Rate this book

The Theory Of Light And Matter (2008)

by Andrew Porter(Favorite Author)

4.27 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0820332097 (ISBN13: 9780820332093)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

University of Georgia Press

review 1: This is a breathtaking collection of stories and one of the best I have read in years. Each story is unique, haunting and elegantly written. Many focus on the the theme of memory and the truth of our experiences. Porter is a master of capturing quiet moments and presents his characters in heartbreakingly honest detail. It is unusual to find a collection in which every single story is powerful and memorable and perfectly crafted. I'm sure this is a book I will reread in the future.
review 2: This was a very enjoyable collection of short stories. I loved each and every one. Porter is a wonderfully descriptive writer with a knack for bringing subtle emotion into his stories. He plunges you right into the middle of the character’s lives. The writing is straightfo... morerward but not simple. He makes me think of someone like William Trevor who doesn’t play around with trickery or stylistic gimmicks. His talent is obvious from the first page but he doesn’t throw it in your face or make it about him. The same is true of Trevor incidentally. Not long ago I went through a phase where every collection I read made me want to stop reading short stories. I love short stories, but I thought the authors I was reading were showing off. Porter is a refreshing exception to this trend. He tells you a story plain and simple, but there is nothing about the stories you would expect. In the title story he tells of a college student’s bizarre relationship with her much older professor. There are so many ways this story could have gone wrong in lesser hands, but Porter avoids the clichés. He makes it about something else. He goes on to do this in almost every story. You might think it’s going in a certain direction but then he flips it on you without making it feel gimmicky. One of my favorite stories in the book is “Departure.” This is a recounting of a teenage boy’s fascination with Amish people. It starts out…”That spring we were sixteen Tanner and I started dating the Amish girls out on the rural highway—sometimes two or three at the same time, because it wasn’t really dating. There was no way of getting serious.” Another story called “River Dogs” begins… “It is easy now, after everything that has happened to my brother, to say I didn’t hate him. But I can still remember how it used to humiliate me when the rumors about him spread though my high school.” Many of the stories are coming of age stories, but Porter’s approach is new. He paints images directly into your mind. The characters are like friends you don’t want to say goodbye to. Some of these stories could have even been novels. Everyone in my reading group liked a different story best. My favorites were “Departure,” “The Hole,” and “River Dogs.” I also enjoyed a very short story called “Skin" and the story "Coyote." I plan to reread this book in about a year and I will be interested to see what Andrew Porter does next.. less

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