Some Rain Must Fall: And Other Stories

Rating:
Summary: One Of A Kind
Review: I found Michel Faber's Novel, "Under The Skin", to be both disturbing, wildly inventive, and unique. I could think of no one to compare his work to then, and now after reading his first collection of short stories, "Some Rain Must Fall", I still can gather no comparisons. There are stories that taken alone might lend them to be classified as similar to this person's work, or another's collection of short stories. However taken as a whole the works in this volume encompass so vast a range, from pure imagination, to a short story that reads as a documentary of a profession, no one else comes to mind.

There is a story of a teacher, a specialist who commands three times the normal rate for running a classroom. The start of the story is seemingly harmless, and then it progresses steadily to a horrific experience. Another begins and quickly becomes surreal, however the change is so subtle you might read it more than once to be sure it all is not a metaphor as opposed to a severe form of retribution.

Other stories focus on a narrower field of a person or two, and how presumptions that are made almost unconsciously can have life altering effects. This latter theme may not sound new, however the setting for his story and those that inhabit it are definitely not what would be called a traditional venue.

Mr. Faber is about as far from the traditional as a writer can get, and still be understood. "Under The Skin", pushed the envelope for me to grasp what he had in mind, but it nevertheless was powerful and unsettling. His workings on the fringes of his imagination seem to naturally produce a story of a most interesting Universe. However with at least one tale he seems to condemn another extreme branch of expression without compromise. I agree with what he had one character write, whether the Author agrees, who knows?

Like nothing you have probably read.

Rating:
Summary: Short goodness from an enjoyable writer
Review: I read Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White first, was so pleased with his style that I picked up this short story collection. I enjoyed it very much, as the stories have the same style, but show off his ability in many different arenas besides the victorian England setting of Crimson Petal. Plots ranging from the fantastical "Fish" to the grapes of wrath-ish "Accountability" to the karma deliverance in "Sheep" that I think we'd all like to hand out some times.

Rating:
Summary: Short goodness from an enjoyable writer
Review: I read Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White first, was so pleased with his style that I picked up this short story collection. I enjoyed it very much, as the stories have the same style, but show off his ability in many different arenas besides the victorian England setting of Crimson Petal. Plots ranging from the fantastical "Fish" to the grapes of wrath-ish "Accountability" to the karma deliverance in "Sheep" that I think we'd all like to hand out some times.

Rating:
Summary: one word can describe Faber's works...refreshing.
Review: Reading a Michel Faber story is like taking a dip in a pool on a hot summer day. His style of writing is so original, it makes everything he writes a truly enjoyable read. I was referred to Faber through Amazon for his novel "Under the Skin". I thoroughly enjoyed that book, but once I tried to explain to friends why, I couldn't. I came to realize that the story itself was interesting, but not the reason why I enjoyed the novel. The reason was Faber's ability to connect a reader to a character in his novel and his unique style in developing a story.

Faber's collection of short stories further displays his writing skills. I am fascinated by how he can develop a story and its characters in so few words. I totally recommend this collection of short stories. They are original, thought provoking and entertaining. If you are sick of the same old stuff, Faber is the author for you. I can not wait to see what he has to offer us next!

Rating:
Summary: Some Rain Must Fall
Review: There's no denying that Faber is a good writer - not great, just good - but is that really enough? I enjoyed all of the short stories in this book, but only two or three really made me sit back and reflect on the quality of what I had just read.

The stories take one of two paths. They generally open up with something weird, a weird first sentence (After fours hours and seventeen minutes there was a raindrop, and Ivan sprang to life) then become normal, or they start out normal (Upstairs, a strange man was going through her things) and end up weird. Not a bad thing, certainly, but it was sort of depressing to know what style the story would take based upon its first sentence, or at the very least, the first paragraph.

The weird stories were enjoyable, but the normal ones were better. Faber has a very down-to-earth grip on reality, the dialogues, internal thoughts and actions of the characters all reflect this. Even when something very strange is going on (fish flying through the air, for example), a mother still has enough sense of order to want to arrange her daughter's clothes properly. At times this works really well in the weird stories, but it generally works phenomenally well in the normal ones. Probably the most normal - a sweet story about a man falling in love with a woman while working at a porno shop - was the best. The second last story, I put it down and said, wow. It wasn't earth-shattering, it didn't want to and won't change the world, but it was very nice and would resonate with most adults.

My main complaint would be the inconsistency. Faber has a flair for description and a broad imagination, surely then he could have written a 'weird' short story book and a 'normal' one, keeping the two flavours distinct? But they were all bunched together and I felt myself jarred out of the reading experience at the sudden and absolute change of tone, pace and style, which is never a good thing.

Overall, I enjoyed it. There were flaws, to be sure, but I never regretted a new page. Not a single story struck me as boring, or superfluous, and apart from the weird/normal inconsistency, the book was a good adventure into Faber's mind. I'm curious to see if he can pull off a larger book (especially considering one of his books is huge), as a lot of the stories didn't have traditional endings at all.

Rating:
Summary: Broader and better than my first impression
Review: UNDER THE SKIN was the first work of Michel Faber I have read. Recently, searching for the shining lights of contemporary science fiction, a review in Netsurfer Digest found that book for me. A delightful find. The only new talent on a par with William Gibson has been my refrain.

I pre-ordered this current edition of Faber's short stories and it arrived a day ago. Now that I'm half-way through, I have to correct myself in mid-flight of enjoyment and say that he's a talent partaking of all possible directions of the writer's craft -- unchallenged by any theme or context.

The reviewer cited in Publisher's Weekly has led too narrow a life -- or has too confined a brainpan! When Faber can leap from a sentient and egregious bit of anatomy [Nina's Hand] to a self-defeating family on a mission of dead-end science, self-destruction and deception [The Crust of Hell] -- from a painful single day's tale seen through the eyes of an unknowing kid brother [Somewhere Warm and Comfortable] to the crisis-solving anodyne cum mother and teacher in the feature story [Some Rain Must Fall] -- Faber is the sort of young talent I will worry about and watch for in the coming years. I hope he can steer clear of type-casting editors and agents, writer's block and, of course, TV and screenplays. The latter of which are bound to land in his lap when some improbable director spies out his work and wants to cram it into whichever medium. It can be done; but, the world of that sort of production is more dangerous than any desert in the Horn of Africa.

Well, this is a Friday. My day to listen to music and read. Faber has made it the very best Friday since my semi-retirement a year ago.