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A review by christiemackie
When Giraffes Flew by Jeff Weddle
1.0
A couple of fun short stories (namely the title story and the one about the postman, the name of which escapes me - in short, these stories were respectively about flying giraffes that swooped down and stole people, never to be seen again, and a postman who hoards junk mail to stop his recipients having to deal with it) but the rest were mundane, misogynistic and utterly forgettable.
I was so disappointed as this had been sold to me as magical realism - perhaps this was my own fault, maybe I interpreted the blurb in the wrong way - but it was anything but. There were a few stories that could be considered magical realism, such as the flying giraffes, but for the most part this collection focussed on the struggles of poor little white men with cookie cutter personalities. I could not get over the misogyny of these characters, and I'm still not sure whether it was supposed to be satirical but the recurrence of quips about women's weight, and wanting to "fuck her until she's unconscious", lead me to believe that it was just a case of poor judgement on Weddle's part. One particular line that I am still reeling over? "It's all I can do to not simply attack her, rape her." One lovely protagonist on his pregnant wife, everyone.
Another issue I had with this collection was the fact that so many of the stories established virtually no sense of setting. It felt like I had just been dropped in the middle of a situation and had to figure out what was happening, and while this can work very well in some books, the brevity of the stories and the total blandness of the characters meant that it was nigh on impossible to establish what the story was actually about and where one's sympathies should lie.
I'm so disappointed that this is the first book I've reviewed for NetGalley because I don't like giving bad reviews, especially when it's to be viewed by the publisher, but I'd rather be honest than fawn over the few minor things I liked about this book in an attempt to be "nice". Sorry, but this left a really sour taste in my mouth.
I was so disappointed as this had been sold to me as magical realism - perhaps this was my own fault, maybe I interpreted the blurb in the wrong way - but it was anything but. There were a few stories that could be considered magical realism, such as the flying giraffes, but for the most part this collection focussed on the struggles of poor little white men with cookie cutter personalities. I could not get over the misogyny of these characters, and I'm still not sure whether it was supposed to be satirical but the recurrence of quips about women's weight, and wanting to "fuck her until she's unconscious", lead me to believe that it was just a case of poor judgement on Weddle's part. One particular line that I am still reeling over? "It's all I can do to not simply attack her, rape her." One lovely protagonist on his pregnant wife, everyone.
Another issue I had with this collection was the fact that so many of the stories established virtually no sense of setting. It felt like I had just been dropped in the middle of a situation and had to figure out what was happening, and while this can work very well in some books, the brevity of the stories and the total blandness of the characters meant that it was nigh on impossible to establish what the story was actually about and where one's sympathies should lie.
I'm so disappointed that this is the first book I've reviewed for NetGalley because I don't like giving bad reviews, especially when it's to be viewed by the publisher, but I'd rather be honest than fawn over the few minor things I liked about this book in an attempt to be "nice". Sorry, but this left a really sour taste in my mouth.