Scan barcode
thebibliotaph's review
4.0
The Unbelievable Death of Joseph
The first story is about an old man who dies alone on a pier and gets turned into a folk of starlings. The story is about reminiscing about a life with regrets and getting revenge in a small and unconventional way. The author captures what its like to be a flock of bird is a beautiful and surprising way.
Although there is some funny imagery, the story has a melancholic tone. And the colloquial use of language might be accurate, but it did feel like it clashed with the magical feel.
The Chair
The second story is about a military experiment that has foreseen and unforeseened consequences.
This was a well-rounded story, although the ending felt fast for someone who is used to reading longer pieces. The thing that makes a short story good is how much it makes you think afterwards. And this one certainly made me think. There are a lot of questions left open and I would have loved to know more.
The Dark Matter of Dreams
Story number three is a bit metaphysical for my taste. A dream journey. I’m not fond of extreme surrealism stories, so I can’t comment much other than to say that the narrator issues with women are a bit weird.
Without the Simple Science
The fourth story is the shortest, but also the best in my opinion. A deep and punchy tale about friends meeting for one last time. It manages so much layers, history and concepts in very few words. Defiantly my favourite of the four.
Overall a well written and intriguing collection and I will keep an eye out for more of this author’s work.
The first story is about an old man who dies alone on a pier and gets turned into a folk of starlings. The story is about reminiscing about a life with regrets and getting revenge in a small and unconventional way. The author captures what its like to be a flock of bird is a beautiful and surprising way.
Although there is some funny imagery, the story has a melancholic tone. And the colloquial use of language might be accurate, but it did feel like it clashed with the magical feel.
The Chair
The second story is about a military experiment that has foreseen and unforeseened consequences.
This was a well-rounded story, although the ending felt fast for someone who is used to reading longer pieces. The thing that makes a short story good is how much it makes you think afterwards. And this one certainly made me think. There are a lot of questions left open and I would have loved to know more.
The Dark Matter of Dreams
Story number three is a bit metaphysical for my taste. A dream journey. I’m not fond of extreme surrealism stories, so I can’t comment much other than to say that the narrator issues with women are a bit weird.
Without the Simple Science
The fourth story is the shortest, but also the best in my opinion. A deep and punchy tale about friends meeting for one last time. It manages so much layers, history and concepts in very few words. Defiantly my favourite of the four.
Overall a well written and intriguing collection and I will keep an eye out for more of this author’s work.
krisandburn's review
4.0
This is a collection of four short stories to test the waters for this new author.
These stories were weird and wonderful. The title story spoke to me the most as the setting was familiar to me. I have seen the flocks of starlings over the Old Pier at Brighton, so I had no trouble visualising that one at all.
All four of these stories are slightly odd, but strangely interesting. Although I felt the writing was a bit rough around the edges I ended up enjoying them quite a bit. Better, they left me wanting to read more. Especially the final story called Without The Simple Science I feel could be a fragment from a dystopian novel that I would like to read.
I am not sure I would recommend reading this short story collection especially, but I will be checking out one of this author’s full length novels.
These stories were weird and wonderful. The title story spoke to me the most as the setting was familiar to me. I have seen the flocks of starlings over the Old Pier at Brighton, so I had no trouble visualising that one at all.
All four of these stories are slightly odd, but strangely interesting. Although I felt the writing was a bit rough around the edges I ended up enjoying them quite a bit. Better, they left me wanting to read more. Especially the final story called Without The Simple Science I feel could be a fragment from a dystopian novel that I would like to read.
I am not sure I would recommend reading this short story collection especially, but I will be checking out one of this author’s full length novels.
bookiepanda's review
4.0
A little less than month аго, I received this e-book and it sounded interesting, plus the phrase ‘a unique collection of death, voodoo magic and strange things’ catched my attention.
The book is short. Only 66 pages and I thought I could read it fast. A few days, maybe.
I was wrong.
It took me three weeks to finish it (at least it’s less than month). Of course, a part of it was thanks to school, bad mood, family issues. You know, the typical things. But the other part was because of the book itself.
It’s good. I can say that I liked the idea of the stories. All three different and strange in a good way. They catched my attention with plot, but they were too long for my taste.
When I read short stories, I like them… how to say it… short. 10 pages or less. I accept more, but the author’s style has to be really good to keep my attention.
Here the first two stories were something like 30 pages and the last one was 6 or 7. I wanted to keep reading, but got distracted, bored and at some point, I lost the main topic of the story.
So that’s the only problem with the book. The too long stories. I like everything else. The cover is so bright! You won’t expect something dark from inside, but the motive suits the book.
The book is short. Only 66 pages and I thought I could read it fast. A few days, maybe.
I was wrong.
It took me three weeks to finish it (at least it’s less than month). Of course, a part of it was thanks to school, bad mood, family issues. You know, the typical things. But the other part was because of the book itself.
It’s good. I can say that I liked the idea of the stories. All three different and strange in a good way. They catched my attention with plot, but they were too long for my taste.
When I read short stories, I like them… how to say it… short. 10 pages or less. I accept more, but the author’s style has to be really good to keep my attention.
Here the first two stories were something like 30 pages and the last one was 6 or 7. I wanted to keep reading, but got distracted, bored and at some point, I lost the main topic of the story.
So that’s the only problem with the book. The too long stories. I like everything else. The cover is so bright! You won’t expect something dark from inside, but the motive suits the book.
cupofbooksreviews's review
4.0
I have received The Unbelievable Death of Joseph Goldberg: And Other Short Stories by Oliver Franks in exchange for an honest review. I have given this collection of short stories four out of five stars overall ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
As this is a collection of four short stories, I'm going to break them off into four sections and review them individually via headers. So, let's get started:
The Unbelievable Death of Joseph Goldberg
This first story as you can tell by the title is about the death of an old man called Joseph Goldberg. As per the book description above, he transforms into a flock of starlings when he dies. I really liked the author's writing and thought it was a very clever. From what I understand from the descriptions, by Joseph being a flock of starlings he was reliving his war days of flying and bombing. His thoughts that pop up in italics in the short story such as "Come on you little bastards, I've got you!" lead me to believe this was about his past life.
The Chair
The second short story, The Chair, is about a military experiment used on a man called Gerard who is a patient in a psychiatric facility miles and miles away from the military base. I thought this short story was very clever as well and I loved Franks' use of words in this short story. Very well descriptive and I loved how the author really made me think about this story afterwards and would have loved to have read on to read more about this chair and Dr Lucy O'Connor.
The Dark Matter of Dreams
Just as the title say of this short story, it is about a man's dream of dark matter. I felt quite confused reading this one as it's very trippy and unique, however I could imagine in my mind how the scenes would look and how they transform into one another, because once again Franks' descriptive writing is on point!
Without the Simple Science
This short story is about a group of friends saying goodbye to one another in a dystopian world. This very very short story packs a punch of information which really helps to set the scene and what has happened in their world. This story left me feeling sad and wanting to know what happens during/after the storm surge.
I really enjoyed reading over the collection of short stories by Oliver Franks and would definitely recommend them to everyone. I look forward to reading more from this author in the near future.
More...