Name: Half a Creature from the Sea
ISBN: 9780763678777

David Almond

An anthology of dark, powerful and moving short stories from master storyteller David Almond, inspired by his childhood in the north-east of England. It features coming of age stories on the theme of closeness to home, deftly interwoven with illuminating autobiographical pieces on the inspirations behind the fiction.

A Life in Stories

Half a Creature from the Sea

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Suddenly I know the poltergeist is me. It is in me. It is me in fury at Joe Quinn, me in love with Josephine, me in hatred of the non-existent God; it is me in dread and bliddy grief, it is me in wonder at this place, this earth, this moon, this night. I know the poltergeist is all of us, raging and wanting to scream and to fight and to start flinging stuff; to smash and to be in love, to be at peace.

An anthology of dark, powerful and moving short stories from master storyteller David Almond, inspired by his childhood in the north-east of England. (Publisher).

Eleanor Luhar

David Almond is definitely a unique author.

This book is a collection of short stories based on Almond's own childhood, mixed in with anecdotes of his own experiences. Like most of Almond's writing, there is a very strange magic realism throughout these stories.

The stories are all based in Felling-on-Tyne, but Almond notes how he altered the setting to fit his stories. The characters are also a mix of fictional and real people.

Religion was clearly a big part of Almond's upbringing, and he envelopes tht in his writing. However, the stories aren't particularly religious at all. It's more the daily routine of the young boys and how religion is incorporated into this.

I'm a big fan of short stories. This collection was really good, though they were all very similar in atmosphere/genre. Not that that's a bad thing, necessarily, but I do like a bit of variety.

Almond's writing is fantastic, as always. Descriptive enough, but still leaving some details to the reader's own imagination. It was easy to just sit and read this book without needing to put it down. 3.5 stars.

Half a Creature from the Sea A Life in Stories