Ayoub Elred Elred itibaren Somopuro, Jogonalan, Klaten Regency, Central Java, Endonezya itibaren Somopuro, Jogonalan, Klaten Regency, Central Java, Endonezya

My book group is reading this book for next month's selection--and we are meeting the author, too!--so I really wanted to like it. As it was, though, it felt like it was a mix of too many genres. Is it supposed to be a thriller? A mystery? A work of psychological fiction? A romance?? It wasn't scary enough to be a thriller, too obvious to be a mystery, too one-dimensional to be a work of psychology, and not sexy enough to be a romance. Which leaves it as just a generic piece of fiction with enough interest to keep me up one night reading, but not enough stamina to make it a memorable read... With so many other books out there, it is hard to recommend a book that is just average.

I liked some of these stories better than others, but overall I can understand why the authors were chosen for this collection. I'm a fan of Jonathan Safran Foer, and I especially liked his contribution; it was unlike any of the others. All were well-written, polished stories; I guess my only complaint would be that they all conform to the current idea of a literary short story: deep on character and setting, very little dialog for the most part, light on plot and very ambiguous on resolution. Very cookie-cutter. Good cookies, but cookie-cutter nonetheless. Several of the stories were very dark: guys getting eaten by buzzards, children attacked by dogs, murdered by their mother, abandoned in airports. those were some of my favorites, actually; they seemed to take their characters right to the edge of endurance.