Short stories of Love, set around the World

1st May 2021

Love Stories for Hectic People by Catherine McNamara – short stories of love, set around the world.

There are short stories, and there are short stories. Personally I probably prefer those in the 3,000 to 5,000 word category… But Love Stories for Hectic People has 33 stories in only 97 pages. Some are (literally) only one short paragraph long. They have been brought together in one volume from submissions that Catherine has published in various literary journals over the years. Love is the connecting theme. All sorts of love – platonic, violently sexual, and much in between. Some of the pieces are gentle, others far more worrying. The are set across many countries in the world and add up to an impressive compilation.

Catherine has an amazing way with words and the ability to put over the essence of a ‘plot’ in very little space. But, for me, the pieces were too brief – in many of them I wanted the characters to develop, but they could not. I felt frustrated.

I have really enjoyed Catherine’s previous work (see, for example, my review of The Cartography of Others) and was looking forward very much to reading Love Stories for Hectic People. I guess I was a little disappointed, and felt I needed more… maybe flash fiction just isn’t for me.

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