4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Voices in My Head is a collection of nine short stories that have a lot of variety. Main characters are male and female. The locations vary among cities and states in the USA, and one takes place in England. There are different time periods as well: one story occurs in 1804, and others are in more modern times. There are also stories that fit different genres, although many could be described as crime, thrillers, mystery and horror.
In spite of these differences, there are similarities. The characters have to confront relationships and resolve problems related to their past experiences. The common ground is memory—what is remembered has a specific effect on what needs to be solved or fixed.
Another common ground for these stories is good writing. Whether the stories are written in first or third person, both dialogue and narrative are well done. Susan Solomon seems to create sentences like a craft, and she does it in a variety of ways. Some sentences use multiple words that begin with the same letter, like “His glass grasped in both hands, he gulped a greedy swallow.” (This is similar to alliteration, but not every word begins with the same letter.) There are plenty of sentences that catch the reader’s attention. One of my favorites is from “The Holmes Society”: “At this moment, one of those pesky memories poked its nose out from behind some trees in her mental jungle.” In general, I found that the writing was well done even if the story I was reading was not one of my favorites.
For me, “Mystery of the Carousel” and “Kaddish” were the most enjoyable stories. “Mystery of the Carousel” deals with a WW1 veteran who has come back to his home town after the war and misses two friends who died during the war. I was particularly pleased with “Kaddish” because Solomon describes Jewish traditions well. This is important so that non-Jewish readers will get a good understanding of what occurs. While these stories were my favorites, I liked almost all of them. Because there is so much variety, I think that almost any reader could find a story that was entertaining.
There were some things that distracted me from a story I was reading. There were a few sentences, for example, with periods or quotation marks missing. Moriarty’s name was misspelled at one point in “The Holmes Society”. “Maggie’s End” starts in 1804, then refers to “a year ago” as 1802. These seemed to be simple typographical errors, and considering how well the stories were written in general, correcting these errors would make the stories even more impressive.
In spite of the need for some additional editing, I’m pleased to rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. In general, short stories can be the best option if a reader has only a brief time to relax with a book, and these stories do not disappoint. The variety of characters, locations, and time periods suggest that Susan Solomon has a lot of interests, and does research to make sure the stories have good factual information that supports the plots and actions. Some stories include mysterious or supernatural happenings, and I appreciated that they were more intriguing than scary. I wouldn’t be surprised if other readers enjoyed these stories as much as I did.
******
Voices In My Head
View: on Bookshelves
Like MsMartha's review? Post a comment saying so!
I liked your description of the stories are being more intriguing than scary as I don't like very scary books. Nice job!
