Apr 11, Res rated it liked it Shelves: I'm afraid there's a sameness to Link's writing. Grotesquerie, quirky refusal of all resolution. Feb 04, Melanie rated it it was ok. I really wanted to love this, but it's just a tad too cute, light and just very detached. Props for mischief, enjoy some sass and comedy - but otherwise, meh. Just not my cup of milo. Jan 11, Natasha rated it did not like it Shelves: I'm obviously missing something, but Kelly Link stories read like this: A wave bit his finger off.
He saw a purple cloud. Too absurd for me. Mar 07, Milica rated it really liked it Shelves: Apr 19, Leah rated it really liked it. Within it are eleven exquisitely crafted short stories which range from weird to the truly bizarre.
It is difficult to categorize Link's writing, as it seems to straddle science fiction and fantasy, narrative and fiction, real and unreal. It is loosely written as are many of the stories , which - rather than impeding the text - makes it easier to adap "Stranger Things Happen" is Kelly Link's freshman work of fiction. It is loosely written as are many of the stories , which - rather than impeding the text - makes it easier to adapt.
Her writing seems to permeate right into one's head, letting the reader formulate each story by themselves while being gently urged on by Link. She guides, but does not dictate, the reader. As a result, one makes each story one's own: This compounds how generally creepy her writing is. The stories are also punctuated with truly odd characters. In "Water off a Black Dog's Back," the boy's girlfriend's father is a bizarre character. He is lacking a nose, and therefore replaces it with a prosthesis according to circumstance -- sometimes a wooden one, sometimes a steel one.
Link again keeps her writing somewhat vague, but defined enough to paint a rather striking - and oddly frightening - picture of rural life under her twisted pen. The fact that this is Link's first book shows, however. While her writing is strong she shows remarkable talent , there are immature aspects to it, as well. Her stories can be somewhat "plotless" - they are more like literary sketches of disturbing scenarios. Although, this is also what renders her writing so captivating: She makes a story out of some strange event.
She does not present a problem to be solved, a climax, a resolution. It's almost as if she leaves that to the reader, choosing instead to lay the groundwork for one's mind to grind away at -- as a reader, we torment ourselves thinking more of what Link has written than what is actually on the page. Kudos to Link for her uncanny ability to turn the familiar into the frightening.
Her writing conveys a sense of uneasiness, she manages to make the most normal circumstances into the most disturbing. She is an excellent, captivating writer. Nov 02, Justine rated it liked it. I picked up this book because Amazon told me I would like it.
Being that I trust their algorithm more than I trust most of my family members, I did it. Kelly Link's collection of short stories ran the gamut between being successful and kind of pointless. While the concept is interesting: Hijinks and fun imagery ensue. The stories I found to be the most successful were those that had a more disti I picked up this book because Amazon told me I would like it.
The stories I found to be the most successful were those that had a more distinctive plot or took a quirky point of view toward death and evil boy dates half daughter of Zeus who is persecuted by Hera, ghosts that like to live in cellos, girl who cases ex boyfriend to regain him from snow queen, dictators mummified wife talks about her shoes.
The least successful stories worked too hard to hint at some grander mystery or plot convergence but ended up being incoherent or incomplete. Maybe this is because I'm a lazy reader. Maybe because I was exhausted when I read this. Maybe because I don't equate being vague with being insightful. Ultimately, it's an entertaining read but nothing earth shattering or thought provoking beyond idle curiosity.
Oct 21, A. Unabashedly girly, experimental, tender, genius. It took a few stories for me to get into Link but I think I think I love her like I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and four day old tres leches cake with black coffee, all things sweet and sneaky and spooky. Aug 05, Lynn rated it liked it. Good, but I loved Get in Trouble much more. Will try Magic for Beginners next to try to recapture that earlier buzz from great and weird stories.
Feb 17, Iluzija O. Istini rated it it was amazing. View all 6 comments. Apr 19, Rohit Sawant rated it it was amazing. This was unlike anything I've read before. Kelly Link is a genre of her own. The stories collected here are more than mere narratives. They're like curious things found in a bottle.
Oddities, deranged and delightful, magical and subversive. All woven skilfully with beautiful, direct prose. Dec 28, Jigar Brahmbhatt rated it liked it. I am still digesting it.
There are stories that you can grab with both hands and make yours. Then there are those you cannot touch but admire from a distance. Maybe, I will figure out later that it is an awesome story. For now it was just evocative Alcuni racconti hanno una struttura simile tra loro: Dalla prospettiva del finale, possiamo chiederci se questi personaggi non avessero sempre abitato in quel mondo altro, senza volerlo sapere.
Stranger Things Happen has ratings and reviews. mark said: it's not me , it's you, Stranger Things Happen. what is it the kids say these days? I. Stranger Things Happen: Stories and millions of other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Stranger Things Happen: Stories Paperback – July 1, This item:Stranger Things Happen: Stories by Kelly Link Paperback $
In Italia sono usciti solo due libri di Kelly Link: Per chi volesse leggere il testo originale in inglese di Stranger Things Happen: Oct 20, Kendra Recht rated it liked it. I'm a big fan of Kelly Link.
I never really liked your friends all that much. I'm a big fan of Kelly Link. You thought he loved you — maybe he thought he did, too. The Black Sun in Denmark. Sexy blond aliens invade New York City. I started with this, her earlier collection, and proceeded to be extremely disappointed. Millions of starlings make shapes in the sky.
She's beyond imaginative, a unique and very talented writer, and I feel, sometimes, as though the essence of my writing and hers isn't that much different. I absolutely loved her second collection, Magic for Beginners , and although I liked some of the stories in Stranger Things Happen , as a whole it didn't have the same sort of impact that other book had for me. And even some of the stories I rather enjoyed had some of the same pitfalls I noticed in Link's other stories when I first read Magic. One such pitfall is Link's inability -- or refusal -- to wrap up most of her pieces.
Not to say that everything should be neat and tidy with no loose ends, nor should everything work out perfectly and be completely comprehensible, because, as Link is clearly trying to show us, life isn't that way. And if stories are meant to echo life, they can't be that way either. In some of Link's stories -- and in fact in a lot of them, particularly in this collection -- it's very hard to grasp the essence of the plot or of the story she is trying to tell. And although I don't believe endings should be neat, I do think that the reader should be left with questions -- not gaps in understanding.
And sometimes, here, I felt that I simply wasn't able to find the connective tissue or the point hidden underneath all those lovely words and brilliant ideas. I think sometimes, whether or not this is the truth or the way it's conveyed to the reader, Link's ideas are great but not quite complete. In the best way, possible, of course. I think some of her stories are novels and novellas yearning for expansion, and others are in need of pruning. Some of her stories are delightfully odd, some of them are bafflingly bizarre. But I enjoy them. I get a feel for her characters, except when she deliberately makes things too confusing, like in "Louise's Ghost" or "The Girl Detective.
But more often than not, you get the point. There's a feminist angle, a whole lot of fantastical elements that are meant to be enjoyed as much as they are to inform about some aspect of society or life. And I recommend her to anyone who thinks fantasy is stale. But I don't know if I would recommend this particular collection in whole. Magic is my go-to, and it will remain that way. Jun 05, Renee rated it liked it Shelves: Kelly Link is a little Well, more than a little bizarre.
At the time, I was a bit uncertain as to whether or not I wanted to be on a weird ride, but in the end, things were mostly good. A couple of stories ran on hence three stars rather than four , but on the whole Link has created a great collection. My favorite was probably Most of My Friends are Two-Thirds Water, a title which tells you absolutely nothing about the story itself.
Link is not afraid to say many things She does it very well, there is nothing risque for the sake of shock value, but still some might find this too graphic or disturbing. For everyone else, read it and pick out your own favorite. I will be reading another one by this author. Kelly Link is an American author best known for her short stories, which span a wide variety of genres - most notably magic realism, fantasy and horror. She is a graduate of Columbia University. She has won several awards for her short stories, including th Kelly Link is an American author best known for her short stories, which span a wide variety of genres - most notably magic realism, fantasy and horror.
Link also works as an editor, and is the founder of independant publishing company, Small Beer Press, along with her husband, Gavin Grant. Books by Kelly Link. Trivia About Stranger Things H No trivia or quizzes yet. Quotes from Stranger Things H This is one of the things a woman can do when her lover leaves her.
Rainbow eucalyptus trees in Australia. They look like someone painted them. The Black Sun in Denmark. Millions of starlings make shapes in the sky. Underwater Waterfall in Mauritius is actually sand being sucked into the ocean. Volcanic lighting come from volcanic explosions causing an electrical storm. White Rainbows also known as fog blows. I wonder if there are ever double white rainbows.
Follow us Facebook Twitter Pinterest. Even when you are moving, it is never fast enough to satisfy that part of you. You enter the walls of the city early in the evening, when the cobblestones are a mottled pink with reflected light, and cold beneath the slap of your bare, bloody feet. You ask the man who is guarding the gate to recommend a place to stay the night, and even as you are falling into the bed at the inn, the bed, which is piled high with quilts and scented with lavender, perhaps alone, perhaps with another traveler, perhaps with the guardsman who had such brown eyes, and a mustache that curled up on either side of his nose like two waxed black laces, even as this guardsman, whose name you didn't ask calls out a name in his sleep that is not your name, you are dreaming about the road again.
When you sleep, you dream about the long white distances that still lie before you. When you wake up, the guardsman is back at his post, and the place between your legs aches pleasantly, your legs sore as if you had continued walking all night in your sleep. While you were sleeping, your feet have healed again. You were careful not to kiss the guardsman on the lips, so it doesn't really count, does it.
Your destination is North. The map that you are using is a mirror. You are always pulling the bits out of your bare feet, the pieces of the map that broke off and fell on the ground as the Snow Queen flew overhead in her sleigh. Where you are, where you are coming from, it is impossible to read a map made of paper. If it were that easy then everyone would be a traveler. You have heard of other travelers whose maps are breadcrumbs, whose maps are stones, whose maps are the four winds, whose maps are yellow bricks laid one after the other.
You read your map with your foot, and behind you somewhere there must be another traveler whose map is the bloody footprints that you are leaving behind you. There is a map of fine white scars on the soles of your feet that tells you where you have been. When you are pulling the shards of the Snow Queen's looking-glass out of your feet, you remind yourself, you tell yourself to imagine how it felt when Kay's eyes, Kay's heart were pierced by shards of the same mirror.
Sometimes it is safer to read maps with your feet. So this is the story so far. You grew up, you fell in love with the boy next door, Kay, the one with blue eyes who brought you bird feathers and roses, the one who was so good at puzzles. You thought he loved you — maybe he thought he did, too. His mouth tasted so sweet, it tasted like love, and his fingers were so kind, they pricked like love on your skin, but three years and exactly two days after you moved in with him, you were having drinks out on the patio.
You weren't exactly fighting, and you can't remember what he had done that had made you so angry, but you threw your glass at him. There was a noise like the sky shattering. The cuff of his trousers got splashed.
There were little fragments of glass everywhere. You weren't wearing shoes. His eye was fine, of course, there wasn't a thing in it, but later that night when he was undressing for bed, there were little bits of glass like grains of sugar, dusting his clothes. When you brushed your hand against his chest, something pricked your finger and left a smear of blood against his heart.
The next day it was snowing and he went out for a pack of cigarettes and never came back. You sat on the patio drinking something warm and alcoholic, with nutmeg in it, and the snow fell on your shoulders. You were wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt; you were pretending that you weren't cold, and that your lover would be back soon.
You put your finger on the ground and then stuck it in your mouth. The snow looked like sugar, but it tasted like nothing at all. The man at the corner store said that he saw your lover get into a long white sleigh. There was a beautiful woman in it, and it was pulled by thirty white geese. You went home and looked in the wardrobe for that cloak that belonged to your great-grandmother.