Like it. Very spatial. ( )

Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I would stick with this story collection out, after the first 2 stories but I am glad I did. Several of them were incredible. What an incredibly deep and cerebral set of tales. Certainly not for every one but if you like challenging and rewarding stories, give this one a try. ( )

These are stories born in that zone of distortion before falling into dreams, but instead of dissolving in the daylight of reality, they are brought into heightened relief. Crowding, jostling ideas bump against the 3D prose, merging and splitting until prose and ideas are indistinguishable.
Exhilarating, funny, it exercises mind muscles you didn't know you have.
Nancy Pearl's description of 'elastic realism' fits it perfectly.
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Borges via New York and New England. I taught "The Understories" alongside "The Things They Carried" and the students got the contrast in perspectives--the soldier vs. the refugee--and they saw how history doesn't necessarily repeat itself, but instead shows up at our door and says "you haven't been taking my calls." A fantastic collection. Funny, smart, and a page turner. Can't wait to read what Horvath has next for us. ( )

I tried to like this, given how many positive reviews it has. I also must confess that I am not a big fan of short story collections in general, and reading this book is part of my effort to expand what I read (via the 2015 Category Challenge). Still, I felt that I was failing to understand the point of many of them. When I read, I want to have empathy for the plight of a main character and for most of these, that was not the case. Still, there was one that I loved out of all of them, and that was one of the longer ones about a German Jew who is a biology field professor during and after WWII and his connection to the forests around him. The parallels to the human condition and what prevails were moving. Other than that, I was not enthralled. ( )