Touchy Subjects

A strong showing by the author of "Room" -- a collection of tales showcasing her uncanny ability to create an genuine and nuanced internal life for her characters, whether in mundane or extraordinary circumstances. These tales are immensely varied: they include narrators or every stripe and sexuality, settings in North America and Ireland, and personalities large and small. My favorite was is impossible to discuss here without a spoiler, so I will only mention that it involves love in an all-female co-op and a young anal retentive grammatically correct lesbian virgin who falls in love with a mysterious and unlikely figure.

3-1/2 stars. While the stories were all good & the writing excellent, the general effect was spoiled for me by having the most fun, enjoyable story first; I kept waiting for more hilarity which did not ensue.

I found this collection of short stories a little disappointing. Not that they are dull or badly written - they aren't - but rather that they seem to be missing the wit and originality I've come to expect from Emma Donoghue's other work. There wasn't much here that really took me by surprise. Good, sound, workmanlike stories, told from a wide range of viewpoints, but nothing to make you want to read it a second time. Guessing from the settings and subject-matter, I suspect they were written in between seminars during a dull stint as writer-in-residence at some minor american university. One story - "The Writ-Or" - actually takes a bored writer-in-residence as its central character, but doesn't do very much with him except make him show more complain about the quality of the work his students show him. show less

In my eyes, Emma Donoghue can do very little wrong. This themed collection (babies, domesticity, strangers, desire and death) feels like a chat with a good friend. Donoghue does great dialogue, and her situations are deeply realistic. I can see myself picking this collection up to return to a few of the stories again and again.

3-1/2 stars. While the stories were all good & the writing excellent, the general effect was spoiled for me by having the most fun, enjoyable story first; I kept waiting for more hilarity which did not ensue.

This collection of short stories had some standouts, and others not so much. I thought it was a fortunate coincidence that I read this directly following Flannery O'Connor as the two seem to have a similar theme to their stories. However, I thought Donoghue wasn't quite as good. I would be interested to read a novel from her to see what she would do with more time to develop a character. Overall, it was worth the read, but it wasn't something to be overly thrilled about.

These are marvelous stories, full of humour and life. I recommend, in particular, the story called Writor for a good laugh.