A Registry of My Passage upon the Earth

UPDATE: I loved this book so much I wrote am enthusiastic fan e-mail to Daniel Mason. I got a lovely, gracious reply from him today (12/9/2020). How nice is that? Made my day.

I so wanted to love Mason's novel [b: The Winter Solder], and I did love important aspects of it. So it was a joyous relief to fall hard for this collection of short stories. I was hooked from the first page of the first story, "Death of the Pugilist," with its biblical structure and incantatory language that lights up a world of brutality, blood, and death and the literal fall of a man. From there to an almost hallucinatory wander with one of my heroes, Alfred Russel Wallace. There is a poignant tale of one immigrant seeking rest in Civil War re-enactments, and a show more dazzling tribute to Poe as a series of absence seizures becomes a superior sort of double nibbling away at the ordinary life of a 19th-century doctor. Mason, a psychiatrist by profession, delves into the myriad ways people see and experience the world, from a solitary telegraph operator deep in the Brazilian jungle to a woman seeking the rent in the fabric of the universe, to a man existing almost entirely in his own thoughts, visions, and drives. Some stories work better than others, as is to be expected, but every page is worth it.

There is definitely a 19th-century feel to most of the stories, both in setting and in style. As a deep-dyed lover of Victorian literature, I swim easily in it. And yet, it's rarely florid or difficult - the language is precise, rich, measured. Thanks, Dr. Mason. This book gave me joy.

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I just loved this collection—it had a very cabinet-of-curiosities feel, and the author's curiosity was palpable. The stories were mostly set in the 19th century, with a couple before and after, and one contemporary piece that had enough echoes of the past not to feel out of place—all of them about some aspect of science, medicine, psychology. I'm sad to see it didn't get more attention, though maybe the subject matter is especially offbeat these days, when close first-person contemporary short stories really dominate the market. It reminded me a bit of Karen Russell's Orange World, where you could see a trail of breadcrumbs in each story to her "what if?" idea, and her enthusiasm for it. Fans of Andrea Barrett, I think you'd like this.

I think that this is the best collection of short stories I have ever read. The reason why is twofold. First, each of the nine is totally unique in terms of plot and characterization. Second, though they are not long each seems like a mini novel in its own right. They are that fully developed whether based on boxing, plants in pollution or a man whose mind is being usurped by his better self. (a really creative premise). You have to read these stories. This guy is a great writer.

Each story in A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth is a masterpiece that vividly conveys a historical person's grappling with life's big questions. Each story transported me into a specific time and place. The characters are unforgettable.

Mason's background as a physician and psychiatry inform these stories, each character grappling with challenges biological or mental.

A reluctant pugilist, the product of the "cursed Gemini of Poverty and Fertility," dwells on the moral aspect of his trade. "You boys go out and think you are fighting a boxer but really you're fighting the world," a philosophical man shares.

Alfred Russel Wallace is driven to search for new species, imperiling his health, and independently developing a theory of show more evolution. I had read about his collection of birds in The Feather Thief by by Kirk Wallace Johnson.

An immigrant demonstrates extreme patriotism, chagrined that he was unable to join the army and die for his adopted country.

In the smoke-filled city of London, a mother desperately seeks a remedy for her son's asthma.

A doctor's temporary lapses in memory appears to be caused by an alternate and more appealing personality.

An agent of the telegraph line lives in isolation in the jungle, forming deep attachments to other agents along the line. This was one of my favorite stories.

A female aeronaute investigates a dark line in the upper atmosphere.

A mental patient is obsessed with collecting data--recording the history of the mundane--which he stitches onto cloth. The story is inspired by the art created by Bispo do Rosario. Voices instructed him to catalog all things on earth. His over 800 works of found art are now celebrated.

I had read Daniel Mason's novel The Winter Soldier and the story stayed in my head, a sure sign of a well-written novel.

Mason is the author of The Piano Tuner and A Far Country.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased. show less

A registry of my passage upon the earth, the clue to the unravelling of this collection of short stories is held within the title. I found it somewhat difficult to comprehend this weird grouping of unrelated events and happenings. What is the connection between a sailor, a boxer, a balloonist, a linesman on a busy lonely railroad in South America? The final story and in particular the final image go some way to helping a confused reader make sense and arrive at some logical conclusions on the authors intentions. Many thanks to netgalley for a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review, on a difficult read, and that is what I have written.

The language in these stories is quite old fashioned, and the voices used in the recording reinforced the old quality. Very strange.

Like 4.5 stars. Short stories. So nice to read after all that Ian Pears.