In the Mean Time by Paul Tremblay
My rating: 5/5 cats
holy freaking crap!!
i am giving this five stars cats, even though there were one or two stories there that i didn’t think were the best, because the ones that were great were GREAT as in “i want you guys to all read this book-great.”
first – a word. barnes and noble has this publisher shelved in sci-fi/fantasy which is so frustrating to me because the world being the way it is, fewer people browse genre-sections than browse general fiction-literature because the assumption is that sci-fi/fantasy is going to be all planets and wizards and shit. but none of the CZP books are like that, really. they are like canada-does-bizarro, but with more delicacy and fewer ass-raping goblins. they are more dark magical realism than fantasy, and it irritates me that the two i have read from this publisher have both been excellent and really make me want to read the other 7-10 of their books that i have already bought, but would probably never have come across if i wasn’t in the trenches and responsible for all-things-fiction. i just doubt a fan of mercedes lackey or kim stanley robinson would find what they are looking for in these books. bad match, barnes and noble!
these stories are everything i love and hate about short stories. the best of them are like my favorite morrissey song:
evocative without giving every detail of the story so you are left with those shivers of “more, please.” these stories are haunting in the best possible way, especially growing things, the blog at the end of the world and it’s against the law to feed the ducks – so gentle of a touch, so much restraint and it kills me because i need to know more!! i hated leaving these characters behind!! SHORT STORIES, WHY ARE YOU SO SHORT???
for example: headstones in your pocket?? fuck you, awesome writing! why are you over?? i was just getting attached to you!
and do you see the blurbs?? kevin brockmeier, helen oyeyemi, and brian evenson!! i have read all three of these authors and they are all crazy-good. the back of this book says there are more books by this author, and you had better believe i am going to get mr. bill thompson on this for me because i may have a new favorite author.
do you see the purple eighties sweatshirt glitter on the cover?? it is just glorious!
even the stories i didn’t really latch onto were never bad, just not my thing. this man is a gift, and you need to read him.
(i love how my dad, who is the best dad ever and loves me unconditionally and so has an inflated sense of my “talent”, thinks i should review for the new york times. i would seriously love to see what they would do with a review like this: “fuck, fuck, fuck, enthusiasm, glee, invoking the name of someone you may or may not know, fuck, glitter, shit.”)
TAKE THAT, KAKUTANI!!! MY DADDY SAYS I REVIEW GOOD!!!
