Purple, Silver, Olive, Orange / Helen Smith

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Short Story/Dystopian/Literary Fiction

Approximate word count: 3-4,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: NO  Paper: YES

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

“Helen Smith is a British crime writer who lives in London. Her books have appeared in "best of the year" lists by For Books' Sake, The Cult Den, The Independent, and the Guardian.”

For more, visit Smith’s website.

Description:

“Sarah wanted a sensitive, poetic, romantic boyfriend who would bring her flowers. Ryan ticks all the boxes. So why isn’t Sarah happy?”

Appraisal:

What a strange little story this is. The description says it is set in “a futuristic England,” but it could easily be interpreted as a twisted dream concocted in the recesses of the brain while either of the primary characters were sleeping. I hesitate to say anything about the world Smith imagines as the setting - figuring that out is half the fun of the story. I’ll just say that in this story world a solution for helping with one of life’s more problematic choices has been developed. But it turns out that we humans sometimes don’t actually want what we think we do, creating a new set of problems. A fun, provocative story.

FYI:

Uses UK spelling conventions.

Format/Typo Issues:

None

Rating: ***** Five Stars