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Are You Having Enough Fun?: Stories
A young lab assistant discovers her new job is far more complicated than she bargained for. A dandified nobleman explains the macabre origins of his resplendent coat. An exterminator is haunted by his former victims. A young family is dumbfounded by the unsettling transformation of their new home . An old soldier seeks revenge for his son's death with the help of the undead. These tales and more appear in this collection of 15 stories by the author of The Wrath of the Rake. Featuring previously published works such as “Crawl Space,” “Monkey Business,” and “Dressage for Beginners” alongside new works, Are You Having Enough Fun? is an eclectic mix of horror, literary fiction, sci-fi, and magic realism.
218 pages, Paperback
Published June 25, 2022
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December 20, 2022
This book did not give me a lot of hope at first. "Did You Feed Him?", the intro story, is an example of a horror cliché executed in the most traditional way it could be. The dialogue felt stilted and the short story was almost hard to get through. Still, I continued to read, mostly lead by the curiosity I originally had at the description of the young lab assistant on the back cover.
The first thing that grabbed my attention about "Monkey Business", the second story, is the switch in narrator. When done well, this can be an asset (as seen in the Six of Crows trilogy, to name an example). In a short story, however, it was slightly disorienting. If the author had wished to introduce the work of the lab in the beginning, it may have been beneficial to simply start with Involuntario (a name which needs no further comment) and go from there, keeping him as the narrator. Another noticing is the author quite likes the use of “er” and “um”. I understand that he is trying to show hesitancy and maybe even nervousness, but what would’ve done well was more descriptions. In fact, all the works had a "tell, don't show" form of description in them.
Despite wanting to stop there, I kept reading and I am not mad that I did. "Rooted" was such a delightful read. The imagery of the house being overgrown was beautiful and it took a turn I was not expecting. It was from here that things started to look up. The following stories were overall okay reads that did not give me much to complain about. I believe this is more for an audience of middle aged men as they may be able to appreciate the stories more than I did. That being said, I don't believe the stories were bad. It's just that I, a 20 year old woman, was not really the target audience.
The first thing that grabbed my attention about "Monkey Business", the second story, is the switch in narrator. When done well, this can be an asset (as seen in the Six of Crows trilogy, to name an example). In a short story, however, it was slightly disorienting. If the author had wished to introduce the work of the lab in the beginning, it may have been beneficial to simply start with Involuntario (a name which needs no further comment) and go from there, keeping him as the narrator. Another noticing is the author quite likes the use of “er” and “um”. I understand that he is trying to show hesitancy and maybe even nervousness, but what would’ve done well was more descriptions. In fact, all the works had a "tell, don't show" form of description in them.
Despite wanting to stop there, I kept reading and I am not mad that I did. "Rooted" was such a delightful read. The imagery of the house being overgrown was beautiful and it took a turn I was not expecting. It was from here that things started to look up. The following stories were overall okay reads that did not give me much to complain about. I believe this is more for an audience of middle aged men as they may be able to appreciate the stories more than I did. That being said, I don't believe the stories were bad. It's just that I, a 20 year old woman, was not really the target audience.
Displaying 1 of 1 review