Like 4.5 stars. Short stories. So nice to read after all that Ian Pears. ( )

I think that this is the best collection of short stories I have ever read. The reason why is twofold. First, each of the nine is totally unique in terms of plot and characterization. Second, though they are not long each seems like a mini novel in its own right. They are that fully developed whether based on boxing, plants in pollution or a man whose mind is being usurped by his better self. (a really creative premise). You have to read these stories. This guy is a great writer. ( )

UPDATE: I loved this book so much I wrote am enthusiastic fan e-mail to Daniel Mason. I got a lovely, gracious reply from him today (12/9/2020). How nice is that? Made my day.

I so wanted to love Mason's novel [b: The Winter Solder], and I did love important aspects of it. So it was a joyous relief to fall hard for this collection of short stories. I was hooked from the first page of the first story, "Death of the Pugilist," with its biblical structure and incantatory language that lights up a world of brutality, blood, and death and the literal fall of a man. From there to an almost hallucinatory wander with one of my heroes, Alfred Russel Wallace. There is a poignant tale of one immigrant seeking rest in Civil War re-enactments, and a dazzling tribute to Poe as a series of absence seizures becomes a superior sort of double nibbling away at the ordinary life of a 19th-century doctor. Mason, a psychiatrist by profession, delves into the myriad ways people see and experience the world, from a solitary telegraph operator deep in the Brazilian jungle to a woman seeking the rent in the fabric of the universe, to a man existing almost entirely in his own thoughts, visions, and drives. Some stories work better than others, as is to be expected, but every page is worth it.

There is definitely a 19th-century feel to most of the stories, both in setting and in style. As a deep-dyed lover of Victorian literature, I swim easily in it. And yet, it's rarely florid or difficult - the language is precise, rich, measured. Thanks, Dr. Mason. This book gave me joy.

juliestielstra.com ( )

I just loved this collection—it had a very cabinet-of-curiosities feel, and the author's curiosity was palpable. The stories were mostly set in the 19th century, with a couple before and after, and one contemporary piece that had enough echoes of the past not to feel out of place—all of them about some aspect of science, medicine, psychology. I'm sad to see it didn't get more attention, though maybe the subject matter is especially offbeat these days, when close first-person contemporary short stories really dominate the market. It reminded me a bit of Karen Russell's Orange World, where you could see a trail of breadcrumbs in each story to her "what if?" idea, and her enthusiasm for it. Fans of Andrea Barrett, I think you'd like this. ( )

A registry of my passage upon the earth, the clue to the unravelling of this collection of short stories is held within the title. I found it somewhat difficult to comprehend this weird grouping of unrelated events and happenings. What is the connection between a sailor, a boxer, a balloonist, a linesman on a busy lonely railroad in South America? The final story and in particular the final image go some way to helping a confused reader make sense and arrive at some logical conclusions on the authors intentions. Many thanks to netgalley for a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review, on a difficult read, and that is what I have written. ( )