A review by sadiereadsagain
The Shell Collector by Anthony Doerr

5.0

I read probably a couple of collections a year, and often feel they can be a mixed bag. But sometimes you get ones where all the stories are equally strong. The Shell Collector is definitely one of those. Doerr's prose is so beautiful, but not so much that it gets in the way of the meaning. He really is incredible at setting a tone and bringing a setting to life. And given that these are short stories, I felt many of the characters were well fleshed out. Not all of them, but even so each character was still realised enough to drive a story forward. I think it's because he gets right down to the emotions and feelings of the characters, rather than focusing too much on describing their appearances or using a lot of dialogue. Nature plays such a strong part in all of these stories, fishing in particular, and I love stories where nature plays such a strong role, with characters deeply connected in their environment. There is a lot of sadness in these stories too - thwarted relationships or ones who don't get to reach their potential due to outside actions (or the actions of those in the relationships). In terms of my favourite stories, it's a hard choice between The Caretaker and Mkondo for me. I think they were the saddest stories, so I don't know what that says about me, but the emotion in them was so tangible. This is a beautiful collection.