Thursday, August 13, 2015

Falling In Love With Hominids - A collection from Nalo Hopkinson - A mixed bag that just fell short of perfection

4 of 5 Stars     Review copy

Nalo Hopkinson was born in  Kingston, Jamaica, and also spent her childhood in Trinidad and Guyana before her family moved to Toronto, Canada, when she was sixteen.

You may be wondering, "What is a Hominid?" Dictionary.com defines Hominid as "any primate of the family Hominidae, which includes modern man ( Homo sapiens) and the extinct precursors of man."

In the forward to Falling In Love With Hominids, Nalo Hopkinson says, "I love and am fascinated by human beings.  We are, all of us, capable simultaneously of such great good and such horrifying evil."

There are eighteen stories in this collection covering a variety of genres and writing styles. Occasionally I was left in the dark by the author's writing and at other times I found myself totally enamored.  I hope this makes sense, but to me it seems as if some of the stories were written for the reader, while others were more for the writer herself and those seemed to be rather self-indulgent.

There were a number of really good reads in Falling In Love With Hominids.

I enjoyed "The Easthound" - A story of death and survival in an apocalyptic world.

"Message In a Bottle" was fanciful, wonderfully told, and very imaginative.

I also liked, "The Smile On the Face" - Teenage angst mixed with an ancient legend and Frankie Avalon & Annette Funicello on the TV.  I really like the use of the limerick to move this story along.

There were only a handful of stories that didn't hit the mark for me, but it was enough to just give this collection four stars.

Falling In Love With Hominids is now available in both paperback and ebook formats from Tachyon Publications.

Somewhat recommended.



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