I loved this collection. From the first page, it was clear that McGregor is pushing the boundaries of what a short story is, as 'he' and 'she' write alternate pages with only the faintest of references to one another's inner dialogue. Some 'stories' are a mere 2 lines long (Grimsby) but in the context of a book rooted within the English eastern coastline, this makes perfect sense. I haven't yet finished this collection: it's not one I want to devour at a sitting, but one to dip into and savour. ( )

Not something I would pick up normally, but well worth a go. The stories were short but very involving, and often left me wondering what happened next. ( )

This isn't the sort of thing that happens to someone like you by Jon Macgregor - Good

I like Jon Macgregor's style of writing. His prose is almost poetic at times.

This is a collection of short stories so won't appeal to everyone. They are grouped in sections with, what I think is, a town name to unify them. To me, some seem to be related by a vaguely dystopian future: preparing for changes that will be wrought by changing weather and rising oceans, climate migrants, wars etc. Others seem to be about relationships. All were thoughtful.

If you like his work, then give this a go. If you haven't read anything by him - start with his novels rather than these short stories. I think these would be difficult to 'get a feel of his work' from.
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Jon McGregor writes with an understated beauty that astonishes me. I read [So Many Ways to Begin] last year, and loved the quiet story with all the power running underneath the surface. He's a subtle writer. In his new short story collection McGregor keeps his understated writing style, but many of his stories take place in a dystopian world set in the near future. There's a lot going on, but the author leaves the reader to discover what's going on in the asides and background. Some of the stories have characters in common, while others only hint that maybe the protagonist is someone we met earlier. It's a surprisingly diverse collection, with McGregor's focus on everyone from a farmer running a successful business to a survivalist under government observation to a father who has a hard time obeying the restraining order against him.

I like to read short story collections slowly, because they can often get a little repetitive. That didn't happen here and I ended up reading it in immoderate chunks. ( )