Normal Rules Don't Apply - Atkinson - 4 stars

[Jgrace]

Normal Rules Don’t Apply - Atkinson
Audio performance by Paterson Joseph
4 stars

Weird, very weird. It’s such a strange collection of strange little stories. The stories are linked, sort of, strangely. There was at least one recurring character, but he appears to have different life trajectories depending upon the story. The ending of several stories left me a bit outraged. After a number of pages of interesting buildup they ended abruptly while I wanted to shout, “Wait a minute! Is that it? Not fair!” At least two of the stories had a ‘gotcha!’ ending that made me laugh. I’ve always liked Atkinson’s characters even though they are often ineffectual, unsuccessful, and depressed. There are more characters like that in these stories along with a large helping of sardonic humor.

I enjoyed listening to Paterson Joseph. I also had a kindle copy of the book which allowed me to check if I’d actually heard the weird little stories correctly. This was the book that I was reading on Halloween. It was appropriately bizarre in keeping with the spirit of the holiday.

[Holly R W]

I had attempted to read the stories, but was unsettled by the first two. Like you, I found them to be very weird.