Magic For Beginners by Kelly Link
This book is proof that giving away free stories sells books, if your stories are good. I read The Faery Handbag for free online, I read Magic For Beginners (the short story) online for free, I downloaded Stranger Things Happen for free and read it. Then, when the UK paperback edition came out, I bought the collection of short stories, Magic For Beginners.
Being a book of short stories it's quite hard to sum up the book without seeming a little vague. My best attempt is that I found most of the stories wonderful. Are you already reading between the lines?! He's a detailed breakdown of each story to explain further.
Being a book of short stories it's quite hard to sum up the book without seeming a little vague. My best attempt is that I found most of the stories wonderful. Are you already reading between the lines?! He's a detailed breakdown of each story to explain further.
The Faery Handbag
This is the first story I read by Kelly Link. Rereading it has not dimmed it's wonderful strangeness. It starts normal, mundane even, with a conversational narrator and scenes that we could imagine partaking in. Then, like so many of Links stories, it slowly slides into strangeness. Until at the end you're not exactly sure what was real and what wasn't. It's the story of a handbag and a magical world and the story of how a girl learnt about the bag and lost it. Or is it? Brilliant.
The Hortlak
The story of an employee at a convenience store on the edge of some weird zombie rift. Or, again, maybe not. Maybe the zombies aren't real zombies they're just a metaphor? Such things are never spelt out. It's a great story, that begins with the trivial, mundane, working in a shop, lusting after a woman. Then somehow the shop takes on a bigger meaning. Probably. Another wonderful example of a strange story that's easy to relate to with no easy answers. Brilliant.
The Cannon
A short short story about a cannon. Sort of. I didn't really get this story, it didn't seem to have any plot or thread and felt like a story from an entirely different author. Disliked it.
Stone Animals
A story about a family moving in to a new strange house, that's haunted, sort of, and about working too much and not seeing your family. Another classic mundane turning strange story. The way in which the house is discussed as haunted is so fantastic, no explanation, it just is, and everyone accepts it (this felt very Neil Gaiman-esque to me). And then there are layer upon layer of strange and funny details, adding a real depth to the story. My only complaint is that the ending is maybe just too weird for me, but still, overall, brilliant.
Catskin
A twisted fairy tale story similar to some of the stories in Link's previous collection Stranger Things Happen. It's the story of a boy who's mother was a witch, who dies and becomes a cat. I really didn't like this story at all, too dark and twisted to me. I've never really liked fairy tales. Hated it.
Some Zombie Contingency Plans
The story of a man at a party, who's obsessed with zombie contingency plans and who once stole a painting, or rather the painting stole itself. Probably. It has a wonderful narrative style, witty, intelligent, familiar and yet with a twist of strange. It's the sort of story I wanted to read again as soon as I'd finished it, because it was such fun to read. It's the sort of story that you could happily quote whole chunks from to your friends, because it is so brilliant. Another stranger, weirdo ending, but one that felt a little less abrupt and more thought provoking. Awesome!
The Great Divorce
The story of a man who marries a dead woman and the troubles he has. The story also follows a medium marriage counsellor who sorts out problems with marriages between dead and living people. It's not clear at the end whether the medium is just a scam artist or not. It felt quite dark to me and I didn't really get into it. Disliked it.
Lull
A story that starts with a mundane card game, then twists into strange with odd details here and there, then falls through a trap door into a nested story inside a story. Is it about a haunted house? Or the devil? Or aliens? Woah. Crazy, clever, strange and confusing. But I liked it. Brilliant.
Magic For Beginners
I fell in love with this story. A deep, overwhelming obsession. A story of some teenage friends and their love of a crazy pirate TV show called The Library. I want to hang out with my friends and watch The Library. I so want to see that TV show. But it doesn't exist. It might not even exist in the story. It's a story full of wit and emotion and real life and hooky fantasy and characters that I wanted to meet. Wonderful writing. I loved it. Mind Blowingly Awesome!
This is the first story I read by Kelly Link. Rereading it has not dimmed it's wonderful strangeness. It starts normal, mundane even, with a conversational narrator and scenes that we could imagine partaking in. Then, like so many of Links stories, it slowly slides into strangeness. Until at the end you're not exactly sure what was real and what wasn't. It's the story of a handbag and a magical world and the story of how a girl learnt about the bag and lost it. Or is it? Brilliant.
The Hortlak
The story of an employee at a convenience store on the edge of some weird zombie rift. Or, again, maybe not. Maybe the zombies aren't real zombies they're just a metaphor? Such things are never spelt out. It's a great story, that begins with the trivial, mundane, working in a shop, lusting after a woman. Then somehow the shop takes on a bigger meaning. Probably. Another wonderful example of a strange story that's easy to relate to with no easy answers. Brilliant.
The Cannon
A short short story about a cannon. Sort of. I didn't really get this story, it didn't seem to have any plot or thread and felt like a story from an entirely different author. Disliked it.
Stone Animals
A story about a family moving in to a new strange house, that's haunted, sort of, and about working too much and not seeing your family. Another classic mundane turning strange story. The way in which the house is discussed as haunted is so fantastic, no explanation, it just is, and everyone accepts it (this felt very Neil Gaiman-esque to me). And then there are layer upon layer of strange and funny details, adding a real depth to the story. My only complaint is that the ending is maybe just too weird for me, but still, overall, brilliant.
Catskin
A twisted fairy tale story similar to some of the stories in Link's previous collection Stranger Things Happen. It's the story of a boy who's mother was a witch, who dies and becomes a cat. I really didn't like this story at all, too dark and twisted to me. I've never really liked fairy tales. Hated it.
Some Zombie Contingency Plans
The story of a man at a party, who's obsessed with zombie contingency plans and who once stole a painting, or rather the painting stole itself. Probably. It has a wonderful narrative style, witty, intelligent, familiar and yet with a twist of strange. It's the sort of story I wanted to read again as soon as I'd finished it, because it was such fun to read. It's the sort of story that you could happily quote whole chunks from to your friends, because it is so brilliant. Another stranger, weirdo ending, but one that felt a little less abrupt and more thought provoking. Awesome!
The Great Divorce
The story of a man who marries a dead woman and the troubles he has. The story also follows a medium marriage counsellor who sorts out problems with marriages between dead and living people. It's not clear at the end whether the medium is just a scam artist or not. It felt quite dark to me and I didn't really get into it. Disliked it.
Lull
A story that starts with a mundane card game, then twists into strange with odd details here and there, then falls through a trap door into a nested story inside a story. Is it about a haunted house? Or the devil? Or aliens? Woah. Crazy, clever, strange and confusing. But I liked it. Brilliant.
Magic For Beginners
I fell in love with this story. A deep, overwhelming obsession. A story of some teenage friends and their love of a crazy pirate TV show called The Library. I want to hang out with my friends and watch The Library. I so want to see that TV show. But it doesn't exist. It might not even exist in the story. It's a story full of wit and emotion and real life and hooky fantasy and characters that I wanted to meet. Wonderful writing. I loved it. Mind Blowingly Awesome!
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