Spoon

by Robert Stone

16 pages, Paperback

Published December 1, 2021

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.

Reviews

[Michael Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an intriguing story, disturbing, and very finely written. The narrator has returned to (his childhood home?) to live with his mother. His circumstances are greatly reduced, and he finds himself in constant interaction with an environment that is both familiar and disconcerting. Everything he notices seems to beg for a decision, placing increasing onus on his day-to-day existence, which is riddled with claustrophobic reminders of an unhappy and unwholesome past.

To say more would be to risk ruining the story. However, I read Spoon as a fascinating psychological study: of the way obsession concerns itself with detail, the way fine distinctions can accumulate and become overwhelming, and the way the obsessive mind unconsciously guards against self-knowledge. It examines, in meticulous prose, the tenuous borderline between reality and delusion. I'd recommend it highly (though perhaps not for the faint of heart!).

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this disconcerting, disquieting story about the protagonist's relationship with their mother, where off-kilter sentences pull a different light, however I was less keen on the final third which didn't quite gel for me - almost as if offcuts from previous versions had clamoured to be added. I look forward to reading more Stone, however.