The Trees: A Collection by Todd Brabander

The Trees: A Collection

I received this book in ebook format from the Author, through LibraryThing Member Giveaway

Monsters, legends, and things that we would rather not think about, this collection of three short stories and two pieces of flash fiction will treat readers to a strange and frightening world that lies in the shadows of the Pacific Northwest.

The Trees is a collection of short stories and flash fiction by Todd Brabander. All the stories share a certain surreality and horror, but they are different from each other

Laroche, the first one, is spooky. Something about the setting, and the description made my hair stand, as if something bad was going to happen. I was not wrong. A nice story that mixes myth and everyday life.

Happiness Is A Dead Ladybug is rather stranger and rather sweet at the same time. Very short, a dialogue between owner and robot, that could have easily been between mother and a 4-year old.

I liked Sheltered, although I kind of guessed the ending almost from the start. Still, it was a good story.

The tittle story, The Trees, was also a good story. This had a feel of a folktale, of tricksters and and riddles. It even had a bit of humour. And a gruesome ending, but that made the story.

And the last story, The First Date, was the WTF? moment of the book. Really, did the author forget to finish this? It didn't feel like a story at all.

I enjoyed this book, but it was just a taste of Todd Brabander's writing. I liked the longer stories more than the flash fiction. I will be on the look out for more of his work, hopefully longer stories than the ones in The Trees.


Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente

Palimpsest

Between life and death, dreaming and waking, at the train stop beyond the end of the world is the city of Palimpsest. To get there is a miracle, a mystery, a gift, and a curse—a voyage permitted only to those who’ve always believed there’s another world than the one that meets the eye. Those fated to make the passage are marked forever by a map of that wondrous city tattooed on their flesh after a single orgasmic night. To this kingdom of ghost trains, lion-priests, living kanji, and cream-filled canals come four travelers: Oleg, a New York locksmith; the beekeeper November; Ludovico, a binder of rare books; and a young Japanese woman named Sei. They’ve each lost something important—a wife, a lover, a sister, a direction in life—and what they will find in Palimpsest is more than they could ever imagine.

Palimpsest is a very weird book. I knew that before I started, and that was probably the reason I didn't pick it up sooner. It is a good kind of weird, but I definitely needed to be in the right state of mind to read it.

It's not only weird, but complex. There are many stories interwoven in Palimpsest, far more than the back cover promises. At first I was utterly lost. Lost about what was happening in the story, where it all was supposed to go, or even if it was supposed to go anywhere.

But this is the kind of book that you discover slowly. Slowly you unravel the story of each character, just as you slowly discover the city of Palimpsest and the book becomes more clearer. And this is the kind of book that needs attention while being read, every detail is important. I admit that at first I was not as attentive as I should, and I missed some things. But as I became more and more engrossed in the story, I started to see the connections and details.

Even though this book is confusing at first, and it takes some time to start to understand it, it is a pleasure to read because the writing is excellent. Poetic and vivid, I could see the pictures it painted in my mind very clear; beautiful, terrifying and surreal. It was the writing that made me read on, until I started to have characters I loved, characters I liked, and characters I disliked, until the mystery city of Palimpsest was not confusing but intriguing.

I enjoyed this book a lot, although I kept waiting for the ending to blow me away, it never really did. I will be re-reading it some time in the future, to pay attention to the details I missed, to the ones that only make sense once you know the ending... But that's a plan for later. For now, I can say it is a good book.

Rating: 4 out of 5

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My Soundtrack for this book: Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F♯ A♯ ∞ (mostly East Hastings and Providence)

El menor espectáculo del mundo by Félix J. Palma

El menor espectáculo del mundo [The smallest show in the world]
This book is only available in Spanish

This a collection of short stories, a bit like snapshots into everyday life, where the surreal, strange and fantastical seems to enter. A lot of the stories deal with problems of marriage, of disgruntled couples, and betrayals. Most are about problems of the heart, whether in married couples or not. A few give an outlook into the life of elders, and their solitude.

I liked a lot of this stories, some I even loved. The first one El País de las Muñecas [The Country of the Dolls] opens us to a world not of not exactly magic, but magical nonetheless, exploring the father-daughter relationship. It's ending surprised me for its brutality and, even if part of me thinks it's a bit out of place, I don't think I could have it any other way.

Margabarismos starts off with a brilliant description of Veronica, the neighbourhood bar, and it's toilet. It's a strange story at first, and I wasn't much impressed, but as surreal things started to happen, I became more and more invested on the story. In a way, I'll say it makes sense. As far as a story where a dead uncle communicates with his nephew through messages written on a bathroom door of a shabby bar can make sense.

Una palabra tuya [One word from you] is quite dramatic, but an excellent story. It draws on the idea that sometimes kids think their parents are superheroes and that parents will try to prove them that they can indeed be heroes. This is a story that gets better and better as you go along, each shenanigan making you more in love with the main character. The ending on this one was perfect.

Maullidos [Meows] is, in itself, a love story. Only you just discover it in the end. It could have been longer, I'm sure, maybe then it would be more memorable, but it was pretty good this way as well.

Un ascenso a los infiernos [An ascent to hell]. This is a sad story, but also one of extreme courage. We are faced with 3 elders, who like to spend their days sitting by the Ambulance's entrance of an hospital, taking bets on what ails the people who come in. Among this we learn that there is no age limitation on failing in love, that disillusion can be fatal, and that anyone can be a hero, if they so wish to.

El síndome de Karenina [Karenina's syndrome] is a great story. There is a certain mystery to it, and you can't help but have your head whirling, trying to find the solution. The answer to this mystery is not surprising, but not obvious either. But what makes this story even better is its conclusion, a way to show that not all love stories end like we think, without it being a bad thing. 

El valiente anestesista [The valiant anesthetist] shocked me profundly and I have to say I didn't like it. It was a bit confusing, but more than that I didn't like the idea of a mother telling her daughter what kind of bastard her father was, in the guise of a fairytale. I understand completely the way of this story, and I do agree that life is not a fairytale but, damn, I still want to be told it is.

Las siete vidas (o así) de Sebastián Mingorance [The seven lives (or so) of Sebastián Mingorance] adds quantum physics to fantasy, a combination that is always sure to please me. The idea of this story and, in part, its execution, was extremely good. The main character, however, I didn't quite like, none of his incarnations.

And the best way to end a book of short stories, is to end with the best one, and the most bittersweet one. At least it was in this book's case. Biblelot [Trinket] gives us a peek into the solitude of old age, and what people do, sometimes in the spur of the moment, to lighten that weight and give some joy where there seems to be none.

In general, I loved this book. But it was not so much for the stories (although there are some really good ones), but for the writing style. In The Map of Time I realized that Félix Palma has a gift with language, and this book was no different. It didn't matter what it was about, the way it was told made want to keep reading. I kept thinking, it's just words, the same words every other author uses, but Palma is like a magician and these same words are transformed into a text that you can't help but marvel at. Even if this text is describing a pretty gross bathroom.


Rating: 4.5 out of 5


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