Sporting one of the best cover designs of the year so far, The Terrible Event by David Cohen is a collection of short stories promising 'death, destruction, disappearance, decline and defeat' and sounded right up my alley.

A brief word on the cover first. Designed by Josh Durham from Design by Committee, this cover design is immediately eye catching and I keep seeing it popping up everywhere. It really taps into my love of stationery and will no doubt be one of my favourite cover designs for 2023. The mention of parallels between this collection and the work of David Sedaris further stoked my anticipation for this Australian collection.

Containing eight stories in total, I enjoyed the sense of nostalgia that started to build.

"The toy was as addictive as it had been in bygone days. Pulling the string triggered memories of backyard cricket, Choc Wedges and Saturday morning cartoons - the very cartoons that had introduced him to Bugs Bunny in the first place. Those were the days." Page 44-45

The Australian setting and mention of Choc Wedges, Holden Commodores and rippled soled desert boots was ripped right from my own childhood and the sweary dialogue in the story entitled Bugs, was great. Here's our main character in Bugs reminiscing about inheriting his dad's old Olivetti typewriter.

"And when you pressed a key, you could see the type bar strike the paper, leaving behind a black letter or number. Nothing made interesting noises anymore. Nothing had any weight or resistance. Mark recalled the hole punches of his youth, the staplers. Where were they now?" Page 65

Yes, the hole punches!! I think back to how much our desk accessories have changed in my time, with liquid paper in bottles to hole punches, fax machines and staplers. I still have a mini red stapler purchased in 2000 that's so small it takes No. 25 staples and it's stapled thousands of bank statements, travel itineraries and meeting agendas over the years. If you love stationery as much as I do, see my review of Adventures in Stationery: A Journey Through Your Pencil Case by James Ward.

Back to the collection, hole punches feature in the aptly named short story Holes, and it was here that I started to notice a few common threads or easter eggs that connect through the collection. I won't include them in my review in case they're spoilers - I'm looking at you Nathan! - but not being a regular reader of short stories, I thought this was cool.

While there's limited time to connect with a character in a short story, character descriptions like this provided a neat shortcut to personality, and I could readily relate:

"Zoran's conversations were limited to two main subjects: cycling and craft beer. I didn't have a problem with that, but he seemed to assume that I was as interested in them as he was. If I tried to steer the conversation in another direction, he'd steer it back, before too long, to one or the other. He showed no particular curiosity about me: I think I was really just a receiver for whatever he wanted to talk about. He might ask me what I'd done on the weekend... but only as an entry point for him to tell me all about the cycling and beer drinking he'd done." Page 99

I have a person JUST LIKE THIS in my life too!

My favourite story in the collection was The Enigma of Keith: Another Memorial, which contained an interesting story about the erection of a fictitious roadside memorial, installed to determine whether the presence of a memorial (white cross, flowers) has any impact on driver speed. Do drivers slow down when they notice a memorial on the side of the road? You'll have to read The Terrible Event to find out!

* Copy courtesy of Transit Lounge * ( )

The Terrible Event first caught my eye because of the cover. Those ‘SIGN HERE’ stick it notes are ubiquitous, and I liked the spin on using them as a book. This is a collection of short stories about terrible events – some shocking, some sad and some the consequences of age and life. They are wrapped in small events that the main characters tend to get a bit obsessed with, which really made the story for me. It’s quirky and not your usual short story collection.

The Terrible Event contains eight stories, some quite short and others longer, with their own mini chapters. I found I resonated with the longer stories (I love my details) because they delved deeper into the main character’s motivations and foibles. The first story, The Terrible Event: The Memorial, I found quite confronting. The terrible event that led to the memorial is never explained, but as the story continues, there are hints that it wasn’t pretty at all. The ambiguity makes the ending so much more powerful but it will definitely not be for all readers. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue (would all the stories be in this vein?) but I’m glad I did. The next story, Mr Cheerio, is somewhat lighter and more relevant to today – the cost of living, the economy and the eternal human need to one up each other. I loved this story. Bugs is sadder and a little creepy as the narrator finds himself in a strange spiral that just may be related to a childhood toy. The Holes was perhaps my favourite for how relatable it was – work from home, office life and the waiting, waiting, waiting for something to happen. The final story, The Enigma of Keith: Another Memorial certainly won’t have me looking at roadside memorials in the same way (although I hope I lift my foot a little).

Overall, the stories are diverse – sometimes dark, sometimes light and witty. The main characters tend to be loners with quirks that put them on the edge of society. Cohen conveys the sense of loneliness well, in addition to how much it bothers his characters (or not), which adds to the sympathy the readers feels for them. The stories also cleverly poke fun at office life, academia, bureaucracy and the rages of people in the suburbs. I enjoyed dipping in and out of these stories, finishing the book in 24 hours. It’s a clever collection verging on the absurd, which just made it more attractive to me.

Thank you to Transit Lounge for the copy of this book. My review is honest.

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