This is Chris
Somerville’s first collection of short stories. It consists of fourteen
sparsely written, sparklingly clear stories. The stories are highly engaging,
unpredictable and are often propelled by naïve, highly vulnerable and sometimes unreliable narrators.
Most of the
characters in the book are damaged in some way and in their struggle to find
meaning through their interplay with others, they usually come away more
fucked-up. As in real life, the endings of the stories are left dangling like loose strands of spaghetti and
unresolved.
My favourite
stories included ‘Trouble’ and ‘Sleeping with the light on’. In ‘Trouble’ an
unnamed narrator and his wife Karen hear their neighbours fighting and later a
rock the size of a tennis ball is thrown through their open bedroom window. The
husband goes to investigate. In ‘Sleeping with the light on’ the house next
door is burgled and Lillian and James invite their neighbours Hannah and
Franklin over for dinner. The story works by dramatic irony, particularly when
Hannah makes a surprising revelation to Lillian about her love for another woman.
This is a cleverly written collection of short stories from an emerging Australian writer. The tone is a beautiful, quirky blend of humour and sadness.
This is a cleverly written collection of short stories from an emerging Australian writer. The tone is a beautiful, quirky blend of humour and sadness.
Buy the collection of short stories here: http://www.uqp.uq.edu.au/Author.aspx/1697/Somerville,%20Chris
Take
a Look Inside. The first three short stories
‘Earthquake’, ‘Aquarium’ and ‘Snow on the Mountain’ can be downloaded from UQP
here: http://www.uqp.uq.edu.au/skins/uqp/_uploads/samplechapter/We%20are%20Not%20the%20Same%20Anymore_Sample%20Stories.pdf
Hear the first launch of his book in
Brisbane before a supportive audience. Somerville responds to questions about
his collection and reads from his short story ‘Aquarium’: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/booksplus/chris-somerville-we-are-not-the-same-anymore/4598050
Download audio: Somerville reads his short
story “Giraffe’ from the collection here: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/booksplus/chris-somerville/4042574
Find a short Crikey interview with
Somerville here about his first book: http://blogs.crikey.com.au/liticism/2013/04/24/chris-somervilles-we-are-not-the-same-anymore-an-interview/
Here’s a link to Somerville’s blog I DIDN’T
KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO: http://chrissomerville.com/
