Above Discovery
The stories in this collection vary considerably. A few are contemporary; most are historical, taking place in ancient Greece, Victorian England, Shakespeare’s London, and other periods.
My favorite stories in the collection end less with resolution than with a point where some decision or turning point has been reached, and readers can use their imaginations to ponder what will happen next. That’s the case with the title story, “Above Discovery,” which takes the reader to Gold Rush-era Alaska, where a desperate brother and sister struggle to strike it rich. It’s also true of “A Word to Describe the Sky,” in which a Greek craftsman finds himself captured on a slave ship and must trust his despised former boss if he is to have any hope of escape.
The book’s blurb describes Falkner’s prose as “spare” and “elegant.” It is certainly elegant and atmospheric. Falkner’s beautiful writing puts her readers right in her characters’ worlds and heads. But, in a few of the stories, I felt that the writing was spare to a fault. Some have only the barest wisp of a plot, and others provide so little background that they are confusing. In my experience, variation is normal for a story collection. I always like some stories and not others. The good ones in this collection are real gems.
I recommend treating this collection like a box of chocolates: read just one per day and savor it.
