Steven Muir’s book is quite a unique collection of stories. On reading this book, you are entering a place which is slightly surreal but not incomprehensibly so; the writing is strong in terms of its structure and direction; it has an veneer of mystery which is not always easy to penetrate; and it will leave you thoughtful. That’s how it was for this reader anyway.
The title of the book is not where it starts but we soon learn about Professor Nim and the influence that he has over two of his students, Vishwanath and Vivienne who are in competition with each other to become his star pupil or apprentice and gain further insight into his possibility collapser, a machine that he has devised. I have to profess that this read more like a philosophical discussion or bandying about of ideas than a story but that’s not to say that it’s not interesting. The ending felt like I’d been led towards enlightenment whilst also being left completely bewildered at where it dropped me off, which may not be everyone’s cup of tea from reading but I quite enjoyed the uncertainty.
And this was really how I felt about a lot of the book.
As I said previously, I feel like this is a collection designed to promote thought: it is a collection of stories, yes, but they are unconventional and some have a dream-like quality to them, almost like the author is sharing his own personal visions or that he is imparting a viewpoint from which he would like us to see things and is doing this through the characters that he creates and where he places them.
Some stand out ones for me are Solus Nakami where a girl appears only the narrator can see; Grandpa Seraphic which begins almost like a poem but then expands into something quite lovely and for those of us who have lost elderly relatives, it is a story that offers hope and the possibility of future meetings with those no longer here; and At the Ghost Spa – no further explanation needed. Indeed, there is a lot of this let’s-look-behind-the veil feel to the whole book: what we see is not all that is there, and how can we reach beyond to experience what our human-ness in the every day fails to reveal to us? How can we access that?
A very different read.
Rachel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
This book was read as an ARC through Reedsy Discovery. This is a fair and unbiased representation of my view of the book.
Scuffed Granny 