Madame Zero: 9 Stories

This is a dizzyingly literary collection of dark, sometimes dystopian, female-focused short stories. I really liked most of them and really did not like the first and last stories in the book, both of which were told from the perspective of a husband whose wife starts acting oddly (one turns into a fox, the other becomes uncharacteristically hedonistic -- one of these transformations is explained and the other isn't, but both the husband and wife in each are equally frustrating). The other stories have wildly different subjects but all cling to a similar sense of impending dread and unexplained disconnection: the case notes of a social worker as she helps a child recently rescued from an unusual commune; a British woman on an unnerving show more hike with her new boyfriend and his childhood best friend in South Africa; a new mother who runs into a former lover walking home from her "me time" at the neighborhood pool; and (one of my favorites) a young man who has learned to survive in a world where the wind won't stop blowing and almost everyone else has died (but who just wants to have a nice Christmas). Even though I didn't like every story, they were all compelling, unique, and hard to put down. Worth a check-out for a well-rounded contemporary short story fix. show less

‘’The morning is clear, a few high clouds banking on the horizon. Dawn has come and gone, but it still feels fresh and damp and clean. You cycle through the hospital grounds, past the crematorium and across a small park, then along the river. The field is empty. The grass glistens under the wheels of your bike. When you look up there is a long dark vee of birds in the sky, migrating south.’’

A woman is transformed into a fox, leaving her husband struggling to understand and survive. A child is rescued from a strange commune to tragic repercussions. In a dystopian society, the right of women to choose has been taken away and a doctor is forced to help them in a world in a state where abortion and medication is illegal. It sounds show more frighteningly similar to the society that Trump and his fanatic followers dream of creating...A new mother meets a former lover in the lido and contemplates on all the ‘’ might-have-been’’. A young girl visits the mortuary, searching for answers caused by a terrible incident. A haunting letter from a man who exposes the inability of the government to stop a deadly virus and loses everything in the process. A married woman finds her personality altered, resembling an uncontrollable animal.

In London, Whitby, Brighton, Hall creates darkness. Pure and unholy darkness. In exemplary prose, she presents an intricate, dubious depiction of womanhood, mostly seen through the eyes of men who seem torn between mythologizing, worshipping and destroying the female identity. Making use of the concepts of love and death, the driving forces of the universe, the primal instincts that confuse us and define us. These are intense, dark, disturbing to the point of making you feel uncomfortable stories. Transformation, motherhood, fulfillment are either means to a bitter end or nowhere to be found.

This is an excellent, demanding collection with the exception of the last story, ‘’Evie’’, which I simply couldn’t stomach. It went against my literary preferences and above all, against my personal code of morality and decency. Hence, the 4-star rating for an overall brilliant reading experience.

‘’The one who loves less is always loved more.’’

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com show less

I'm a fan of John Cheever, and before Cheever, Ernest Hemingway, and before Hemingway, Emile Zola--and what all these writers did was to tell a story that in some discernible sense TOLD A STORY. Their stories had beginnings and middles and ends. And Sarah Hall does nothing of the kind. Nevertheless these 'short stories' are fully formed. They aren't fragments. They aren't even 'experimental' in the sense that the term is usually used. Her short fiction published here left me changed for having read it. Even though they don't follow any tradition of linear storytelling, I was never bored--I was rapt.

I really wanted to be dazzled by this because I found the brief descriptions of the nine stories to be so intriguing. Unfortunately, I was underwhelmed and I'm still not entirely sure why. I came away with the feeling that this was a creative writing exercise that got published. It's....fine with solid writing and varied, even unexpected stories. But it lacks something vital to bring it to life and/or maybe to give the collection of stories a cohesive feel?

Things We Lost in the Fire is similarly unsettling, similar in length and it's the better of the two. I read Madame Zero over a long holiday weekend and now - two days after finishing it - I can generally describe a couple of stories, but most of them didn't land and I can't tell you show more whether there's an overarching theme here. Meh. If you're crazy about short stories or have a thing for this author, go for it, but otherwise....plenty of other fish in the sea. show less

Sarah Hall has written a remarkable collection of short fiction.
There are stories from first, second, and third person, with points of view from women, men, boys, and girls in many combinations of personality and sophistication.

Maybe four of the selections confused me. Hall has a grasp of medical language and an extensive vocabulary. Five of the nine stories were wonderful.

"Mrs. Fox," is the best thing I've read in some time. It is about a man, a woman, and a fox, told beautifully, a story to read slowly and savored. It would be a shame to give away the plot, which grows from ordinary to fantastic and back to ordinary in ways that were completely believable to me.

"What can be decided in a few moments that will not be questioned for a lifetime?"

Sarah Hall's MADAME ZERO is a wildly original and imaginative collection. The stories are dark and unsettling, and often very funny indeed. You're never comfortable reading these stories, and I value that.

I'd previously read the two award-winning stories that bookend the collection: "Mrs. Fox" and "Evie." Otherwise this was my first experience with Hall's short fiction.

Not all of the stories were entirely successful for me, but each one had strong writing and an unexpected delight or two. Oddly, perhaps, given her reputation, I was surprised to find that the high-concept and fabulist stories were the ones that didn't work as well for me. Some of them felt show more contrived and perhaps too clever by half.

I preferred her stories that dealt with the awkwardness and sadness of everyday life, with characters that were fully realized and deeply human. "Luxury Hour" is a terrific story in which a recent first-time mother has a chance encounter with a former lover. And the heartbreaking and funny "Goodnight Nobody" walks us through a young girl's unusual family life. Give me these "normal" stories from Hall every time over her overtly shocking and bizarre ones. But maybe that's just me.

All in all, I enjoyed this fine collection very much, and I won't forget some of these stories any time soon. Strongly recommended. show less

Collection of sensuous, erotic, suspenseful stories with the Sarah Hall trademark style. I’m not a great fan of short stories, mainly because one needs time and effort to get invested in the flow of the narrative and its characters before really enjoying the read.

In the case of short stories that means once you are finally into it, it is over. And one needs to sink the next investment in the next story. And this is certainly the case with the first story on a lover whose wife converts into a fox that raises a litter of foxes. The man basically fails to adjust his life initially, only gradually accepts and even appreciates her new shape, but keeps mourning for her all his life, hoping for her re-appearance in human form.

The second show more story ends abruptly when a wasted boy from a commune dies abruptly the moment his shrink starts to understand the (weird) ideas that shaped the boy (no sense of material ownership, no sense of ego) and seemingly manages to entice him to accept the pillars of our capitalist, self-centred society. When the latter happens, the boy kills himself, leaving an uncomprehending psychologist. Excellent story. Other remarkable stories are ‘Wilderness’ and ‘Later, his ghost’. show less