Matthew VollmerRecensioni

Grrr. This is the only book I brought with me today, for when I finished [b:Red Scarf Girl|413432|Red Scarf Girl|Ji-li Jiang|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1174522009s/413432.jpg|2411038]. Something light and amusing, I thought, for after the downer.

Well, it is light, in the sense that it is printed on really cheap paper, and thus, despite being a thick trade edition, it doesn't weigh much. And then after an introduction that explains how to make fakes (but not why to anthologize them), the very first entry is "Disclaimer" about an abused and murdered woman, which should not be confused with a real woman, even should there happen to be such a thing.

I just can't. I've read parts of everything up through #24. None so far are funny, none so far are remotely plausible as what they purport to be, but rather they are mostly excuses to mock the subjects or supposed authors.

Maybe I'm just letting the news of the world get me down, but the complete lack of empathy at the outset just makes everything else feel arch and shallow and annoying.

Library copy

I wanted a whole lot more out of this book than I got. It really ought to be titled "Parodies," rather than "Fakes", since the vast majority of selections here read much in that vein than as actual faked texts. Also, I'm sad to say that quite a few of the pieces here just aren't very funny, which would have been just fine if it didn't seem like they were intended to be funny.

Probably safe to give this one a miss. The few really good pieces aren't worth the rest.½

In general, I enjoyed this. Nice, light - and for the most part - humorous reads, that you could either take a few at a time, or one if it was particularly long. Some were too long, or stretched out the concept beyond interestingness - such as "From Some instructions to My Wife Concerning the Upkeep of the House and Marriage..." and "The Varieties of Romantic Experience". I also felt that in some pieces there was a recurring theme of following a person's life story, including the ups and downs of their love lives, which could get repetitive. I personally liked "Officers Weep"; there were certainly other good pieces. And I appreciate the list at the end of further reading, definitely interested in looking up further "fakes".

Five stars at least in goodreads terms is supposed to mean "amazing" which is exactly what this bit of work is. I wish I would have been the one to write this book. But I wasn't and the good news is Vollmer is young enough to give us more of this sort of quality he has set himself the bar for. Three cheers for Matthew Vollmer. I explain myself more personally here:

http://msarki.tumblr.com/post/52233066791/vollmers-inscriptions-for-headstones

The book wasn't "amazing" in the goodreads level of five star reviews, but it certainly was "I liked it a lot!" of the four star category. But in truth, this collection is much better than four stars. I really have never read anything quite like this book of short stories. What threw me was the different voices. I was so prepared to hear the voice of "the deceased" from Inscriptions for Headstones that I was quite taken aback. But I write pretty extensively about the book and few specific stories in it, not to mention some personal stuff, here:
http://mewlhouse.hubpages.com/hub/While-Not-Exactly-Having-God-On-My-Side

The book was OK. I may have expected more of it because of the great title and thus I was a little disappointed when I couldn't find much of what I was looking for. I did find a few surprises and certain artifacts of great interest to me in this book of fakes. But there were more than enough areas of disagreement regarding certain selections made by the editors. I elaborate in greater detail in an article I wrote here:

http://mewlhouse.hubpages.com/hub/My-Full-Disclosure