Instruction Manual For Swallowing [Kindle Edition]

I'm a big fan of JG Ballard. His short stories captivate my imagination; a recognisable world that suddenly twists, normal people go off-course and get caught up in major terrorist plots, crime, and strange internal or future worlds. So I was pleasantly surprised on picking up this book that Adam Marek takes the reader into a realm that strikes resonances both thematically and stylistically with Ballard and other authors such as Paul Auster and Douglas Coupland.

The stories are addictive and instantly readable, the first is about a man who goes to buy a new pet for his girlfriend and enters a closed and suffocating world of the pet shop owner who measures his animals in litres, and prizes his 40-litre monkey beyond anything else. Another that had me laughing out-loud and genuinely crying was the bizarre yet somehow poignant tale of Brendan and Doris, and their extreme multiple birth (37 babies to be precise). All of the characters are recognisable, their traits, their thoughts, their flaws. It is the extraordinary circumstances in which they find themselves that bring the stories to life.

As I travel to work by train, this book was ideal - the stories last just long enough for the journey, or are perfect pre-sleep wind down. But what really got me is that they stay with you. I keep thinking about the man that tried to find his sub-conscious, or how the loss of one of the babies made such a mark on Brendan. I've read another book since and these stories are still there, filtering through and making me think about how we make sense of our selves in what can be a really strange world.

I'd recommend this book, it should be celebrated for being a really good collection of short stories. It's not about them being easier or quicker to read because they're short, they work like this - it's how they should be. That said, if Marek does write a novel it'd go straight on my Wish List.

I love this book. When I was young I was a big Roald Dahl fan, and I still am. Marek's stories reminded me a great deal of Dahl - they are very funny, and they are very grotesque.

My favourite story is The Thorn. A young boy gets a splinter in his toe, which his gran and grandad help him to remove and I'll tell you something - it ain't a thorn. I writhed while reading this one, Marek's writing is sublime and I felt the young boy's pain.

My favourite thing about this collection of short stories is that, unlike Dahl, they read as fact. Marek makes every idea seem believable, without a hint that these ideas should be nonsense. Name me one person who hasn't lived in a giant centipede's lair, or gestated 37 babies.

I have to say, everytime I came to the end of a story and saw the final paragraph in sight, I was gutted. This book is brilliant.

I think it's a real shame that short stories don't get the attention that larger tomes get.

This collection is at the top of the tree when it comes to unique and interesting ideas. Mr. Marek writes with a great prose style and pulls you into these very different worlds story by story.

I bought this on the review basis that it was a bit like Roald Dahk and that seems true to me, the stories seem like Roald Dahl for the generation that grew up reading Dahl and are now adults.

I was smiling as the stories developed and took me on some very imaginative journeys. Great reading and as I think Iv'e underlined a very good collection indeed. Quirky and Contemporary.