There is something curiously fascinating about being offered a snapshot of another person’s everyday life, their internal dialogue, their everyday struggles and the choices they make.
Often it is the more seemingly mundane stories that deliver something unexpectedly poetic and poignant.
This is exactly what Christine Sneed has accomplished in her collection of short stories, The Virginity Of Famous Men. Author of Portraits Of A Few Of The People I’ve Made Cry, Sneed now ingeniously utilises the short story to offer a small, but powerful, glimpse into the complex web of the human condition that would not have been possible in a different form.
As to be expected, some stories are stronger than others. The Prettiest Girls, for example, feels a little tedious and predictable. But there are many stand-out inclusions, such as the opening story Beach Vacation, where a family holiday exposes the deteriorating relationship between a mother and a son, and Roger Weber Would Like To Stay, where a woman contemplates the demise of her relationship with a ghost.
The stories tend to end abruptly and without a satisfying conclusion, and there is something oddly fitting about that.
It is a perfectly imperfect collection. A true accomplishment, and an irresistible read.