Paterson Joseph's remarkable performance of Kate Atkinson's newest book transmutes the whimsical, witty, and absurdist stories from adroit to splendid. The acclaimed British actor's light, engaging baritone and exquisite delivery offer pleasure and comfort in equal measure as he guides us through narratives that truly do not follow normal rules. They include talking animals, the end of the world, an attentive ghost, an unlucky fairy-tale princess, conversations between toys, and--an Atkinson leitmotif--characters who reappear in different guises. Some tales resemble episodes more than actual stories. Abrupt, enigmatic endings are the norm. Joseph's warm embrace of a voice and sensitive pacing highlight the clever writing while ushering us safely through the dangerous shoals of Atkinson's rule-free world. A.C.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

08/07/2023

This stunning collection from Atkinson (Shrines of Gaiety) is a master class in literary worldbuilding. These 11 interconnected stories happen in a world one step removed from this one, where human existence is regulated by the Void, a daily, five-minute apocalyptic event causing mass death. Here, characters proper to fairy tales, myths, and scripture rub shoulders with inhabitants of northern England in scenes from otherwise prosaic lives: recurring character Franklin, for example, who, over the course of the collection, meets a talking horse and a chatty dog, and finally drives off with Aoife, the bewitched child of a queen. In “Gene-Sis,” humankind is subject to the decisions of Kitty, an advertising executive and Sister of God, who must remake the world from scratch while simultaneously writing a campaign for a new, healthy smoothie. “Blithe Spirit” follows Mandy, a downtrodden secretary to a disreputable politician, who observes the investigation into her own murder from the ghostly beyond. Atkinson delights in metafictional possibilities: young Franklin’s idea for a novel—“A text based on non-linear dynamics, a Borgesian exploration of parallel worlds”—though ridiculed by other characters, mimics the collection’s structure. If the concept sounds promisingly fun, the whimsical but sharp prose is built to match, full of speculative glee, but tinged with poignancy. Agent: Kim Witherspoon, InkWell Management. (Sept).

Paterson Joseph's remarkable performance of Kate Atkinson's newest book transmutes the whimsical, witty, and absurdist stories from adroit to splendid. The acclaimed British actor's light, engaging baritone and exquisite delivery offer pleasure and comfort in equal measure as he guides us through narratives that truly do not follow normal rules. They include talking animals, the end of the world, an attentive ghost, an unlucky fairy-tale princess, conversations between toys, and--an Atkinson leitmotif--characters who reappear in different guises. Some tales resemble episodes more than actual stories. Abrupt, enigmatic endings are the norm. Joseph's warm embrace of a voice and sensitive pacing highlight the clever writing while ushering us safely through the dangerous shoals of Atkinson's rule-free world. A.C.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

2023-06-10
A collection of short fiction in which anything can happen by the celebrated author of the Jackson Brodie novels, among many others.

Atkinson’s last book, Shrines of Gaiety (2022) has a single, charismatic figure at its center, a story that spirals outward to encompass a multifarious cast, and narratives that multiply and intertwine, the whole glorious thing energized by her impeccable ear for the English language, a willingness to experiment, and a sort of gimlet-eyed compassion. That is to say, Shrines of Gaiety reads like an Atkinson novel. This collection feels like an amateurish parody of her signature style, exacerbated by the attempt to tie it all together with recurring characters and repeating motifs. Franklin Fletcher, for example, is the main character of “Dogs in Jeopardy,” “The Indiscreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie,” “Classic Quest 17—Crime and Punishment” and co-star of the closing story, “What If?” Dame Phoebe Hope-Waters, the Rev. Matthew Dent, and a down-on-her-luck fairytale princess named Aoife pop up in multiple stories. There are talking animals. The end of the world happens. Violets—violet eau de toilette, violet candies, the flowers themselves—dot the text but, after an initial aha, this motif seems no more meaningful than an easter egg in a video game. It all feels like too much and not enough, and “Puppies and Rainbows”—the tale of a feckless, pill-popping American actress who has an affair with the young idiot who is second in line to the British throne—is an embarrassment that not even a cameo appearance by Dame Phoebe Hope-Waters can save. There are a couple of standout characters. Florence, the Rev. Dent’s spiky eldest daughter, is a delight. And then there’s Franklin—handsome, affable, rudderless Franklin. Lacking any will or desire of his own, he is putty in the hands of an author like Atkinson. It’s completely probable that he will—again and again—encounter the improbable, and one wishes that his author had found a complete novel for him. Or even a fully realized novella.

Atkinson’s fans might want to wait for her next book.