Staff Picks – Ravenna Gets by Tony Burgess

Apocalypse fiction! What was I thinking? I placed a hold on Ravenna Gets (M) by Tony Burgess after it won the 2011 Relit Award for Short Stories.
The stories are quite violent and end rather abruptly, with corpses and mayhem strewn throughout. At first, I just sort of shook my head in confusion after each entry. It seemed strange to me, that just as I was getting intrigued by a character or plotline, the story was over! But as I went along, I totally got into the groove of this book. I guess I just embraced the strangeness of the reading experience – as one character died, I moved on to the next. Most books don’t usually work this way.
The writing is top notch with great descriptions of both people and places. This was the major appeal for me, especially since the author seemingly has such a quirky and skewed perception of the world.
Excerpt from the story 23 Pine Street:

As with most short stories, the pacing is relatively brisk and the character development is limited. I’m still not quite sure what he book is about, but I was left wanting more. More stories, more characters and more mayhem!

Recommended for adventurous readers.

Source: http://www.thereader.ca/2011/11/staff-picks-ravenna-gets-by-tony.html