U Want It Darker is a short story collection by Murray Middleton, the author of the powerful novel No Church in the Wild. I found it entertaining and thought-provoking.
This is a single author collection of nine stories, all on the theme of artists of various kinds suffering for their art. These make sense together thematically, without being so similar that they become boring. Middleton considers a wide range of artists, including writers, actors, painters, and dancers.
All of the central characters appear to have some degree of talent and competence, but their degree of success is variable – and usually pretty low. Middleton explores what they have given up in service of their dream of a creative life.
You don’t have to be particularly creative yourself to appreciate these stories. They’re stories of striving, failure, and success, and most people will be able to empathise with them. They do tend to focus on some of the sacrifices that are particularly associated with struggling artists: lack of money and lack of understanding from people not in their industry.
Most of the characters are quite “ordinary”, making their challenges and choices particularly relatable. We get an insight into their thoughts and feelings as well as their lifestyle. There’s a range of characters here, and all are strongly portrayed.
Middleton’s most recent novel was layered and very thought provoking, and often confronting. These stories are softer, and the compressed space means that there is a little less to explore. However, they still pack a punch, and most readers will find one or more stories that leave them ruminating for some time after they’ve finished it.
With short story collections, I often prefer to read them slowly, over a period of weeks, spacing the stories out, rather than reading them in one go. This particular collection lends itself to either style of reading: spreading them out gives you more time to think about and absorb them individually, but there’s enough variety in the stories that it’s not repetitive to read them all together.
I found these very digestible, but also worth thinking about. They’re well written, carefully honed, and each has a clear point. It’s a solid collection, and well worth your time.
Copy courtesy of Picador (Pan Macmillan)
A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club Members are reading U Want It Darker by Murray Middleton. You can read their comments below, or add your own review.
I’ve loved books for as long as I can remember, and I love sharing that joy.
I’ve been an avid reader for as long as I can remember, across all genres. There’s not much I won’t at least try. I’ve been an enthusiastic book reviewer for years. I particularly enjoy discovering writers new to me, and sharing good writing with others.
My career has included time spent writing and editing technical documents, but it’s fiction that really moves me. I’ve reviewed for a number of different outlets over the years, and have been a judge in literary competitions.
I’m now raising little bookworms of my own, which brings a whole new kind of joy to sharing books.
More of my reviews can be found on my review blog www.otherdreamsotherlives.home.blog .
I really didn’t know quite what to expect with this book but found myself so totally sucked in and following the thread of reviews for a pizza business. I really had no idea that I would find such a thing so entertaining and funny. I must admit that I was a little sad when the posts came to and end. This part of the book was my favorite.
I found this book very easy to read and zoomed through it quite quickly.
An easy weekend read that had me laughing, saying “Good Lord” and shaking my head.
Made up of 9 short stories bur the Pizza Reviews were my favorite.