Book 10 toppled – stories of life, love and desire

Playing Sardines by Michele Roberts is a collection of short stories which I originally received as part of my 2024 Advent Calendar (see what I thought about the book when I received it here). It’s quite a short book and contains eighteen stories, none of which is very long and some of which cover only a page or two. The stories are mostly about women, many of whom are at a turning point in their lives.

What you notice about these stories is that they talk about physical things, especially food but also nature and sex, in rich and indulgent language. The stories dwell on the senses, especially taste and smell, and are very descriptive. The author seems to be saying that we need to slow down and to experience more and to appreciate more fully the experiences which are available to us. The author sets many of the stories in France and so the cuisine and the countryside which she describes are French.

I find short stories are often difficult because the author has to do so much in them. They have to introduce you to characters and a setting, develop a plot and bring things to a resolution in a very short space so they often seem rushed or crammed with detail. In this book the author has given us only snippets of a life and they are more of a glimpse into a situation so the plot is not so important and there is room for some beautiful descriptive language – they don’t feel rushed at all.

I really enjoyed this book. I found the descriptions to be beautiful and the situations to be well portrayed in a very few paragraphs. Most of the stories are life affirming with the characters beginning to appreciate the world around them and what it can offer to their senses, but a couple are a little darker with the characters taking their future into their own hands.

This book was an unexpected delight as I am not sure that I would have bought it for myself. I shall pass it on to a new reader now in the hope that they will enjoy it as much as I did.