The Man in the Shed

by Lloyd Jones

Short stories with a twist.

Genres: Short Stories

265 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Lloyd Jones was born in 1955 in Lower Hutt, New Zealand, a place which has become a frequent setting and subject for his subsequent works of fiction. He studied at Victoria University, and has worked as a journalist and consultant as well as a writer. His recent novels are: Biografi (1993); Choo Woo (1998); Here At The End of the World We Learn to Dance (2002); Paint Your Wife (2004);and Mister Pip (2007). He is also the author of a collection of short stories, Swimming to Australia (1991).

In 2003, he published a children's picture book, Napoleon and the Chicken Farmer, and this was followed by Everything You Need to Know About the World by Simon Eliot (2004), a book for 9-14 year olds. He compiled Into the Field of Play: New Zealand Writers on the Theme of Sport (1992), and also wrote Last Saturday (1994), the book of an exhibition about New Zealand Saturdays, with photographs by Bruce Foster. The Book of Fame (2000), is his semi-fictional account of the 1905 All-Black tour, and was adapted for the stage by Carol Nixon in 2003.

Lloyd Jones won the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best Book) and the Kiriyama Prize for his novel, Mister Pip (2007), set in Bougainville in the South Pacific, during the 1990s. He was also shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. In the same year he undertook a Creative New Zealand Berlin Writers' Residency.

Reviews

[Maria]

Loved his writing style, and the setting and the fact he is portraying (I think) real every day life. I prefer of course to read happy stories all around, but his weren't so sad. Just life. And life can be not very happy at times. And if you identify in any way with any of these short stories then you are probably normal, and not the happiest person on the planet.
I don't get to read many books set in Australia or New Zealand so it was fun to read. And all I had to do was read a story at a time.

[Catherine Davison]

This is a terrific collection of short stories. Neil Gaiman said that "a short story is the ultimate magic trick - a couple of thousand words to take you around the universe or break your heart." Llyoyd Jones is a masterful magician.

[Donald Schopflocher]

Jones’ simply told short stories are about the dynamics of family relationships, and the sometimes strange, sometimes wondrous things that happen there. They are also infused with New Zealand, geography and attitudes; and for me, a return to a welcome interlude in my life.

[CNR]

Jones writes beautifully. Simple words, but so perfect.
For example, a woman describes herself as a 'middle aged swamphen', which New Zealanders know as a rather dim, gangly blue bird called a Pukeko, so in three throwaway words we have the essence of this character.
I preferred the shorter stories, where he stylishly sketched a scene in a few pages, and left.

There isn't a lot of joy in these pages, and dark things that are hinted at, like the effect of marriage breakups on vulnerable teenage boys. However everything (with one exception at the end) felt true.

Art doesn't have to make you happy, it just has to make you think and feel.

[Jonathan Natusch]

There are some beautifully poignant stories in this collection, especially those told from the perspective of children as they struggle to understand what is happening around them. Unfortunately, the parade of failed or failing relationships, which form the heart of almost every one of the stories, make the whole collection more than a little bleak.

The writing is almost always top notch, and I very much enjoyed the first half of the collection. However, the lack of anything much uplifting began to weigh on me. The book needed an occasional change in tone; without it, the second half began to feel like a chore. (Admittedly, there was a marked charge in tone for the final story, but the whole construct felt like self-indulgent nonsense, making the end of the book feel rather a let-down.)

[Ben Thurley]

Lloyd Jones was really not thinking about happy marriages when he wrote these short stories. Most of them are focused on small-scale marital infidelities and betrayals, where desire and loss take on a kind of ironic weight. A man pulls his own wife from a fish-hook as she is swimming, a torn patch of short shirt emblematic of a wife's loss of trust in her husband, and loss of security and dignity in her marriage.

Some of the stories are engaging and even haunting. A few a neatly constructed and nicely written but forgettable. And one or two, for me at least, fall flat. The attempted magic realism of "Amateur Nights", particularly, felt forced and false.

[Fran]

I bought this book because I LOVED Lloyd Jones's Mister Pip and I was eager to read his short stories. His terse and economic style comes through here. There is some humour and some powerful observations and deep understanding of the lives his short story people live. No question he is a masterful writer. Perhaps I was expecting more feel good stuff (why??). His stories left me uncomfortable (not a bad thing). I continued to read because he's a good writer, but my heart hurt.

[John Benson]

I read this book a few years ago but didn't remember that until I started it again. I have really liked some of Lloyd Jones' novels, but found this collection of short stories somewhat disappointing. Most of the stories involve strange families and the stories tend to have very ambiguous endings. I didn't rate it very highly four years ago, either.

[Arna]

Still not a fan of short stories, a couple were OK. If it hadn't been for book club, I would not have finished.

[Kate]

A book club read - hmm not really my thing. I am not a fan of short story collections and sadly this did not improve my impression.

[Nicola]

I hated this book.

[Patricia]

These short stories are set in NZ and Australia. Some have just enough information to keep you guessing and wondering about the outcome.