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Ugliest House in the World

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********** 10 Stars

I loved to listen to short-stories as a child in Wales, well that's what I like to think, and this collection of beautifully sculpted, humoress and enchanting tales will keep you spellbound long enough to forget about everything else around you.

Peter Ho Davies has written a remarkable book which indicates a brilliant ability to observe, interpret and create images, ideas and stories.

regards,

Martyn R Jones

Davies' collection of short stories is a wonderful amalgam of short stories that are both memorable and unique. Although the subjects vary, from an elite officers' dinner party during the Boer War to a quarry workers' strike in Wales, Davies is consistent throughout with his insightfulness and a wonderful sense of humor. More specifically, the stories are not written in any atypical or outrageous manner; rather, Davies simply tells his stories in voices that are confident and direct, and each is perfectly suitable for the story he has to tell.

To read this delightful collection of stories is like taking a balloon trip around the world with an acute spyglass to your eye; you see diverse moments in history and across cultures with tremendous specificity and clarity. But Davies' best accomplishment is the tenderness with which he presents his odd characters--the chinese painter pressganged by a group of violent communist buffoons, the striking Welsh miner who must choose between pride and love. Even a buttoned-up group of colonialist Brits striving to oppress the Zulu come in for their share of quiet sympathy--a story that begins by lampooning an officer's embarassment as he farts in the presence of his superiors ends with the suggestion that both Brit and Zulu share a deep corporeal response to the prospect of death. The stories in this book are wide-ranging and unpredictable, but so satisfying. I loved the book. This writer is here to stay.

I thought these stories were pretty remarkable--daring, exotic both in subject and style, bracingly original. It's probably criminal to mention Updike in the same breath as the author of a first collection, but I can't think of anyone else I've read recently who writes short stories with this particular brand of agile, athletic grace. He takes chances on every page, but you never see him sweat. And best of all, there aren't any stunts here--no showing off. No trendy cynicism, and no easy answers. The stories know what they're after right from the opening (though as a reader, I was often surprised), and they deliver on every promise. Yes, they're funny (they're sometimes very funny), but serious too, and sly in the way that they accumulate moral weight. How often do you read a collection that leaves you feeling sated in the manner of a novel? This is one.

Here is a collection that defies the current rules of publishing. Each story is whole unto itself, fully realized, sophisticated, at times comic and always poignant. Davies repeats nothing and holds nothing back. A remarkable achievement in a current literary world marked by monotony and reiteration.