NORMAL RULES DON'T APPLY

A collection of short fiction in which anything can happen by the celebrated author of the Jackson Brodie novels, among many others.

Atkinson’s last book, Shrines of Gaiety (2022) has a single, charismatic figure at its center, a story that spirals outward to encompass a multifarious cast, and narratives that multiply and intertwine, the whole glorious thing energized by her impeccable ear for the English language, a willingness to experiment, and a sort of gimlet-eyed compassion. That is to say, Shrines of Gaiety reads like an Atkinson novel. This collection feels like an amateurish parody of her signature style, exacerbated by the attempt to tie it all together with recurring characters and repeating motifs. Franklin Fletcher, for example, is the main character of “Dogs in Jeopardy,” “The Indiscreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie,” “Classic Quest 17—Crime and Punishment” and co-star of the closing story, “What If?” Dame Phoebe Hope-Waters, the Rev. Matthew Dent, and a down-on-her-luck fairytale princess named Aoife pop up in multiple stories. There are talking animals. The end of the world happens. Violets—violet eau de toilette, violet candies, the flowers themselves—dot the text but, after an initial aha, this motif seems no more meaningful than an easter egg in a video game. It all feels like too much and not enough, and “Puppies and Rainbows”—the tale of a feckless, pill-popping American actress who has an affair with the young idiot who is second in line to the British throne—is an embarrassment that not even a cameo appearance by Dame Phoebe Hope-Waters can save. There are a couple of standout characters. Florence, the Rev. Dent’s spiky eldest daughter, is a delight. And then there’s Franklin—handsome, affable, rudderless Franklin. Lacking any will or desire of his own, he is putty in the hands of an author like Atkinson. It’s completely probable that he will—again and again—encounter the improbable, and one wishes that his author had found a complete novel for him. Or even a fully realized novella.

Atkinson’s fans might want to wait for her next book.