The Book Pirate

A blog of Books and Pirates and Writing
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The Half-Mammals of Dixie by George Singleton

October 20, 2008 By: The Book Pirate Colin Matthew Category: Book Review, Thoughts on Books

I can’t do it! I’ve tried, I really have. But this book is unfinishable.

I’m only 80ish pages away from finishing it, but I have no desire to do so. The Half-Mammals of Dixie is a collection of short stories that take place in or around the town of Fourty-Five, South Carolina. George Singleton was recommended to me by a teacher after I told him that I was a big fan of George Saunders. While Saunders offers up social satire, Singleton offers irrelivant short stories of people. What holds this book back is that it is a collection of short stories. The characters in it are interesting but can never be fully developed because they end after a couple pages. Maybe I would enjoy one of his novels. But after this book I don’t think I’ll be looking in to his books again any time soon.

You could also see what people who managed to finish the book have to say about it though:

A Girl and Her Books
Goodreads
Entertainment Weekly

  • I never like short story collections for just that reason. As soon as I start liking a character they're cut off and I have to start all over with someone new. Why not just develop your characters and give me a fully formed book?
  • I tend to like short story collections. Since they are short they have to cut out all the filler and get right to the point.
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