Grand Union Stories

Picked this up for completionist purposes (because my other entry in the Genre Challenge felt a little bit like cheating) and frankly, I probably should not have done that. The audiobook format was also not great for it since the short stories tended to merge into each other.

However, the format might have not been the only issue behind this here. Some of the entries are so short that they barely have time to take hold. I am not opposed to the super-short short story ("The House of Asterion" by Borges in one of my most favourite short stories of all time, after all) but I think some of the ideas here really needed some space to breathe which they simply were not given.

I didn't love this one, couldn't finish it and had to abandon it. Really want to read more Zadie Smith because I know people love her writing. Maybe I just wasn't in the place for a short story collection

(#partner @penguinpress) • I was very lucky to receive an advanced copy of Zadie Smith’s new short story collection, Grand Union. This is the first collection I read for #storyseptember. I really like Zadie Smith in short form! Prior to this one, I’ve only read her novel Swing Time, and it was fine but not a favorite of mine. This one definitely made me more excited to check out some of her other work. My favorite stories were: • Sentimental Education, about a girl and her college boyfriend who brings his best friend along to college • The Lazy River, about British families vacationing in Spain, that is an almost too spot on metaphor for life as we know it with social media • Escape from New York, which made me really want a post-apocalyptic novel from Smith • Meet the President!, which made me really want a sci-fi novel from Smith • The Canker, which made me really want a fantasy novel from Smith Basically, I loved all of the stories where Smith branched out in genre. She’s such a great writer, it seems that she does so with ease. This book has sooo many stories in it! There are 19! For me, the large number of stories did make the collection feel a little bit disparate, but for the most part this is an extremely solid collection. If you’re a Zadie Smith fan or looking to branch into her work, I’d recommend it!

I've liked Zadie Smith's work from way back but don't think I had read any of her short stories. These were a mixed bag for me, some quite good and others pretty meh. She's poking at genre a fair bit, and some of this poking is more engaging and successful than other bits. On the whole, I like Smith's longer work better than her shorter work, and I think I'm finding that to be the case for most authors I read these days.