Synopsis
How to Make Paper When the World is Ending is a luminous new collection of short stories that deftly examines, explores, and reimagines the ghost story.
A couple sets off on their first long weekend together with romantic-or murderous-intentions. A recently divorced father attempts to jump-start his life by performing as John Lennon in a Beatles cover band. A young woman becomes obsessed with a sweepstakes contest in the wake of her roommate's sudden death.
How to Make Paper When the World Is Ending features literal ghosts, spiritual ghosts, charming ghosts; ghosts that are dead ends and ghosts that are still living; the ghosts of what might yet be and the ghosts of what might have been. How is each of us shaped by what haunts us?
As Entropy Magazine noted of her first collection, Dallas Woodburn is a master of writing stories that "never cease to surprise or carry a wave of emotional impact." With its ambitious scope and resonant themes, How to Make Paper When the World Is Ending is another deeply felt, captivating collection of stories that will linger long after the final page.
A wide array of short stories, some more impactful than others. Neither story was bad, yet neither was intensely gripping to warrant a 5 star for me. A solid 4.5 stars from me, an enjoyable read and a nice way to spend a day, but won’t stay with me for very long.
This was an enjoyable collection of short stories! They were mundane, eerie, melancholic, hopeful, all at the same time. Some I found to be more interesting than others- for example, my least favorite was actually the very first one, Story to Tell Around a Campfire, so at first I was a little uncertain of the book. However, the next story (How to Make Paper When The World is Ending) quickly caught my attention, and I enjoyed just about every other story after that.
All in all this collection of short stories taught me to be appreciative of what we have, how we can only go forward, never back. It taught me to appreciate a story and how you can, with simple measures, change the narrative of it, whilst also making me understand that a story is not enough, it is never the same as the lived experience. It made me sing Christmas songs in May and shed a tear of the loss of my grandmother and want to hug the people I love. To me, this book is about loss in many different ways.
I completely enjoyed this book! Dallas has covered love, fear, pain, sorrow, loneliness, joy and hope; almost everything under the sun. I had no trouble choosing a favorite story; The Man Who Lives In My Shower was both lugubrious and hopeful. Her handling of this story was masterly.
My favorite stories were frozen windmills, how to make spinach-artichoke lasagna three weeks after your best friend’s funeral, and the man who lives in my shower.
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