Oddly Enough

Bruce Coville's Short Stories #1

by Bruce Coville

A collection of nine short stories featuring an angel, unicorn, vampire, werewolf, and other unusual creatures

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Young Adult, Fiction, Horror, Paranormal, Anthologies

176 pages, Paperback

First published October 31, 1994

Reviews

[Samantha Matherne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter S. Beagle is a master of adult fantasy literature, and Bruce Coville is surely a master of children’s fantasy and science fiction. Each story in this book stands wonderfully on its own but ties together nicely as a unit with every title having its own distinct flavor. The cover images represent stories inside perfectly, and the audio version of this read by Coville and his Full Cast Audio crew is so fun. I need more Coville, especially in audio form. I could listen to him narrate paint dry.

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Box--an angel gave him a sealed box. How will it change his life?
Duffy's Jacket--a classic scary campfire tale with a twist for an ending.
Homeward Bound--fantasy about a boy who discovers why he's different.
With His Head Tucked Underneath His Arm--the dead do have their ways...
Clean as a Whistle--comedy about a brownie & a girl, stuck with each other.
The Language of Blood--unusual purpose for vampires. My least favorite.
Old Glory--futuristic story about the freedom of speech.
The Passing of the Pack--werewolves, mixed with regular wolves.
A Blaze of Glory--one of my favorites in the collection.

The endings of both Homeward Bound & A Blaze of Glory reminded me of what C.S. Lewis said about your next-door neighbor.

[Inknose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again Mr. Coville gave me one of my reading firsts, as I'm pretty sure this was the first book I ever cried at. His short stories seem to be for a slightly older audience than most of his other books, but they're just as magical (literally). He's one of the few authors who can write about stuff like unicorns and be poignant instead of the slightest bit cheesy.

[Liana · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Box was my favorite story in the collection, Clean as a Whistle being my second. Every other story felt like they were taken out of the oven too soon... Which they probably were.

Ok, first off, I love Jane Yolen and all, but I cannot disagree with her harder on her 'prying' to Bruce Coville to write a short story. Writing a GOOD story takes time... and effort. While anyone CAN indeed write a short story, it doesn't mean that whatever they write is going to be... good. Most of the time, it's going to be mediocre, and that's kind of how Oddly Enough feels to me.

Now, I LOVE Bruce Coville's works - there hasn't been a single book of his that I've disliked, and I'm a really difficult person to please. (Can't you tell? Lol.) But oddly enough, Oddly Enough doesn't feel polished to me... It feels rushed, and... unbaked. Who knows, maybe Mr. Coville DID put a lot of time and effort into these short stories, but I cannot help but feel like he got bit by the 'pump out a lotta books' bug and forgot quality over quantity. Lol...

Bah, sorry for such a down review...! On the positive note, Oddly Enough is an enchanting little charm. If you're a Coville fan, than you'd probably like to have this little book on your shelf. :)

[Shanon Martinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evergreen collection of short stories. Own more than one copy. Dont see this ever leaving.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, creepy, and thought provoking collection of short stories from a great author. I listened to this on audiobook which I definitely recommend. A bit more emphasis on predetermined gender roles than I would have liked, but still good.

[Kacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was younger, I was a big fan of Bruce Coville's writing. I checked out this collection of his short stories to see if I still liked him as an adult. And... yeah, I would definitely say that I do.

It's been years but I feel like a lot of what I liked about his writing as a kid is what I like about it now. The stories are a little strange, touching on horror and fantasy and also keeping a sense of reality. They never felt like they were going too dark. Some of then were unexpectedly funny and others sent a little chill down my spine. It touched on the mysterious, and some gave a strong sense of wonder and hope. I think the first story was my favorite, but they were all very good.

I would definitely read more of these again in the future. It's always delight when a childhood favorite carries on into adulthood.

[CleverBaggins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Bruce Coville. I was super excited to find this in my books. I thought some short stories would be nice between my last (amazing) book and what I picked up next. But these were just blah. I didn't feel anything for any of them. They were...fine. But none of them stood out and I can't say I enjoyed any of them.

[Kylie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did like the The Box, Language of Blood, and Passing on the Pack but, the rest was forgettable.

[Lon Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book of short stories from a great author.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I respect him as an author even though he's prolific.

[CanadianReader · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found these stories fairly promptly forgettable. Not recommended.

[Doomedtolive · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this quirky set of short stories, Bruce compiled several tales from previous years and a few new ones. Throughout the book I came across a few that I had read previously, and remembered that I had enjoyed when I was younger, such as Duffy's jacket, yet I couldn't help but feel that short stories are definitely not Coville's strong suit. A couple of the stories had me intrigued, such as With his head tucked underneath his Arm, but most of them had strong leads with endings that fell flat. It's a good little read for any Coville fans, but his longer fiction is far better.

[Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oddly Enough is a collection of story's by Bruce Coville. A good collection of stories. my favorite one was Duffy's Jacket. Here is an introduction of Duffy's Jacket: Hanging around with Duffy makes you have to say things like; Duffy your backpack. He seems to remember nothing. Well one day we went into the forest and Duffy forgot to get his jacket. Later they herd something scratching at the door... I think people who like short story collections should read this book. I forget thing sometimes to.

[Chet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book several years ago. It was my introduction to Bruce Coville (which, despite how silly some of his books are, I really, truly love), so I will always be thankful for that. Had it not been for how much I enjoyed this book, I never would have picked up any of his other works. Almost all of the short stories affected me in some way. Old Glory especially. I love reading Duffy's Jacket aloud. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

[Alison Worrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of fantasy short stories. Each story has its own menagerie of mythological beasts and magic. There is a wide range of laugh-out-loud mythology in the real world to absolute tear-jerkers.

Bruce Coville is a modern day Grimm brother. Not all the stories caught my attention. The ones that did gave me something to smile about. I have hope for modern fairy tales.

[Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice collection of scary and strange stories. I didn't dislike any of the stories. My favorite was Duffy's Jacket. *Spoiler Alert* At the end of Duffy's jacket The monster said: HEY STUPID YOU FORGOT YOU JACKET! *Spoiler Alert End* I think it is a good e-book to listen to in a long car drive.

[12fundip · Rating 5 out of 5]

gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooddddddd

[Jasmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent variety in the short stories in this book. I wasn't taken in by a few of them but I really did love the others, my favourites being Homeward Bound and The Box. The Box is probably one of the most beautiful short stories I've ever read.

[fureshiiness · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always loved reading collections and anthologies. This particular read is very special and unique. I liked each and every single story. Some even made me teary-eyed haha. Wonderful book!!! I think I'll read more stuff from this author. ^_^

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I often forget how much I like short stories. These are good; they don't leave me feeling like I'm being shortchanged, and there were just the right number of stories in the book (not too many, not too few.)

[Evie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked "A Blaze of Glory," and thought there were intriguing ideas in "The Box," and enjoyed the unicorn story. Mostly, though, I found that the parts of the stories that intrigued me the most were explored the least. This has so many positive reviews, though, that it's probably just not my style.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not his best but not his worst. An amusing group of stories. I did love this in elementary so if you are that age I would give this a shot.

[Willow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good for the younger crowd. I read this in middle school and enjoyed it.

[Marji · Rating 5 out of 5]

The man is a natural at creating little gems of story! This is one of my all-time favorite reads.

[Beka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though some of these stories are good, some of them seem like Mr. Coville ran out of print space and had to slap on a half-thought through ending.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection was much less exciting in light of all the other awesome collections I've worked to find in the last several years.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was truly lovely...the last story was the best of all, though.

[Edwina Book Anaconda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful collection of fairy-tales.

[Gapeach · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great author, I will be looking for more of his work.