Blood

by Janice Galloway

Book Overview

A collection of short stories whose main subject is fear - from the dawning terror of a child abused by her uncle to an adult's day-to-day dread of strangers. Throughout there is seen to be a constant... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679405941
• ISBN13: 9780679405948
• Release Date: November 1991
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 178 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

The strange bits I have found in blood

The inside of Janice Galloway's head scares me. Blood is a bizarre but mesmerizing collection of strange short stories, unsettling almost-plays, and uncomfortable snapshots of human nature. Her words walk that sharp line between brilliance and madness, and you are never quite sure what side you have landed until it's much too late. These stories are clever and brutal. Twisted things happen to a menagerie of misfits. Simple, everyday events are carefully braided together into something with which you will end up flagellating themself after a few pages. And there are never more than a few pages; you don't know if you really want there to be more pages. But, really, you do.

Virtuoso work

This book of short stories has no one theme, but gets it shape and unification from Galloway's strong, highly individual voice and the eerie atmosphere of fear and tenderness it manages to convey. From the very short (The Meat) to the longer pieces (A week with Uncle Felix) this collection rattles with desperate life, vivdness and a visceral edge all its own. I defy anyone to read BLOOD (the title story) without feeling the sensation of a former tooth extraction, though what she does with the story goes much further, turning an everyday, unremarkable mutilation into a parable threaded with loss, yearning and isolation from the the herione's dearest source of comfort, music. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to read more in the contemporary Scots voice or who enjoys virtuoso writing for its own sake. Galloway is a rare, brave writer.