I really want to read an A.M. Homes, but this was the only one in audio form in the library. I couldn't finish the first story "Brother on Sunday" read by Mark Bramhall. I've heard him read before, and the sound of his voice pulls me back there. I think it was Our Souls At Night by Kent Haruf. His voice was so perfect for that novel, but I don't want to go back there in a different context/story. ( )

The twelve stories herein run the gamut from the peculiar to the extreme, but each shows the hand of a fine craftsperson at work and some exhibit moments of pure comic genius. Unsurprisingly for readers of Homes’ novels or previous short stories, the situations in which these stories take place border on the absurd. A good example is the lyrical but eerie, “Your Mother Was a Fish,” or the possibly apocalyptic, “Omega Point.” There are also recurring locales that Homes uses with skewering insight, such as the overly bright hills above Los Angeles. Equally Homesian is the story based around an experimental technique — such as the transcript of a chat room or when two characters role-play through the voices of other characters (real or imaginary).

Undoubtedly the best of these stories is the title story, “Days of Awe,” set at a conference on Genocide(S). All of Homes’ numerous strengths as a writer come to the fore there. And it’s also very funny! But I would be remiss if I didn’t also single out the two linked (though independent) stories that share a common set of characters, “Hello Everybody,” and, “She Got Away.” Priceless.

Recommended. ( )

This is an interesting collection, which isn't afraid to push boundaries and experiment with form: Homes clearly isn't someone who would ever accept being tied down to the "Creative Writing" idea of what a short story should be. As you would expect, that sort of approach is something that can work either brilliantly or disastrously, but it's rarely sitting anywhere near the comfortable middle ground. There are a couple of what I thought were really excellent, unforgettable stories in this collection, but there are also quite a few that I really didn't like. And I'm pretty sure that many other readers will feel the same thing, but come up with an entirely different list of hits and misses...

What really grabbed me? The title story, first of all, in which a Transgressive Novelist and a War Correspondent have a brief fling during an academic conference on "Genocide(S)", and Homes cleverly manages to get them to debate the thorny question of imaginative fiction versus reportage from first-hand experience whilst going to bed with each other, eating apples and ice-cream, and rediscovering their Jewishness. A real tour-de-force, where you know the writer must be playing you in cunning ways from beginning to end, but you're never really aware of it. And "The National Cage Bird Show", where a traumatised soldier serving in Afghanistan and an overprivileged teenage girl in New York stray into the discussion on a chat forum dedicated to parakeets, where neither of them has any obvious business to be, and find themselves unexpectedly bonding - or at least imagine themselves to be, until the real world catches up with both of them. And "A Prize for Every Player", where a family who have turned their weekly shopping expedition into a complicated game come out with a couple of unexpected rewards. And a couple of very clever short-short stories, where a complicated life-event is unpacked in the space of a single dialogue pared down to the absolute minimum.

What didn't work so well for me were the several stories where Homes plays with the same satirical view of the artificial life of the Los Angeles wealthy that she developed in This book.... I just couldn't see how she could find these people interesting or important enough to bother with the considerable effort of making fun of them, and I'm not all that sure that she could, either.

Like all worthwhile short story collections, a curate's egg, but (messing up the metaphor) one that's worth it for the good bits. ( )

Homes is a longtime favorite writer. She doesn't disappoint here. The variety of storylines and characters makes each story a very individual story in itself. Many short story collections seem to be built on a limited number of plots, and the characters feel quite similar, but those collections don't give enough to feel as satisfying this fine work. ( )