The Shell Collector: Stories

Rating:
Summary: Nice to see that good writers are still being born...
Review: This is a very solid and enjoyable first story collection, particularly the title story and a little romp called "July Fourth." You can see the gears turning a little bit, and there's a tendency to lay on the technical details too heavily, but Doerr's got great authority in his story-telling voice. He's like a nice mix of Richard Powers and Tom Paine, maybe without the fully realized vision of either, but without their weakness for didacticism as well. A writer to enjoy now and watch in the future.

By the way, with all respect to the previous reviewer, these are stories, not essays.