In a Nutshell: An accomplished collection of short stories that’s a bit different from the norm. There’s an inconsistency in the stories i.e. some are much better than others, but overall the collection is so unique that it’s worth taking a look at.
The Breathing by Welsh writer Mary-Ann Constantine (Planet Press) is one of the rare books that I slipped into my reading schedule without giving a forethoughts post to first (it was however featured in a Daily Bookshot post). Such is the nature of The Breathing, a collection of eleven short stories, that I just set about the task of reading through the book gradually, ticking off a story almost every day, until I’d read through them all.
If you follow my reading journal then you would have seen me progressively ticking off the short stories in Constantine’s collection, and also offering a line or two of review commentary on each one. So rather than repeat myself by rewriting all of that again, I’ll begin these afterthoughts by giving a rundown on each of the stories in the collection, along with providing an extract of the original comment I made on each story at the time. In each case I’ve hyper-linked back to the original reading journal entry, and for these afterthoughts I’ve also given a rating for each of the stories:
- The Breathing (Reading Journal: “Average story but impressed with Constantine’s beautifully eloquent prose“. Score 2.5 out of 5)
- The Fisherman in my Bed (Reading Journal: “Fairly average story again. Pitched more towards the female reader?“. Score 3 out of 5)
- Nettles (Reading Journal: “Much better than the first two stories “. Score 4 out of 5)
- The Elephant at Tregaron (Reading Journal: “A really nice story. Constantine is definitely growing on me“. Score 3.5 out of 5)
- Inside (Reading Journal: “Really short but rather good“. Score 3.5 out of 5)
- On the Ground (Reading Journal: “a bit odd but certainly not unreadable“. Score 3 out of 5)
- Kissing Swallows (Reading Journal: “Quite good“. Score 3 out of 5)
- Hard as Hail (Reading Journal: “great title for a story but didn’t really enjoy it“. Score 2.5 out of 5)
- The Growth of Stone (Reading Journal: “OK“. Score 3 out of 5)
- Noise (Reading Journal: “intense and sublime. Takes the title of ‘best in collection’“. Score 5 out of 5)
- Crossing (Reading Journal: “story was OK“. Score 3 out of 5)
So that’s what I thought of the stories in The Breathing on an individual basis. As you can see I considered the collection to be a bit of a mixed bag, with a couple of the stories (Nettles and Noise) being exceptional, the majority being average or just above, but none thankfully being particularly bad. So I think I can conclude that the The Breathing as a whole is a good (although not brilliant) collection of short stories, which I think a lot of people will like.
I would however sound a word of warning though. Constantine injects a uniquely poetic style in her prose, and some of her stories can and do feel somewhat abstract. But don’t let this be an total ‘off putter’ though, because it’s refreshing to find something a little different to the norm, and the stories are never so abstract that the reader is left clueless as to the meaning. I would also add that the overall resonance of The Breathing suggests that it’s slightly more pitched towards the female reader. But as a male reading this collection I didn’t find it to be too overly ‘girly’.
Overall all then I highly recommended The Breathing, provided you don’t mind your short stories being a little bit ‘arty’.
Rating: 
Planet Books | 2008 | £6.99 | PAPERBACK | 102 PP | ISBN: 978-0-9540881-8-7
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