Some Rain Must Fall: And Other Stories - Softcover

Faber, Michel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1841950718 ISBN 13: 9781841950716

Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd, 2000

Synopsis

Michel Faber's first collection of short stories reveals an extraordinarily vivid imagination, a deep love of language and an adventurous versatility. Playful, yet profoundly moving, wickedly satirical yet sincerely humane, these tales never fail to strike unexpected chords. The title story, 'Some Rain Must Fall' (winner of the 1998 Ian St James Award), juxtaposes the tragic circumstances of traumatised schoolchildren with the interior monologue of a teacher/psychologist enlisted to aid their recovery. In the pseudo-sci-fi 'Fish' (winner of the Macallan/Scotland on Sunday competition in 1996) a mother tries to protect her child in a terrifying world where fish swim through the streets and lurk in alleyways. Faber has an exciting talent, rich and assured, with a dazzling reach. Some Rain Must Fall is one of the most engaging debuts for years and is refreshingly different from anything else you are likely to read this year.

About this title

About the Author

MICHEL FABER has written seven other books, including the highly acclaimed The Crimson Petal and the White, The Fahrenheit Twins and the Whitbread-shortlisted novel Under the Skin. The Apple, based on characters in The Crimson Petal and the White, was published in 2006. He has also written two novellas, The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps (2001) and The Courage Consort (2002), and has won several short-story awards, including the Neil Gunn, Ian St James and Macallan. Born in Holland, brought up in Australia, he now lives in the UK.

From Publishers Weekly

Readers who were fascinated by Under the Skin, Faber's cleverly grotesque social satire about human animals, will find plenty more where that came from in this beguilingly bizarre collection of 15 short stories. Faber works from a number of different conceits, one of his favorites being to take an ordinary perspective and reverse it, which he does with great imagination in "Toy Story," a whimsical yarn about a wandering young God who finds a ball-shaped planet earth to play with while rummaging in the rubbish. He takes an analogous approach in "Sheep," a tongue-in-cheek meditation about the nature of art in which five New York City artists are spirited away to Scotland under false pretenses for a visit to the nonexistent Alternative Centre of the World. Occasionally the conceits get away from him, though, most notably in "Accountability," a strange, over-the-top account of a poverty-stricken woman facing an abortion: she writes a detailed financial request to NASA after reading about the $23-million toilet required for the mission. "Nina's Hand" has similar problems, as it is told exclusively and somewhat obsessively from the viewpoint of a young woman's hand. As entertaining and interesting as Faber can be, solid character development is relatively rare in these stories. In "The Tunnel of Love," however, the quality of characterizations matches that of the premise, as an unemployed young ad man who takes a job hustling patrons at a porn theater falls in love with the woman who runs the theater's bookshop. That story represents the best work of a fast-developing talent, in a collection well stocked with impressive stylistic snapshots. (Aug.)Forecast: This is a nice counterpoint to Arthur Bradford's higher-profile Dogwalker (Knopf; Forecasts, July 23), rivaling it in weirdness but favoring sophistication over carefully calibrated innocence. Bradford buyers might be happily steered toward it.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1841950718
• ISBN 13: 9781841950716
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 242