Jason Waltz’s Reviews > The Best of Gene Wolfe: A Definitive Retrospective of His Finest Short Fiction > Status Update

I'm trying to be a well-rounded reader. Sometimes. I've met Gene, talked with him, respect his lyrical, elegant storytelling... But either he's light-years beyond me or I'm an ignorant. I'm close to tossing this book because not a single one of these stories means a thing. Nada. Zilch. Whole lotta words beautifully assembled building nothing I recognize or appreciate or recall. He says his next is his best-I'll see.

Gene Wolfe is beyond me. I can recognize his elegance and majesty, but that's about all. Like awakening mesmerized by a beautiful voice on a beautiful beach in a beautiful day and blinking into a cold, dreary silent reality. I can ache for something I think is supposed to be wonderful, right? I keep trying his work, but every short seems incomplete, and when I find myself flipping pages to learn how much further...

First story - elegant, ephemeral, effective as usual. Yet I enjoyed Gene's reminiscence at its close more. Gene is an acquired taste for me; one has to be in the right mood to read him, and find the right him to read.