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Out of all the stories in this collection, I particularly enjoyed Ripples and Toxic Love. I thought that the characters in these were better developed than the characters in the other stories, mainly owing to the fact that these stories were longer. When I read about Anne’s predicament in Ripples and the backstory of the husband and wife in Toxic Love I was able to identify with their current situations to a greater degree than I could with the characters in the other stories, since there was more background on them.
I thought the plot of each individual story was interesting, even though I wasn’t attached to many of the characters. I like books about revenge and mystery, and these stories provided some exciting, albeit short, problems that dealt with those themes. The writing style was very plot-driven, with some beautiful descriptions and eerie details throughout. I did feel, however, that given the abruptness with which each story ended, more time could have been spent on characterization than on descriptions of settings.
As I mentioned before, I felt like the stories ended too abruptly. Just as I was getting invested in a story, it would be over. I understand the need for brevity in short stories, but there was simply no time to introduce me to a new character, tell an intriguing story, and tie everything up with a satisfying conclusion. I think the first three stories in particular suffered from being too brief, with the last three getting a little longer, which gave them more depth.
I give The Liar and Other Stories two out of four stars. The short length of each story weakened the effect of an otherwise interesting plot. All the elements of a solid short story collection are present in this book – good writing, intriguing plotlines, and potentially well fleshed-out characters. They just don’t quite come together in this compilation.
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