Granta 123 - Best of Young British Novelists 4

 

Publication date: 16 April 2013
Published by: Granta (The magazine of new writing)

This is a collection of short stories written by young authors at the time of publication, who were considered to be the most promising. 

Granta published it's first Best of Young British Authors in 1983, and have been identifying and championing young authors ever since, most of whom have gone on to become very successful are highly acclaimed. The back of the publication includes a list of them.

My Review

First Impression: I was drawn in by the cover design.  The image tells you everything you need to know.

I had read some editions of Granta in the past and have always enjoyed the quality of writing.  I purchased this edition at the time of publication and had been meaning to read it since.  Being stuck in lockdown provided the time and opportunity.

The upside: Generally, I prefer complete novels to collections of short stories, because I often finish a short story dissatisfied, that is, left wanting more.  I did not experience this with any of the stories I read in this collection and I was fully engaged by most of them.  The two that stayed with me most were:

Naomi Alderman's Soon and in Our Days, which is a beautiful and witty tale about a contemporary Jewish family who are visited by the Prophet Elijah during Passover. 

Ross Raisin's Submersion, a melancholic story about two siblings who discover their town has been flooded on seeing the news report on a TV in a bar while on holiday. 

That said, the entire collection is beautifully written.  

I did not read them in sequence, rather I randomly selected ones as I went along.  I also read them at my leisure, dipping in and out as I chose. 

The downside: There isn't one.

The verdict:  It is one of your five-a-day in that the quality of work is nourishment for the soul.

The Haunted Purse by Kimberly Baer

 

Publication date: 17 August, 2020
Published by: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: YA Paranormal (Ghost story)

Publisher's Synopsis

That old denim purse Libby Dawson bought at the thrift store isn't your run-of-the-mill teenage tote. It's a bag of secrets, imbued with supernatural powers. Strange items keep turning up inside, clues to a decades-old mystery only Libby can solve.

Filled with apprehension and yet intrigued by the mounting pile of evidence, Libby digs for the truth. And eventually finds it. But the story of the purse is darker than she imagined—and its next horrific chapter is going to be all about her.

My review

First Impression: Looking at the book cover didn't make me think - Wow! there's a story I want to read.  It is underwhelming, which is a pity. However, I don't judge a book by it's cover.  The title, on the other hand, did.  I was intrigued by the idea of it.  How can a purse (a handbag to us Brits) be haunted?  

Libby is a teenager with absentee parents, doing her best to live a 'normal' life under very difficult circumstances.  She is a smart teenager, mature for her years (she has to be).  When she discovers the purse in a thrift store (a shop that sells second-hand items) and purchases it, it's former (deceased) owner finds a way to communicate with her. 

The upside: I enjoyed this story; it was not like anything I've read before: part ghost story, part crime mystery and part contemporary YA fiction. 

I liked Libby as a character and found her friendship with her best friend, Toni, enjoyable to read - it felt genuine and realistic.

I found the character development of this book, in general, to be particularly well executed.  Libby is from a deprived neighbourhood.  She is an achiever who is focused on doing well at school.  She believes education is her ticket out, but, inevitably, the people around her have other ideas about who she is and what her place in life should be.  All the while, strange things keep happening that cause her to carry out an investigation in her town, and this leads to a dark discovery. 

The downside: The genres I mentioned above did compete for dominance, which threw the story off balance a little.

The ending should have been more concise.  There was a high concentration of background info supplied with the aim of filling in gaps for the reader.  I get the idea but the execution is problematic.  (Crudely, it would be described as 'info dump', a term I hate!) 

The verdict:  Overall, it's a good read.  I would be interested to read more by this author.  I can see the potential. 😉