A review by eric_roling
Fortune Smiles, by Adam Johnson
4.0
This was a collection of 6 short stories by Adam Johnson. Each story was about 30-60 pages long, so there was plenty of meat to each story. I didn't detect an overt overarching theme linking the stories, but neither did they feel completely random. The book felt coherent and consistent. Taking them story by story:
Nirvana (4/5) - a man struggles to cope with both a national tragedy and his wife becoming paralyzed with guillain barre syndrom. He's a techie and copes in that way. This was really touching and effective. A great start to the book.
Hurricanes Anonymous (3/5) - a man and his child struggle to survive in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He doesn't have a great track record of good decisions, and is struggling to do the right thing. This a a nice story, but a bit hard to identify with.
Interesting Facts (5/5) - best story in the collection by far. A woman with terminal cancer struggles with her mortality while her husband copes differently and starts to move on. She is quite the emotional terrorist to him, which doesn't help her appear sympathetic. But you really feel for her, and she is really well characterized and delivered. Really liked this one.
George Orwell Was a Friend of Mine (4/5) - A former East German prison warden has not come to terms with what happened under his watch. The cognitive dissonance is palpable - another good story with a compelling lead character.
Darn Meadow (4/5) - Wow - the lead character is someone reviled and abhorred. Johnson takes you right inside his mind and shows his mental struggle. Some people will have issues with the subject matter and the somewhat sympathetic portrayal here, but I thought it was a good balance.
Fortune Smiles (2/5) - To me this was the dud in the collection. Two North Korean defectors living in South Korea struggle to fit in and deal with culture shock. I just wasn't convinced that they would miss their old country as much as they did - so I didn't really identify with them.
Nirvana (4/5) - a man struggles to cope with both a national tragedy and his wife becoming paralyzed with guillain barre syndrom. He's a techie and copes in that way. This was really touching and effective. A great start to the book.
Hurricanes Anonymous (3/5) - a man and his child struggle to survive in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He doesn't have a great track record of good decisions, and is struggling to do the right thing. This a a nice story, but a bit hard to identify with.
Interesting Facts (5/5) - best story in the collection by far. A woman with terminal cancer struggles with her mortality while her husband copes differently and starts to move on. She is quite the emotional terrorist to him, which doesn't help her appear sympathetic. But you really feel for her, and she is really well characterized and delivered. Really liked this one.
George Orwell Was a Friend of Mine (4/5) - A former East German prison warden has not come to terms with what happened under his watch. The cognitive dissonance is palpable - another good story with a compelling lead character.
Darn Meadow (4/5) - Wow - the lead character is someone reviled and abhorred. Johnson takes you right inside his mind and shows his mental struggle. Some people will have issues with the subject matter and the somewhat sympathetic portrayal here, but I thought it was a good balance.
Fortune Smiles (2/5) - To me this was the dud in the collection. Two North Korean defectors living in South Korea struggle to fit in and deal with culture shock. I just wasn't convinced that they would miss their old country as much as they did - so I didn't really identify with them.