Review of 'The Late Breakfasters and Other Strange Stories (Valancourt 20th Century Classics)' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
OK, I realize that I'm going to be in the minority opinion on this one.
Let me start by saying that Valancourt produces beautiful texts, and this is no exception. If I had to pick a single publisher to read for the rest of my life, it would absolutely be Valancourt.
Having said that...this was just not my cup of tea. It's a bit like...
Have you ever read Machen? Machen is one of my favorites. So imagine that you're reading Machen, and you read The Great God Pan, and it's fantastic. And then you read The White People, and it's great but you kind of wonder what just happened. And then you get to A Fragment of Life.
(For those of you who don't read Machen, A Fragment of Life is his attempt to write in a modernistic style. It has elements of creepy but is …
OK, I realize that I'm going to be in the minority opinion on this one.
Let me start by saying that Valancourt produces beautiful texts, and this is no exception. If I had to pick a single publisher to read for the rest of my life, it would absolutely be Valancourt.
Having said that...this was just not my cup of tea. It's a bit like...
Have you ever read Machen? Machen is one of my favorites. So imagine that you're reading Machen, and you read The Great God Pan, and it's fantastic. And then you read The White People, and it's great but you kind of wonder what just happened. And then you get to A Fragment of Life.
(For those of you who don't read Machen, A Fragment of Life is his attempt to write in a modernistic style. It has elements of creepy but is largely dull. It is included in many, many anthologies. It is not one of his more enjoyable pieces.)
Now imagine that, in the Machen collection you are reading, every novella or story you read is A Fragment of Life. Congratulations--you have just read The Late Breakfasters and Other Strange Tales.
First of all, there isn't much that is truly "strange" about most of these stories. The underlying theme to each story seems to be, "People are quirky. Wouldn't it be weird to hang out with them?" Sadly, for the most part, the answer is, "Not particularly."
Each of the stories can be summed up as follows:
The Late Breakfasters - a woman hangs out with a bunch of weird people, then gets married.
My Poor Friend - a guy hangs out with a bunch of weird government employees.
The Visiting Star - a guy hangs out with a bunch of weird people, one of whom is an actress.
Larger than Oneself - a woman hangs out with a bunch of weird religious people.
The Roman Question - a married couple hangs out with a bunch of weird people, and there is a seance (this story was actually pretty great).
Mark Ingestre: The Customer's Tale - a guy hangs out with some weird people, and gets a haircut (this story was actually FREAKING AWESOME).
Rosamund's Bower - a guy hangs out with a weird peacock.
So not a great deal of thematic variety here. It's all well-written, and I'm looking forward to reading more Aickman....but I'm really, really hoping that, at some point, he learned how to write a different plot.
As I said, I'm sure others will disagree. Please talk to me! Tell me why you liked this collection. I would love to hear alternate views.