These are very character-driven short stories. They were easy to read and get into, with the exception of the one that was written stream-of-consciousness style which I skimmed through if I’m being honest. Anyone can enjoy what is written on the page, but I was left at the end of each one thinking that I probably missed something. Like, a smarter person probably came away from the stories with some deeper meaning and I was just thinking like, “hmm, that was interesting … next!”
I like the concept of the stories each being about someone from the same town. There are subtle tie-ins throughout – one story about a man who abandons his family is the father of a teenaged girl who appeared in an earlier piece. A soldier whose mother is the main subject of the opening story is the one whose perspective we see in the end (and we know from earlier in the book that he dies in combat).
Overall, I enjoyed Dacey’s writing style, the themes he tackles (the ones I was smart enough to recognize) and the variety of subjects. It didn’t take me long to read the entire collection, either. I’d be curious to see what others thought of this one, and I might even want to go back to the beginning to see if I missed any other connections to later stories.