The Ghost Variations: One Hundred Stories
Kevin Brockmeier
Ghost stories tap into our most primal emotions as they encourage us to confront the timeless What comes after death? Here, in tales that are by turn scary, funny, philosophic, and touching, you’ll find that question sharpened, split, reconsidered—and met with a multitude of answers. A spirit who is fated to spend eternity reliving the exact moment she lost her chance at love, ghostly trees that haunt the occupant of a wooden house, specters that snatch anyone who steps into the shadows, and parakeets that serve as mouthpieces for the these are just a few of the characters in this extraordinary compendium of one hundred ghost stories. Kevin Brockmeier’s fiction has always explored the space between the fantastical and the everyday with profundity and poignancy. As in his previous books, The Ghost Variations discovers new ways of looking at who we are and what matters to us, exploring how mysterious, sad, strange, and comical it is to be alive—or, as it happens, not to be.
Publication Year: 2021
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0**I was provided an electronic ARC by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for honest review.**
Kevin Brockmeier brings a plethora of ghost stories in the anthology The Ghost Variations. Brockmeier further divides the anthology into similar themes, which made for a pleasant reading experience.
My issues with this book are very similar to my issues with just about every anthology; some stories you'll love, some you won't care about, and some you may actively dislike. All in all, that produces a middle ground feeling for the collection as a whole. I do like the way that Brockmeier split up the collection by theme, and do enjoy his writing style in general.
My personal recommendation is for readers to enjoy this book a story or two at a time to allow the stories to have full impact. I actually read the book all the way through at once which led to an awkward muddle of stories which likely decreased my enjoyment in the end.
I did enjoy the work overall, and would be interested in more works by this author.
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