Share This Review
While I do admire the originality to be had in this book, I found that most of the stories fell into what I would call a “lukewarm” category. None of them really stood out above the rest. Everything stayed pretty consistent with no real wow factor.
On another positive note, there are A LOT of stories to be found in this book. If you are a short story fan because you only get the chance to read every so often, then this book will probably keep you going for a while.
Each of the stories started with a little note before the actual story. Sometimes it was a question the author wanted you to ask yourself, other times it was some back story, and often times it was a quote. I found that most of these beginning snippets didn’t add much to the story. In fact, many times when I was told to ask myself a question while reading I felt it took away from things. I like to come to my own conclusions, and my own questions, being told to ask myself something just takes some of the fun out of the ponderings.
I’m going to go through a few of the stories from each section, picking them at random off my kindle. The first section is “Will You See It Coming?” which is full of stories that have unexpected twists on the end.
“The Artist” starts by telling the reader that it’s based on a young woman’s diary. The story is about a woman who can paint sick people young and healthy, and her paintings manage to heal such people. Once the story has finished we’re asked to contemplate if it really could be true. At the end the author tells the story of how she came by the diary, and then asks again if we think it could be true. For some reason all the insistence that it could be true made it all ring even more false to me.
“Shades of Red” was a story about a man who is being stalked. This was probably the story I had the hardest time getting through. It was one of the longer ones, and I felt it drug quite a bit, especially for a short story. The protagonist spends a lot of time in his own thoughts trying to figure out who the stalker is. I found that a lot of the characters didn’t react in a realistic way to things that happened either. I didn’t find the story or end “twist” all that interesting.
“The Lamb” is the story of a little girl who feels responsible for a little lamb, and in order to protect him she has to make him imperfect. This was actually one that I enjoyed. It had kind of a corky twist on the end, with a little bit of religious reference mixed in, and it was pretty sweet.
“The Guardian’s Angel” was about an angel who has been sent to earth to protect a mall. I wasn’t really sure about this one. I’m pretty sure the major point of this story was the angel’s big fear. I found that what he feared was a little unrealistic in my opinion, and more should have been explained as to why he feared what he did.
“Impossible Passage” was about a deaf boy who finds his way through a tunnel into the domain of an alien, and the passage heals his hearing. My biggest issue with this story was that I just didn’t think the author got into a 16 year old boy’s mindset very well. The boy seemed immature for his age, and some of the things he said just did not ring true. For instance, I could not see a boy telling another boy if he were a girl he would make out with him.
Short Reads was probably my favorite section. I actually wished some of these had been mixed into the first section, as I found that I enjoyed more of them, and I may have enjoyed the entire book more with some of these early on to speed things up.
“Tarnation and Decorum” is the story of a young woman who is on a train to meet the man she is betrothed to. On the way to her soon to be husband she meets another man who she slowly starts to fall for. This was kind of a cute little read, with a bit of an obvious twist, but rewarding just the same.
“Accidents Happen” is about a man who had a nasty fall in his home, and he doesn’t want anyone to know how the fall happened. This was a funny little story, but again, the questions we are forced to ask before the story even begins ruined it for me a bit.
“Regrets” is the story of a man and his one regret before he dies. I really enjoyed this one, and if you have a dark sense of humor you probably will too.
“Dog Diary of an Old Man” is a diary an old man keeps about walking his dog. This one really didn’t seem to have much point. At the end I looked back through it and asked myself, “Wait, that’s it?”
“Martian” is the story of a man sitting at a bar, as he tells the bartender about a Martian he saw. This was a humorous story, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. One of my favorites, because of the little irony added at the end.
The last section was Drabbles, and I found that quite a few of them were missing a bit for me. They are exactly 100 words each, and I have to give the author props for being able to fit an entire story in so little words.
“Ultimate Compulsion” is the story of Justin, someone who has awoken with no memory of where he is, and while he is nourished and taken care of he has the urge to escape. I liked the twist on the end of this one, and felt that most probably would.
“The Benefits of Snoring” is the story of how a wife is tired of her husband snoring at night. Then we are told in the end what snoring is good for. The end has a sweet little twist, that would make most anyone smile.
I had mixed feelings on what to rate this book. While it was edited well, and no two stories were alike, I didn’t find myself completely enthralled by any of the stories either. It was an okay anthology, but I just can’t see myself suggesting it to anyone in the future. There may be those out there who would really enjoy this book, and if the stories I pointed out seem like ones you would be interested in reading I strongly suggest you pick this one up. I just can’t push myself to rate it any higher than 2 out of 4 stars, because it was only fair in my opinion.
***
Buy "Suppose: Drabbles, Flash Fiction, and Short Stories" on Amazon
Buy "Suppose: Drabbles, Flash Fiction, and Short Stories" on Barnes and Noble
