Fear of Stones and Other Stories

by Kei Miller

This collection of stories is peopled mainly by rejects of society, sad and lonely souls trying to come to terms with, to survive in, antagonistic circumstances.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Queer, Post Colonial

158 pages, Paperback

First published July 31, 2006

About the author

Kei Miller was born in Jamaica in 1978. He completed an MA in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University and a PhD in English literature at the University of Glasgow. He works in multiple genres - poetry, fiction and non-fiction and has won major prizes across these genres. He won the Forward Prize for poetry and the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. He has taught at the Universities of Glasgow, London, and Exeter. He is presently Professor of English at the University of Miami.

Reviews

[BookOfCinz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kei Miller is storyteller and I will never get tired of reading what he writes.

The book's title is in some ways a reference to Lorna Goodison quote that says, " And we think of our children and the stones upon their future and we want these to move . Fear of Stones is a collection twelve short stories all set in Jamaica and explores major themes that are known in Miller’s work including sexuality, folklore, spiritualism, religion, love, community what it means to be an outcast in society. As with all of Miller’s story you finish each shaking your head, laughing, learning something new or being utterly gutted and this collection remained on brand.

I rated each story and I think only one scored three stars and that is a testament to Miller’s unique way of showcasing Jamaica and Jamaicans in the most realistic way. Walking on the Tiger Road was such a great story to open the collection. We meet a son whose been living away from his mother for over 10 years, the mother whose been praying for his son’s return for a decade only for his return to lead to his demise. Miller, through his writing makes you question society and how you were taught to view the world.

Some of my standouts in this collection were:

Government Cows a laugh out loud story where a man writes to the newspaper editor to let her know she is a bitch for never publishing her stories and because of her a lot of people came to ruin.

Love in the Time Of Fat explores trauma and depression in a way I have never read about before in a Caribbean context

Read out Sundays Miller took us to church and showed us the duplicity that happens…but we know this and I also feel like this is a horse Miller loves beating but…. I enjoyed this story.

Shoes for the Dead Is a story about a Mortician who constantly gets requests from family members to not put shoes on the foot of their dead for fear of their dead walking and haunting them. Superstition was at the core of this story and I wanted more!

Honestly, I can go on and on, but you all know I am a big fan of Kei Miller and his work. This book was not even on my radar but I am so happy I heard about it and it was available in my local library.

PLEASE READ!

[Kerri-Ann]

Oh my!! I loved this... Seeing some of these stories adapted into plays would be wonderful.

[Chantal Waldropt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I devoured this book in one day. I could not put it down.

[Jada · Rating 4 out of 5]

it is truly a tragedy that this book is out of print because the world needs more kei miller. this book was my white whale for the longest while but luckily the stars aligned and I was able to find a copy (legally!) on some australian ebook site. I believe this is the first time I'm writing a review of one of miller's works so I'll do my best to put in words the joy it brought me.

every time I try to explain what exactly I love about miller's writing style, it never seems to work out so I'll just have to settle and say everything, from its dry wit to its exploration of jamaican topics in a way that's so unique and authentic and detailed. he always seems to get to the heart of the matter without falling into the trap of telling not showing. the stories in this anthology are mostly centred around outsiders, those who are othered, those who deviate from the norm; I think that it's this subject matter, coupled with the supernatural/magical-realism elements inherent to Caribbean folklore, are what make it so appealing to me.

to me, it seemed like the first story, walking on the tiger road was a very literal interpretation of the anthology's title. it was an excellent opener and I enjoyed the foreshadowing and the correlations made. tolston was okay I guess, not one of my favourites but I liked the ending because it reminded me of a poem (the butcher's wife by louise erdrich). government cows made me laugh out loud; it was a needed deviation from the overall seriousness of the other stories. love in the time of fat was a brilliant depiction of trauma and body image issues (I also found jackie and tony's relationship so wholesome). I didn't particularly enjoy the shaman's prayer, but as the worst in the book, it's not bad.

read out Sunday was a satirical, almost farcical (am I using that word right?) depiction of the church community and its hypocrisy, definitely liked that one. shoes for the dead felt like a more slice-of-life story. I loved the structure of sound like a gunshot and how the story revealed itself in the three stories. the story of william in blood on the door reminded me of augustown, and another of the things I love about miller: his ability to provide the perspective of the voiceless and make people reconsider certain narratives. the titular story was the longest, and I love the non-linear way that it was told, going back and forth till we finally understand gavin. calabash, broken was also okay bordering on meh, and this dance felt kinda unoriginal to me, like all the themes covered in it had been done before, but that didn't take away that much from my enjoyment of it.

in summary, I enjoyed this collection of short stories, it was really worth the hype (referring to my mental hype from being unable to find this book for the longest while).

[Mindy Barrios · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting point of view taken from the perspective of many Jamaican characters. It gave me an insight to this unique Caribbean culture and stirred within me many emotions as I lived each story and tragedy.