melaninny's review against another edition
4.0
I received this book as a First Reads giveaway ages ago. Long enough ago that I'm kind of ashamed. I've been plugging away at it since, which doesn't reflect the quality of the book, but rather the way I read short story collections--one story at a time, every once in a while.
One thing is clear from this collection, and it's that Elwin Cotman is a very accomplished writer. Enough so that I'm surprised he doesn't have more publications. As a collection, though, there is not much consistency here, which is perfectly acceptable for a book like this one, but does make it a hard book to rate.
My favorite of the bunch was "A Song for the Yellow Prince," a melodic and beautiful story. My least favorite was "Pulp," a story I could not actually read despite its four page length, because of the wall-of-text formatting. (I truly was reluctant to write it off for what was clearly an artistic choice, but I can't help it--my attention span simply cannot handle it).
As I read each story I did some first impressions, so I'll include those here, and add impressions for the last story (which was more of a novella).
--
"The Elvis Room" -- **** -- I really liked these characters, who felt extremely alive. The story itself ambled a bit, the plot happening very suddenly without much resolution, but it still somehow felt complete.
"Pulp" -- ** -- Like the others I'm sure there was some beautiful, insightful writing here, but I couldn't get beyond the formatting. Though only a few pages, it was one huge paragraph. My attention wavered too much.
"The Revelation of John" -- ***** -- A story that made me wish I could read with a group of people to discuss. So much to dissect. Brilliantly written.
"A Song for the Yellow Prince" -- ***** -- Beautiful story, so well written. Especially loved the characters as children. They were very authentic.
"Graveyard Shift" -- *** -- This was a tough one. I enjoyed it most of the way through--the characterization of retail was perfect--but I was conflicted by the end. I both felt that the actions at the end of the story were a bit too out of character for Henry, and felt that perhaps it was the natural conclusion of what he had been through. Ultimately, it was a wild ride, but I think it went a bit too far.
One thing is clear from this collection, and it's that Elwin Cotman is a very accomplished writer. Enough so that I'm surprised he doesn't have more publications. As a collection, though, there is not much consistency here, which is perfectly acceptable for a book like this one, but does make it a hard book to rate.
My favorite of the bunch was "A Song for the Yellow Prince," a melodic and beautiful story. My least favorite was "Pulp," a story I could not actually read despite its four page length, because of the wall-of-text formatting. (I truly was reluctant to write it off for what was clearly an artistic choice, but I can't help it--my attention span simply cannot handle it).
As I read each story I did some first impressions, so I'll include those here, and add impressions for the last story (which was more of a novella).
--
"The Elvis Room" -- **** -- I really liked these characters, who felt extremely alive. The story itself ambled a bit, the plot happening very suddenly without much resolution, but it still somehow felt complete.
"Pulp" -- ** -- Like the others I'm sure there was some beautiful, insightful writing here, but I couldn't get beyond the formatting. Though only a few pages, it was one huge paragraph. My attention wavered too much.
"The Revelation of John" -- ***** -- A story that made me wish I could read with a group of people to discuss. So much to dissect. Brilliantly written.
"A Song for the Yellow Prince" -- ***** -- Beautiful story, so well written. Especially loved the characters as children. They were very authentic.
"Graveyard Shift" -- *** -- This was a tough one. I enjoyed it most of the way through--the characterization of retail was perfect--but I was conflicted by the end. I both felt that the actions at the end of the story were a bit too out of character for Henry, and felt that perhaps it was the natural conclusion of what he had been through. Ultimately, it was a wild ride, but I think it went a bit too far.
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