Customer Reviews

The Three Button Trick and Other Stories

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

 

 

This is one of the funniest, insightful collection of short stories I have ever read. The author's keen observations on the darker side of human nature made me cringe when I recognized myself as well as roll over laughing when I recognized my neighbors! Her attention to detail is second to none. I'm on the lookout for other books by this writer, but in the meantime I'll be passing this one along to my friends for Christmas.

belonging on the bookshelf near will self and aimee bender, this collection is absolutely brilliant.

nicola barker is an empress of originality, seamlessly combining in her characters, dialogue and plots, the real and surreal, possible and impossible, humourous and pathetic. she captures so many aspects of humanity in her stories, and, in almost all of them, will have you falling off your chair.

read this book.

I am one for truly bizarre stories, so when I read the reviews for this book I just had to order it. However, upon reading it I was more disappointed than delighted. I felt like the author was trying too hard to be deep and profound. Often times the story would abruptly end and I would be left wondering if there was symbolic or poetic value in it ending where it did, or whether the author just got tired of writing and so ended the story. However, unwilling to leave this book without having given it every chance to redeem itself (or rather, the author, not the book) I read until the very end. I suppose I found in the last story "Parker Swells" some remnants of a decent story and so the book is the better for this story. However, I would not recommend this book to anyone and hope that those who do choose to read it are not as disappointed as I was.