Synopsis/blurb.....
Roger McKnight’s debut collection depicts individuals hampered by hardship, self-doubt, and societal indifference, who thanks to circumstance or chance, find glimmers of hope in life’s more inauspicious moments. Hopeful Monsters is a fictional reflection on Minnesota’s people that explores the state’s transformation from a homogeneous northern European ethnic enclave to a multi-national American state. Love, loss, and longing cross the globe from Somalia and Sweden to Maine and Minnesota as everyday folk struggle for self-realization. Idyllic lake sides and scorching city streets provide authentic backdrops for a collection that shines a flickering light on vital global social issues. Read and expect howling winds, both literal and figurative, directed your way by a writer of immense talent.
“Roger McKnight is a very slick writer with an incredibly quirky sensibility. Miss him at your own peril.” – Mark SaFranko –
"‘Hopeful Monsters’ is one of the best collections of linked stories I’ve ever read.” – Donald Ray Pollock –
An enjoyable collection of short stories, if not an exactly memorable one.
Seventeen in all - listed below and no real favourite among them. Scrub that - probably the last couple - The First Best Bus and Speed Clean.
Speed Clean in particular satisfies with the kindness displayed by a couple cleaning out a mother's possessions after she has passed. Their acts allowing a measure of the women's spirit to stay alive as her washer moves on to a young family with an infant and very little else.
People, loneliness, friendships, strangers, poverty, immigration, family, loss, dreams, depression, unemployment, landlords, poultry farming, thoughts of suicide, military service, bus rides, waiting tables, art, connections, and probably a lot more.
Perhaps my reading experience would have been better served by consuming the stories over a shorter period of time. Only in a couple did I notice the connections to other characters in other tales. What can I say - work and life interfered with my reading and something that should have taken a week, ended up being several months. That's hardly the fault of the author.
GENUINE SOULS
OUT THE WINDOW
A PLACE IN SPACE
DOWN THE RIVER
SEPTEMBER MIST
RAIN SHADOW
BASIC SKILLSFORGETTING SHE FORGOT
IAGO
LOVING SØREN
BURNT POTATOES
HOPEFUL MONSTERS
SIXTEEN
VICTORIA
YESTERDAY’S STORMS
THE FIRST, BEST BUS
SPEED CLEAN
Overall 3 from 5
Read - January, 2020
Published - 2019
Page count - 270
Source - review copy received from publisher, Storgy Books
Format - kindle
Glad you found some things to like here, Col. You make a really interesting point about whether the entries in a short story collection need to be related to each other. I've read some collections where they are, and some where they aren't. It's an interesting question, and good 'food for thought.'
ReplyDeleteMargot, on reflection I think I like connectivity between characters over different stories. It allows you to build some familiarity for the subjects. If it was more prevalent here, my fault I missed it.
DeleteI like to try short story collections and this one sounds very interesting but I have so many unread collections at this point. In print, on the Kindle.
ReplyDeleteYou and me both, Tracy. Easy to pick up and acquire, herder to pick up and read.
DeleteA short story collection is like a buffet meal – always something you like and you don't. With the exception of Jeffrey Archer years ago, I have never read short story collections from cover to cover. I usually come back after a period of time.
ReplyDeleteYeah I know what you mean. I don't think I did myself any favours reading it over an extended period. That said my reading mojo had gone AWOL....... what can you do?
Delete