The book of other people

Last year, I can't believe it has already been that long, I was making my weekly visit to Fnac to browse through the new book releases when a certain book caught my eye. It had an interesting cover and when I picked it up I realized that it was a collection of short stories by various authors. I was rather skeptical at first since I don't really like short stories (except those of Truman Capote, J.D. Salinger and Dorothy Parker) as they are ultimately too short and fragmentary to tell a good tale or create a rounded character but the latter was exactly the goal of The Book of Other People edited by Zadie Smith.

Authors like Dave Eggers, Jonathan Safran Foer, David Mitchell, Nick Hornby and personal favorite Miranda July, just to name a few, were asked to create a character whose story they will tell by selecting a crucial point in their lives. A wide variety of styles and modes of creating character are presented in this unique and entertaining volume of stories that is also beautifully illustrated by Chris Ware and Daniel Clowes who have also contributed in their own personal way. The royalties finally, will go to Dave Eggers' non-profit organization, 826 NYC, dedicated to helping children with their reading and writing.

I initially liked the concept of the book otherwise I would never have bought a collection of short stories and although some are great, others once again confirmed my beliefs about the genre. A collection that contains various authors also functions as a wonderful introduction (and in some cases even warning) to the work of lesser known authors and in the end, it is definitely worth the read.

The Book of Other People is now available in paperback and even in Dutch.