#amreading Your Father Sends His Love

Author: Stuart Evers

Discovered: On Netgalley (thank you)

Where read: (in part) On the Jubilee Line over the course of a few days.

What's the story?

To be honest I received a review copy of this collection of short stories some time ago and, although I read it almost straight away,  just never got around to writing a blog post. Thanks to a little unplanned downtime this week I'm back on track. Stuart Evers punchy, witty and touching prose is perfectly suited to this collection of shorts that explore a whole range of parental relationships between sons, fathers and grandfathers. 

The Word's Shortlist view:

My posts about short story collections more often than not get far less views than posts about full length literary fiction. People tell me that they often find short stories hard to get into and/or difficult to recall individually afterwards. Its almost as if readers demand to to immersed in pages and pages of plot to get value for money. 

For me, the short story format works perfectly for trying new writers or genre without fully committing to a verbose novel. I love to read work that's taken stylistic risks and fermented down a core idea to a succinct nugget of literary prose. Stuart Evers book doesn't disappoint.

In these 12 stories Evers presents a totally honest narrative that sweeps across the full range of male identities from the young gay son in Lakelands to the new father in Frequencies and the grandfather in These Are The Days. Each story is fresh with tender prose as Evers really understands the characters he writes about which is, in part, why Your Father Send His Love is such a great read. We're in good hands with such an honest story teller.

Who should read this book?

If you one of those readers, and I know you're out there, who eschews short story collections in favour of conventional novels then this is the book for you. Make September your month for pithy prose! After this collection try Stay Up With Me by Tom Barbash      

What’s next on the bookshelf

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr