She Treads Softly: Normal Rules Don't Apply

Saturday, September 9, 2023

Normal Rules Don't Apply

Normal Rules Don't Apply by Kate Atkinson
9/12/23; 224 pages
Knopf Doubleday

Normal Rules Don't Apply by Kate Atkinson is a highly recommended collection of eleven interconnected short stories.

The title of the volume tells you what to expect from the contents. Although the stories are interconnected in regards to some recurring characters and themes, the stories themselves take place in non-linear parallel worlds where expected rules don't apply and sudden and puzzling endings can leave readers wanting more. Franklin Fletcher is a character who appears in several stories and encounters a whirlwind of different experiences.

As with any collection of short stories some will resonate with readers more than others. The stories I loved, I really, absolutely enjoyed. The few that fell flat, honestly failed for me. The rest were very good, not as exceptional as expected, but certainly above average.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Knopf Doubleday via NetGalley.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.