From the book cover - A trainer coaxes his beloved elephant onto a ship carrying him to a life of fame. A mother searches for her baby girl, sent away on a train headed west. A teenage soldier wrestles with his conscience far from home. All have gone astray.
Astray guides us through a past in scattered pieces, a moving history for restless times.
Donoghue brings to life interesting characters and brings history alive with her imagination based on fact. I loved her book Room, and like that book, she can paint a scene and draw in the reader.
I liked what she wrote in her Astray Afterword - Writing stories is my way of scratching that itch: my escape from the claustrophobia of individuality. It lets me, at least for awhile, live more than one life, walk more than one path. Reading of course, can do the same.
May the road rise with you.
'Nuff said. Thanks Emma Donoghue.
Sounds like a terrific collection of stories. Thanks for the heads up.
ReplyDeleteI do love short stories, these sound interesting. I keep meaning to read Room too.
ReplyDeleteI like her comments at the end, too!
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