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Review
In these terse and complex fictions, Vanessa Gebbie gives us an entire worldview in only a few pages. Her carefully etched story-moments and sharp-edged prose style are only the least of her considerable storytelling gifts. (Rusty Barnes, Editor and Co-Founder, Night Train )
Product Description
Storm Warning is the latest collection from award-winning writer Vanessa Gebbie, described as ‘prodigiously gifted’ by novelist Maggie Gee. It explores the echoes of human conflict in a series of powerful stories inspired by life with the author’s own father, who fought and was decorated in WWII, but suffered the after-effects for the rest of his life.
Conflict is often explored from the child’s perspective and ranges from conventional warfare to historical religious persecution. War veterans are haunted by events that echo louder and louder, and eventually break them. A prisoner sees the violent execution of a friend and mentor, a boy hides from a necklacing, a young student escapes the fighting in Iraq in the hope of continuing his education in the West and a woman tells what she knows of her parents’ torture.
The people in these stories are not those who go down in history, but ordinary troops, the powerless, caught up involuntarily. All are tested, sometimes to breaking point, in this extraordinary collection as Gebbie explores the surreality of conflict and the after-effects of atrocity.
and sometimes, the seeds of atrocity itself.
Conflict is often explored from the child’s perspective and ranges from conventional warfare to historical religious persecution. War veterans are haunted by events that echo louder and louder, and eventually break them. A prisoner sees the violent execution of a friend and mentor, a boy hides from a necklacing, a young student escapes the fighting in Iraq in the hope of continuing his education in the West and a woman tells what she knows of her parents’ torture.
The people in these stories are not those who go down in history, but ordinary troops, the powerless, caught up involuntarily. All are tested, sometimes to breaking point, in this extraordinary collection as Gebbie explores the surreality of conflict and the after-effects of atrocity.
and sometimes, the seeds of atrocity itself.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It would be difficult to beat Gebbie's stunning last collection of short stories "Words from a Glass Bubble" but she has certainly achieved it. This new collection is certainly more challenging written under the theme of war and its impact in many differing ways on lives throughout the world, across the centuries, but the results are as brilliant & thought-provoking as ever.
I applaud Gebbie for being brave enough not to embrace "feel-good" - a real creative achievement. Can't wait for the novel.
I applaud Gebbie for being brave enough not to embrace "feel-good" - a real creative achievement. Can't wait for the novel.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The first story I read from this collection was 'Letters from Kilburn'. It's starts out as deceptively light - 'Dear Your Majesty, I hope you do not mind that I am writing. It is about the water pipes at Essex Heights. The water is brown and I am worried...'
The story is told in a series of letters, each slowly building a picture we can't possibly have known was coming, but the whole is beautifully and dexterously handled.
I was in at the birth of two or three of these stories. Back then, The Ale-Heretic wasn't quite fully formed, wasn't quite revealing himself. Read him here and he serves as testament to the almost exponential growth of a truly gifted writer. The same is true of 'Sparks' Faraday and others who inhabit these pages. Rarely have I found flash fictions of so few words capable of evoking such deep emotional responses.
Though it's a slim volume, it is not a book to be read in a sitting. In truth, I think most readers would find that impossible because each story demands that one takes a mind-breath, takes the time to consider, and reconsider. Gebbie explores the lives of seemingly ordinary people, and reveals depth and complexity in the human condition that we all too easily forget.
A stunning collection. Buy it!
The story is told in a series of letters, each slowly building a picture we can't possibly have known was coming, but the whole is beautifully and dexterously handled.
I was in at the birth of two or three of these stories. Back then, The Ale-Heretic wasn't quite fully formed, wasn't quite revealing himself. Read him here and he serves as testament to the almost exponential growth of a truly gifted writer. The same is true of 'Sparks' Faraday and others who inhabit these pages. Rarely have I found flash fictions of so few words capable of evoking such deep emotional responses.
Though it's a slim volume, it is not a book to be read in a sitting. In truth, I think most readers would find that impossible because each story demands that one takes a mind-breath, takes the time to consider, and reconsider. Gebbie explores the lives of seemingly ordinary people, and reveals depth and complexity in the human condition that we all too easily forget.
A stunning collection. Buy it!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Vanessa Gebbie is a writer who has the ability to set the scene with spare but poignant words and phrases, creating an instant image of the lives of her "friends" she is writing about. Their lives are often sad, unsatisfactory, even tormented but then that is what you expect when reading about Echoes of Conflict. Her range is from the first World War to the Berlin Wall and each story is succinct and tremendously moving. She makes you care about the sometimes flawed but ultimately fragile people in her stories. Well done and I am looking forward to reading more from Vanessa. A talent.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Haunted and haunting stories
Both haunted and haunting, Vanessa Gebbie's protagonists in these unsettling stories move through the present but remain always tethered to the past. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Tania Hershman
Moving and original
21 stories of power and great psychological insight. They range widely in terms of location, historical period, conflicts global and national, and domestic tragedy - but all focus... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Brenda R
Short Stories of Gravity and Weight
In 'Storm Warning', Vanessa Gebbie explores the experiences and after-affects of those caught up in a variety of different wars. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Sophie Playle
An evocative and beautiful study of war
These stories are beautifully written in a sometimes sparse, but always poetic prose. To use the stock phrase 'no word is wasted'. Read more
Published 15 months ago by miss_mason
Masterclass
I must say I tried to stay cool before reading Gebbie's new collection of short stories and flash fiction. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Adnan Mahmutovic
Vivid and Unsettling
These powerful stories will enthral and unsettle you. Take them one at a time, and pause after each. This is not a collection to rush through. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Loose Cannon
A collection that will stay with you
This is not a soft book; do not expect to be coddled. There are poetic elements in the writing despite the savage subject matter. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Moriarty
A right good read
For me a short story is either excellent or no good at all. Therefore looking for collections of short stories is primarily looking for a reliable author and when you find one such... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Ogden Gnash
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