“A teenager longs for perfect skin. A scientist tends to fragile alien flora. A young man takes the night into his own hands. Each of these characters has a desperate desire. Can any of them be sated?”
That tagline alone was enough to pique my interest in Eliza Clark’s debut short story collection, so I was excited about the opportunity to read a sample story in advance. The goal of a sample story is obviously to grab the readers attention and make them curious for the rest of the collection. I can wholeheartedly say: The Shadow Over Little Chitaly succeeded in that.
It’s a short story told entirely in a series of increasingly unhinged Google-/Tripadvisor-reviews for a Chinese-Italian take-away-restaurant, which may or may not exist, and/or serve calzones filled with banh mi noodles…
As far as sample-stories goes: it’s a bold choice. It’s alternative format makes me curious if more of the stories within the collection will make use of non-traditional structure. Unfortunately, the story itself did very little for me, as (due to this structure) there’s barely any story there to begin with.
As a standalone story, this is a 2/5-star read at best. As a teaser for what’s to come within this collection: my attention is definitely grabbed and I look forward to see what else Clark has in store.
Many thanks to Faber and Faber Ltd for providing me with a sampler in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
She's Always Hungry by Eliza Clarke is scheduled for release November 7th 2024. Pre-order links can be found here on Goodreads.
