THE WEIGHT OF A HUMAN HEART

Author:  Ryan O'Neill

Genre:  Short Story Collection (21)

Published:  2013

Personal Rating:  3.5/5 (good)

Format:  Book

Yearly Count:  37
(ss) Yearly Count:  60!  (exceeded my yearly goal)  

From the ARC Back Cover:

Ranging from Australia and Africa to Europe and Asia and back again, The Weight of a Human Heart heralds a fresh and important new voice in fiction.  Ryan O'Neill takes us on a journey that is sometimes comic, sometimes tragic, and wholly original.

A young Tutsi girl flees her village on the brink of the Rwandan genocide.  A literary stoush--and an affair--play out int he book review section of a national newspaper.  A young girl learns her mother's disturbing secrets through the broken key on a typewriter.

With imagination, wit, and a keen eye, Ryan O'Neill draws the essence of the human experience with a cast of characters who stick with you long after you turn the last page of this brilliant short story collection.

 This collection gets a 5/5 for creativity!  It is the most diverse collection I have ever read (in style not necessarily in topics).  Each story was unique in its delivery and discovering the format was fascinating.  It definitely was a winner in presentation.

The stories themselves averaged out to be "good."  I enjoyed them, but was more impressed with the creative writing style.

My thanks go to Shelf Awareness and St. Martin's Press for providing me with this ARC.  It will be published in

July, 2013.