Night Friends

Night Friends - Stanley Laine

I honestly don't have much to say about this, which is fortunate because nothing I can think of to say is actually good or kind.

 

The prose was stilted, the dialogue atrocious, and the grammar questionable. I can actually overlook all of these issues sometimes if the story or stories are good enough, however. These were not.

 

They all felt pointless, climax-less, and boring. Occasionally a build-up was interesting enough that I found myself casually wondering how things would end. Generally, they didn't. I don't mean that the stories went on too long--I mean that they simply stopped. In some authors, this can be used to make you question and wonder and think. You want to solve the ending yourself, or continue with the characters. You want more. 

 

Here, I was simply vaguely annoyed before I moved onto the next story, the only thing I was left wanting was something that made me not hate all of the stories. Hate is perhaps a strong word, the wrong word for the emotion I am trying to convey. Ennui is probably better. I paged through each story just hoping for there to be a single something that lit up the writing, the story, the characters, for a hint of something I could hang onto and enjoy.

 

I found nothing.