“Turning the pages in Sing to It is like swimming in a lake and suddenly finding the bottom drop out beneath you, leaving you to get your bearings amid unanticipated depths.”
NO MAJOR SPOILERS
Ms Hempel is the master of the minimalist style of writing. Not one to waste words, the author can get her thoughts down in a page or two, sometimes even less than a page. She hasn’t published a collection in just over a decade and now she is back, as good as ever.
The book contains 15 stories, most of them between one and three pages, and one long story. If you have never read this author I cannot recommend enough your picking up any one of her collections available to discover for yourself her method of writing. How she can complete the picture in her head, and the feelings she wants to convey in such a short time is truly amazing, and how her choice of words can stir all the feelings any good writer can bring to their work in a flash has to be read to be truly understand.
In this collection, the last story in the book, Cloudland, tells the story of a woman who as a young girl gave up her infant child, and how she continues to deal with it in her life. Her quick bursts in paragraphs conveys a story quickly and efficiently, bringing you the reader along with the woman in her journey of thoughts about her decision.
Any avid reader who has not read her should give one of her collections a shot. It will bring you into a new experience in reading, and one which will amaze you at the talent this author has at her craft.
Reviewed by:
Richard Franco
Added 19th June 2019
