Rate this book

What I Didn't See And Other Stories (2002)

by Karen Joy Fowler(Favorite Author)

3.86 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1931520488 (ISBN13: 9781931520485)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Small Beer Press

review 1: A beautiful collection of delicate, strange fiction. Fowler ranges from grim totalitarian environments to gentle reflections on loss with a light touch and a capacity for invoking unfathomable inner darkness without giving way to despair. In my favorite story in the collection, Fowler pulls off that too-rare feat of a gentle ghost story intended to move rather than frighten, set in the aftermath of Lincoln's assassination and improbably revolving around one of John Wilkes Booth's brothers. I can't recommend this book highly enough.
review 2: As this is a collection of short stories, I wish I could rate each contribution on its own merits. Some stories, such as "The Pelican Bar," "The Dark," and "What I Didn't See," were extraoridnary. I was especially moved b... morey her thoughts at the end of "King Rat," which also concluded this volume, as it made me reflect upon the fact that disappearing and searching are two major themes in her overall body of work. In these thoughts, I felt Fowler was reaching out and speaking as herself, not her narrators, and contemplating her own morbid fascination with these phenomena. The two John Wilkes Boothe stories really brought down the overall quality of the collection, however. If you're interested in that particular historical figure, I would highly recommend "Manhunt" instead. less

Download links for: What I Didn't See and Other Stories

Advertising