"Shining with originality, emotion, humour and humanity, these five stories showcase the potency of short-form fiction."
Dazzlingly diverse, the five short stories included in Thomas Morris’ Open Up are united by themes of feeling dislocated in a strange, unsettling world. Each of them tingling with tenderness and truths, these stories have the power to flip your heart, make you think and make you feel more alive. In a word, Open Up is magic.
The opener, Wales, fizzes with the power of hope (and football) against a backdrop of poverty. Ahead of attending his first big match, a boy tells himself, “If Wales win tonight, everything will turn out okay.” There’s magic being among a crowd of supporters, singing as one: “WALES! WALES! He is screaming, he is letting something go.” But, while Gareth has a good feeling about the upcoming European Championship, his dad tries to teach him a life lesson: “you’re better off not expecting much, or you’ll only be disappointed.” Gareth puts Dad in his place, though, and turns out to be right, even as the rest of his life takes a downturn. Poignant stuff.
Meanwhile, Aberkariad is an utterly bizarre, unexpectedly affecting story of love, loss, coming-of-age, and the cycles and meaning of life from the perspective of a family of sea horses. Wise, witty and wildly imaginative, I loved it.
With the remaining three stories relating the cliff-hanger-tastic story of “short-arse” Big Mike, an indecisive young man haunted by his past while on holiday with his girlfriend, and a vampire forum moderator treating himself to fangs for his birthday, Open Up adds up to being an enthrallingly varied collection. Morris’ writing is sublimely fresh, and his ideas open up new ways of seeing the world.
| Primary Genre | General Fiction |
| Other Genres: |
The new collection from a literary star - five achingly tender, innovative and dazzling stories of (dis)connection.
From a child attending his first football match, buoyed by secret magic, and a wincingly humane portrait of adolescence, to the perplexity of grief and loss through the eyes of a seahorse, Thomas Morris seeks to find grace, hope and benevolence in the churning tumult of self-discovery.
Philosophically acute. Wincingly humane. Strikingly original. This outstanding suite of stories is bursting with a bracing emotional depth. Open Up cracks the heart as it expands the short story form.
Open Up features in the following genres: General Fiction, Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Shorter Reads, Fiction, Fiction: special features
Open Up is available in Paperback, Hardback
Open Up was written by Thomas Morris and published by Faber & Faber
Open Up has 224 pages
£13.49
