Reviews

This Isn't the Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone Like You, by Jon McGregor

lored's review

fast-paced

5.0

favorieten:
"we wave and call" !!!!!!!
"we were just driving around"
"if it keeps on raining"
"years of this, now"
"the remains"

hannah_bookworm's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

mollag's review

funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

I’m not a huge fan of short stories, but love Jon McGregor. I enjoyed most of the stories, scanned a couple, loved a few, slogged through a couple. The stories made me smile and moved me. What I most like about Jon McGregor’s writing is the atmosphere (foreboding) he creates and how he gradually reveals information to reader in an almost tangential way.
I do think I much prefer longer narratives but, after reading this collection, I would try another book of short stories. 

spendidsuns's review against another edition

4.0

I don't often read collections of short stories so this felt refreshing and suited my smaller attention span atm. I really enjoyed most of the stories, the creative ways they were told and presented and found quite a few of them startlingly moving and thought provoking. It is the first book I have read by this author and will look to read more in the future.

jackiefranklee's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

leazzz's review

4.0

CACW101 week2, read "we wave and call"

bastiaanvjdg's review

4.0

Each story stand really well on its own, and McGregor is an expert in using experimental forms to tell a story. And, the best thing of all, the way he uses experimental forms (every sentence starts with the same two words, the story consists of footnotes to an unknown text, story written in the 2nd person, the story is three lines long, etc,...) makes it not irritating to read, which can be the case with experimental prose.

dressedupbanana's review

3.0

I preferred some of the short stories than others but, that's normal. Except the last one. I didn't like that one!

funktious's review

5.0

This is an excellent book of short stories to read on a train travelling through the east of England on a grey day.

duggimon's review

5.0

I tend not to be a fan of short stories, they’re usually not as good as novels. This, of course, is a sweeping generalisation and, like all sweeping generalisations, is wrong. What I like are stories with a bit of depth, which is not the same thing as length though the two are easily conflated.
This collection of short stories all share a general setting and contain repeated themes, in a couple of notable instances repeated characters as well. The book as a whole therefore isn’t so different from the two novels of his I’ve read and loved (Reservoir 13 and If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things) which have been made up of a large ensemble of characters who often interact little.
There’s a huge variety of writing style and interesting experimentation on show here, not all of which work but the book, as a whole, is wonderful, highly recommended.