The Unfinished World and Other Stories

by Amber Sparks

In the weird and wonderful tradition of Kelly Link and Karen Russell, Amber Sparks' dazzling new collection bursts forth with stories that render the apocalyptic and otherworldly hauntingly familiar. In “The Cemetery for Lost Faces,” two orphans translate their grief into taxidermy, artfully arresting the passage of time. The anchoring novella, “The Unfinished World,” unfurls a surprising love story between a free and adventurous young woman and a dashing filmmaker burdened by a mysterious family. Sparks’s stories—populated with sculptors, librarians, astronauts, and warriors—form a veritable cabinet of curiosities. Mythical, bizarre, and deeply moving, The Unfinished World and Other Stories heralds the arrival of a major writer and illuminates the search for a brief encounter with the extraordinary.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, Magical Realism, Contemporary, Science Fiction, Short Story Collection

226 pages, Paperback

First published January 25, 2016

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved, loved, loved this. Absolutely bloody brilliant.

Short story collections are difficult to review - and it turns out that is still the case even if I absolutely adore the book. Amber Sparks has a brilliant mind and a wonderful imagination. I enjoyed every story here and I have already ordered her other collection.

Amber Sparks' language is neither too flowery nor too sparse but hits that sweet spot of being evocative without being too much, and of being precise without being boring. She paints absolutely vivid pictures of the wonderful places she imagines. And how stunning her premises are! She tells stories of janitors in space, of siblings connected in grief, of children misunderstood and left alone, of murder victims, and of explorers; she weaves tales of absolute beauty and of absolute pain. There are no words for how brilliant I thought this was.

When I started reading short story collections last year I wasn't sure how that'll turn out; it was a genre I had struggled with before but I so wanted to like it because so many short story collections sound absolutely brilliant. With every collection I read, I enjoyed the genre more, and now I cannot imagine not reading them anymore. When a short story is done right it packs such a powerful punch that is rarely achieved in the longer novel format and this book just does this over and over again. This collection is an all time favourite and very high on my list of best books ever.

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Weird, strange, wildly inventive, these stories cover many different time frames, different places. The unifying themes seems to be death, how people handle the death of loved ones. But not all. The title story is actually novella length and I liked that one but the one I can't seem to get out of my head is the one on taxidermy. Not sure I liked it but it was memorable. To be honest many of these stories I did not like or did not get but they were well written and varied. But.......I am not the ideal reader for this book, not a fan of Aimee Bender or others who write these outwardly, strange stories. I am sure these will be better appreciated by readers who are.

ARC from Netgalley.

[Roxane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wholly imaginative and fantastic in the truest sense of the word.

[Larry H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Many thanks to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for making it available!

The descriptions of Amber Sparks' new collection of stories plus a novella compared her to Kelly Link and Karen Russell. While there are elements of the macabre, the futuristic, the fantastic in these stories, Sparks' voice is all her own—it's at once familiar and unusual, jarring and moving, and quite intriguing.

There isn't really a theme that weaves through all of the stories in this collection, although each is characterized by the outpouring or manifestation of some emotion and/or desire—love, grief, sadness, fear, the desire for a new start, etc. The stories take place in the past, present, and future; there is even an adaptation of a fairy tale thrown in for good measure. (Ironically, it's one of the same fairy tales adapted by Michael Cunningham in his newest book, A Wild Swan and Other Tales , which I read last month.)

While I didn't quite "get" everything in this collection, and some of the stories didn't work for me, there were some absolute stunners. Some of my favorites included: "Things You Should Know About Cassandra Dee," about an overweight girl with a special gift that isn't quite a blessing; "And the World Was Crowded with Things That Meant Love," one of the most straightforward stories in the collection, which is not your usual love story; "Thirteen Ways of Destroying a Painting," a humorous tale which featured an immensely determined time traveler; "The Janitor in Space," which is poignant and beautiful; and "The Cemetery for Lost Faces," which chronicled a brother and sister who handle their grief through taxidermy and unusual art.

If you're a fan of more traditional stories, this collection might not be for you, but if you can open your mind to stories which may force you to think of the future or the past, pick up The Unfinished World and Other Stories . You'll be intrigued, you'll be moved, you'll shake your head at Sparks' creativity, but most of all, you'll get to witness her storytelling talent and her deft skill with language and imagery first hand.

See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo....

[Lolly K Dandeneau · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The happily-ever-after is just a false front. It hides the hungry darkness inside."

Disturbing? You bet. How have I not hear of Amber Sparks before? I devoured this collection overnight, mind you I had to read it on my computer which I HATE doing, that speaks volumes. Can't wait for a full length novel. Here we go...
I won't dissect each story and ruin it because all of them are clever, twisted, full of characters that have both feet planted just on the side of wrong. Their minds are spoiled with a dark bend. In the story We Were Holy Once we meet a talented family and oh, how I loved the magic dash of deviltry. Not all talents are blessed ones. I think it's proof I watch and read way too much true crime, because it brought to mind a family that once walked the earth, a family the world would have been better off never seeing hide nor hair of. But I refuse to 'dig them up' and ruin the story. It was by far the most twisted, and my favorite. "We Benders got headaches in our blood, the way some people got brains or beauty." There are so many other quotes I want to share but it would spoil the tales for the rest of you. Strange, nasty people. Loved it.

[Renee Godding · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5 stars

I had high expectations, but unfortunately, this collection and I didn't click.
The Unfinished World and Other Stories is a collection of bizarre, slightly surreal short-stories, themed around death, loss and love. It includes a central novella-length story by the same title, as well as a collection of shorter ones that are tonally similar.

What I liked about this collection was the authors imagination and the surrealist vibe the collection eminates. In that aspect, it reminded me of By Light We Knew Our Names by Anne Valente, which I loved. Unfortunately, I didn't quite connect with Amber Sparks' stories in the way I did to those of Valente. There were a few that I really enjoyed (e.g." The Cemetery for Lost Faces"), but most of them just didn't do much for me.
I can't quite put my finger on why that was: maybe it was the writingstyle, which felt a little plain for the genre of stories. Perhaps I just didn't "get" some of them. They felt like beautiful mental pictures, but I didn't quite get the point behind many of them.
This is of cause highly subjective: every reader will find something different in a book, and this is especially true for the surrealist genre. For my experience however, I can't give it more than 2 stars.

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s official…Amber Sparks, I’m a fan. In fact, she just might be one of my favorite short story authors out there. This is the third collection I’ve read somewhat out of order of publication by the author and I absolutely love her writing. The initial appeal, was cover and title, very striking, for And I do Not Forgive You, but now just the author’s name is enough and our library has surprisingly, but awesomely decided to get all her digital books, so yey. Covers aside, Sparks does great titles, her titles alone are excellent, evocative, declarative, attention grabbing and at times a sheer thing of beauty. Much like her writing. So going by the titles, Unfinished World is her most…let’s say reasonable and sedate one and sure enough, this is by far her most reasonable and sedate collection. I don’t mean those objectives negatively, in fact they are meant in the best most positive connotation of themselves. It’s just that the author’s work can be somewhat wild and out there for some readers, it messes with conventions, it plays around with magic realism, it gets weird. I absolutely love it, but objectively it may not appeal to all readers. But this collection might. It’s somewhat more…conventional. It features more classically traditional narratives. Mind you, it still has its weird delights and offbeat beauties, dark fairy tales spins and realities adjusted for strangeness, but…the main, longer stories (especially the titular novella) are considerably more conventional in their appeal. And no less excellent for it. Sparks is a natural storyteller and an absolute pleasure to read, whether she spins a love story or something radically different from that. And so yes, I loved this collection too and was delighted to check out the author’s literary versatility. This isn’t just a quirky author’s flirtation with the norm, this is very much more than that, a prodigiously talented and very original author of mad weird writing longer, more traditional format all in her own inimitable, wildly imaginative way. Long or short form, Sparks executes it awesomely. Great collection from a great author. Recommended.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most effortlessly creative works of fiction I've read in a long time. I don't think I've seen anything quite like Amber Sparks' particular brew of literary sophistication, classic fantasy, and edgy sense of irony. She creates whole impossible worlds in the space of a few sentences, and just when you think you've grasped them, she switches off the lights. Then, when it's dark, the wolves come out.

Many of these stories mix the vocabulary of fantasy -- curses and myths and magic -- with details that are unmistakably modern. It's a deceptively simple little trick that makes you see the casual brutality and misogyny of some of our cherished fairy tales (read a plot summary of Rumplestiltskin, for instance) and in turn how little distance there is between those stories and the reality we now inhabit.

I particularly loved two: Thirteen Ways of Destroying a Painting and La Belle de Nuit, La Belle de Jour. I won't spoil them, except to say that both feature heroines who are both unlikely and fierce; they both twist and turn unexpectedly, and they both end with a bang. They are tight, unforgettable stories. You should read them. You should read this whole collection. Amber Sparks is a unique and remarkable talent.

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the jacket copy of The Unfinished World recommends itself to fans of Kelly Link or Karen Russell, they are right on the money. These are the kind of short story I love best, the kind where there's just something off about the world. There is fantasy lurking on the sides. Like with most short story collections, I obviously had favorites. And usually the weirder the story is, the more likely it is to be one of my favorites. There is just something really compelling about a well-done short story in this genre. I find the fantastic elements often help a skillful writer explore humanity in a way the real world doesn't always allow. Also, I just like fantastical elements.

For the most part, these are very short, succinct short stories. I know, let's describe a short story by saying it's short. But really, most of these are probably under 10 pages long. I have a digital ARC so I'm not completely sure how the final page count will turn out in the print version. The eponymous story, "The Unfinished World," is the longest in the collection, and also one of the best. Most of these stories rely on feeling and atmosphere as much as plot. And because they're so short, I don't feel like I could set them up without spoiling them in the same way I could for Kelly Link. For some hints, there is a retelling of the Wild Swans. There is a story about a space janitor. There is a story called "The Fever Librarian."

Really though, I enjoyed this collection and that's the end of it.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am glad I finally got to this story collection, by a smart, fresh young author. She bounces from dystopia, to outer space and back to the every day world. Fans of Kelly Link and Karen Russell will enjoy these stories.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always with short stories, there was some range, but the best ones of these were wonderful. Some of them will stay with me for a long time.

[Panagiotis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Τον τελευταίο καιρό έχω προσθέσει στα αγαπημένα μου βιβλία τις συλλογές διηγημάτων από σύγχρονους συγγραφείς που διαμορφώνουν μια τάση που είναι πολύ του γούστου μου: τους αρέσει η φαντασία, φαίνεται να έχουν εντρυφήσει σε όλα τα σωστά διαβάσματα, ξέρουν να γράφουν καλά, αποφεύγουν τα κλισέ, ψάχνουν να βρουν την φωνή τους και ο Νιλ Γκέιμαν πολύ τους ταιριάζει ως μια θεότητα που κουνάει το κεφάλι της επιδοκιμαστικά. Μέσα σ'αυτή την συνομωταξία τοποθετήθηκε και η Σπαρκς και μπήκε κατευθείαν στο στόχαστρό μου. Περίμενα με προσμονή να διαβάσω την συλλογή της , κρατώντας την μαζοχιστικά σε απόσταση αναπνοής όταν θα ένιωθα έτοιμος να ανταμείψω τον εαυτό μου με κάτι σπάνιο, όπως είναι όλα τα αγαπημένα βιβλία. Ή όπως όλα τα βιβλία που πιστεύεις πως θα καλύψουν την λαχτάρα για καλά καμωμένς ιστορίες.

Δυστυχώς οι προσδοκίες μου καταποντίστηκαν. Η Σπαρκς στα χαρτιά έχει τα εχέγγυα. Μιλάει για μη συμβατικούς χαρακτήρες, σε τόπους ετερόκλητουτς, μέσα από ιστορίες που διασχίζουν ποικίλες ιστορικές περιόδους. Μα τελικά οι χαρακτήρες είναι άψυχοι, οι τόποι κλούβιοι σαν σκηνικά, το ταξίδι στο παρελθόν ψεύτικο, δίχως υπόσταση. Οι φράσεις της Σπαρκς πασπαλίζουν το τοπίο με μια αινιγματικότητα που υποτίθεται δημιουργεί μια γοητευτική αφήγηση που μιλάει μόνη της, δεν καθοδηγεί τον αναγνώστη. Μα είναι τέτοια η αποστασιοποίηση της συγγραφέως όταν γράφει αυτό τον μοδάτο μαγικό ρεαλισμό που οι χαρακτήρες σχηματίζονται μπροστά μου αδιάφοροι, αχώνευτοι, αυτόματα που λειτουργούν μόνα τους - ένα θέατρο δίχως ψυχή μπροστά στον αναγνώστη. Η γραφή από και καλά απόμακρη εν είδει υψηλού πνευματικού αποστάγματος, γίνεται επίπεδη και άχρωμη. Η συγγραφέας ένιωθε τίποτα όταν έγραφε αυτές τις ιστορίες; Εγώ πάντως, παρότι δεν αναζητώ την συγκίνηση στις ιστορίες, εγώ που θέλω να έχω τον χώρο και τον χρόνο να ανταποκριθώ όπως εγώ νιώθω συναισθηματικά, χωρίς την καθοδήγηση του συγγραφέα, εδώ ένιωσα μια παντελή έλειψη ανθρώπινης ποιότητας στους χαρακτήρες. Ένιωθαν τίποτα οι ίδιοι, καθώς μιλούσαν και ανέπνεαν υπό την πέννα της Σπαρκς; Δεν δέθηκα με κανέναν ήρωα, με κανένα στοιχείο καμίας ιστορίας, δεν ανησύχησα, δεν αναρωτήθηκα για την συνέχεια. Παρά εκνευρισμένος γυρνούσα τις σελίδες, έχοντας τουλάχιστον αποδεχτεί σχετικά γρήγορα πως το βιβλίο δεν θα μ' αρέσει. Το διάβασα με τις προσδοκίες μου καθυποταγμένες και αυτό ήταν το μόνο καλό που συνέβη σε αυτή την ανάγνωση.

Η Σπαρκς έστρεψε όλα τα όπλα αυτής της γραφής εναντίον της, το αλλόκοτο έγινε κλούβιο. Περιεχόμενο δεν υπήρχε παρά μόνο η προσπάθεια του συγγραφέα να γράψει κάτι που θα χαρακτηριστεί σύγχρονη, ευφάνταστη διηγηματογραφία.

Του βιβλίο μου έδωσε ένα μάθημα: οι προσδοκίες είναι διάβολοι με πτητικές τάσεις. Και επίσης δεν κάνει καλό να βασανίζουμε τον εαυτό μας με την προσμονή ενός βιβλίου. Η σκιά της αναμονής σκεπάζει τα προηγούμενα αναγνώσματα. Και η πιθανή απογοήτευση τσακίζει τα νεύρα.

[Kevin Catalano · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I'm saying the world doesn't need our stories. The world is doing just fine without plot."

"Then why bother making all these stories? Louise asks. Why make art at all?"

Clarence shrugs, scratches at a mosquito bite on his shoulder. Because what else are we going to do?"

--from the story, "The Cemetery for Lost Faces."

In the incredibly innovative and esoteric collection, The Unfinished World, Amber Sparks offers a diverse collection of stories -- and a poignant novella -- that challenges Clarence's credo: the world does need stories; or, at least the world needs Ms. Sparks' stories.

Often the problem with story collections -- perhaps the reason they are a difficult sell for big publishers -- is that readers want to get lost in a STORY, they want to live with its characters, rather than invest in pieces that continuously begin and end. Sparks' The Unfinished World, however, challenges this start-stop experience. To read this collection is to get lost in a singular DREAM, for even though her stories may contain various characters and plots, she writes with a style and mood that tilts our known reality. Sometimes she gives us nightmare, sometimes magic, sometimes the half-awake absurdity -- but always beauty.

Fans of Ms. Sparks will recognize many of these stories from The Collagist or Atticus Review or American Fiction, et al. But these pieces take on new meanings when brought together. I was especially excited for the novella, The Unfinished World, and how Sparks would sustain a longer narrative. Don't be fooled: Sparks doesn't rely heavily on plot to extend pages; instead, she retains the logic-bending dream and mythical prose that make her short stories magical. Her company of strange characters -- Set, Cedric, Inge, Albert, Pru, Constance, Oliver, Desmond -- drift in and out of this novella like ghosts through narrative walls. And yet, this story isn't rudderless: the characters, especially Set, have desires and pursue them through an intriguing historical setting. The result is a truly fantastic, haunting, and poignant read; and the last paragraph of the novella is the kind of miracle-writing that proves Amber Sparks' immense and evolving talent.

[Christina Pilkington · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5 stars

This was a dark, dark book. Not quite what I was expecting. It's a book of speculative fiction, and I'd say that most of the stories in this book could be classified as magical realism.

I usually really love magical realism. But I think that my tastes tend to run towards magical realism that has a sense of either wonder of mystery. This book was more magical realism that leaned more towards horror or stories that were dark and disturbing.

Now I also love to read some horror books. Those books tend to revolve around complex characters or books that somehow deal with psychological mysteries or the supernatural. So it's not that I don't like to read horror. It's just for some reason I never felt emotionally connected to any of these stories, so I would tend to lose interest in the collection and put it down for a week before wanting to pick it up again.

Now most of these stories were gorgeously written. Sparks is a wonderful writer. A few of these stories were incredibly impressive on a structural level. And I will probably pick up any novel she writes. But I don't think her short story style gelled well with me. They often seemed to focus more on the pretty turns of phrase than creating compelling stories.

[Kirsty · Rating 5 out of 5]

My parents purchased this wondrous short story collection for me from the haven of books, The Strand in New York City. Each tale which Sparks has crafted is an absolute gem. Her writing breathes originality; she is masterful at creating scenes and characters, and depicting the interactions which they make with one another. The Unfinished World and Other Stories is an absolute joy to read, and I for one cannot wait to see what she comes up with next.

[Robert Kloss · Rating 5 out of 5]

with this collection Amber Sparks joins the front ranks of American storytellers, if she wasn't there already. lyric, imaginative, groundbreaking, and, simply stunning.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, so good! I've had this on my TBR since I heard about it on All the Books. A story collection that walks the line between reality and fantasy with a good dose of historical fiction. But it all seems so fresh and compulsively readable - I read it in two sittings separated only by the length of time it took to cook and eat dinner. Definite recommend.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

#43 - Esquire 50 Best Fantasy Books

I’m not normally a huge short story girl, but these were excellent! These stories by Amber Sparks spanned time (and space!) but all were so lovely and fantastical and haunting, with themes of death and loss and love that is difficult and complicated. I particularly enjoyed The Cemetery for Lost Faces, Thirteen Ways of Destroying a Painting, Things You Should Know About Cassandra Dee, and the titular story (the longest by far) The Un finished World.

[Lori L (She Treads Softly) · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Unfinished World and Other Stories by Amber Sparks is a very highly recommended collection of 19 short stories set in worlds that are slightly askew.

The writing is excellent. In descriptive, precise prose Sparks manages to convey depth and meaning in the fable-like stories, many of which are very brief. There is no overall theme to the collection, which makes each imaginative selection a gem that stands alone. This quietly asks the reader to consider and pondered each selection separately, on its own merit. This is a strong collection and I appreciated and savored each selection.

Contents:

The Janitor in Space: A woman who works as a janitor in space believes there is there a right way to atone for the past, to rid yourself of sorrow.

The Lizzie Borden Jazz Babies: Twins do everything together, until one takes a different course and the other wants revenge.

The Cemetery for Lost Faces: The life of Clarence and Louise, a brother and sister whose parents tragically died. "It just goes to show, people said later. It just goes to show how fairy tales always stop too soon in the telling. Others said it was never a fairy tale at all. Anyone could see that. They were all too lovely, too obviously doomed. But the wisest said, that’s exactly what a fairy tale is. The happily-ever-after is just a false front. It hides the hungry darkness inside."

The Logic of the Loaded Heart: Questions to determine the value of John's life. "If John is three, and John’s mother is six times his age, how old was John’s mother when John was conceived in the back of Al Neill’s pickup truck after a Styx concert in Milwaukee? If John’s parents spend 100 times zero days being actual parents to John, how many days’ total is that? Does your answer change if John’s mother sometimes bought him Mr Pibb and lottery tickets when she stopped at the gas station on her way home from work? Extra credit: Please calculate the probability that at his mother’s current age, John will drop out of school and work in a burger joint while playing lead guitar in a heavy metal band called The Slaughterhouse Four."

Thirteen Ways of Destroying a Painting: A time traveler tries thirteen different actions to prevent a painter from creating a specific work of art.

Lancelot in the Lost Places of the World: "Lancelot has been summoned out of sleep to find a secret kingdom."

And the World Was Crowded with Things That Meant Love: A couple who met in person only once exchange gifts of devotion over their lifetime.

Birds with Teeth: Marsh and Cope, who used to be friends, are rival paleontologists. "It really began at Haddonfield, after he pointed out Cope’s dreadful mistake with the Elasmosaurus platyurus. The head is on the tail, he told the team in private."

For These Humans Who Cannot Fly: A man's love for his wife inspires his life's work, building death houses. "Every death is a love story. It’s the goodbye part, but the love is still there, wide as the world. When my wife died, I began to understand this."

Take Your Daughter to the Slaughter: Father's take their daughters on a hunt to kill werewolves.

We Were Holy Once: The Benders are a family who travel the country with their daughter, Doctor Katie, who is a healer.

La Belle de Nuit, La Belle de Jour: There is mythical trouble for seven brothers and their sister when a witch moves into the kingdom and marries their father.

The Men and Women Like Him: Hugh is a Cleaner who has to stop time pirates from changing the course of history.

Things You Should Know About Cassandra Dee: Seven facts about Cassie, an ugly girl who can see bad things that will happen in the future.

The Fires of Western Heaven: Reflections about the aftermath of war.

The Process of Human Decay: What happens after a man dies.

The Fever Librarian: "From the Eternal Library’s Official Employee Handbook: The brain of the Fever Librarian should be made mostly of melancholy. The Fever Librarian should wear black bile in the veins. The Fever Librarian should be an unmarried woman with a soft, drowned heart, and a choleric disposition. She should be pale and thin, with a look that hints at Perpetual Anguish of the Soul. She should resemble someone’s grandmother, someone we have known for ages in the abstract. Dependable. Invisible."

The Unfinished World: This titular novella follows the separate lives as two future lover, Set and Inge, grow up and eventually meet in the 1920s.

The Sleepers: "Ancient dreams cling like crumbs to the mouths of the sleepers. They mutter and twitch, chasing after phantom women, fragments of words, half-drunk goblets of wine. This is what the sleepers find outside of history: a weakness in repose for which there is no cure but dreaming."

Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Liveright Publishing for review purposes.

[Ray Nessly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review first appeared in the online journal, Literary Orphans

Writer extraordinaire Amber Sparks, acclaimed by Paris Review, The New York Times, and The Washington Post among others, is back with The Unfinished World and Other Stories. As with her previous collection, May We Shed These Human Bodies, Sparks once again busts wide-open the outdated and false dichotomy between literary fiction and genre fiction. With accomplished prose that takes a backseat to no one, her stories jump in place and time and in the imagination, inhabiting a host of settings in what is indeed an unfinished world—one that will be complete only when every niche of earth and sea is explored and mapped, technology has sated every human desire, and human imagination has run dry. (Don’t hold your breath.)

When it comes to eye-grabbing titles—among other things writerly—Sparks is a master. “The Janitor In Space” and “Thirteen Ways of Destroying a Painting” hint strongly as to the stories’ contents, yes, but the janitor’s history is a complicated one, and the would-be destroyer just happens to be a time traveler. Other titles torture one’s curiosity, such as: “The Process of Human Decay”, “Take Your Daughter to the Slaughter”, “Things You Should Know About Cassandra Dee”, “The Fever Librarian”, “The Fires of Western Heaven”, “For These Humans Who Cannot Fly”, and “The Cemetery for Lost Faces”. Try and match those titles with these jumbled keywords and scenarios (you won’t do as well as you suppose): clairvoyance; taxidermy; werewolves; the Great War; plans to create a superhuman race; someone who is better with plants than with people; and mortuaries, in which bells on strings are rigged to the fingers of the dead in case they return to life. (The last scenario is historically based, it turns out. Such “waiting mortuaries” were common in 19th century Germany.) What variety in subject matter!—and this is less than half of the collection. What these stories share in common is Sparks’ vivid imagination and intelligent prose, her grasp of human nature…and yes, they entertain. They really do.

Expanding on a few of the stories, the collection is anchored by “The Unfinished World,” an ambitious novella that spans the early decades of the twentieth century, and takes its host of characters from Ireland to America and beyond, exploring tropical islands, Antarctica, the Arctic, and Africa. With such a giant canvas comes a fair amount of narrative summary in lieu of scenes, especially to present the supporting cast, subplots, and backstories. The novella focuses though, on Inge and Set, whose not-so-parallel paths inevitably meet. Free-spirited, world-roving Inge is a pioneer in what was then the man’s world of photography. And troubled Set becomes a filmmaker in the early days of Hollywood. Set, who has survived two life-threatening traumas, feels as if he’d died “and didn’t quite come all the way back.” Stuck in two worlds, spiritually lost, he is incomplete, as is the rest of the yet-to-be fully explored, Unfinished World.

None of the stories are filler, and many are outstanding. But my favorite just might be “La Belle de Nuit, La Belle de Jour.” In this wonderfully imaginative tale, human sacrifices appease the gods in a kingdom troubled by a witch and possibly dragons. We are programmed to assume this is an ancient place, but the medieval-style banquet (roast venison, stork, peacock) features a jazz band; and when the witch shows up in sunglasses and fur coat, she’s riding not a broom but a jet.
With the following memorable words, rife with detail and menace, the witch curses the story’s protagonist:
“She poisoned my words so they left my lips as bees, stinging my throat and tongue so badly I thought I would die. And she reached out with her mild blue eyes and turned my brothers into seven wild swans, in mockery of the creatures that meant the most to us. “

In closing, consider this passage from “The Cemetery For Lost Faces,” for what the characters have to say about the human need for stories:
“You’re saying, says Louise, that it’s so typical of our species to give human features to the sad things in space?
I’m saying the world doesn’t need our stories. The world is doing just fine without a plot.
Then why bother making all these stories? Louise asks. Why make art at all?
Clarence shrugs, scratches at a mosquito bite on his shoulder.
Because what else are we going to do?”

This review appeared in the on-line journal Literary Orphans

[Geoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This felt like two different books smooshed together: the titular novella and the dreamy short short stories that came before it. The short stories seemed like dreamy fables; the characters were all held at a distance and each story seemed to be building to some sort of moral (even if it never materialized). I think if I had read the stories in an anthology, I would have liked each of them a great deal, but all together here in this collection the effect was a bit......deadening, the same way you'd feel if you read Aesop cover to cover. The novella, on the other hand, was just as dreamy and fantastic, but the characters were engaging and felt like people rather than fairy tale cutouts.

[Peter Tieryas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amber Sparks is amazing and her stories always startle, disturb, and fascinate. Can't wait to dig into this.

[Tobias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really fantastic stuff.

[Miranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this collection a couple years ago—I was drawn to the cover and the jacket’s promise of magical realism and fantastical tricks. I expected to love this book but I was a bit disappointed. Most of the stories were too short for me to properly get lost in. I guess I like a longer short story! The shorter ones felt too “once upon a time” and fairytale-ish for my taste, with time travelers, fortune-tellers, and princes turned into birds. This was also probably in part due to most of the stories being set in the past or a magical future. The author writes very lyrically, which can be wonderful, except this combined with the short length didn’t leave me satisfied. My favorites were the longer ones. The collection was really redeemed with the title story, “The Unfinished World,” which follows two children living a continent apart and their meeting as adults in the early 1900s. This story had the elements of magical realism that I came in looking for! Perfectly atmospheric and written with just enough nuance to have multiple meanings. It builds up their meeting and sudden love story by chronicling their lives as outsiders and the distance they feel from their family members, with the tension relieved as they finally meet. I loved this one, with its collected curiosities, including the characters themselves.

[Narmeen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who can say whether A leads to B leads to C or how many apples John ended up with in the end? Who can say why the loaded heart defies all logic, like an unfinished world problem, like a riddle written in the human dust of a crowded barroom?

My one criticism for this, is that some of the stories in here were a little TOO SHORT, like my brain probably read 5 short stories; each of 2-3 pages in one go and was lost as to what part belonged to which story, ya know? On the whole though, I really enjoyed this collection of stories. The longest of them was "The Unfinished World" which was the most engaging for me as my memory could hold on to one line of thought from start to finish of the story.

Dark thoughtful tales are my cup of tea, so if they're your's too check this one out.

[Thom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eighteen very short stories and one long one, this collection starts off well and has a few gems. Others describe it as quirky, imaginative, gorgeously written, and brilliant, and all are apt descriptions.

My favorites from the collection include Thirteen Ways of Destroying a Painting and The Fever Librarian. The anchor (and longest) story was unfortunately one of my least favorite. Amber Sparks has another collection, May We Shed These Human Bodies, and to date has not released a novel.

[SLT · Rating 5 out of 5]

This haunting collection was perfection. I fall deeper in love with the short story genre at every turn, and Sparks is an absolute master. "The Logic of the Loaded Heart" and "Thirteen Ways of Destroying a Painting" were transcendent in particular. And the reluctant orgy scene in "La Belle de Nuit, la Belle de Jour" will fill my nightmares and fantasies both for the foreseeable future. Sparks has that magical ability to turn to art the inner thoughts you find inarticulable, set them to music almost. I'm desperate for the release of her next collection, already pre-ordered, Merry early/late Christmas to me! Read this book, you will be enraptured!!!

[Mark Cofta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't believe I let this sit on the shelf for four years. I loved it, and now I want to read everything by Amber Sparks! The comparisons to Karen Russell and Kelly Link are apt: Sparks' stories might be categorized as science fiction, fantasy, and horror, but are sometimes dark, often clever, and always well-written and smartly crafted. "Thirteen Ways of Destroying a Painting" is one of the best time travel stories I've ever read -- focusing not on the mechanism of time travel, but the motivation for, and results of, trying to alter the past in order to change the future.

[Elizabeth Muncy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a step outside my literary comfort zone. I don't typically read short stories, and taking that into consideration, this collection wasn't bad. It was very dark, although it did a good job of reflecting some societal flaws that we have today. I did think that it had some pretty weird combinations. Some stories were weird, some were just dark and some I didn't understand at all. Not terrible, but definitely not a favorite.

[Cecilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

These odd, beautiful, lyrical stories are like none I have ever read. Astonishing in their breadth of topic and use of language, they are full of emotion and feeling yet never sentimental.

I absolutely love these stories, especially the title story and Birds with Teeth and The Fires of Western Heaven.

I can’t wait to read more by Amber Sparks!