grimondgalgmod's review
2.0
One star for the cover, one star for the dude who confused his penis with an umbrella.
strangebookssecretary's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-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? N/A
5.0
strangebookssecretary's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-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? N/A
5.0
inkdrinkers's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
"I think that maybe we only cry because we don't understand what is going on. Maybe if we understood what is really going on we wouldn't cry at all, ever."
Nothing Is Strange has everything strange in it. In the span of the twenty short stories (short fictions? blurbs?) topics like gender, free will, judgement, grief, and more are touched upon in increasingly surreal ways.
I, truly, don't know how to review this. This was a random recommendation and I feel like most of the people who pick this up would think I've lost my mind for my rating, but this edges on a cliff of total unhinged prose that I really love? Kelly Link is the first author that sprung to mind when I started this book, though her stories are definitely more steeped in folkloric levels of bonkers, this is full blown tab of acid levels of absurd.
Out of all the stories, the ones I made note of that were my favorites were: The Miracle (about the first man to cry), Extraordinary Elsie (about subverting performative expectations), Mask Man (about masculine pain), The Unnameable Made Flesh (about the world living unaware of their right hands - I LOVED this one, I feel like I could write a thesis on the layers in this), Harry's Quest (about humanity and it's connection), and The Living Crown (about free will). All of them are equally weird, but these feel the most succinct and pointed in a way, they also left the most impressions on me.
The quote at the start of this review is from Dunce, which, while not a favorite, I really enjoyed for its almost immediate cementing that Russell was fully aware these stories are bizarre and eerie, but that was the point of writing them. My only real issue with this collection is that some of them felt a little too ludicrous to me, but I feel like I might get different things from each story if I did multiple rereads. I certainly won't be forgetting about any of these pieces for the near future, this is the kind of book that you think about at 3am when you're laying in bed contemplating life.
Content warnings: car accident (a character is run over in a story and killed), panic attacks/disorders (a character has a breakdown over life not being the same), transphobia (the word "hermaphrodite" is used to denote a genderless character)
Nothing Is Strange has everything strange in it. In the span of the twenty short stories (short fictions? blurbs?) topics like gender, free will, judgement, grief, and more are touched upon in increasingly surreal ways.
I, truly, don't know how to review this. This was a random recommendation and I feel like most of the people who pick this up would think I've lost my mind for my rating, but this edges on a cliff of total unhinged prose that I really love? Kelly Link is the first author that sprung to mind when I started this book, though her stories are definitely more steeped in folkloric levels of bonkers, this is full blown tab of acid levels of absurd.
Out of all the stories, the ones I made note of that were my favorites were: The Miracle (about the first man to cry), Extraordinary Elsie (about subverting performative expectations), Mask Man (about masculine pain), The Unnameable Made Flesh (about the world living unaware of their right hands - I LOVED this one, I feel like I could write a thesis on the layers in this), Harry's Quest (about humanity and it's connection), and The Living Crown (about free will). All of them are equally weird, but these feel the most succinct and pointed in a way, they also left the most impressions on me.
The quote at the start of this review is from Dunce, which, while not a favorite, I really enjoyed for its almost immediate cementing that Russell was fully aware these stories are bizarre and eerie, but that was the point of writing them. My only real issue with this collection is that some of them felt a little too ludicrous to me, but I feel like I might get different things from each story if I did multiple rereads. I certainly won't be forgetting about any of these pieces for the near future, this is the kind of book that you think about at 3am when you're laying in bed contemplating life.
Content warnings: car accident (a character is run over in a story and killed), panic attacks/disorders (a character has a breakdown over life not being the same), transphobia (the word "hermaphrodite" is used to denote a genderless character)
Content Warnings
Minor: Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, and Transphobia
bonnabelle's review
5.0
what a wonderful book! i loved so many of the stories, they were very short and sweet and to the point. i'll definitely be sharing some of my favorites with friends. such a fun way to concisely throw some speculative weirdness on a page but keep it from drawing out too long. 4.5/5, but giving it 5 because i read it so fast and it was so charming.
narisawahlang's review
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
snappydog's review
3.0
When Strangebooks (who are not, so far as I can tell, Mike Russell's publisher so much as his own personal brand or imprint or something? It's an interesting setup, anyway) got in touch with me to offer a review copy of Nothing Is Strange, I thought it sounded like just the sort of thing I'd enjoy.
I still think it sounds like just the sort of thing I'd enjoy. That's not very strong praise, is it? Oh, dear.
So, look: I adore weird, surreal, magical fiction. I've said more than once that I love when things adopt the magical realism kind of tone where nothing makes literal sense. Heck, I think that's what the best fiction does uniquely well: it doesn't have to stick to the rules of reality, so bending them to tell effective stories seems like an obvious win. In a lot of my absolute favourite stories, trying to work out what's actually going on and the how of it, the mechanics that make it physically possible, is an absolute waste of time because those details just don't add up. They're not supposed to. What they are supposed to do is create a picture that's thematically consistent, that says something, and looking at that bigger picture rather than getting bogged down in what appears to actually be going on is the way to go.
So: Nothing Is Strange. On the surface, it is like those stories I love so much, in that the worlds in which its tales take place are bizarre and peculiar and things happen in them that make almost no sense on a literal reading. What I think it's often missing, at least for me, is that bigger picture: too often it feels weird for the sake of being weird rather than saying anything.
This is not the case for every story: two or three of them I think do in fact work really well at showing these fantastical situations and using them to say something worthwhile ('The Meeting', 'The Living Crown', and 'Diaries of Sun City' spring to mind). Hence three stars, for what it's worth: I think there are things in here worth reading, and given how short the whole book is, it's not like you'll have wasted a lot of time even if nothing in it speaks to you. It's not unenjoyable, either, I should say - most of the stories can be read and enjoyed just for the vague, shimmering sense of uneasy oddness running through them, and then they end and you go 'OK, cool, that was that'.
It could just be that I'm missing a point that is in fact being made, but one of my big personal bugbears is fiction that kind of masquerades as meaningful by adopting surface-level appearances of being 'literary' or 'experimental' or something without really using that to express anything. Not necessarily saying that's what's happening here, but it's something that's been on my mind a fair bit lately, so this could just be my own frustrations coming out! It might also be that I'm just not really a fan of microfiction, as I've read very few stories that were less than three or four pages long that I thought really worked. (There have been some, though, which makes me think maybe it isn't just me having a prejudice against shorter works!)
As I say, though, this is all just me, and I'm just one person with one take. Perhaps you'll find something to take from different stories than I did, and that'd be awesome. I can see this being the sort of collection that different readers would all interpret differently, with a range of stories working more or less well for each individual, and that's no bad thing. Life and humanity are subjective, so it's only to be expected that stories (especially ones on those topics) and our reactions to them should be too.
For me, because there are those couple of stories that really do demonstrate that Russell is totally capable of pulling off that mix of mysterious and meaningful that I really look for, I think it's just a little bit of a shame from my perspective that the others don't quite manage to live up to that standard. To reiterate, though, I still think most of them (if not all) are still potentially thought-provoking and enjoyable to read even if they didn't hit me personally on the level I hoped they might.
I should also mention the writing style, which is... a choice. I think it's a deliberate stylistic decision to make the prose as simplistically as possible so the strangeness of the content can stand out even more starkly, and a lot of the time I quite like it. Occasionally it goes a little too far and has, for me, a sort of childish effect (that sometimes fits with the story but sometimes doesn't, as in the memorable 'I am a man.' sentence in 'The Meeting'), but most of the time I think it works well enough.
Anyway, I'm not sure now whether I would recommend this or not. I think if you are a fan of strangeness with substance, and if you're familiar with some of the works that really exemplify that, this may miss the mark a little bit for you. If you're not as much of a reader of odd things already, diving into this probably wouldn't be a bad way to see whether weird is a vibe you might enjoy.
I still think it sounds like just the sort of thing I'd enjoy. That's not very strong praise, is it? Oh, dear.
So, look: I adore weird, surreal, magical fiction. I've said more than once that I love when things adopt the magical realism kind of tone where nothing makes literal sense. Heck, I think that's what the best fiction does uniquely well: it doesn't have to stick to the rules of reality, so bending them to tell effective stories seems like an obvious win. In a lot of my absolute favourite stories, trying to work out what's actually going on and the how of it, the mechanics that make it physically possible, is an absolute waste of time because those details just don't add up. They're not supposed to. What they are supposed to do is create a picture that's thematically consistent, that says something, and looking at that bigger picture rather than getting bogged down in what appears to actually be going on is the way to go.
So: Nothing Is Strange. On the surface, it is like those stories I love so much, in that the worlds in which its tales take place are bizarre and peculiar and things happen in them that make almost no sense on a literal reading. What I think it's often missing, at least for me, is that bigger picture: too often it feels weird for the sake of being weird rather than saying anything.
This is not the case for every story: two or three of them I think do in fact work really well at showing these fantastical situations and using them to say something worthwhile ('The Meeting', 'The Living Crown', and 'Diaries of Sun City' spring to mind). Hence three stars, for what it's worth: I think there are things in here worth reading, and given how short the whole book is, it's not like you'll have wasted a lot of time even if nothing in it speaks to you. It's not unenjoyable, either, I should say - most of the stories can be read and enjoyed just for the vague, shimmering sense of uneasy oddness running through them, and then they end and you go 'OK, cool, that was that'.
It could just be that I'm missing a point that is in fact being made, but one of my big personal bugbears is fiction that kind of masquerades as meaningful by adopting surface-level appearances of being 'literary' or 'experimental' or something without really using that to express anything. Not necessarily saying that's what's happening here, but it's something that's been on my mind a fair bit lately, so this could just be my own frustrations coming out! It might also be that I'm just not really a fan of microfiction, as I've read very few stories that were less than three or four pages long that I thought really worked. (There have been some, though, which makes me think maybe it isn't just me having a prejudice against shorter works!)
As I say, though, this is all just me, and I'm just one person with one take. Perhaps you'll find something to take from different stories than I did, and that'd be awesome. I can see this being the sort of collection that different readers would all interpret differently, with a range of stories working more or less well for each individual, and that's no bad thing. Life and humanity are subjective, so it's only to be expected that stories (especially ones on those topics) and our reactions to them should be too.
For me, because there are those couple of stories that really do demonstrate that Russell is totally capable of pulling off that mix of mysterious and meaningful that I really look for, I think it's just a little bit of a shame from my perspective that the others don't quite manage to live up to that standard. To reiterate, though, I still think most of them (if not all) are still potentially thought-provoking and enjoyable to read even if they didn't hit me personally on the level I hoped they might.
I should also mention the writing style, which is... a choice. I think it's a deliberate stylistic decision to make the prose as simplistically as possible so the strangeness of the content can stand out even more starkly, and a lot of the time I quite like it. Occasionally it goes a little too far and has, for me, a sort of childish effect (that sometimes fits with the story but sometimes doesn't, as in the memorable 'I am a man.' sentence in 'The Meeting'), but most of the time I think it works well enough.
Anyway, I'm not sure now whether I would recommend this or not. I think if you are a fan of strangeness with substance, and if you're familiar with some of the works that really exemplify that, this may miss the mark a little bit for you. If you're not as much of a reader of odd things already, diving into this probably wouldn't be a bad way to see whether weird is a vibe you might enjoy.
leahsbooks's review
1.0
I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
I knew within the first three stories that this book wasn't a good fit for my personal tastes. I kept reading, because a) I hoped it would get better, b) it was a short collection of stories, c) it fulfilled a requirement for a readathon I'm participating in, and d) I agreed to review it.
The stories were extremely short, and were way too off the wall for my taste. I normally don't mind short stories, provided that they have some kind of point, a plot to follow, and characters that I can get behind. This collection had none of those, and I struggled to find any meaning in a single story. I was relieved to finally finish and put this book behind me. I'm just glad I didn't spend more than an hour or so reading this gibberish.
I knew within the first three stories that this book wasn't a good fit for my personal tastes. I kept reading, because a) I hoped it would get better, b) it was a short collection of stories, c) it fulfilled a requirement for a readathon I'm participating in, and d) I agreed to review it.
The stories were extremely short, and were way too off the wall for my taste. I normally don't mind short stories, provided that they have some kind of point, a plot to follow, and characters that I can get behind. This collection had none of those, and I struggled to find any meaning in a single story. I was relieved to finally finish and put this book behind me. I'm just glad I didn't spend more than an hour or so reading this gibberish.
audreyaria's review
3.0
I kindly received a copy of this from Strange Books in exchange for an honest review. I absolutely loved the touch of the personalized flyer that came with this book mail - it was so thoughtful! Thank you :)
My rating: 3.5/5
This was an unexpected and quite bizarre read! The book and stories themselves are short, so it was pretty quick to get through. A lot of the stories were insightful and when I read between the lines and had an idea of what the author was trying to get at, I quite liked it.
My personal favourites are Dunce, The End of the Pier, Harry's Quest, The Living Crown and Everything Was Strange, with The Living Crown taking the cake. I particularly enjoyed when I felt there was a greater meaning behind the stories and some of the symbolism was quite fascinating. The Living Crown was about free will and how we are all in charge of our own sufferings. I felt that this perspective was intriguing and will stay with me for quite some time. The End of the Pier was all the more impressive since it was able to communicate a lot in two pages. It used carnival cutouts as a symbol for putting yourself in other people's shoes. The story really made me think about how at the end of the day, a lot of the things we fuss over don't ultimately matter, and if we were all a little more compassionate towards others, we would understand them better and our common humanity would improve. Everything Was Strange was a great way to end this series of short stories and made me realize how something is only strange because of what you are used to, so in a way, this story is only unusual because so much of the content is not what we are used to reading about.
The reason I would rate this collection of short stories a little lower is only because I didn't quite get the point of some of the stories. Maybe that is the point, but I prefer reading something that doesn't feel like it's being strange just for the sake of it. However, this was only the case for a handful of stories and it's possible that I just didn't understand some of them.
I would recommend this for anyone that likes short stories that are thought-provoking. I think it's a great pick for a book club as there is so much you can discuss within it, as long as you like fantasy, short stories, and you're open to adding a little more strange in your life.
My rating: 3.5/5
This was an unexpected and quite bizarre read! The book and stories themselves are short, so it was pretty quick to get through. A lot of the stories were insightful and when I read between the lines and had an idea of what the author was trying to get at, I quite liked it.
My personal favourites are Dunce, The End of the Pier, Harry's Quest, The Living Crown and Everything Was Strange, with The Living Crown taking the cake. I particularly enjoyed when I felt there was a greater meaning behind the stories and some of the symbolism was quite fascinating. The Living Crown was about free will and how we are all in charge of our own sufferings. I felt that this perspective was intriguing and will stay with me for quite some time. The End of the Pier was all the more impressive since it was able to communicate a lot in two pages. It used carnival cutouts as a symbol for putting yourself in other people's shoes. The story really made me think about how at the end of the day, a lot of the things we fuss over don't ultimately matter, and if we were all a little more compassionate towards others, we would understand them better and our common humanity would improve. Everything Was Strange was a great way to end this series of short stories and made me realize how something is only strange because of what you are used to, so in a way, this story is only unusual because so much of the content is not what we are used to reading about.
The reason I would rate this collection of short stories a little lower is only because I didn't quite get the point of some of the stories. Maybe that is the point, but I prefer reading something that doesn't feel like it's being strange just for the sake of it. However, this was only the case for a handful of stories and it's possible that I just didn't understand some of them.
I would recommend this for anyone that likes short stories that are thought-provoking. I think it's a great pick for a book club as there is so much you can discuss within it, as long as you like fantasy, short stories, and you're open to adding a little more strange in your life.
cathreadsalot's review
3.0
Thank you to the author for providing me a free copy in exchange for an honest review :)
I enjoyed this! It was a really quick, quirky read; I was so immersed in it that I actually didn’t realize there were 20 stories until looking back on the synopsis after I read it. It seems crazy to think about there being that many now because the whole thing just flew by.
Of the 20, my favourites were The Miracle, Barry & the Triplets, Lesley Visits the Barbers, and The Living Crown. If I had to choose my top one, I would say The Living Crown-it touched upon free will which really grabbed my attention.
Reading this kind of takes you to a whole other world, one which was created by the author but also by your own mind filling the gaps that he leaves open for you, which is so fun. Some of the stories I wish were a little bit longer, but other than that it was very well done and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good introduction to this genre!
I enjoyed this! It was a really quick, quirky read; I was so immersed in it that I actually didn’t realize there were 20 stories until looking back on the synopsis after I read it. It seems crazy to think about there being that many now because the whole thing just flew by.
Of the 20, my favourites were The Miracle, Barry & the Triplets, Lesley Visits the Barbers, and The Living Crown. If I had to choose my top one, I would say The Living Crown-it touched upon free will which really grabbed my attention.
Reading this kind of takes you to a whole other world, one which was created by the author but also by your own mind filling the gaps that he leaves open for you, which is so fun. Some of the stories I wish were a little bit longer, but other than that it was very well done and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good introduction to this genre!