Blog written by Sally L
Hello bookclub blog readers! Our August reading was Gretchen Shirm’s “Having Cried Wolf”. This is a unique collection of fifteen short stories set in and around the fictional seaside town of ‘Kinsale’. I had been looking for some short story reading for our group and was intrigued by flipping through the first few pages of this collection that I picked up from Melissa (thanks Melissa!). First impressions were that writing was contemporary, fresh and stripped down (thats my non-writerly speak) – and the stories certainly lived up to this promise!
As a brief description, the setting and characters are distinctly Australian. Many of the stories begin by drawing us into familiar surroundings: two friends catching up in a café while “ the sound of cicadas rises and falls around us” (Breakfast friends); A mother observing an 18 year old son arriving home from a party, car headlights “through the frame of the old fig” (Carrying on). From these mild scenes, common and uncommon dramas unfold, and the reader is gradually immersed into a wonderfully rich larger narrative (very impressive). The stories develop along multiple dimensions , linked by place, with the coastline never far from view, but also weave together in unexpected ways, with characters who reappear in different stories, filling out narrative from different perspectives, and spanning across time. A fascinating common element to the stories is how quietly tragedy plays out, to be replaced by things moving on.
At our discussion (8 of us), there was general enthusiasm for reading short stories, and enjoyment of the writing in Having Cried Wolf. We were interested in the use of linking characters between stories and also thinking about how the stories left much unsaid for the reader to wonder, including the significance of the title! We read the authors comments about ‘Having Cried Wolf’ here: http://short.reviewofaustralianfiction.com/the-short-of-it/post/choosing-a-title-part-one/ and continue to be intrigued.
A couple of us who bought the electronic book version were disappointed they could not flip around the pages to track characters between stories (digital books need to include this as an essential function!).
Our group discussion was, as usual, fairly diverse, but a consistent response was something along the lines of having trouble engaging with the stories as a collection when it seemed the tone of depression would never lift.
Overall, we gave the book around 6 out of 10.
For some other blogging and examples of short stories with linking characters…
Tim Winton - The Turning http://www.abc.net.au/classic/program/midday/listen-again.htm
Bookriot: http://bookriot.com/2012/03/16/short-stories-you-so-trendy-from-linked-to-thematic/
Our next meeting is at Melissa's on Sept 19th Thursday and our book choice is :
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
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