Kristie Reviews: Light Boxes by Shane Jones

Do you ever start reading a book, and you want so bad for it to be really good, but just:

Kind of interesting but I don't feel like I'm reading, I feel like you're talking at me. Also this is veering hard into hipster territory.

Did this start as a list of direct influences on the book but then you tossed in Myspace to throw us off?
Because um

 Selah oh no are you on tumblr

Please stop

I mean, the story is interesting at a basic level--February declares war on a small town of balloonists by outlawing flight and making it dark and snowy months, while the town rebels in really precious and magic-realism-y ways--and there are a handful of lines that have really beautiful and interesting imagery, but as a whole it doesn't really come together. I don't give a damn about a single character and I don't even care what the ending was.

On top of all this, there is an uncomfortable level of similarity between Light Boxes and Salvador Placencia's incredibly brilliant People of Paper, of which Jones admits to being a big fan.

I want to do this book justice but it doesn't do itself justice. 3/10.

Word Count: 20,000 or so
Kristie's total points: 474,748

Kristie Reviews:Jagannath by Karin Tidbeck

Man, I'm really rolling with the short stories thing. I swear my attention span shortened by half in the last year.

I think tumblr is to blame.

BUT ANYWAY book reviews!

Jagannath is a collection of Weird Scandinavian short stories. I say "Weird" as a genre, not just as an uncreative descriptor. Capitol "W" Weird. Most of these stories go into the territory of horror without ever getting too scary, and for the most part, I really liked that--I'm attracted to many of the trappings of horror stories, but I scare pretty easily. But to be honest, some of these stories could have cranked up the creep factor just a bit more; everyone needs a good literary punch in the gut here and there.

Despite the Hindi title, most of the stories had a decidedly Scandinavian bent, what with changelings and vittra and tiny cabins hidden away in mountain forests (which I particularly enjoyed, since I've been fantasizing about leaving cities forever and living the rest of my life in a tiny cabin in the woods--the tinier and woodsier the better).

So they're a bit like darker stories Miyazaki might make for people in their mid- to late 20's. There, that's it.

Weirdest story in the book: probably the Aunts, who spend their lives eating and eating until they get so fat they split open and a tiny baby Aunt comes out and the excess from the old Aunt's body is OKAY NEVERMIND I've said too much. Go read it if you really want to know. 8.5/10.


Word Count: ~32,000
Kristie's Total Points: 454,748