Book Review: Souvenirs and Other Stories

Souvenirs and Other Stories
By Matt Tompkins

My Edition:
Paperback, 79 pages
2016, Conium Press
ISBN: 9781942387060

This is a tiny (both in page count and physical size) collection of strange and surreal stories that add some magic into everyday life.

Since these stories are so short, I’m hesitant to talk about their plots, so I’ll just list the titles to intrigue you:

The Water Cycle
Seeking Advice And/Or Assistance RE: Mountain Lions
Souvenirs
The World on Fire
Mel and the Microphones
BFF

These stories were like nothing I’ve ever read before and I’m glad I ventured into unfamiliar waters. I’ll admit, at first I was confused – I was busy trying to figure stuff out and I was left wondering if the characters in these stories were crazy, or perhaps inhabited magical worlds. Then I stopped doing that and just enjoyed Tompkins’s writing for what it was, fun and thought provoking.

My favorite stories were Souvenirs, Mel and the Microphones and BFF, but really I enjoyed them all.

I’m not sold on the cover price, but I absolutely love the overall design of the book and if you can borrow this, or you love surrealist writing, I suggest you pick this up!

I received this book for free from LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. All opinions in this post are my own.

You can find Matt’s blog here and check out an interesting article he wrote on word choice and how it can change what we’re trying to say.