Sarah Salway’s Leading the Dance weaves short stories into a book.
The book has depth and it breathes.
The stories combine and compliment.
The characters are real.
The narrative voices are refreshing, sharp, subtle and above all else convincing.
They are stories that you don’t want to end.
It is a book that you don’t want to rush through.
I was forced to slow down my reading speed.
Leading the Dance is a collection of short stories that are laced with domesticity, yet they all have an edge that marks Salway’s skill as a writer. I am left intrigued by the craft and the skill required building convincing worlds, narratives and characters within such limited space.
A bulimic who has the inside of her fridge painted, an affair that smells of pear drops, sexual suspicion leading to bondage, visions of Jesus blessing aubergines, the fragments of an affair through letters. There are more.
The stories are original, yet the characters have a familiarity that connects them to the reader. The reader is drawn into each world and forced to experience emotions through the lexical choices made.
Sarah Salway’s writing has a delicacy that appears effortless and natural, yet each and every word is perfect. I absorbed each word. I last felt like this reading The PowerBook for the first time. And I know that I’ll read Leading the Dance again.
For me:
Sarah Salway injects fragility and grace into the art of storytelling.
3 comments:
I recently read 'Something Beginning With' and, although it's a novel rather than short stories (kind of), it has an unusual structure and much of what you say in this review would also apply to that book. 'Leading the Dance' is on my list.
Thanks for your comment Zinnia.
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I've just ordered it and am waiting IMPATIENTLY for this book to arrive!
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