A review by lily7
Total: Stories by Rebecca Miller

challenging dark emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Thanks to NetGalley and Canongate for an advanced copy of this ebook.

This is a collection of 7 short stories, and I found it to be a real mixed bag. I did not enjoy the first three stories, persevering only because the book itself is pretty short, but the final four - particularly the titular story - just about make it a worthwhile read overall. 

The first story didn’t feel particularly intriguing; the plot is pretty straightforward but there is none of the tension or sense of foreboding that I think you would expect as you reach the climax of it. Or maybe I didn’t get what Miller was trying to achieve with it. In any case, the main character in this story is unlikable, but not in any way that I can get on board with, so it just wasn’t one to work with. The second story is quite long - or felt long - withouht going anywhere. The idea is interesting, I just felt the mystery it was trying to cultivate needed much more time to develop. The third was not especially grabbing, unfortunately.   

Total, the fourth story and the turning-point in this collection, is a really interesting sci-fi dystopia. For me, there were echoes of Never Let Me Go and The Handmaid’s Tale, and although happy with the story as it was, I would happily read a whole novel based on the ideas and story created here. Stories 5 and 6 are interestingly woven stories: I found the characters engaging and the stories themselves felt more complete and tightly worked. And The Chekhovians is a great final story - lots of characters to keep track of, but I thought it was a finely observed and brutal episode of a family drama.

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