Brendan's Reviews > Miracle and Other Christmas Stories

Miracle and Other Christmas Stories by Connie Willis

by
344179
's review
Dec 13, 11

bookshelves: 2011, book-club, fantasy, fiction, scifi, short-stories
Read from December 05 to 13, 2011

"Miracle and Other Christmas Stories" collects a variety of yuletide tales from SF and Fantasy author Connie Willis. There are a variety of delightful tales in the book, and it's well worth reading. Nothing stands out as amazing to me, but several are very good. Thoughts about a couple of them:

My favorite story is "Newsletter," which follows an amusing tale of suspicious Christmas cheer and the stress that the season brings on people. The fomenting horror of a conspiracy during the holidays is really quite charming.
The most touching is "Epiphany," a story with a slight magical-realism bent that proposes a modern day journey of the magi, perhaps. It's the perhaps that makes the story really work well, and like many short stories, it leaves you wanting more.
The title story answers that cathartic need in me and all other Miracle on 34th Street fans to argue that It's a Wonderful Life isn't really a very good movie, especially not in comparison to the best Christmas Movie of all time. Plus, she captures her own bit of the holiday spirit as well.
I think "Adaptation" is another favorite, blending both fantastic elements that suppose Dickens' Spirits of Christmas really exist and are still trying to eke out an existence in the cynical modern world and realistic elements of a man trying to cope with the destruction of his marriage and his ex-wife's continuing efforts to pull him further and further from his daughter. It's sad, but lovely.
Finally, if you're in the mood for a good SF mystery story, "Cat's Paw" turns on a murder in a manor house staffed by talking apes. Yes, I said talking apes.

It's a fine collection, worth reading and enjoyable.

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