So what about the other stories?

For discussion of John Ajvide Lindqvist's short story collection Låt de gamla drömmarna dö
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seigezunt
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Re: So what about the other stories?

Post by seigezunt » Mon Oct 26, 2015 2:33 pm

Okay, so I finally finished, barring "Final Processing," which I'm going to leave to when I read "Handling the Undead."

"Paper Walls" -- I found very short and atmospheric. Enjoyable, but ultimately not a lot there. May read this one again.

"Tindalos" - I thought I was going to end up lumping this one with "Eternal/Love" as being hard to digest because of how it apparently personifies a force of nature as a monster, but it doesn't quite go in the same place. I ended up really enjoying it though not getting some parts of it. I loved the element of how time gets replayed, and how JAL uses this really effectively to ramp up the suspense as the story approaches its climax. I found the "rules" of the monster a little confusing, but that kind of worked to the story's benefit in this case.

All in all, some great stories. My one regret is that I didn't read the book as a whole the first time I read the story "Let the Old Dreams Die." I think it would have increased my enjoyment of that story even moreseo after having finished the others. I think it caps them well. Leaving that story aside, as it stands on its own for the infected, I think I would have to put the "the Border," "Majken," and "Tindalos" as my favorite stories in the collection, with "Village in the Sky" as an also-ran. I think I found the longer stories more effective, less gimmicky. I think I liked "Itsy Bitsy" more than some people, possibly because I identified with the protagonist, which possibly misses the point of the story. But all in all a collection I'd go back to.
"She can fly, she has amazing and horrifying powers, she isn’t exactly a boy or a girl, she can’t come inside unless she’s invited ... and she loves him. That’s enough."

--Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com


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