2008 books

[peteryoung]

18) A.L. Kennedy, Night Geometry and the Garscadden Trains, 1990
This first collection of shorts is a good place to start with this year's Costa Award winner, as after a few stories it becomes apparent why she may also be something of an acquired taste. In this collection she's at her best when being more direct than oblique, as while the introverted natures of her characters draw the reader into the big and small events of their lives, there's also an accompanying loss of clarity which Kennedy sometimes needed to rein in. But there's plenty of food for thought here; she can be hard work and at times intimidating, but also rather rewarding.