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A review by rapidtra5h
Song for the Unraveling of the World: Stories by Brian Evenson
4.0
My favorite stories: No Matter Which Way We Turned, Room Tone, The Tower, The Second Door, Smear, Lord of the Vats
My least favorite stories: Sisters, Trigger Warnings (! ! !), Menno, A Disappearance, Shirts and Skins
Things I love about this book: Evenson's ability to concisely creep you out. There were TONS of one-liners in this collection that were so inventively used (see: Licked Clean). I found the minimalist writing in the sci-fi-esque stories that I liked to be really effective. For me, Evenson's writing is at its best when it's minimal, turning on a dime, and using words and phrases in ways that I wasn't aware could be terrifying. He is terribly creative and has the creepy short story form down pat.
Things I didn't love about this book: It can definitely be said that Evenson has a specific style. While that is fine and normal (lol duh), several of the stories in this collection felt like a different cool, creative idea with the same "is anything real???" "no it's not!!! hahahahaha skin licked clean out leaking out of the corner of your eye OOP IT'S RIGHT BEHIND YOU" plot structure. I think this collection could have been 4 stars for me personally if Trigger Warnings, Shirts and Skins, Menno, and a Disappearance were left out of the final cut. I just found them to be less interesting iterations of Brian's captivating writing style, except for Trigger Warnings. Brian, what the hell? That shit was just not good. Also, side note: Wanderlust was clever, sure, but all I could hear in my head the whole time I was reading it was "Oh my God, I've gotta gotta gotta gotta move on//Where do you move when what you're moving from Iis yourself?" from Never Ending Math Equation by Modest Mouse. I feel as though this tarnished the experience because I thought "it's been done, Brian!!" to myself the whole time even though it was a good story. Also also, my eyes almost rolled out of my head at the preachy bro-iness of Shirts and Skins.
Overall, I had a mixed experience with this one. I will be, however, reading more Brian Evenson in the future, because I am hoping that I will see more of what I loved about some of the stories here in other collections. I feel like I would have enjoyed these stories more individually in other collections, but to read them all one after another left me feeling like they were repetitive.
My least favorite stories: Sisters, Trigger Warnings (! ! !), Menno, A Disappearance, Shirts and Skins
Things I love about this book: Evenson's ability to concisely creep you out. There were TONS of one-liners in this collection that were so inventively used (see: Licked Clean). I found the minimalist writing in the sci-fi-esque stories that I liked to be really effective. For me, Evenson's writing is at its best when it's minimal, turning on a dime, and using words and phrases in ways that I wasn't aware could be terrifying. He is terribly creative and has the creepy short story form down pat.
Things I didn't love about this book: It can definitely be said that Evenson has a specific style. While that is fine and normal (lol duh), several of the stories in this collection felt like a different cool, creative idea with the same "is anything real???" "no it's not!!! hahahahaha skin licked clean out leaking out of the corner of your eye OOP IT'S RIGHT BEHIND YOU" plot structure. I think this collection could have been 4 stars for me personally if Trigger Warnings, Shirts and Skins, Menno, and a Disappearance were left out of the final cut. I just found them to be less interesting iterations of Brian's captivating writing style, except for Trigger Warnings. Brian, what the hell? That shit was just not good. Also, side note: Wanderlust was clever, sure, but all I could hear in my head the whole time I was reading it was "Oh my God, I've gotta gotta gotta gotta move on//Where do you move when what you're moving from Iis yourself?" from Never Ending Math Equation by Modest Mouse. I feel as though this tarnished the experience because I thought "it's been done, Brian!!" to myself the whole time even though it was a good story. Also also, my eyes almost rolled out of my head at the preachy bro-iness of Shirts and Skins.
Overall, I had a mixed experience with this one. I will be, however, reading more Brian Evenson in the future, because I am hoping that I will see more of what I loved about some of the stories here in other collections. I feel like I would have enjoyed these stories more individually in other collections, but to read them all one after another left me feeling like they were repetitive.