so-soI wish I could rate this higher. I love Barry‘s writing style. It‘s witty and unusual, e.g. “looking out at the rain that as sure as Jesus had returned to make another wet joke of the summer.” The stories start of promising but then are either about self loathing or depressing “relationships” or both and are often boring.
“The strongest impulse she had was not towards love but towards that burning loneliness, and she knew by nature the tune‘s circle and turn - it‘s the way the wound wants the knife wants the wound wants the knife.”
panLast year for The Giller Prize I read a book that pissed me off for being on the shortlist. It was sexist, misogynistic and just plain distasteful. I felt much the same for the stories here. I stopped reading after story 4 or 5. Why is this published to critical acclaim? Why?! Please stop giving men a pass for this shit.
That Old Country Music: Stories | 
