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When All Our Days Are Numbered . . .
“Fletcher belongs to a new generation of writers who dare to risk language and imagination in equal measure. Every sharp line cuts and curls and the result is a world both familiar and exotic. This novella is part concept album, part epic poem, part twisted fable. A dream and a flood.” —Robert Lopez
88 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 2010
3 people are currently reading
298 people want to read
About the author
Sasha Fletcher
8 books87 followersSasha Fletcher is the author of, most recently, the novel Be Here to Love Me at the End of the World. He lives in Brooklyn.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 23, 2019
i wrote it. i am awful partial.
July 25, 2010
sasha has an ability to capture an energy and let that energy build. this should be read in one sitting (something i haven't done as i took a break from the book last night to eat dinner. i plan on reading the last 20 or so pages tonight. will update after i finish the book). i think that sasha fletcher will continue to expand his writing into even more incredible worlds. i can't wait to read his future books.
May 12, 2011
I can't describe this book. The only thing I can do is leave you with a couple really great and really long quotes.
1) There was a bit of iceberg left. I put it in a glass. It could be a nice pet I said. We could move it later to a bucket, or an above ground pool. What happens after that you were wondering. We bring it to the Delaware I said.
One day it will make it to the Atlantic & it will find all the other icebergs & it will be happy.
One day it will ram into a passenger cruise ship & it will murder everyone aboard & the icebergs will hold a trial & they will drift on over to the desert & they will hoist it onto the desert & they will drift away.
One day it will meet another iceberg & they will be very happy & have lots of iceberg babies & become the continent known as Antarctica.
One day it will meet a passenger ship & it will get a really big crush on the passenger ship, & then it will just follow the ship around all day long & the ship will always be playing this beautiful music & it will just die. Its heart will be beating so hard & so fast & so happily that it will just melt & it will become a part of the ocean & filter through the ship's water supply & it will become a part of everyone on that ship & it will be happier than it ever thought was possible & then they will all get swallowed by a whale.
2) There were kids in the yard holding a box. What do you have there I said to them. They said nothing. They said Go away. They said Please leave us alone & they said it with their eyes. I reached over to grab the box from them but their arms & backs & heads wrapped around it in an impenetrable shield. I went inside & climbed the stairs to the roof. I opened the door to the roof & dragged the bench & looked down onto the alley & the kids had the box & I said to them Don't open that box & they looked up at me like Please please please leave us alone won't somebody just let us learn what we are to learn. But I was afraid for them to learn this & I wanted it to just be I tell you what the lesson is & then you learn it, but everyone knows that's not how things get taught.
1) There was a bit of iceberg left. I put it in a glass. It could be a nice pet I said. We could move it later to a bucket, or an above ground pool. What happens after that you were wondering. We bring it to the Delaware I said.
One day it will make it to the Atlantic & it will find all the other icebergs & it will be happy.
One day it will ram into a passenger cruise ship & it will murder everyone aboard & the icebergs will hold a trial & they will drift on over to the desert & they will hoist it onto the desert & they will drift away.
One day it will meet another iceberg & they will be very happy & have lots of iceberg babies & become the continent known as Antarctica.
One day it will meet a passenger ship & it will get a really big crush on the passenger ship, & then it will just follow the ship around all day long & the ship will always be playing this beautiful music & it will just die. Its heart will be beating so hard & so fast & so happily that it will just melt & it will become a part of the ocean & filter through the ship's water supply & it will become a part of everyone on that ship & it will be happier than it ever thought was possible & then they will all get swallowed by a whale.
2) There were kids in the yard holding a box. What do you have there I said to them. They said nothing. They said Go away. They said Please leave us alone & they said it with their eyes. I reached over to grab the box from them but their arms & backs & heads wrapped around it in an impenetrable shield. I went inside & climbed the stairs to the roof. I opened the door to the roof & dragged the bench & looked down onto the alley & the kids had the box & I said to them Don't open that box & they looked up at me like Please please please leave us alone won't somebody just let us learn what we are to learn. But I was afraid for them to learn this & I wanted it to just be I tell you what the lesson is & then you learn it, but everyone knows that's not how things get taught.
February 2, 2013
I have read this twice now and it keeps getting better. I can't touch this book without flipping to a page and reading a bit and getting excited all over again. This is everything i love about surreal, poetic narrative writing (my favorite type of writing) distilled down to its most essential elements. I was completely emotionally engaged and ready for the ride, the rabbit-hole it was taking me down. It was sad, hilarious, delightful, touching, just everything in perfect balance. I can't say enough about how much I loved it, but have such a hard time describing what I loved about it. It just hit me perfectly, and I keep finding new things to love.
December 25, 2014
If I had known this book had throat punching, I would have read it sooner.
December 16, 2010
sasha masterfully accomplishes a few extremely difficult things in this book.
he is surreal and abstract while maintaining a convincing and interesting narrative. he is able to surprise you with something new every paragraph but also keep you plowing forward to find out what happens next. this creates a strange blend of wild impossibility with a very grounded and sympathetic story. somehow the narrator and the girl seem real and believable and their relationship is relevant and interesting even though they are surrounded by policemen coming out of faucets and planet-eating whales.
often when i see writers or artists trying to be unique and original, it seems like they are JUST trying to be unique and original at the expense of anything else interesting. ALL OF OUR DAYS genuinely accomplishes what all the wannabes are failing at. it is very original and definitely unique, but it is also beautiful in its own right.
buy it. read it. send a copy to your favorite cousin.
he is surreal and abstract while maintaining a convincing and interesting narrative. he is able to surprise you with something new every paragraph but also keep you plowing forward to find out what happens next. this creates a strange blend of wild impossibility with a very grounded and sympathetic story. somehow the narrator and the girl seem real and believable and their relationship is relevant and interesting even though they are surrounded by policemen coming out of faucets and planet-eating whales.
often when i see writers or artists trying to be unique and original, it seems like they are JUST trying to be unique and original at the expense of anything else interesting. ALL OF OUR DAYS genuinely accomplishes what all the wannabes are failing at. it is very original and definitely unique, but it is also beautiful in its own right.
buy it. read it. send a copy to your favorite cousin.
September 13, 2011
As I read this novella I am reminded of an exhibit I saw at the New Museum - Paul Chan - The Seven Lights. Cut out silhouettes of varying color and shapes - birds, telephone poles, houses, cars, cows and people were projected against the walls of the museum. As you progressed through the museum, through Chan's depiction of this eventful day, you slowly realized through the falling tree, birds, telephone poles and people that the exhibit depicted an apocalypse. This book is like that except it is a personal apocalypse. A relationship searing and snarling, the windows of the heart excruciating open and vulnerable, at times peaceful but only in the way of an eye of the storm and at other times the language picks up into a fierce raw howl. Even if it is all an undigested turbulent dream, Sasha Fletcher's strange poetry will play in my mind for years to come.
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January 6, 2016this novel(la) could have gone on for another hundred miles, and i wish it did. when all our days are numbered... might be just as delightful if read from the very last word to the first. sasha fletcher's command of language is--well--have you seen the title? pick it up. devour it. let it devour you.
January 17, 2019
A beautiful and bleeding fever dream between two lovers. Apocalyptic, terrifying, mesmerizing, and everything in between. Pluck some birds from your ears and be swallowed by this whale, a whale the size of a marching band.
September 26, 2010
Inventive and enjoyable to read. The surrealism is wildly creative and fun, as was the interactions between the narrator and she.
August 22, 2011
Moments of true beauty in this, particularly the very last paragraph.
March 29, 2023
When All Our Days Are Numbered is a marvelous appetizer of a novella that threads beautifully into everything (and more) that Sasha Fletcher creates within Be Here to Love Me.
September 9, 2024
delightful
January 2, 2014
Wonderful, wonderful book, truly exciting prose.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews