Official Review: Swimming Lessons and Other Stories
Posted: 14 Dec 2020, 05:38
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Swimming Lessons and Other Stories" by Suzanne McNear.]
A short story is a glance from the side to a story. So it does not have a definite beginning or an end, but it contains some story. Reading a short story is a different experience, and different readers can have different interpretations for the same short story. With that brief introduction follow me to review a collection of short stories, Swimming Lessons and Other Stories by Suzanne McNear.
First of all the basic details of the book. My copy came with 150 pages, so it is quite a small book. The book contains 13 short stories and a poem. Some of the short stories are previously published work by the author, but the rest is brand new.
I will not summarise each and every story since it will give out spoilers, but will give out a basic layout for a few of them. The short story named "Swimming Lessons", which is the main story of the book, is about a widowed lady who is learning to swim and ultimately learning something far more valuable. "Road Trip" is a story about a couple getting into trouble during a road trip and being saved not only from the trouble at hand, but from the troubles of their lives as well. "Lifesaving" is the story of a playwright whose plays depict the emotional aspects of her life. Along with these, the book contains a poem as well, of a man who had many wives by whom his funeral was converted into a feast.
The general theme of this collection is human thoughts, acts and behaviours. Though all the stories are woven around that general theme, they are unique from one another. They are short and simple, yet carry deep meanings. I read some of them several times and each time I ended up with further understanding. The language used is simple. No too many sophisticated words. So it is an easy as well as a quick read. Wherever needed the author has included different slangs to keep the natural feeling of the story. The editing of the book is exceptionally well. I found no grammatical errors or typos.
With all those good aspects, what I disliked about the book is the gloomy nature of the majority of the stories. Many are related to either death or loss. And the book is lack of dialogues as well. So most of the times it felt like reading a report. And I still wonder why the author has included a poem into a collection of short stories. Though I identified it as a poem, it just felt like another short story since I hardly found any poetic qualities in it.
Having said all the above, I would like to rate this with 3 out of 4 stars. I am deducting one star for the personal dislikes that I mentioned above. This will be appealing to those who prefer short stories about human nature. But be warned that the whole book is a bit gloomy. It contains some profane words, which are used appropriately, and sexual content, though not graphically described. So the book will be more suitable for a mature audience.
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Swimming Lessons and Other Stories
View: on Bookshelves
A short story is a glance from the side to a story. So it does not have a definite beginning or an end, but it contains some story. Reading a short story is a different experience, and different readers can have different interpretations for the same short story. With that brief introduction follow me to review a collection of short stories, Swimming Lessons and Other Stories by Suzanne McNear.
First of all the basic details of the book. My copy came with 150 pages, so it is quite a small book. The book contains 13 short stories and a poem. Some of the short stories are previously published work by the author, but the rest is brand new.
I will not summarise each and every story since it will give out spoilers, but will give out a basic layout for a few of them. The short story named "Swimming Lessons", which is the main story of the book, is about a widowed lady who is learning to swim and ultimately learning something far more valuable. "Road Trip" is a story about a couple getting into trouble during a road trip and being saved not only from the trouble at hand, but from the troubles of their lives as well. "Lifesaving" is the story of a playwright whose plays depict the emotional aspects of her life. Along with these, the book contains a poem as well, of a man who had many wives by whom his funeral was converted into a feast.
The general theme of this collection is human thoughts, acts and behaviours. Though all the stories are woven around that general theme, they are unique from one another. They are short and simple, yet carry deep meanings. I read some of them several times and each time I ended up with further understanding. The language used is simple. No too many sophisticated words. So it is an easy as well as a quick read. Wherever needed the author has included different slangs to keep the natural feeling of the story. The editing of the book is exceptionally well. I found no grammatical errors or typos.
With all those good aspects, what I disliked about the book is the gloomy nature of the majority of the stories. Many are related to either death or loss. And the book is lack of dialogues as well. So most of the times it felt like reading a report. And I still wonder why the author has included a poem into a collection of short stories. Though I identified it as a poem, it just felt like another short story since I hardly found any poetic qualities in it.
Having said all the above, I would like to rate this with 3 out of 4 stars. I am deducting one star for the personal dislikes that I mentioned above. This will be appealing to those who prefer short stories about human nature. But be warned that the whole book is a bit gloomy. It contains some profane words, which are used appropriately, and sexual content, though not graphically described. So the book will be more suitable for a mature audience.
******
Swimming Lessons and Other Stories
View: on Bookshelves
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