While some of the stories are quite good, most are basically different versions of "Aren't upper middle-class folks silly?", which gets a bit dull after a while. Still, rather enjoyable. ( )

Twenty-two short stories reminiscent of O Henry in that most have a twist ending (some of which can be seen coming from the first page). Mostly set among upper-class English families prior to the Great War, often lampooning the pretenses of the society.

It was a society Saki (H.H. Munro) knew well and whose pomposities he delighted in skewering.

These are very short pieces, some almost vignettes, and one needs to resist the temptation to crunch them all down at once like a handful of potato chips. They are best enjoyed one at a time, and their original format -- publication in various periodicals of the era -- allowed readers to savor them in that way.

They are inevitably dated as they pass the centenarian mark, yet the modern reader will immediately recognize many of the traits being satirized here. ( )

If O. Henry were English, or maybe hadn’t been in jail so many times, or perhaps didn’t live next door to the Hilton in Austin, maybe he could have been Saki. Nevertheless, O. Henry didn’t meet these criteria, and so Saki had to write his stories. It was that, or Saki wasn’t American and urban enough to write the stories of O. Henry, consequently resulting in O. Henry having to write them.

I would imagine, at least in my social circle, that most people are readily familiar with O. Henry, while fewer people are readily familiar with Saki. While they both wrote short stories featuring a twist at the end, Saki’s stories focused more on the upper crust of the British Empire, and often with their conflicts with nature. The twist usually involves nature gaining the upper hand.

Collected in Surprising Stories are several of his better known (all now public domain) stories, ranging from the natural to the supernatural, and even to the unnatural. The clever blend of aristocracy and the natural world provides for some humorous observations too numerous to account for.

If you are in the mood for a light read and some fast-paced stories that won’t monopolize your time, then I recommend you pick up some Saki, even if it’s not this book, per-se. ( )

includes "The Open Window" and 21 other droll stories

Contents: Gabriel-Ernest -- The Bag -- Tobermory -- Mrs. Packletide's Tiger -- Sredne Vashtar -- The Easter Egg -- Filboid Studge -- Laura -- The Open Window -- The Schartz-Matterklume Method -- A Holiday Task -- The Storyteller -- The Name Day -- The Lumber Room -- The Disappearance of Crispina Umberleigh -- The Wolves of Cernogratz -- The Guests -- The Penance -- The Interlopers -- The Mappined Life -- The Seven Cream Jugs -- The Gala Programme