Book Review: Out of Body by Chris Vanjonack

3/5 stars. There are a few very good (4-5 stars) stories and there are some not so good (1-2 stars) stories in this collection of short stories. The stories tie in together in ways that are unique and surprising, and the final tale itself brings several of the previous ones together. When I started the final story, I was impressed with this tying together and thought this story would be 5 stars, raising my overall opinion of the collection significantly. However, this novella-length last story was repetitive, frustrating to finish, and, I felt, could have ended many pages before it did. The repetitive narrative of this story actually detracted from my enjoyment of the book significantly. Others might not experience this book the same way, but I can only address my own concerns.


Without revealing spoilers, I will say that the title of the book establishes the connective commonalities among the stories – out of body in various ways! Ghosts, demons, existential experiences, and lost time. These narrative approaches offer some intriguing techniques for the author to present horrifying ideas. The stories that I particularly enjoyed (4-5 stars) were Elizabeth Kaplan’s Best Day Ever, What We Look Like Together, Phases, and No Future. The concluding story - Heaven is Fine for Girls Who Miss Their Mothers - and There’s Clowns in the Woods, I would rate 3 stars. The remainder (Invent Everything, Open Spaces, The Spirit Moves You, and Going Up), I would give 1star-2 stars ratings.


Overall, this book has many things to recommend it. However, for me, it was lacking enough strong stories, the final story was too long, and overall was exhausting to finish, in all honesty.

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