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Aleppo Button
  
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Aleppo Button (Paperback)

by Ellis Sharp (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 112 pages
  • Publisher: Malice Aforethought Press (31 Jan 1991)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1871197996
  • ISBN-13: 978-1871197990
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 2,489,911 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Surreal and political excursions into the fantastic, 6 Feb 2003
By "lexi_wades" - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
Sharp's surreal take on the political and serious is the continuity between his collection of fourteen stories that make up TAB. The focus is especially strong on socialism and the figures of Che Guevara, Stalin and Karl Marx although fascism, British and American politics are all unpacked and spun round by Sharp's bizarre humour. I can think of few authors but Sharp whose names so reflect their writing style (Muriel Spark being another exception)- each short story has an agenda behind its oddness.
Five particular stories deserve especial mention. The Story Of Julian Iron is about Stalin running for parliament in a dozy English town and is classic Sharp. Dobson's Zone incorporates socialism, crop circles and the loch ness monster in a tale of delusion and the need to be heard and is defiantly the most moving in TAP. Dead Paraguayans although almost exactly the same as another of Sharp's short stories in Lenin's Trousers shows the detachment of the Western world in their cosy, middle-class lives whilst Paraguay is in extreme political strife. The Wormshow is as finer description of foetal gestation as you are likely to find anywhere. Finally the books namesake, The Aleppo Button (actually a sand-fly bite), is a monologue by a lecturer and the most difficult piece to follow in the collection, but also the most philosophical and questioning.
If you have read any of Sharp's work before you will find his short story collections similar. This means that if you do not like the authors stories you will find all of his books repetitive but if you enjoy the Sharp style and tone then you will see how each of his pieces builds up and improves upon his unique writing.
If you are new to this author I would recommend you try this book and see whether Sharp's writing appeals to you. An open mind is defiantly a requirement to read TAP though as Sharp's surrealisms and strange truths can leave the reader as dazed and confused as awed by this mans style and audacity.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Surreal and funny stories., 9 Mar 2001
By A Customer
This is a weird but strangely compelling book - 13 surreal stories which cover everything from the story of a foetus which is five years being born ("To the Wormshow") to how Stalin faked his death, swam to England and began a new career as a Conservative MP. "The Mould" could almost be science fiction - the strange tale of a mould which progressively devours Europe, which can be interpreted in many ways. "Hitler and the Aerostat" plays games with time and offers us Princess Diana's royal tour of Nazi Germany and her discovery of a shared interest with Hitler in vaccuum cleaners! This is wacky stuff but very, very funny. "Dead Paraguayans" is about the problem caused by unexpected heaps of Latin American corpses appearing all over rural England and is, I think, some kind of parable about the way we shut out eyes to injustices going on in remote parts of the world. Kafka would feel at home with this stuff. Maybe the best story in the volume is the one which confuses the biographies of Karl Marx and the paranormal investigator Charles Fort. There is no one else writing like this in Britain that I know of. This is lively and original writing and not only funny but also in its own quirky way quite profound.
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