Hard to follow, and unpleasant to read. ( )

An engaged couple find themselves in a strange and alien world, where nothing is quite as expected. They just want to find their way back home before the impending date of their wedding. After all, the tents are already rented, and the place settings planned... The story works as a metaphor for developing maturity and finding one's place in the world/settling for reality. The surreal style didn't quite win me over, though. ( )

I loved The Manual of Detection, and while this story included some similar moments of charm and clever writing, in sum it's not as strong as Berry's longer work. The short story does a good job of layering tensions, creating an atmosphere of anxiety between the couple and the bizarre world(s) they have stumbled into, as well as between Jim and Laura themselves. The story raises questions about how the couple ended up where they are, why Jim is famous, why Laura is the target of the blond pinstriped suit, and more, but, as is to be expected for an exercise in surrealism, answers are not forthcoming. The ending of the story does seem to try and set up a story of sorts, introducing an antagonist who was responsible for at least some of the things the couple went through, but switching gears from the nebulous tension of being stranded in a strange world and the equally nebulous tension of an impending marriage to a more concrete tension involving a man and a sentient doll seemed to be a misstep. I'm sure Gray represented some challenge a relationship faces, just as I'm sure some of the other things in the story are symbols, but I would rather have seen the story either go all-in with the surrealism or to have a coherent plot. Instead A Window or a Small Box unfortunately seems to split the baby (don't worry though, there are plenty of extra babies lying around). ( )