Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Book Review: Jellyfish by Janice Galloway

Post Thumbnail

 YL-2707-book-week

Hardback by Freight Books, £12.99 (ebook
£8.99)

In her first collection of short stories for five years, Janice Galloway has taken inspiration from the observation of a fellow writer. David Lodge wrote that “Literature is mostly about having sex and not much about
having children; life’s the other way round”.

With Jellyfish, Galloway has created a series
of tales examining love, sex and parenthood.

Longlisted for the prestigious Frank O’Connor
Short Story prize for this collection before
it was even published, Galloway’s writing
pedigree is obvious.

She is regarded as one of the UK’s best
contemporary authors and has won awards for
her previous works, including The Trick is to
Keep Breathing, and Foreign Parts.

Some of the tales in Jellyfish are just a
couple of pages long, giving the reader the
briefest of glimpses into the fragmented
thoughts inside her characters’ heads as they
tackle problems and opportunities.

Emotions are raw and Galloway’s bluntness does
not make a comfortable experience.

The story giving the collection its title
follows a young mother taking her young son
through an unnamed town, detailing the woman’s
observations and worries.

In another, Galloway fictionalises George
Orwell’s time on Jura when he was fighting
tuberculosis, emphasising his frailty in the
face of the illness and his concerns for the
future.

But as a reader unfamiliar with Galloway’s
style of storytelling, it felt difficult to
love these stories first time around but they
definitely warrant a second look.