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The Miniature Wife And Other Stories (2013)

by Manuel Gonzales(Favorite Author)

3.57 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1594486042 (ISBN13: 9781594486043)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Riverhead Hardcover

review 1: A really good, if slightly uneven, collection of short stories. There were some five-star stories here, some really imaginative pieces that allow you to see the world in a different way. There were also some three-star stories and a couple of two-star clunkers. The farther Gonzales strayed from well-worn paths like zombies and werewolves, the better (not that his takes on these subjects were bad - Gonzales at least tried to do something a little different and inventive, but in the end didn't succeed at the same level as the other stories in this collection). The title story alone makes this collection worth a look, and Gonzales definitely establishes himself here as a voice to watch closely in the future.
review 2: Stuck it out for maybe 1/3 of the stories ... more(including the title story), but gave up due to never feeling particularly moved by any of the characters or writing. I love surrealism/absurdism as much as the next guy (George Saunders is my favorite writer right now), but not surrealism for contrivance's sake, and these stories started feeling that way after a while. I think Gonzales gets really caught up in the details of his setups (exactly how you'd make a dollhouse livable for a doll-sized human being, paragraphs upon paragraphs about the workings of the human auditory system), to the extent that he overlooks the emotional elements he originally intended to convey via the surreal stuff. I will say, however, that he definitely knows how to draw you in from the first sentence - it just felt like he doesn't know exactly where he wants to take you after getting your hardearned attention.... less

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