Reviews for The Oxford book of Scottish short stories

The average rating for The Oxford book of Scottish short stories based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-02-06 00:00:00 Michael Evans I started this only meaning to read the greats (Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Muriel Spark, J.M. Barrie, James Kelman, Alasdair Gray), but ended up finishing the whole thing. I want to read more of John Buchan and Elspeth Davie especially, but most of the stories left an impression. Lewis Grassic Gibbon ("Smeddum") and Muriel Spark ("Bang-Bang You're Dead") are spot-on - just what short stories should be. The J.M.Barrie short is total rubbish. Alasdair Gray, self-loathing egomaniac, is just shy of brilliant. If you haven't read James Kelman's novels, "Home for a Couple of Days" sums them up nicely. I never considered the real art that goes into curating until I read this collection. It gives a feeling of Scotland through the centuries - the social classes, the cities, the farms, the alcoholism: a land (largely) without irony.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-01-06 00:00:00 Matthew Rosin Have not read all the short stories in this anthology of works from the 19th cen through today, but "The Life and Death of George Wilson" by Neil Patterson in here is one of my favorite short stories ever. It's "best of" anthology from the past 200 years so they're all really good.