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Al Qaeda Broke My Suitcase and other stories
These funny stories are about the conflicts in modern life, the tiny little wars when the naive are confronted with the experienced, when liberals meet conservatives, the academic exposed to the self-educated. We meet the students who descend on a factory every summer, a priest who believes only in kindness and a man who finds a way to defraud the National Lottery among others. When a boy finds himself the target of bullying at his primary school, it’s not through a secret portal into a land of magical creatures to which he escapes; he finds a more practical solution. Be amused as those only too sure of themselves are stripped bare. (12 Stories)
151 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 15, 2011
3 people are currently reading
7 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 3, 2012
Whilst I was trawling through the Amazon Kindle Store last week, I stumbled across this title. Naturally it jumped out at me. It was only £0.89 and although I'd never heard of Neil Saunders I figured I couldn't really go wrong for that price.
I really enjoyed the stories. They were easy to read and flowed nicely. Mainly they are set in England, or with a strong link to England, and heavily based around the current state of the country with a special focus on work and education. There is a strong element of working class vs middle class, early school leavers vs university graduates, working hard vs getting what you want without working at all.
What struck me most about this collection was that many of the main characters are not likeable. That's difficult to do and still keep the interest of the reader (as most people like to read about people they can identify with).
My favourite story was Forgive Those Who Trespass. This is the story of Will, a young boy who is being bullied in the school playground. When he tells his father, his father tells him he should forgive Russel, the leader of the gang. Will struggles to understand how God can allow this to happen and this story has a shocking, but maybe fitting end.
I really enjoyed the stories. They were easy to read and flowed nicely. Mainly they are set in England, or with a strong link to England, and heavily based around the current state of the country with a special focus on work and education. There is a strong element of working class vs middle class, early school leavers vs university graduates, working hard vs getting what you want without working at all.
What struck me most about this collection was that many of the main characters are not likeable. That's difficult to do and still keep the interest of the reader (as most people like to read about people they can identify with).
My favourite story was Forgive Those Who Trespass. This is the story of Will, a young boy who is being bullied in the school playground. When he tells his father, his father tells him he should forgive Russel, the leader of the gang. Will struggles to understand how God can allow this to happen and this story has a shocking, but maybe fitting end.
March 16, 2014
Got this for my Kindle thinking it was a collection of funny short stories. I failed to find the humour in it and thought, 'perhaps I need to come back to it to appreciate it'. So put it down for a while.
After my own funny story where the IRA flooded a relatives basement in recent months, I decided to give it another try.
Nope, still not funny. I find no humour in stories about friends being excluded from plans just because they are accepting of others or good people being victimised for doing their job.
After my own funny story where the IRA flooded a relatives basement in recent months, I decided to give it another try.
Nope, still not funny. I find no humour in stories about friends being excluded from plans just because they are accepting of others or good people being victimised for doing their job.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews