What do You think about The Fahrenheit Twins (2005)?
This is not a book I would have started had I known that it consisted of short stories as opposed to being a novel. Having said that I'm v glad I did. A number of the stories read as if they were just a chapter of another book leaving me wanting to know what happens next, e.g. The Safehouse. Some of the stories seemed complete in themselves, e.g. Vanilla-Bright Like Eminem and others were somewhere in between I guess. I feel like the stories at the start and the end if the book were the strongest, those at the start particularly. The Safehouse is probably the one that I most want to know about - what happens next, t-shirt questions etc etc. There is lovely writing in this book and I'll definitely be picking one of Michel Faber's full length books to put on my To-Read list.
—Aoife
A rather readable batch of stories written in an edgy yet extremely cosy style, i.e. a shoo-in for Canongate. The writer is an Aussie of Dutch origin living in the Highlands who writes largely about Scottish characters, so my shelving him in the general European section is mostly biological pedantry. If you want a masterclass in how to win literary awards in this country look no further than these pieces, among them the weirdly spooky ‘All Black’ and ‘The Eyes of the Soul,’ the contemporary slices ‘The Smallness of the Action’ and ‘The Safehouse’ and darker digressions ‘Someone to Kiss it Better’ and ‘Finesse.’ The collection is consistently strong and never falls into a repetitive voice, partly due to the concision and warmth of each story. His ability to utilise the same voice and style without becoming dull is a rare commodity nowadays so Faber easily knocks most literary collections into a cocked hat. The title piece is the longest and least interesting story in the collection, though ‘Explaining Coconuts’ also pushes the dullness levels at times despite the coco-perversion. OK. I liked the collection. There are some beautous pearls in here.
—MJ Nicholls
Ho comprato questa raccolta di racconti sulla scia del mio personale gradimento de “Il petalo cremisi e il bianco”, ma non vi ho ritrovato lo stesso piacere di lettura. Lo stile è completamente diverso e verrebbe quasi da dire che non sia stato scritto dallo stesso autore. Tuttavia, il mutamento di registro non sarebbe di per sé negativo, se l’efficacia espressiva rimanesse la stessa. Il problema è che così non è. Resta, questo sì, l’evidente predilezione dello scrittore per il lasciare in sospeso la risoluzione degli eventi proposti dalla storia. Vi si trova, senza dubbio, una raffinata capacità di creare un’atmosfera di ansiosa attesa a partire dalle più disparate situazioni di avvio dei racconti. Si conferma l’ottima proprietà del linguaggio usato. Ma, ahimè, ci si trova catapultati in ambiti che si percepiscono come totalmente “asettici” e “impersonali”, persino quando si parla di fatti che “commuoverebbero anche i sassi”. Un’operazione di “straniamento” a livelli tali che persino Bertolt Brecht non è stato in grado di ottenere, pur volendolo deliberatamente.
—Arwen56
