Genre: Short
Story/Dystopian/Literary Fiction
Description:
“Sarah wanted a sensitive, poetic, romantic boyfriend who would bring
her flowers. Ryan ticks all the boxes. So why isn’t Sarah happy?”
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.
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.
Added for
Reprise Review: Purple,
Silver, Olive, Orange by Helen Smith was a Winner in the Short Story
category for B&P 2015 Readers' Choice Awards. Original review ran February
14, 2015
Format/Typo
Issues:
None
Rating:
***** Five Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate
word count: 3-4,000 words
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