Customer Reviews

What Becomes

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

 

 

In each of the short stories the reader can "sort of" see where the author is going (sort of), but in most of these stories she never gets to a place of consistency or clarity. I found it difficult to continue to read this book and put it down several times due to lack of interest. Generally when reading a book the reader can capture the essence of the writing and provide a coherent description of the book's contents. In the case of "What Becomes" the stories and the book itself just seem to fall apart leaving no productive impact or impression upon the reader except boredom and irritation. The book was disappointing and as the reader I was left hanging wanting more from the stories than bland words about how wrong life can be.

This was a highly rated collection of stories (on several best books of the year lists) I read while in Africa with little else to do. Some of the stories are intriguing for their use of language and topics, but nothing here comes close to the finer writers in this genre like Alice Munro. There is some incredibly frank sexuality, some realistic portrayals of people on the fringes, but not much to make me want to read any more by this author or recommend this book to others. By the end I was very tired of it and happy to move on to something else.

The best short stories I've read in a long, long time. They have enough mystery to keep you wondering & enough compassion to tug at your heart strings. They never sidestep the ugliness or the beauty in all of us. An extremely worthwhile read.