Your Father Sends His Love: Heartwarming Short Story Collection - Perfect for Book Clubs, Gifts & Relaxing Evenings

This collection of stories requires and rewards careful reading. At the start of every story, I felt quite lost, like I'd been tossing into a situation mid-stream, but usually, by the end, I was glad to have been included in the experience. However, a few stories for me seemed to build up to a conclusion that never quite happened, or if it did, wasn't quite worth the trip. The two stories about comedians, the title story and "Live from the Palladium", fell into that category for me. They felt like elaborate shaggy dog stories.At the best, these stories have a subtle hint of slipstream to them---the feeling that we are in a world not quite like our own. My favorite two stories were "Frequencies" and "Swarm". "Frequencies" tells of a baby monitor that seems to be delivering a monologue from the baby as an adult, and "Swarm" is about a world where you can pay to access the feelings and happenings of another person's life.The stories have a very British feel and occasionally language and references that an American reader might not get. Sort of an aside, but I always wonder if there are many nasty, brutal young punks around England as novels and stories always seem to portray. The first story, "Lakelands", certainly has them in spades.Perhaps the most powerful story in the bunch is "Something Else to Say", about men struggling to connect and share feelings after a tragedy. It's subtle and written with a lot of sympathy, showing how much someone can want to help a friend but not quite be able to.Overall, this is a solid and well-written story collection.