Storm Glass - Jane Urquhart

The Basics: Storm Glass, Jane Urquhart, 1987, 127 pages, hard cover

How I found it: I was desperate for something new to read so I went on a binge reserving books at the library. I searched for a few of my favourite authors (Urquhart being one) to see if there were any of their works that I hadn't read. This was one of them.

What's it about?: This is a collection of short stories. Some of the stories are grouped together in sets with similar themes, such as the five stories under the "Five Wheelchairs" heading, and the seven stories under "Seven Confessions". Overall the stories have nothing to do with each other and take place in different time periods with different characters and tones.

Did I like it?: This is one of Urquhart's earlier work from the time when she was primarily publishing poetry and it shows. Like a lot of Margaret Atwood's early work, it is very angsty and self-consciously arty with confusing plot twists and purposely ungrammatical sentences. As a result, I found it a bit annoying and amateurish compared to her later works and didn't enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed her novels.

Will you like it?: I would only recommend this book to hard core Canadian Lit fans, otherwise, please, please, please go pick up The Whirlpool, The Underpainter, Map of Glass and especially the Stone Carvers. They are all phenomenal and much better that these short stories.

But don't take my word for it: The usual from Amazon and her wikipedia page are all I could find.