Short stories

I am not a big fan of short stories, and having read an entire book of them, I still feel the same way.

There's two parts to my ambivalence.  One is that so many writers feel they have to beat you firmly around the head in a short story, they have little time, so must pack enormous drama into it.

Feels kinda under-nuanced, like a sledgehammer.

Then there is the speed of it all, like being in one of those greeting lines, full of interesting people, but with whom you never get a chance to say more than a few words before the next one relentlessly pushes up the line, for a brief chat.

Sort of like those geese for foie gras...

kinda force fed.

That said, Murakami's book Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman that I read today, doesn't do the sledgehammer thing, he is nuanced.  Though that is also a problem.

I find that after I finish a book I don't really want to start another book that day, I need to take a breath and reflect a bit on it before I dive into the next.  I feel the same with a short story, but you don't get the chance.

Having had work today that involved hours of doing not very much, (ie lots of time to read) I read the whole book in one go.

Definitely feeling like someone is going to slaughter me for my overstuffed liver......

Wonderful, but so much so fast.

Back to the novel for me.