Bucket of Tongues

Good, solid, slice-of-life type of stories. Reads quickly.

From the author of the totally creepy Bunker Man and the deftly delightful Blackden comes this collection of 23 short stories ranging in length from a half-page to 42 pages. McLean's voice and fine writing is as evident in these short works as in his two novels. If one placed each of his novels at the end of a spectrum of creepiness and wholesomeness, the stories in this collection would fill the gap between them. Indeed, the longest story, "Hours of Darkness" shares many of the creepy and ultimately nasty characteristics of Bunker Man, while others such as "Tongue" or "The Druids S***e It and Fail To Show" hearken to Blackden. As a whole, the collection is a great example of the new Scottish writing, and a perfect introduction to McLean.

Although I enjoyed reading this book, I wouldn't say there was anything truly ground-breaking or special about it. Just small slices of ordinary Scottish lives told, mainly, in the local tongue. Enjoyable, sometimes nasty, decent read.

The painful truths told by McLean are bearable because of the humor that they are told with. If you liked the movie trainspotting, you will love this book, as I did.

Read this book back in '94 during a trip to Scotland... for years I hoped an American publisher would be smart enough to pick it up. Finally. McLean is fresh and original and makes mudane middleclass Scottish worker/slacker lives vibrate with an underlying potential for doom... or at least a good fistfight. These short stories all held me, and sometimes shook me violently about the arms and head. Fantastic. May McLean have a long prolific life. I'll read them all. Check out the novel "Bunkerman" as well.