A review by serendipitysbooks
Seven Empty Houses by Samanta Schweblin

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

 Seven Empty Houses is a collection of unsettling short stories, six very short and one more novella length, that explore the concepts of emptiness and loss - of love, of life, of people and memories. As with most collections, I connected more with some stories than others. An Unlucky Man, in which a young girl, alone in a hospital waiting room, reveals to a stranger that she is not wearing any underwear, and then agrees to go with him when he offers to buy her some, had me perched uncomfortably on the edge of my seat, stomach sick with worry. In another story a woman developed the habit of going in to strangers’ homes while they were present and then walking out with whatever caught her eye. Many stories had me wondering what was going on, or why people were behaving the way they were. I suspect this is a marmite book. I don’t regret reading it. It was undoubtedly a well-written collection, but possibly a bit too esoteric for me. 
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