I am No Longer a Student

And to celebrate, I finished reading Robert Shearman's collection of short stories about love, Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical. This, like his first, is subtly absurd, quietly heartbreaking and entirely brilliant.

I'm not yet sure which story is my favourite, though I did enjoy 'Luxembourg,' in which the entire country of Luxembourg disappears.

In a collection of stories about love, of course there is going to be some sex. I'm always a little wary of sex scenes in novels, sometimes they can be horrifying, like any of the sex scenes in Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes (don't judge me, I had to read it for uni) or the scene in William Gibson and Bruce Sterling's The Difference Engine which are so awkward and full of euphemisms. But the sex in Love Songs isn't horrifying. perhaps it's because Sherman actually uses the word 'penis' instead of euphemisms. Or perhaps it's because the sex flows so naturally within the narrative. However he does it, I'm impressed.

One of my favourite sections in the whole book that I loved comes from a story called 'Jolly Roger' which does have a rather disturbing sex scene in it, but it is disturbing for a whole different reason. The passage that I like:

'The first port of call was Vigo. Roger had never heard of Vigo before, but didn't hold that against it -- after all, there were lots of places he hadn't heard of, it didn't mean they were rubbish. However, Vigo was rubbish.'

Shearmans's writing is so calm and casual, and a pleasure to read. Another book to go on the 're-readable' shelf.

-Elimonster