Book Review - The Pier Falls (Mark Haddon)

This collection of short stories comes from the author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Night and A Spot of Bother. His story collection is very different. If I had to find a theme for them it would be consequences. If you like stories with neat wrapped up endings or happy endings then this might not be for you. They did suit me. The Pier Falls is written like a report of what happens as a section of seaside pier collapses. How people become separated, what others do, rescue teams, bystanders, and every so often the time since it happened is mentioned and how many have died by then. And so it goes on. Bunny is about a man who is eating himself to death, Island is taken from myth - a princess is abandoned on a beach and it follows her deterioration (I told you this isn't a happy endings book). Quite a collection. Pithy writing. Quite a change from Mark Haddon's often humorous novels.