Started: Jan. 28
Finished: Feb. 8
Notes: I feel I've read a fair amount of Gardner, most recently having read his novel October Light, but I've never read any of his short fiction. So, I was delighted to discover this collection in a used book store.
Mini review: Though Gardner's style is too literary for my usual taste, here he presents not only a couple of literary tales, but also several stories of the gothic and a few of fantasy in the fairy-tale tradition. The final story, a novella, is "The King's Indian," and it's a tale of a young man on a ship at sea and a mad journey he finds himself on. In my opinion, Gardner's biggest weakness are his endings, because he usually has none. His stories ramble on with great characters, decent plots, and plenty of insight, but then they just sort of peter out to nothing. In Gardner's defense, that might be the point. His stories often deal with the fragility of our beliefs, and I'm not sure he comes to any strong conclusions but presents a variety of possibilities, none of which are usually pleasing to the reader.
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