his work. It and the acknowledgments also explain the reality behind the titular final story.
Very highly recommended.
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
January 10, 2022
4.5ish stars.
Gorgeous prose and heaped with imagination. A running theme of survival, and leaving a legacy. Also some beautiful descriptions of nature. Favorite stories: The Line Agent Pascal, On Growing Ferns…, and The Ecstasy of Alfred Russell Wallace, although I didn’t really dislike any.
Gorgeous prose and heaped with imagination. A running theme of survival, and leaving a legacy. Also some beautiful descriptions of nature. Favorite stories: The Line Agent Pascal, On Growing Ferns…, and The Ecstasy of Alfred Russell Wallace, although I didn’t really dislike any.
May 22, 2020
This collection of short stories encompass moments in time for a variety of intriguing people within very different settings. Each one is of high quality and masterfully written, and should appeal to lovers of short stories and serve as a distraction from the troubled outside world.
These tales contain themes of obsession, compulsive behaviour, wonder, doubts and fears, epiphany, and the search for knowledge, truth and understanding.
The 9 short stories are about: a desperate mother whose son is sickened by the heavy pollution in Victorian England, a muscular young bare-knuckle fighter, a doctor suffering from memory lapses during which his body is overtaken by a better version of himself, a female balloonist who believes she sees something during an ascent which angers the scientific community, a deranged data gatherer in an asylum, an immigrant participating in civil way enactments to prove his patriotic zeal, a ruler in ancient Egypt conducting bizarre human experiments, a solitary telegraph operator in the Brazilian jungle, and an insect collector in jungles of South Asia and South seas whose theories coincide with those of the more renowned Darwin.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for this interesting and memorable ARC.
These tales contain themes of obsession, compulsive behaviour, wonder, doubts and fears, epiphany, and the search for knowledge, truth and understanding.
The 9 short stories are about: a desperate mother whose son is sickened by the heavy pollution in Victorian England, a muscular young bare-knuckle fighter, a doctor suffering from memory lapses during which his body is overtaken by a better version of himself, a female balloonist who believes she sees something during an ascent which angers the scientific community, a deranged data gatherer in an asylum, an immigrant participating in civil way enactments to prove his patriotic zeal, a ruler in ancient Egypt conducting bizarre human experiments, a solitary telegraph operator in the Brazilian jungle, and an insect collector in jungles of South Asia and South seas whose theories coincide with those of the more renowned Darwin.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for this interesting and memorable ARC.
October 10, 2020
I’m going to be honest: this was a fine collection of stories, but my overall feeling in the end is pretty “neutral”. Although I enjoyed most of the stories, none of them stuck out in particular to be elevated above the rest (including other short story collections I’ve read before).
I have to give credit to the author for the final (and my favourite story) which beautifully ties the rest of the collection together to a more cohesive whole. I know many people feel like every story in a collection should stand on their own and there doesn’t need to be a connection. I personally love when a collection is linked einer thematically, narratively or through some sort of motif, to become more then the sum of its parts. I liked the way this book approached that.
I have to give credit to the author for the final (and my favourite story) which beautifully ties the rest of the collection together to a more cohesive whole. I know many people feel like every story in a collection should stand on their own and there doesn’t need to be a connection. I personally love when a collection is linked einer thematically, narratively or through some sort of motif, to become more then the sum of its parts. I liked the way this book approached that.
May 14, 2020
Usually in a collection of short stories there are one or two that fall a little flat or which aren’t as engaging as the rest. Not so with this collection as each story offered something slightly different and had its own special appeal, whether that’s the immersive atmosphere of a period in time (such as in ‘Death of a Pugilist’) or a place (as in ‘The Ecstasy of Alfred Russell Wallace’), a quirky character (as in the Jekyll and Hyde-like ‘The Second Doctor Service’), unexpected touches of humour (as in ‘The Miraculous Discovery of Psammetichus I’) or poignant moments (as in ‘For The Union Dead’).
However, if I have to pick out a favourite it would be ‘The Line Agent Pascal’ which tells the story of the lonely existence of a telegraph operator stationed in the depths of the Amazon jungle. He maintains a connection with the outside world through the signals of his fellow operators up and down the line. Over the years, he comes to know them from small details such as requests for medication, instructions to their tailors or orders for favourite foods, until one day the absence of a message changes everything.
As you read the stories, and especially as you read the strangely compelling and poignant final story, the subtle links between them and their recurring themes become clearer: the desire to explore, the search for understanding or knowledge, the urge to record for posterity. The book had me searching for more information about many of the characters featured, as a result of which I can safely say I know more about a Brazilian who made art from found objects than I could have possibly ever imagined. Tip: search online for some images of the work of Arthur Bispo do Rosário.
As I was reading an uncorrected proof copy, I can’t share any quotations so you’ll just have to take my word for it that the book contains some superb writing. A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth is a tour de force of imagination and one of the most absorbing and satisfying short story collections I’ve ever read. Highly recommended.
However, if I have to pick out a favourite it would be ‘The Line Agent Pascal’ which tells the story of the lonely existence of a telegraph operator stationed in the depths of the Amazon jungle. He maintains a connection with the outside world through the signals of his fellow operators up and down the line. Over the years, he comes to know them from small details such as requests for medication, instructions to their tailors or orders for favourite foods, until one day the absence of a message changes everything.
As you read the stories, and especially as you read the strangely compelling and poignant final story, the subtle links between them and their recurring themes become clearer: the desire to explore, the search for understanding or knowledge, the urge to record for posterity. The book had me searching for more information about many of the characters featured, as a result of which I can safely say I know more about a Brazilian who made art from found objects than I could have possibly ever imagined. Tip: search online for some images of the work of Arthur Bispo do Rosário.
As I was reading an uncorrected proof copy, I can’t share any quotations so you’ll just have to take my word for it that the book contains some superb writing. A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth is a tour de force of imagination and one of the most absorbing and satisfying short story collections I’ve ever read. Highly recommended.
March 26, 2020
This is a collection of nine short stories. Each one takes us into an episode in the life of an individual. In the first story, a bare-knuckle fighter prepares to meet a fearsome opponent. Then Alfred Russel Wallace (not a fictional character) comes up with a theory of evolution that he wants to share with Charles Darwin. There is the story of man who takes part in American civil war re-enactments, the story of Psammetichus I (another non-fictional character) and his search for knowledge. A woman seeks a cure for her son’s breathing difficulties, a doctor has episodes when he loses time and seems to be replaced by a better version of himself, a man lives in a remote cabin monitoring a communication line, a female aeronaut discovers something amazing in the sky.
The story I mention last is the eighth story and it introduces a meta-fictional concept into the mix. I won’t explain what that is because the fun comes from putting things together. Especially when the ninth and final story unfolds based on another non-fictional character (whose influence on the book is credited in the acknowledgments).
All the stories are beautifully written. Some of them might seem a bit incomplete, but that is, I think, part of their charm. They are snapshots of lives. Some catch your attention from the get-go and the opening story is a good example. Others seem to take longer but maybe hit harder. The story of the civil war re-enactments is in this category for me: as I was reading it it felt a bit light compared with the preceding stories, but then it pivots on a few sentences and becomes a very moving story.
Due to the COVID-19 lockdown, I read this book in a single day. It is not a long book, so that is not beyond the realms of possibility even in normal life. Sometimes I find that I need to approach short story collections more slowly than that with gaps between the individual stories, but here it all seems to flow well and pull you along.
Thoroughly enjoyable and recommended.
My thanks to Pan Macmillan for an ARC via NetGalley.
The story I mention last is the eighth story and it introduces a meta-fictional concept into the mix. I won’t explain what that is because the fun comes from putting things together. Especially when the ninth and final story unfolds based on another non-fictional character (whose influence on the book is credited in the acknowledgments).
All the stories are beautifully written. Some of them might seem a bit incomplete, but that is, I think, part of their charm. They are snapshots of lives. Some catch your attention from the get-go and the opening story is a good example. Others seem to take longer but maybe hit harder. The story of the civil war re-enactments is in this category for me: as I was reading it it felt a bit light compared with the preceding stories, but then it pivots on a few sentences and becomes a very moving story.
Due to the COVID-19 lockdown, I read this book in a single day. It is not a long book, so that is not beyond the realms of possibility even in normal life. Sometimes I find that I need to approach short story collections more slowly than that with gaps between the individual stories, but here it all seems to flow well and pull you along.
Thoroughly enjoyable and recommended.
My thanks to Pan Macmillan for an ARC via NetGalley.
November 12, 2020
Nine exquisite short stories, all of them historical vignettes with a compassionately- and imaginatively-rendered protagonist (some real, some fictional) at the center of a thoroughly imagined and richly detailed landscape: ancient Egypt, 1970s San Francisco, Victorian London, the 19th-century Amazon. An immensely satisfying read, especially if I had properly paced myself to read only one story each evening.
August 19, 2025
This didn’t hit the heights of Mason’s incredible North Woods, but it is a powerful short story collection. Mason is inventive in form and structure while coating it all in some stellar writing.
There’s a story in here about a kid with uncontrolled asthma in 1800s London that really blew my socks off. It’s medicine-infused writing that is accurate in a fashion complimentary to the story rather than trying to show off esoteric knowledge. I’ll likely push it on my students.
Many of the stories follow in a similar vein: there’s a central conceptual conceit that is wrapped in evocative prose. While Mason tends to the historical, I do find that he adapts his style admirably to the demands of the story. This is to say that the voice of one story does not pervade the rest while remaining identifiably Mason.
Let this be the official upgrade: Mason is now a personal buy-on-sight author.
[4.5 stars]
There’s a story in here about a kid with uncontrolled asthma in 1800s London that really blew my socks off. It’s medicine-infused writing that is accurate in a fashion complimentary to the story rather than trying to show off esoteric knowledge. I’ll likely push it on my students.
Many of the stories follow in a similar vein: there’s a central conceptual conceit that is wrapped in evocative prose. While Mason tends to the historical, I do find that he adapts his style admirably to the demands of the story. This is to say that the voice of one story does not pervade the rest while remaining identifiably Mason.
Let this be the official upgrade: Mason is now a personal buy-on-sight author.
[4.5 stars]
June 17, 2024
Warning: do not read in bed as a means to wind down and go to sleep.
They were stories and they were relatively "short", but they were not a mindless foray into la-la land. One needed one's wits about one. This was heady stuff.
I can admire something even when I don't necessarily "enjoy" it. This might fall into that category. The author is obviously accomplished and shows a mastery of language not often seen. His characters, the events in which they participate and the voices used in the narrative are unusual. The surroundings and sense of time were robustly represented, giving the reader a strong sense of ambiance.
But (you did sense that "but" coming?)....these stories took concentration and focus and a willingness to suspend expectations, especially as one moved from one to another, uncertain the same author had created each of these very disparate tales. I confess to a bit of literary whiplash. Probably my fault, as I tend to read last thing of the day, and this is probably best consumed when one is fresher in mind. There is much to admire about the way these are written, but I can't say I enjoyed them all. Hence, 3.5 rounded down.
They were stories and they were relatively "short", but they were not a mindless foray into la-la land. One needed one's wits about one. This was heady stuff.
I can admire something even when I don't necessarily "enjoy" it. This might fall into that category. The author is obviously accomplished and shows a mastery of language not often seen. His characters, the events in which they participate and the voices used in the narrative are unusual. The surroundings and sense of time were robustly represented, giving the reader a strong sense of ambiance.
But (you did sense that "but" coming?)....these stories took concentration and focus and a willingness to suspend expectations, especially as one moved from one to another, uncertain the same author had created each of these very disparate tales. I confess to a bit of literary whiplash. Probably my fault, as I tend to read last thing of the day, and this is probably best consumed when one is fresher in mind. There is much to admire about the way these are written, but I can't say I enjoyed them all. Hence, 3.5 rounded down.
March 7, 2020
Each story in A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth is a masterpiece that vividly conveys a historical person's grappling with life's big questions. Each story transported me into a specific time and place. The characters are unforgettable.
Mason's background as a physician and psychiatry inform these stories, each character grappling with challenges biological or mental.
A reluctant pugilist, the product of the "cursed Gemini of Poverty and Fertility," dwells on the moral aspect of his trade. "You boys go out and think you are fighting a boxer but really you're fighting the world," a philosophical man shares.
Alfred Russel Wallace is driven to search for new species, imperiling his health, and independently developing a theory of evolution. I had read about his collection of birds in The Feather Thief by by Kirk Wallace Johnson.
An immigrant demonstrates extreme patriotism, chagrined that he was unable to join the army and die for his adopted country.
In the smoke-filled city of London, a mother desperately seeks a remedy for her son's asthma.
A doctor's temporary lapses in memory appears to be caused by an alternate and more appealing personality.
An agent of the telegraph line lives in isolation in the jungle, forming deep attachments to other agents along the line. This was one of my favorite stories.
A female aeronaute investigates a dark line in the upper atmosphere.
A mental patient is obsessed with collecting data--recording the history of the mundane--which he stitches onto cloth. The story is inspired by the art created by Bispo do Rosario. Voices instructed him to catalog all things on earth. His over 800 works of found art are now celebrated.
I had read Daniel Mason's novel The Winter Soldier and the story stayed in my head, a sure sign of a well-written novel.
Mason is the author of The Piano Tuner and A Far Country.
I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
Mason's background as a physician and psychiatry inform these stories, each character grappling with challenges biological or mental.
A reluctant pugilist, the product of the "cursed Gemini of Poverty and Fertility," dwells on the moral aspect of his trade. "You boys go out and think you are fighting a boxer but really you're fighting the world," a philosophical man shares.
Alfred Russel Wallace is driven to search for new species, imperiling his health, and independently developing a theory of evolution. I had read about his collection of birds in The Feather Thief by by Kirk Wallace Johnson.
An immigrant demonstrates extreme patriotism, chagrined that he was unable to join the army and die for his adopted country.
In the smoke-filled city of London, a mother desperately seeks a remedy for her son's asthma.
A doctor's temporary lapses in memory appears to be caused by an alternate and more appealing personality.
An agent of the telegraph line lives in isolation in the jungle, forming deep attachments to other agents along the line. This was one of my favorite stories.
A female aeronaute investigates a dark line in the upper atmosphere.
A mental patient is obsessed with collecting data--recording the history of the mundane--which he stitches onto cloth. The story is inspired by the art created by Bispo do Rosario. Voices instructed him to catalog all things on earth. His over 800 works of found art are now celebrated.
I had read Daniel Mason's novel The Winter Soldier and the story stayed in my head, a sure sign of a well-written novel.
Mason is the author of The Piano Tuner and A Far Country.
I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
December 9, 2020
For the most part, these nine stories washed over me without leaving much of an impression at all. Eight are historical, ranging in setting from ancient Egypt to nineteenth-century London. An underdog defeats a boxing champion, an amnesiac recounts his experiences, ferns give a clue as to how a child might be transplanted to a place with less air pollution, and a Brazilian outsider artist reflects on his incarceration in an asylum. Two are in the form of letters. Despite being long and literal in the manner of Victorian descriptions, the story titles, when I look back at them now in the table of contents, do little to spark my memory (or the imagination). My favorite story, by a mile, was “On the Cause of Winds and Waves, &c,” in which a female aeronaut tells her sister of two balloon expeditions into the skies above France and the marvelous and frightening things she saw: goshawks and sailing spiders, but then . My runner-up was the only contemporary story, “For the Union Dead,” which has a man traveling to San Francisco to sort through the belongings of his uncle, a Civil War re-enactor he barely knew.
April 15, 2020
I'm a lover of short stories, I enjoy to have just a glimpse of people lives. These lovely stories were really well written, immersive and captivating.
All the voices reflected well their times and the author provided us with great variety, some are heartbreaking and some are very funny, some characters are fictional and some are not.
Absolutely lovely read.
Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy.
All the voices reflected well their times and the author provided us with great variety, some are heartbreaking and some are very funny, some characters are fictional and some are not.
Absolutely lovely read.
Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy.
March 26, 2022
Incredible writing. Original. Painful to read. About the time I would get the feel for the story it would end. Abruptly. Most times with no ending. So glad I finished. Nothing enjoyable but appreciate the talent behind the writing.
April 1, 2020
A lyrical exploration of life on earth
A series of marvellous character studies, some being entirely fictional, while others are peopled by fictionalised historical characters.
Up first is Bristolian stevedore and pugilist, whose story, 'Death of the Pugilist, or The Famous Battle of Jacob Burke and Blindman McGraw', is told in short ‘rounds’.
Then we have naturalist and explorer Alfred Russel Wallace, in 'The Ecstasy of Alfred Russel Wallace', whose correspondence with Charles Darwin comes to an end after Wallace shares his theory on natural selection with the, now more famous, author of On the Origin of Species.
Other characters include a mother seeking a cure for her ailing son, finds inspiration in the Wardian case ('On Growing Ferns and Other Plants in Glass Cases, in the Midst of the Smoke of London'), a curious pharaoh conducting callous experiments ('The Miraculous Discovery of Psammetichus'), a solitary French stationmaster in Brazil ('The Line Agent Pascal'), a female balloonist who makes an extraordinary discovery ('On the Cause of Winds and Waves, &c.'), and the title metafictional story in homage to schizophrenic Brazilian found objects artist Arthur Bispo do Rosário.
Every story is captivating.
Mason’s lyrical prose is breathtaking. He maintains the sense of wonder throughout.
As a Bristolian lapsed plant taxonomist who loves beautiful, immersive writing, it was hard not to feel that Mason had written these stories just for me. I was enraptured from first to last.
Sublime.
My thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the ARC.
A series of marvellous character studies, some being entirely fictional, while others are peopled by fictionalised historical characters.
Up first is Bristolian stevedore and pugilist, whose story, 'Death of the Pugilist, or The Famous Battle of Jacob Burke and Blindman McGraw', is told in short ‘rounds’.
Then we have naturalist and explorer Alfred Russel Wallace, in 'The Ecstasy of Alfred Russel Wallace', whose correspondence with Charles Darwin comes to an end after Wallace shares his theory on natural selection with the, now more famous, author of On the Origin of Species.
Other characters include a mother seeking a cure for her ailing son, finds inspiration in the Wardian case ('On Growing Ferns and Other Plants in Glass Cases, in the Midst of the Smoke of London'), a curious pharaoh conducting callous experiments ('The Miraculous Discovery of Psammetichus'), a solitary French stationmaster in Brazil ('The Line Agent Pascal'), a female balloonist who makes an extraordinary discovery ('On the Cause of Winds and Waves, &c.'), and the title metafictional story in homage to schizophrenic Brazilian found objects artist Arthur Bispo do Rosário.
Every story is captivating.
Mason’s lyrical prose is breathtaking. He maintains the sense of wonder throughout.
As a Bristolian lapsed plant taxonomist who loves beautiful, immersive writing, it was hard not to feel that Mason had written these stories just for me. I was enraptured from first to last.
Sublime.
My thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the ARC.
May 3, 2021
Are we all conceived with perfect capabilities? Is what man calls Learning actually a winnowing of innate wisdom? Is it the newborn who is the true sage while the wise old man is but an illusion...? p91 from the story The Second Dr. Service
These are 9 fairly dense, quite different, complex and longish short stories. It's a good thing I persevered after giving up on the first one, which I could not finish but turned out to be the only one I disliked. Perhaps it too is a good story but The Death of a Pugilist was a real downer for me.
Sometimes the the dullness of mankind astounds me. p221 from the title story
For fans of the long short story the rest of these yield many satisfactory glimpses of distant ways of life and thought. With a little work and some perseverance, this a wonderful book.
Inside was everything that needed to be said. p210 from the title story
April 10, 2020
Miraculous Discoveries
This collection of short stories by the author of The Winter Soldier, Daniel Mason, is an absolute gem. There are nine stories, all in some way reflective of the effects of science and discovery on human life, all to some extent historical fiction based on real life events. The first in the collection, Death of the pugilist, is a no holds barred account of a famous bare knuckle boxing match in the early 1800s, full of brutality and violence, but pathos and sensitivity too. The ecstasy of Alfred Russel Wallace, focuses on the life of a ‘bug-collector’ who wanders the world classifying insects and independently of Darwin (and to Darwin’s chagrin) proposes evolutionary theory before the publication of The Origin of Species. Some of the stories are very moving – I especially enjoyed On growing ferns and other plants in glass cases, which tells the story of how far a mother will go to try to save her asthmatic son from the pollution of Victorian London. The author has this story on his website and I recommend you read it there. You will want to read all the other stories afterwards! Other stories are extremely funny: The second Doctor Service and On the causes of Winds and Waves. The title story on the Brazilian artist Arthur Bispo Do Rosario is hugely inventive and provides an uplifting finish to the collection.
This is bravura writing and quite the best collection of short stories I have read in years; there is not one which is not touched by brilliance.
This collection of short stories by the author of The Winter Soldier, Daniel Mason, is an absolute gem. There are nine stories, all in some way reflective of the effects of science and discovery on human life, all to some extent historical fiction based on real life events. The first in the collection, Death of the pugilist, is a no holds barred account of a famous bare knuckle boxing match in the early 1800s, full of brutality and violence, but pathos and sensitivity too. The ecstasy of Alfred Russel Wallace, focuses on the life of a ‘bug-collector’ who wanders the world classifying insects and independently of Darwin (and to Darwin’s chagrin) proposes evolutionary theory before the publication of The Origin of Species. Some of the stories are very moving – I especially enjoyed On growing ferns and other plants in glass cases, which tells the story of how far a mother will go to try to save her asthmatic son from the pollution of Victorian London. The author has this story on his website and I recommend you read it there. You will want to read all the other stories afterwards! Other stories are extremely funny: The second Doctor Service and On the causes of Winds and Waves. The title story on the Brazilian artist Arthur Bispo Do Rosario is hugely inventive and provides an uplifting finish to the collection.
This is bravura writing and quite the best collection of short stories I have read in years; there is not one which is not touched by brilliance.
September 1, 2020
I believe I was out of my element with some of these stories. But I was totally mesmerized by the lyrical prose, so that even when I didn't always comprehend what Mason was trying to convey, there was a certain amount of enjoyment in the reading itself. Does that make sense?
October 5, 2022
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 💫 3.75
Finalista dell’edizione 2021 del Premio Pulitzer insieme a Telefono di Percival Everett (che ho trovato gradevole ma nulla di più) e Il guardiano notturno di Louise Erdrich, poi vincitore che mi ha deluso abbondantemente, Resoconto del mio passaggio sulla terra è una raccolta di 9 racconti pubblicati in varie testate in diversi periodi della vita dell’autore.
Sono stato molto attirato dal fatto che Daniel Mason, californiano di Palo Alto, ha una curiosa doppia laurea: Biologia alla Harvard University e Medicina alla University of California di San Francisco e affianca l’attività di psichiatra allo Stanford Hospital all’insegnamento (letteratura alla Stanford Universiy) insomma una personalità dagli interessi poliedrici che come emerge da questo libro ha influenza notevole nella sua produzione.
Devo ammettere che come spesso avviene nelle raccolte di racconti ce ne sono stati alcuni che mi hanno colpito molto e altri che obiettivamente funzionano meno, ma credo sia anche dovuto al fatto che siano stati scritti in un periodo di non ancora raggiunta maturità letteraria.
Ho apprezzato molto l’argomento medico-biologico che pervade la pressoché totalità dei racconti e le inconsuete epoche storiche in cui essi sono ambientati (che io ricordi nessuno si svolge nel presente in cui viviamo) oltre che le diverse collocazioni geografiche: l’antico Egitto, la Londra di fine Ottocento, il Brasile del secondo Novecento, l’Irlanda del primo ‘800.
Per non parlare delle curiose oltre che strambe personalità che popolano i racconti: un faraone egizio che per soddisfare la sua sete di sapere fa crudeli esperimenti su innocenti bambini, una giovane donna che si avventura in un lungo viaggio in mongolfiera (ho sempre adorato le mongolfiere), un telegrafista che trascorre le giornate in solitaria nelle foresta amazzonica, un artista schizofrenico - realmente esistito - che vive in un'istituzione psichiatrica a Rio de Janeiro per 50 anni, dove crea opere d'arte con oggetti trovati, come parte di una "missione divina".
Un libro che trasuda curiosità per il mondo che ci circonda (e che ci ha circondato) e amore per la vita in tutte le sue manifestazioni. Mi sono molto sentito affine agli interessi dell’autore e alla sua personalità!
Daniel, I hope I have the honor of meeting you one day!
Ps: ho adorato il progetto grafico di copertina che raffigura uno scorcio del 1908 di St Paul - una delle città gemelle- in Minnesota!
Prima che se ne andasse, ci sedemmo fra le mie rappresentazioni.
Dissi, forse sono abbastanza vecchio per rallentare. Disse, penso che tu abbia registrato tutto.
Dissi, Tutto, sì, penso che il mio lavoro sia quasi finito. Disse, potresti cominciare da capo.
Come se fossi nuovo, dissi.
Disse, Come se fossi tornato bambino.
Dissi, Non sono più così indaffarato.
Disse, Hai tempo. Cosa vuoi di più? Hai il mondo, Arthur.
Dissi, Madre. Moglie. Famiglia. Casa. Lei non disse nulla. Una quiete scese sul suo viso, come la quiete che c'era In Principio e Alla Fine. E in quella quiete vidi Tristezza.Amore. Gioia. Compimento.
Finalista dell’edizione 2021 del Premio Pulitzer insieme a Telefono di Percival Everett (che ho trovato gradevole ma nulla di più) e Il guardiano notturno di Louise Erdrich, poi vincitore che mi ha deluso abbondantemente, Resoconto del mio passaggio sulla terra è una raccolta di 9 racconti pubblicati in varie testate in diversi periodi della vita dell’autore.
Sono stato molto attirato dal fatto che Daniel Mason, californiano di Palo Alto, ha una curiosa doppia laurea: Biologia alla Harvard University e Medicina alla University of California di San Francisco e affianca l’attività di psichiatra allo Stanford Hospital all’insegnamento (letteratura alla Stanford Universiy) insomma una personalità dagli interessi poliedrici che come emerge da questo libro ha influenza notevole nella sua produzione.
Devo ammettere che come spesso avviene nelle raccolte di racconti ce ne sono stati alcuni che mi hanno colpito molto e altri che obiettivamente funzionano meno, ma credo sia anche dovuto al fatto che siano stati scritti in un periodo di non ancora raggiunta maturità letteraria.
Ho apprezzato molto l’argomento medico-biologico che pervade la pressoché totalità dei racconti e le inconsuete epoche storiche in cui essi sono ambientati (che io ricordi nessuno si svolge nel presente in cui viviamo) oltre che le diverse collocazioni geografiche: l’antico Egitto, la Londra di fine Ottocento, il Brasile del secondo Novecento, l’Irlanda del primo ‘800.
Per non parlare delle curiose oltre che strambe personalità che popolano i racconti: un faraone egizio che per soddisfare la sua sete di sapere fa crudeli esperimenti su innocenti bambini, una giovane donna che si avventura in un lungo viaggio in mongolfiera (ho sempre adorato le mongolfiere), un telegrafista che trascorre le giornate in solitaria nelle foresta amazzonica, un artista schizofrenico - realmente esistito - che vive in un'istituzione psichiatrica a Rio de Janeiro per 50 anni, dove crea opere d'arte con oggetti trovati, come parte di una "missione divina".
Un libro che trasuda curiosità per il mondo che ci circonda (e che ci ha circondato) e amore per la vita in tutte le sue manifestazioni. Mi sono molto sentito affine agli interessi dell’autore e alla sua personalità!
Daniel, I hope I have the honor of meeting you one day!
Ps: ho adorato il progetto grafico di copertina che raffigura uno scorcio del 1908 di St Paul - una delle città gemelle- in Minnesota!
Prima che se ne andasse, ci sedemmo fra le mie rappresentazioni.
Dissi, forse sono abbastanza vecchio per rallentare. Disse, penso che tu abbia registrato tutto.
Dissi, Tutto, sì, penso che il mio lavoro sia quasi finito. Disse, potresti cominciare da capo.
Come se fossi nuovo, dissi.
Disse, Come se fossi tornato bambino.
Dissi, Non sono più così indaffarato.
Disse, Hai tempo. Cosa vuoi di più? Hai il mondo, Arthur.
Dissi, Madre. Moglie. Famiglia. Casa. Lei non disse nulla. Una quiete scese sul suo viso, come la quiete che c'era In Principio e Alla Fine. E in quella quiete vidi Tristezza.Amore. Gioia. Compimento.
July 12, 2021
I felt that the quality of this story collection, a runner-up in 2021 for the 2020 Pulitzer, was uneven. There was a high degree of creativity here as the author tries many different voices and several different narrative techniques across several disparate time periods, but none of the stories grabbed me (certainly not like those in The Secret Lives of Church Ladies or The Office of Historical Corrections). I was totally on board with their selection of The Night Watchman for the big prize, but not so in agreement over the two runnerups, this one and Telephone.
May 25, 2020
This writer's intelligence and artistry is extraordinary. Not only is this book beautifully written, the stories are wonderfully unusual. I expect to read these stories many times as well as anything this person writes. Wow!
February 26, 2021
4,25
I loved it! This guy can write!
Some of these stories sounded as if Borges had written a piece on Alexander Von Humboldt or Alan Turing.
Looking forward to his next collection of short stories
I loved it! This guy can write!
Some of these stories sounded as if Borges had written a piece on Alexander Von Humboldt or Alan Turing.
Looking forward to his next collection of short stories
October 27, 2020
A triumph of homage…
A collection of short stories linked by subject matter and style rather than through the characters, this is a wonderful homage to the science fiction of the late 19th/early 20th century. There are nine stories in all, and I gave six of them five stars, two got four, and only the last story in the book, which I freely admit I didn’t understand, let it down a little for me at the end. But not enough to spoil my overall enjoyment – some of these stories are brilliant and the quality of the writing is superb.
I love early science fiction, books from the colonial era, and stories set in fog-bound, sooty old London, and Mason manages to tick all those boxes in this slim collection, so I think it’s fair to say I was destined to love it. It could all have gone horribly wrong though if he’d got the style wrong or dragged in accidental anachronisms. Fortunately, he does an amazing job at catching just the right tone, and I could imagine HG Wells and the lads nodding enthusiastically over his shoulder while he was writing. That’s not to say the stories feel old-fashioned or dated, though. Mason looks at the subjects he chooses with a modern eye, but includes those observations so subtly it becomes part of the style. So the anachronisms that are there are quite intentional and disguised so beautifully that they’re barely noticeable, except in the way that they make the subject matter resonate with a modern reader. In short, what I’m attempting – badly – to say is that there’s no need to have read any early science fiction to enjoy the stories – they work twice, as a homage as I’ve said, but as a fully relevant modern collection too.
Here’s a flavour of a few of the stories I loved most:
The Ecstasy of Alfred Russell Wallace – Wallace is a collector of bugs and birds and animals, which he sends home for the many scientists studying such things. During a fever, he has an epiphany and realises that living things evolve to survive. He writes to a scientist he knows vaguely – Charles Darwin – and waits for a reply. And waits. And waits. And gradually he begins to doubt himself, and to doubt the scientific community, fearing they will take his idea for their own since he isn’t one of them and doesn’t deserve recognition. This reads so much like a true story I looked it up, and Wallace did indeed exist, although his real story seems to be rather different than the story Mason gives us. It’s truly excellent, full of insight into how the scientific world worked in that era.
On Growing Ferns and Other Plants in Glass Cases in the Midst of the Smoke of London (Phew! He likes his long titles!) - This is the story of an asthmatic child and his anxious mother, and the lengths to which she will go to save his life. Mason gives a superb depiction of nineteenth century sooty London, industrialized and choking. Also of medicine, at a time when the treatment was often worse than the disease. It has a wonderful science fiction element to it which I won’t explain for fear of spoilers, but it’s a fabulous story that brought the tears to my eyes at the end.
The Line Agent Pascal – a story set in colonial Brazil. Pascal is one of the agents who live along the communications line that crosses the country, each many, many miles from the next along. Every morning, a signal is sent from head office and each agent confirms in turn that the line is working. But one day, one of the agents doesn’t respond. This is a great character study of Pascal, a man who struggles to fit in with other people, so his solitary posting suits him perfectly despite the dangers lurking in the forest around his station. But he has grown to think of the other men along the line as some kind of friends despite never having met them. The colonial setting is great, with the feeling of loneliness and constant danger from nature or the displaced indigenous people. Worthy of Conrad, and in fact reminded me not a little of the setting in his story, An Outpost of Progress, though the story (and the continent!) is entirely different.
On the Cause of Winds and Waves, &c. - The story of a female aéronaute – a balloonist – whose exploits have made her famous. But when one day she sees an odd rift in the sky she discovers that her gender and class mean that the scientific community not only don’t take her seriously but actually ridicule and humiliate her. So she sets out to prove her story true, taking along a witness. Another science fiction one, but with a delightful quirk that takes it into the realms of metafiction.
So plenty of variety linked, as I said at the beginning, by style, subject matter and wonderful writing. A great collection – highly recommended.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Mantle at Pan Macmillan.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
A collection of short stories linked by subject matter and style rather than through the characters, this is a wonderful homage to the science fiction of the late 19th/early 20th century. There are nine stories in all, and I gave six of them five stars, two got four, and only the last story in the book, which I freely admit I didn’t understand, let it down a little for me at the end. But not enough to spoil my overall enjoyment – some of these stories are brilliant and the quality of the writing is superb.
I love early science fiction, books from the colonial era, and stories set in fog-bound, sooty old London, and Mason manages to tick all those boxes in this slim collection, so I think it’s fair to say I was destined to love it. It could all have gone horribly wrong though if he’d got the style wrong or dragged in accidental anachronisms. Fortunately, he does an amazing job at catching just the right tone, and I could imagine HG Wells and the lads nodding enthusiastically over his shoulder while he was writing. That’s not to say the stories feel old-fashioned or dated, though. Mason looks at the subjects he chooses with a modern eye, but includes those observations so subtly it becomes part of the style. So the anachronisms that are there are quite intentional and disguised so beautifully that they’re barely noticeable, except in the way that they make the subject matter resonate with a modern reader. In short, what I’m attempting – badly – to say is that there’s no need to have read any early science fiction to enjoy the stories – they work twice, as a homage as I’ve said, but as a fully relevant modern collection too.
Here’s a flavour of a few of the stories I loved most:
The Ecstasy of Alfred Russell Wallace – Wallace is a collector of bugs and birds and animals, which he sends home for the many scientists studying such things. During a fever, he has an epiphany and realises that living things evolve to survive. He writes to a scientist he knows vaguely – Charles Darwin – and waits for a reply. And waits. And waits. And gradually he begins to doubt himself, and to doubt the scientific community, fearing they will take his idea for their own since he isn’t one of them and doesn’t deserve recognition. This reads so much like a true story I looked it up, and Wallace did indeed exist, although his real story seems to be rather different than the story Mason gives us. It’s truly excellent, full of insight into how the scientific world worked in that era.
On Growing Ferns and Other Plants in Glass Cases in the Midst of the Smoke of London (Phew! He likes his long titles!) - This is the story of an asthmatic child and his anxious mother, and the lengths to which she will go to save his life. Mason gives a superb depiction of nineteenth century sooty London, industrialized and choking. Also of medicine, at a time when the treatment was often worse than the disease. It has a wonderful science fiction element to it which I won’t explain for fear of spoilers, but it’s a fabulous story that brought the tears to my eyes at the end.
The Line Agent Pascal – a story set in colonial Brazil. Pascal is one of the agents who live along the communications line that crosses the country, each many, many miles from the next along. Every morning, a signal is sent from head office and each agent confirms in turn that the line is working. But one day, one of the agents doesn’t respond. This is a great character study of Pascal, a man who struggles to fit in with other people, so his solitary posting suits him perfectly despite the dangers lurking in the forest around his station. But he has grown to think of the other men along the line as some kind of friends despite never having met them. The colonial setting is great, with the feeling of loneliness and constant danger from nature or the displaced indigenous people. Worthy of Conrad, and in fact reminded me not a little of the setting in his story, An Outpost of Progress, though the story (and the continent!) is entirely different.
On the Cause of Winds and Waves, &c. - The story of a female aéronaute – a balloonist – whose exploits have made her famous. But when one day she sees an odd rift in the sky she discovers that her gender and class mean that the scientific community not only don’t take her seriously but actually ridicule and humiliate her. So she sets out to prove her story true, taking along a witness. Another science fiction one, but with a delightful quirk that takes it into the realms of metafiction.
So plenty of variety linked, as I said at the beginning, by style, subject matter and wonderful writing. A great collection – highly recommended.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Mantle at Pan Macmillan.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
August 12, 2020
Short story collections are often a mixed bag, but never more so for me than with these. I almost quit after the first two, but the next six I thought were all really interesting, and then the last one I thought was so tedious. All the stories have this naturalistic, oldfangled, sort of Victorian sensibility that at best was really whimsical and compelling and at worst just made me bored. But I guess I liked more stories than I didn’t?
June 29, 2021
Rich in historical detail and solid prose, but the stories are rather too unshapely for my tastes—lacking in narrative contours that would have gripped me and left a mark on my memory later.
2.5/5
2.5/5
Read
May 29, 2024Excellent. An easy favorite for the year. Favorites: The Ecstasy of Alfred Russell Wallace, On Growing Ferns and Other Plants in Glass Cases in the Midst of the Smoke in London, The Line Agent Pascal. Banger after banger.
January 24, 2025
Given that I don’t care for the stories with much super natural woven in, I can only say that the other parts of the story were decent, and I enjoyed the author’s erudite choice of words.
February 15, 2022
This was one of the books I was most looking forward to getting for Christmas this year. A 2021 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction, I was excited to read this short story collection and see what led it to be a contender for the highly regarded award. Maybe I don’t like short stories, maybe I don’t like this authors writing style, or maybe my taste in literature just isn’t high brow enough to enjoy this type of book.
While a couple of the stories caught my interest, they ended abruptly (as is the case with lots of short stories), leaving me wanting more. More frequently I read the stories and was either completely lost by the writing style and language used, or I found myself thinking “why do I care about this?”
This seemed like a book that would be read in English class. Maybe if I had a teacher or classmates to bounce ideas off about common themes or deeper meaning behind the stories, I would have liked it better. But, as I’m not a student and was reading this as something to enjoy after work, I give this a 1.5 star.
While a couple of the stories caught my interest, they ended abruptly (as is the case with lots of short stories), leaving me wanting more. More frequently I read the stories and was either completely lost by the writing style and language used, or I found myself thinking “why do I care about this?”
This seemed like a book that would be read in English class. Maybe if I had a teacher or classmates to bounce ideas off about common themes or deeper meaning behind the stories, I would have liked it better. But, as I’m not a student and was reading this as something to enjoy after work, I give this a 1.5 star.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 372 reviews