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I started this book by John Lanchester, author of "The Wall", expecting creepy or at least unsettling short stories. But even for a scaredy cat like me, they were neither. Nevertheless, these eight stories were interesting enough to keep me going. The first one, "Signal", is a classic haunted-house tale, nestled into a depiction of our neediness regarding technology, especially our mobile phones. I really enjoyed that one; it set the tone for the following stories and really put me in the mood. I didn't enjoy some of the following stories ("Which of these would you like?" -- I simply didn't get it, "We happy few", and "Reality"). My favorites, "Cold call" and "Charity" are tackling the difficult topic of dealing with the current loss of a loved one and the grief coming with that. I could empathize with the characters in these two stories the most. But to take a break from recapping the stories--I enjoyed John Lanchester's writing style; how he grabs hold of your attention was really unique for me. Ironically, I did not check my phone once while reading these stories. Coming to which, the topics are well chosen and highly relevant in our everyday life: mobile phones, selfie sticks, androids--in general, human's dependency on technology. Since I liked five out of eight stories, I would definitely recommend this book to readers who enjoy a good short story!
Oct 1, 2024
I started this book by John Lanchester, author of "The Wall", expecting creepy or at least unsettling short stories. But even for a scaredy cat like me, they were neither. Nevertheless, these eight stories were interesting enough to keep me going. The first one, "Signal", is a classic haunted-house tale, nestled into a depiction of our neediness regarding technology, especially our mobile phones. I really enjoyed that one; it set the tone for the following stories and really put me in the mood. I didn't enjoy some of the following stories ("Which of these would you like?" -- I simply didn't get it, "We happy few", and "Reality"). My favorites, "Cold call" and "Charity" are tackling the difficult topic of dealing with the current loss of a loved one and the grief coming with that. I could empathize with the characters in these two stories the most. But to take a break from recapping the stories--I enjoyed John Lanchester's writing style; how he grabs hold of your attention was really unique for me. Ironically, I did not check my phone once while reading these stories. Coming to which, the topics are well chosen and highly relevant in our everyday life: mobile phones, selfie sticks, androids--in general, human's dependency on technology. Since I liked five out of eight stories, I would definitely recommend this book to readers who enjoy a good short story!
Oct 1, 2024
