Paul Theroux is better known for his travel writing, but he is also a master of prose - especially the short form, as found in this collection of stories. The title story was movingly magnificent; others made me think of Somerset Maugham (especially 'White Lies'); and though one or two didn't work tremendously well ('The English Adventure' was tame; and 'The Imperial Icehouse' recycled a trope visited in 'The Mosquito Coast') on the whole this is a stunningly good collection. I read it in two days, and wish I could just start again from the beginning right now. ( )

A rather sad, bitter set of short stories mostly about people who live in the burbs and are unhappy. I prefer his novels and travel books. ( )

A mixed bag of short stories show that he is not completely a master of the genre. Some are wonderful, it started out very strongly with World's End and then faltered a bit. I also liked the subtle humour of Algebra and the slow and funny build up of Acknowledgements. A few made no sense to mw The English Adventure was the top of those. The Yard Sale was also funny but hard to get a grip on. I did like the both sides of the Atlantic nature of the stories, like Theroux himself.