Comments on: Down to a Sunless Sea by Mathias B. Freese

By: Sandra

Sandra — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 01:42:44 +0000

I’m glad to read your review of this collection. The author sent me a copy over a year ago. I was completely torn about on how to review it. Then my health took a serious bad turn . I still owe him an review-I feel very bad about it, but he hasn’t dunned me about it and I’m glad because my nerves couldn’t take it.
Your thoughts-though somewhat different than mine, (I think I found a few gems but it does need some editing) have suddenly helped mine to gel. Thank you so much for being brave enough to say what you thought. I know of others who were afraid to write a negative review and one or two got a not very pleasant note from the author over their reviews. One of these days when my head is clear I may get to that review after all. Thanks again.

By: Natasha Maw

Natasha Maw — Thu, 07 May 2009 04:09:34 +0000

Trish – Your comment went to spam (who knows what is up with that!) but I rescued it before your second comment here. I haven’t really tried classic short stories. I bet I would enjoy them better than what I’ve read this year.

Jenn M. – Don’t you love how other people can change your mind?!

Margot – Yay for a fun post! That makes me happy because I wasn’t looking forward to writing this review. It went places I wasn’t expect to go.

Ruth – You give a vote for short stories too. I guess I should look into them more.

Ali – I should have stopped reading this collection but at least it was a fast read.

Kelly – Thanks for the recommendation. Always looking for new titles.

KT – Glad I’m not the only one.

Anna – I don’t mind character sketches but I guess I just didn’t like any of these characters.

By: Trish

Trish — Thu, 07 May 2009 03:59:06 +0000

Hmmm, I typed up a comment but it disappeared into never never land. Bummer! Anyway, I think I said something along the lines of–I agree Jenn. Seems like modern short stories are written with the intent of confusing the reader and leaving them feeling unsettled. Although, I just finished a collection called Tea and Other Ayama Tales which was one of the better ones I’ve read in a long time. The stories were all well self-contained and I never ended a story with the “huh?” feeling.

By: Jenn M.

Jenn M. — Thu, 07 May 2009 03:49:19 +0000

Trish- Good point on the classic short stories. I love many of those classics…the standards just seem to have dropped a bit. All of the authors you mentioned had fantastic literary works. So I change my POV to Trish’s

By: Trish

Trish — Thu, 07 May 2009 03:25:33 +0000

I had a really tough time with this one also. The writing was way too convoluted for my tastes and I had to keep re-reading and finally just read and didn’t try to understand (bad Trish!). I hate that… Short stories are on and off for me. Mostly off (except some of the more classic ones–Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Welty, Poe, Hawthorne, Irving…). I don’t think you’re alone in not loving short stories.

By: Anna

Anna — Wed, 06 May 2009 13:12:07 +0000

I agree the stories were dark and disturbing. I didn’t like them much either, but mostly because they were more like character sketches than stories.

By: KT

KT — Mon, 04 May 2009 15:44:06 +0000

This one sounds a bit over the top. I’m not really into short stories either.

By: Jenn M.

Jenn M. — Mon, 04 May 2009 04:01:37 +0000

I just can’t get into short stories either, the only exception being children’s short stories.

This one sounds…well interesting. Not rushing off to add it to the TBR pile.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Mon, 04 May 2009 02:48:13 +0000

I’m the same way about short stories. Although, I have to say I really enjoyed Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link.

By: Ali

Ali — Sun, 03 May 2009 22:29:00 +0000

Sorry this one didn’t work for you. They look very grim. I’m hit-or-miss with short stories–some I absolutely love, others leave me cold and I can’t even finish the collection.