Reviews

Song for the Unraveling of the World: Stories by Brian Evenson

seethinglloron's review

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dark funny mysterious reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.75

I read this because I wanted to get my hands on the first story in this collection: "No Matter Which Way She Turns."

The problem is that even though that one was super strong, not many hit the heights of the first story. I wouldn't even say this is the strongest story, but I did find that generally stories got weaker as I went along. I liked this! I'd love to own a copy for some of the specific stories, but a few really are just... fine.

ellimist's review

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mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

tarynwanderer's review

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

mkwreads's review against another edition

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mysterious

2.5

zekereadseverything's review

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dark mysterious tense

3.0

caldwba0's review

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dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

strwbrry_jamm's review

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I think this is my favorite collection of short stories (or at least of the ones I own). Reminds me a lot of the way I write which is a plus.

Some favorites include:
• Sisters
• The Tower
• The Hole

breweird's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.75

A collection of strange short stories. Many different types of stories like improbable creatures, different dimensions, being watched, being other. Confusing some times but in an interesting way of having an unreliable narrator that furthers the mystery. 

TMA entities: The Spiral, The Eye, The Stranger

gae6ase's review

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5.0

Phenomenal. Review coming soon.

lordenglishssbm's review

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2.0

There are some solid stories here, but the majority are lacking, and while his exploration of paranoia is interesting, the stylistic choices Evenson uses to evoke paranoia are so similar between the stories that they gave away some of the twists. Evenson has a good eye for horror imagery and is good at capturing mental states, but rarely manages to combine both these talents in the same story, and so many of them don't feel meaningful. I think Leaking Out, The Second Door, Shirts and Skins and Line of Sight are standouts, with Trigger Warnings being a fun little experiment that maybe goes on for a bit too long, but does provide a nice change of pace. The rest of them have nice moments, but they either didn't stick with me or felt a bit too similar to the stories I liked (There are three stories in this collection about a film director who becomes obsessed with his work to the point of insanity).