wytherwytch's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
samranakhtar's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Out of the 14 stories, I enjoyed reading 7 of them, so the other 50% of this collection wasn't anything special. The title story is fantastic! Also, "The Hole," "The Composer," and "The Reality Record" are terrifying. "The Killers and the Compass" is masterfully told.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Child death, and Suicide
his_reidness's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
scottishben's review against another edition
3.0
Much of the buzz around this book appears to be as a book to read alongside Redeployment as being a short story collection covering the other side of the Iraq war and modern life in Iraq. Though I haven't read the Redeployment collection from what I have read about it these feel like very different beasts.
I sometimes get a bit annoyed at the mainstream and foreign/translated short fiction that seems to get overlooked by the SF community and Blasim is a good example of that. What his stories offer is familiar enough to genre fans but so different and fresh compared to much of what appears in standard short fiction markets which are full of "well written" but ultimately unimaginative and fiction that is either purposeless or shallow.
Few story collections have a 100% hit rate but I found the degree to which these stories or sections in the stories worked and didnt work was more varied than with other collections. There was not a single story that I completely loved and I think I am not a massive fan of Blasim's writing at least as it is represented in this translation but the ideas and execution led to some very memorable short strange and fantastical fiction that leaves much western short fiction as unimaginative, tame and bland.
I am not sure what I make of the title story for instance but it has kept returning to my mind time and time again after me reading the story. I can see myself rereading many of these stories and even if it is not all to my tastes I am getting something fresh here and am glad of that.
I sometimes get a bit annoyed at the mainstream and foreign/translated short fiction that seems to get overlooked by the SF community and Blasim is a good example of that. What his stories offer is familiar enough to genre fans but so different and fresh compared to much of what appears in standard short fiction markets which are full of "well written" but ultimately unimaginative and fiction that is either purposeless or shallow.
Few story collections have a 100% hit rate but I found the degree to which these stories or sections in the stories worked and didnt work was more varied than with other collections. There was not a single story that I completely loved and I think I am not a massive fan of Blasim's writing at least as it is represented in this translation but the ideas and execution led to some very memorable short strange and fantastical fiction that leaves much western short fiction as unimaginative, tame and bland.
I am not sure what I make of the title story for instance but it has kept returning to my mind time and time again after me reading the story. I can see myself rereading many of these stories and even if it is not all to my tastes I am getting something fresh here and am glad of that.
em_harring's review against another edition
Putting this collection down about 4 stories in. I'm not loving the stories––particularly their voice. It's just not my style, which is a shame, because I've been looking forward to checking out this collection for years.
_of_books_and_bookshelves_'s review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
zlaza's review against another edition
3.0
"Spilled blood and superstition are the basis of the world. Man is not the only creature who kills for bread, or love, or power, because animals in the jungle do that in various ways, but he is the only creature who kills because of faith."
"The Corpse Exhibition" is a unique and well-written short story collection about war-torn Iraq. It was written by Hassan Blasim, an Iraqi author who now lives in Finland.
The stories in "The Corpse Exhibition" are told from the point of view of an Iraqi. There are 14 stories in total, and many of them have a supernatural element to them. In this collection of stories, Hassan Blasim masterfully blends realism with fantasy, and shows us the horrors of war in a new and creative way. He's been compared to authors like Roberto Bolano and Jorge Luis Borges, and I couldn't agree more.
Some stories in "The Corpse Exhibition" were better than others, my personal favourite was "An Army Newspaper", which is narrated by the spirit of a literary editor. He recounts the story of how he died after he stole a dead soldier's story and published it as his own.
There's also some truly bizarre stories in this collection. One of them is "The Hole", a story of a man who ends up falling into a hole while trying to escape gunfire. In the hole he finds a peculiar old man, a cannibalistic djinni, and the body of a Russian soldier who died during the winter war between the Russians and the Finns.
The writing in this book is so disturbing, violent and unsettling. It's not an easy read at all, it's brutal and haunting, but it's worth your time.
"The Corpse Exhibition" is a unique and well-written short story collection about war-torn Iraq. It was written by Hassan Blasim, an Iraqi author who now lives in Finland.
The stories in "The Corpse Exhibition" are told from the point of view of an Iraqi. There are 14 stories in total, and many of them have a supernatural element to them. In this collection of stories, Hassan Blasim masterfully blends realism with fantasy, and shows us the horrors of war in a new and creative way. He's been compared to authors like Roberto Bolano and Jorge Luis Borges, and I couldn't agree more.
Some stories in "The Corpse Exhibition" were better than others, my personal favourite was "An Army Newspaper", which is narrated by the spirit of a literary editor. He recounts the story of how he died after he stole a dead soldier's story and published it as his own.
There's also some truly bizarre stories in this collection. One of them is "The Hole", a story of a man who ends up falling into a hole while trying to escape gunfire. In the hole he finds a peculiar old man, a cannibalistic djinni, and the body of a Russian soldier who died during the winter war between the Russians and the Finns.
The writing in this book is so disturbing, violent and unsettling. It's not an easy read at all, it's brutal and haunting, but it's worth your time.
spacestationtrustfund's review against another edition
3.0
J'ai été agréablement surpris de voir que le titre de la traduction française (et anglaise, par ailleurs) est le même que l'original arabe (معرض الجثث), ce qui est malheureusement peu commun.
drbird's review against another edition
5.0
Very very grim stories that have a spark of the surreal and viciously abrupt endings. One of my favorites is “The Hole” which cannot be described except that it contains a perfect summation of the book’s worldview: "what the hell are we?”
Read this if you’re interested in well constructed, satisfying short fiction that wallows, gleefully, in the hopeless mess of war shattered people and places.
Fans of Tim O’Brien and, strange as it may seem, Etgar Keret, will find much to ponder and “enjoy” even though it’s harrowing.
Read this if you’re interested in well constructed, satisfying short fiction that wallows, gleefully, in the hopeless mess of war shattered people and places.
Fans of Tim O’Brien and, strange as it may seem, Etgar Keret, will find much to ponder and “enjoy” even though it’s harrowing.