Book Review – Jawbreakers By David Gaffney, Jonathan Pinnock et al.

As you will have seen from a few other reviews I love freebies so when Martha Williams posted a book the other day of course I snapped up my copy.  I am so glad I did for two reasons.  Firstly I finally understand what flash fiction is, I hear some of you snigger but hey I am new to blogging and have always been a confirmed novel reader.  Secondly it contains some amazing short stories in it.

The first chapter is an explanation of what Flash Fiction is.  For those in ignorance like myself simply put it is a short story of 500 words or less.  The book contains over 50 short stories there really is something for everyone.  I will be honest I didn’t like them all, there were a couple left me scratching my head and some I just wasn’t that keen on.  It would be impossible for me to comment on all of them, and given they are shorts it is hard to discuss the stories I do like without giving the whole thing away.  So how do I do this review?

Well I am going to cheat slightly.  I have picked out a few of the ones I really liked and then instead of talking about the actual story tell you what it was that I liked be it the plot, the characters or as is the case in most of them the way they evoked emotional responses from me so without further delay….

Peekaboo By Dan Powell – Okay so this first one reminded me of the terrors of being parent first time round.  Although it has a great twist at the end the start of the story really did remind me of that dreaded experience of worrying that I was doing things right and being judged on my parenting skills.  I did not see the twist coming and it made me laugh at loud when it came.

Ed! By Rupert Malakin – difficult to talk about this without giving it away the story is built in part around a pet peev of mine, people who try to be nice by holding the door open for you while you are actually a distance away.  I know they are being helpful but especially when I was on crutches a while back that feeling you have to rush to get there is frustrating this is a very funny look at one mans thoughts on it and his solution.

Wrapped By Martha Williams – this made me smile then made me sad.  It is amazing how a story can take you from one extreme to the other by using so few words.  The part that made me mad even more so, if was just a few lines not even anything explicit but the possible implications in the readers mind do the trick.

Celia By Sue Waker-Stokes – a story about wha taking people for granted and not being content with you lot in life.  Very funny with a great twist at the end.

Bee By Emma J. Lannie – this story was just so moving I teared up reading it. It demonstrates not only the pain of loss for an adult but the innocence of the children in bereavement.

So there you have my favourites. You never know I may even have a shot at some Flash Fiction of my own.  The book is no longer free but at a couple of quid a very good investment which I wholly recommend.