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settingshadow's review against another edition
5.0
I initially only read Sagittarius, which was published online, and I found it haunting: a beautiful parable about the tension of having children that are atypical and the joy that they can bring. It was a perfect short story in pacing, in spare but beautiful prose and in rapidly drawn, immediately sympathetic characters.
I liked Sagittarius so much that I bought the collection. Sagittarius is certainly the best, closely followed by the ending story, Bereavement. Both use speculative elements sparingly to highlight unspeakable but universal human experiences.
Otherwise, I thought the stories were pretty good, and since I'm not a short story reader, that's honestly pretty high praise. I think Hbrek really understands the form: short stories are literary playground to pull out the weird stuff that you can't support for a full novel. Some of them are stuffed full of the sort of luxurious prose that would be too obfuscating to use for more than a dozen pages. Others employ literary hijinks, like non-chronologic storytelling that add a twist and a punch to a 40 page chapter. Hbrek also links his stories -- not just characters, but also themes, to good effect. As a result, there's something very satisfying about finishing the work. It felt like the emotional payoff for finishing a novel -- like I'd really gone through the normal emotional sequence of reading a book, despite the disparate themes, tones and genres. Overall, I'll keep an eye out for Hbrek in the future.
I liked Sagittarius so much that I bought the collection. Sagittarius is certainly the best, closely followed by the ending story, Bereavement. Both use speculative elements sparingly to highlight unspeakable but universal human experiences.
Otherwise, I thought the stories were pretty good, and since I'm not a short story reader, that's honestly pretty high praise. I think Hbrek really understands the form: short stories are literary playground to pull out the weird stuff that you can't support for a full novel. Some of them are stuffed full of the sort of luxurious prose that would be too obfuscating to use for more than a dozen pages. Others employ literary hijinks, like non-chronologic storytelling that add a twist and a punch to a 40 page chapter. Hbrek also links his stories -- not just characters, but also themes, to good effect. As a result, there's something very satisfying about finishing the work. It felt like the emotional payoff for finishing a novel -- like I'd really gone through the normal emotional sequence of reading a book, despite the disparate themes, tones and genres. Overall, I'll keep an eye out for Hbrek in the future.
whosbradpitt's review against another edition
4.0
Probably the best book of short stories I've ever read. While each one was heartbreaking in its own way, they were also inspiring and made me think about the way our world is going now. I hope to own this soon!
hollowspine's review
4.0
Hrbek's collection of surreal, heartbreaking tales are extremely well written and will no doubt leave readers slightly off kilter. The title story about the filming of kaiju eiga (monster film) involving multiple narrators, was one of my favorites in the collection, humorous at times but also melancholy and with a dash of the bizarre. Which was the common theme throughout the stories, something tragic, hope lent by a combination of science and myth.
Frannycam.net/diary was also a really interesting story, more in the mechanics of it and the way it was presented, the story flowing backwards from the last entry to the earliest. I thought that was really clever, in a way reminded me a bit of what M. Sedgwick was trying to do in his YA story [b:The Ghosts of Heaven|21469108|The Ghosts of Heaven|Marcus Sedgwick|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1409674391s/21469108.jpg|40787024], where in the intro he invited readers to read the short stories in any order. However, where I don't believe it worked in Ghosts of Heaven, this short story was much more successful, making me wonder how I would have felt about the story had I read it from the first entry to the last rather than the other way around.
Each story in the collection should cause one to stop and think and maybe be a little bit unsettled. The story "False Positive" was also an interesting perspective on a story about a couple mourning the loss of a child. It was heartbreaking and desperate, Hrbek's writing again bringing the story of a loss as explored by many authors to new places.
Those who enjoy the stories of Etgar Keret, especially his story Teamwork (in [b:Suddenly, a Knock on the Door|8441779|Suddenly, a Knock on the Door|Etgar Keret|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1332956619s/8441779.jpg|13305573]) would find the same heartbreaking stories with a dash of magic realism here.
Frannycam.net/diary was also a really interesting story, more in the mechanics of it and the way it was presented, the story flowing backwards from the last entry to the earliest. I thought that was really clever, in a way reminded me a bit of what M. Sedgwick was trying to do in his YA story [b:The Ghosts of Heaven|21469108|The Ghosts of Heaven|Marcus Sedgwick|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1409674391s/21469108.jpg|40787024], where in the intro he invited readers to read the short stories in any order. However, where I don't believe it worked in Ghosts of Heaven, this short story was much more successful, making me wonder how I would have felt about the story had I read it from the first entry to the last rather than the other way around.
Each story in the collection should cause one to stop and think and maybe be a little bit unsettled. The story "False Positive" was also an interesting perspective on a story about a couple mourning the loss of a child. It was heartbreaking and desperate, Hrbek's writing again bringing the story of a loss as explored by many authors to new places.
Those who enjoy the stories of Etgar Keret, especially his story Teamwork (in [b:Suddenly, a Knock on the Door|8441779|Suddenly, a Knock on the Door|Etgar Keret|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1332956619s/8441779.jpg|13305573]) would find the same heartbreaking stories with a dash of magic realism here.
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