Considering it’s the collection’s namesake, I Walk Between the Raindrops falls flat, serving as a poor introduction. Rather than creative story concepts or exploring non-normative people, what Boyle shines in is appreciating a character through and through - the voice, psychology, and mannerisms that make each one unique despite heavy overlaps in their demographic Venn Diagram. The ideas lack originality, with two of the stories paralleling Black Mirror. Other times, they’re the default mode and nothing more. Sometimes, these annoyingly recurring traits become the crux of the story, and Boyle invites the reader to inspect or even laugh at them. The other three narratives still include such characters, they just don’t weigh in as heavily as, say, a straight white woman. Ten out of 13 short stories in I Walk Between the Raindrops feature a straight, presumably white, male character, many of whom are self-righteous, racist, misogynistic, or some combination of those three. Though the variability doesn’t go much further than that. It shows in the steady voice prominent throughout his collection, whether the protagonist is a teen or an old man or a middle-aged woman. Boyle is well published with over two dozen books under his belt.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |