Brother, What Strange Place Is This? [Paperback]

Tom Saunders (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2004

Brother, What Strange Place is This? is Tom Saunders’ first short story collection.

From the pagan brutalities of a Welsh island at the time of the Armada in The Seal Man to the quest for redemption of an English jazz pianist in modern day Cuba in The Calle de Obra Pia, the stories explore the complexities of history and the twists and turns of the human journey.

Beautifully, often lyrically written, these stories reveal a keen and playful intelligence at work and all are executed with humour and compassion. The characters are, by turn, quirky, difficult, off beat and yet each is sympathetically rendered.

The title story Brother, What Strange Place is This? examines the relationship between two brothers, one excited by the possibilities of the 20th century, the other, a classical composer, mad with remorse over the instincts he is unable to discipline and understand.

This is a truly remarkable debut, both original and imaginative. Not just a book for lovers of finely crafted short stories, but for everyone interested in the art of writing and in literature itself.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: Uka Press (August 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1904781144
• ISBN-13: 978-1904781141
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,809,009 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite stories, February 9, 2005

By 

Kathryn Koromilas - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Brother, What Strange Place Is This? (Paperback)

Tom Saunders has tuned into the deep dark secrets of our world, of happiness and sadness, and has articulated them in the stories collected in "Brother, what strange place is this?".

The title story with the brother Griffin jumping out of a window only to survive and end up in an institution for the insane addresses the title question in an emotional and philosophical way, but really, all the stories in this collection are studies of the same question.

"Aerobatics" is the one that most got to me, the one I can't forget: A father tells his daughter about the time, when he was a boy, that he came home from school to see to his mother crying, "breaking her heart". He explains that up until that moment he was happy and then "suddenly I was landed with this knowledge about my mother...I wasn't prepared for what I saw...I wasn't prepared for a world where that sort of sadness was possible."

You have to be prepared to read this collection. You won't be, of course. Like the little boy who is suddenly faced with the shock of his mother in tears, one can never be prepared to face the depth of the world's sadness (for the boy) or strangeness (for the brother, Griffin).

Yes, I recommend this collection of stories. Tom Saunders is a sensitive and intelligent writer who is concerned with the truth of the human condition.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rare quality., December 29, 2004

By 

Ed Touchette (gloucester, ma usa) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Brother, What Strange Place Is This? (Paperback)

A Compeling Exploration

Tom Saunders' collection is the work of a true artist.
His writing leads you through a range of human interaction and emotion. In stories like THE RED TRAIN, Saunders tackles subjects that are delicate, controversial at best and with great sensitivity lays it out for the reader to advance conclusions. Without pretense or presumption he offers the reader the opportunity to explore. A true gift Brother, What Strange Place Is This? is a remarkable collection by a remarkable writer.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bob Arter is a happy reader, December 28, 2004

By 

Robert W. Arter "Happy reader" (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Brother, What Strange Place Is This? (Paperback)

After decades of minimalism, modernism, postmodernism, and batty maunderings, Saunders' careful, credible storytelling is as an oasis to the parched mind. My own personal favorite in this varied collection, The Calle de Obra Pia, will sit you down on a piano bench next to a man who is hopelessly in love. You may like him--and this is true of all of Saunders' characters--or you may not, but I tell you that you will care about him, you will know him, you will very likely find in him yourself.

And this is the truth that infects Saunders' stories, and draws the reader into them: he does not write about Everyman; instead, he continues to show us variations on the species. None is wholly good nor entirely sympathetic. Each is as imperfect, as yearning, and as capable of greatness in small spaces as are you, as am I.

This collection is clean air. Do yourself a favor.