Review- This paradise

This Paradise by Ruby Cowling

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Overall, this was an enjoyable short story collection. Several of the stories are experimental in form, which can be annoying, but is generally done well here. In particular, 'The ground is considerably distorted', is told using both conventional narrative, and in social media updates that run down the sides of the page. This creates an interesting contrast between what the characters are thinking and what they are publically announcing, and also enables the story to be viewed in different ways, depending on which order the narrative is read.

For me, the standout story was 'Flamingo Land', a close to reality tale about a family whose social security payments require them to be within a particular weight range, forcing them to take a series of desperate measures around weighing time.

A few of the stories didn't work quite as well; I'm not convinced that the author has an accurate view of computer games, for example, meaning that her stories focused on that subject weren't as effective. However, this was an original and interesting collection, that I hope the author builds on.



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