The Tiny Wife by Andrew Kaufman

review  by Maryom

One day a man walks into a bank and holds up the staff and customers at gun point. He isn't interested in taking their money or jewellery but demands that they each hand over an item of sentimental value - "the most significant, memory-laden, gushingly sentimental object in your possession." The items offered are various - an old watch, an envelope, photographs...the narrator's wife Stacey hands over a calculator that she's used to make all the important decisions in her life.  With them he claims to be taking 51% of the victims souls - and if they don't grow them back, they will die.
Following the robbery strange things begin to happen to the victims -all related in some way to the items they handed over: a tattoo comes to life; a man is buried when his family home collapses; and the narrator's wife Stacey begins to shrink - at first it's hardly noticeable

I'm coming to Andrew Kaufman's work in reverse order - having started by reading his latest novel Born Weird. I'd read reviews and discussions about The Tiny Wife on the web with some readers adoring it while others found it too strange, and had it on my 'track down and read list' so was delighted to be offered a review copy. I'm definitely in the 'adored it' camp as it appealed to my love of the short, quirky and thought-provoking.

It's rather difficult to discuss the Tiny Wife without giving away too much. I think the best way to describe it is as a modern fable or even fairy tale. In fairy tales, it's a wicked witch or goblin that steals away souls and the victims must travel to the ends of the earth to regain them; here souls are stolen in a very modern way - a bank robbery - and the victims find the answers to their plight within themselves. It isn't a cosy, comforting story but rather dark in the way some older fairy tales can be; the sort that makes the reader question what they would do in such a situation; what's your most treasured possession? and what does that say about you? There are probably as many interpretations of this book as there are readers!

It's a short book - 88 pages - so quick to read but providing food for thought long after it's finished. As with the Tiny Wife herself, size isn't everything!

Maryom's review -  5 stars
Publisher - The Friday Project
Genre - Adult fiction, Folk tales

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Born Weird by Andrew Kaufman

review by Maryom

When they were born Annie Weird gave each of her grandchildren what she believed to be a blessing; to always be safe, have hope, never be lost, to forgive everything, to be strong. Now Annie has come to believe that these blessings were nearer to curses and wishes to gather all of her grandchildren to her bedside so that at the moment of her death - the date and time of which she's exactly predicted  - the 'blessings' can be lifted. So favourite grand-daughter Angie is set the task of assembling them all. Achieving this is harder than it sounds - the Weird family have gone their separate ways and not seen each other in years but after a brief demonstration of Annie's powers, Angie is convinced that the seemingly impossible must be undertaken.

Born Weird is a rather difficult book to define - it's a light-hearted read looking at a serious subject; a quirky story of family life that explores the concept of too much protection being a bad thing but with a 'fairy-tale-gone-wrong' feel to it. The blessings bestowed on the Weirds by a well-meaning grandmother have turned over the years into curses - "blursings" is the word they coin for it.  Being sheltered from the knocks and blows of life has stopped the Weirds fully engaging with it and finding their 'happy ever after'.
Is it enough to say that I really, really enjoyed this book? It had oddly been sitting on the TBR pile for some time but once I picked it up I didn't want to put it down - or for it to end.

I can't think of another book to liken this to but if I were comparing it to a film I'd suggest two of my favourites - Juno or (500) Days of Summer.

The author's previous novel, The Tiny Wife, is a book that I've had on my radar as a 'must read' for some while - now I really mean to track it down.

Maryom's review -  5 stars
Publisher - The Friday Project
Genre - Adult fiction

Buy Born Weird from Amazon