European short stories chock full of melancholy. Some have to do with the tension between East and West, a few are set in the past. They slid through my mind like fading pearls. (November 23, 2004) ( )

A collection of short stories set in Germany and the UK; sparsely written and well constructed, as you would expect from Rachel Seiffert. The stories are generally quiet and observational about people and how they relate to each other. I usually find short stories slightly un-satisfying, but Rachel writes so well that I couldn't not read this collection. She can say volumes in a few words, so her stories have some bulk, despite their shortness. She shows us scenes of life early in the 21st century - Polish workers picking asparagus in Germany, a Phd student visiting a village, a child of 3 years distressing his parents because he does not want to move house, these and others stick in my mind. ( )

Seiffert's beautiful novel [Afterwards] was one of my top reads a few years ago, and I have gradually been catching up on her earlier books. This short story collection relies heavily on her cool, understated style--but it often comes off more as disengaged than objective. The best was "The Late Spring," the story of an elderly beekeeper, isolated from the village, who finds an ailing child on his doorstep. I also enjoyed "The Crossing," the story of a mother and her three children fleeing the Nazis who must trust a stranger in order to cross a river; and "Dog-Leg Lane," in which a little boy becomes hysterical at the prospect of moving house.

This was just an OK read for me. It says something that only a few days after finishing the book, I had to look back at most of the stories to remember what they were about. They just didn't leave much of an impression upon me. ( )