Customer Reviews

Empty Rooms Lonely Countries

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Five stars, because there simply isn't a page in this book that doesn't have something I enjoyed, and that includes the About the Author page (seriously).

This book is full of true events told through fiction, it's a novel told in short stories. The protagonist, the author's fictional avatar, engages in a dreamlike but nonetheless relentless search for love - something that in the context of this book is both all-pervasive and frustratingly elusive. The language is simple, the stories go down like cool water, but the implications and ideas linger like both fine and bargain wines.

And this is appropriate, because alcohol soaks this book clear through, leaving you at the end like you've awoken from a deep night of heavy drinking... What country am I in today? Did I really say those things? Where are my pants? Did she really kiss me?...

Beautiful, evocative work by a serious young writer.

Next book, please, Mr. Dumais.

This is an excellent anthology, with stories that range from thought-provoking to hilarious, from beautiful to heart-breaking. The stories resonate. They are things that happen to us all, inside.

The author really lays himself bare in the stories, telling his tales in an open manner, no matter how painful or embarrassing, no matter how complicated. From his heart being broken to having to ferry his brother home in a trunk, from fairy-tale and horror-story remembrances of the past to being confronted with his fear of needles, the stories will all leave you with something to think about, some essential truth.

Highly recommended.