Book Club discussion

I like short stories. The way they are laid out is a lot like the way an album of music is laid out. The songs/stories might interact a lot or very little. Some are stronger than others. In that way, reviewing short stories has something in common with the way that you would review a novel. I'm going to run the theme with Mary South as being a band to make comparisons to this being an album.

If this book were an album, I think it would be an indie album that has some nods to the 80's with synths that are sometimes punchy, but are also sometimes pretty balady though it's always got a bit of that winkng irony to the point of you're not even sure if it is being ironic or what exactly it means.

Album opener "Keith Prime" tells you right away what you've gotten yourself into, it's a solid track in it's own right, but it owes a debt to it's musical forebearers (in this case I was immediately reminded of the plot of a movie I'd never seen and had to look up the name of just now (it's called "The Isaland") where clones are grown and harvested for their body parts. So, not the most original track, but is effective in it's own right.

The next song "The Age of Love" is where the band steps forward and puts together a really solid piece, orignal and affecting, probably not going to get a lot of radio play, as it's not quite pop enough, but it's something they'll play on their tours and the reason they have fans of their own.

One story jumps out to me as the hit single. It deviates from the voice that Mary South usually writes, but it is also obviously a work of hers. It also is not a typical pop song and subverts the format some, but is still catchy enough to get stuck in your head. the line "perhaps you're not as devoted at you should be, seeing as marriage to a female brain surgeon is like winning the devotion of a unicorn" is solid gold. Underneath the humour and the catchyness of the song, there is also a message about anxiety and social (that is interpersonal) distance that resonates.

The rest of the album is pretty good, but is a bit filler, it's worth listening to once, and then you can decide how much replay mileage it's got. The last track is also a keeper and it'll make it onto a few playlists too I think.

Mary South's writing focues primairly on loss and alienation, and it's fun to explore the impacts that technology plays on these themes and to remember that they are essentially human problems and they are not just one technological innovation away. Good stuff, looking forward to future releases.

I like the comparison of a novel to an album! 80s synth novels are some of my fav (even if I cant think of any, or just imagine 80s synth records as novels, of which there should be way more!)

I've read 2 of the stories and am getting the book from the library today or tomorra', but the gist I'm getting is that there is a lot of promise but you'd like to see more. Is this fair to say? Like a novel where she picks one of the themes and explores it as much as poss?

It's normal that some stories are better than others. I think the most interesting story was the one that was the most unique and broke out of the mold the most from the other stories. They're also easy to read and interesting, so I do think it's a worthwhile pickup.