Fen - Background / General (No Spoilers) (Mar 2019)

[Hugh]

Fen is the debut short story collection by the young British writer Daisy Johnson, who has since gained greater recognition through her Man Booker Prize shortlisted novel Everything Under.

A few reviews
https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/bo...
https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/...
https://www.npr.org/2017/05/02/525768...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/26/bo...
https://www.kenyonreview.org/reviews/...
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/re...
http://www.startribune.com/review-fen...

Who has read either this collection or Everything Under, and who will be joining the discussion? I read Everything Under first, and was very impressed by both.

I will start the spoiler discussion(s) tomorrow

[Hugh]

Sorry about that David. Everything Under isn't eligible until August under the 12 month rule, but would also make for a very interesting discussion. One tends to assume that when a book is a few years old it should be readily available, but that isn't always true...

[Marc]

My hold request just came through at the library yesterday, so I'm planning to join the discussion once I actually get started reading.

[Lia]

David wrote: "I was very interested in reading Fen, but it appears it might not have been published in Canada. The public and university libraries don't have it. A couple of Canadian booksellers (one a major nat..."

Ha! I couldn’t get it either. And I *really* tried. (UBS, ILL, social network...). I also got Under from my library! But no Fen.

I hope you all feel my side-eying while you party without me.

[Kathleen]

Picking my library copy up today and should be able to start this weekend. This will be my first Daisy Johnson, but have a feeling I'm going to want to read Everything Under too.

[Whitney]

I'm about 75% finished and loving it. Will definitely be picking up Everything Under.

[Hugh]

Excellent! Sounds intriguing...

[Alyssa]

It's not in any library near me either, so google books version it is. Seems worth it, and sounds like Everything Under might have to be on my list as well.

[Hugh]

I am thinking we might try discussing one story at a time, but 12 threads is too many. So one discussion for that and maybe one for overall impressions?

[Peter]

I just finished reading it. My first impression is that Daisy Johnson is a writer to watch - certainly the success of Everything Under heightens this feeling - but at the same time Fen is very much the work of an author still feeling their way into her themes, trying to find her voice and vision.

[LindaJ^]

I read Everything Under when it was on the Booker longlist and it was my favorite of all the books on the list. When Fen won for the open read, I got the Kindle edition for $9.99. I note that Abebooks (https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Sear...) has a few copies of the US edition for under $8.

[Hugh]

A topical article from Daisy Johnson about why she likes short stories:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...

[Mark]

This discussion is tantalizing, as neither of my local libraries has it either. Sigh.

Especially with it's connection to Karen Russell...

[Mark]

Well, my library didn't have Fen, but it did have Everything Under, and I heartily recommend it!

[Hugh]

I read Everything Under when it was longlisted for the Booker, and only read Fen because it impressed me so much. She is very talented for such a young writer.

[Marc]

Daisy Johnson shares some of the short stories she finds "sublime":
https://twitter.com/djdaisyjohnson/status/1241426775307059202