Some Rain Must Fall

I have loved what I have read from this author up until this book. So I am sorry to have to say this, but I thought two stories were pretty good- and the rest were not worth my time.

Michael Faber first captivated me with his novel, The Crimson Petal and The White. In his collection of short stories entitled, Some Rain Must Fall he again demonstrates his flair for character development and incredibly descriptive writing. However, what struck me in this collection is that he writes about the modern day headlines that dog society. Obesity, eating disorders, violence in schools, and abortion. Faber goes beyond the "Jerry Springer" circus media and portrays victims as real people with lives much like our own. He constantly demonstrates to us the beauty of life and the ugliness of it all. In his short story collection, Some Rain Must Fall, Faber also explores characters of many different ages and backgrounds. He is able as a writer to convey their mannerisms, train if thought, choice and motivations. A master of the inner mind, he is always effective. Overall, I found these short stories to be intense snapshots of modern day peril. Farber is a master of narration. His writing is easy to read, and yet he has a contemporary style all his own, with a bit of a jagged edge to it. Like life itself - shiny and pretty sometimes; sooty and dirty too. If you looking for a newer writer to fall for - he is it.

I read Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White first, was so pleased with his style that I picked up this short story collection. I enjoyed it very much, as the stories have the same style, but show off his ability in many different arenas besides the victorian England setting of Crimson Petal. Plots ranging from the fantastical "Fish" to the grapes of wrath-ish "Accountability" to the karma deliverance in "Sheep" that I think we'd all like to hand out some times.

I found Michel Faber's Novel, "Under The Skin", to be both disturbing, wildly inventive, and unique. I could think of no one to compare his work to then, and now after reading his first collection of short stories, "Some Rain Must Fall", I still can gather no comparisons. There are stories that taken alone might lend them to be classified as similar to this person's work, or another's collection of short stories. However taken as a whole the works in this volume encompass so vast a range, from pure imagination, to a short story that reads as a documentary of a profession, no one else comes to mind.There is a story of a teacher, a specialist who commands three times the normal rate for running a classroom. The start of the story is seemingly harmless, and then it progresses steadily to a horrific experience. Another begins and quickly becomes surreal, however the change is so subtle you might read it more than once to be sure it all is not a metaphor as opposed to a severe form of retribution.Other stories focus on a narrower field of a person or two, and how presumptions that are made almost unconsciously can have life altering effects. This latter theme may not sound new, however the setting for his story and those that inhabit it are definitely not what would be called a traditional venue.Mr. Faber is about as far from the traditional as a writer can get, and still be understood. "Under The Skin", pushed the envelope for me to grasp what he had in mind, but it nevertheless was powerful and unsettling. His workings on the fringes of his imagination seem to naturally produce a story of a most interesting Universe. However with at least one tale he seems to condemn another extreme branch of expression without compromise. I agree with what he had one character write, whether the Author agrees, who knows?Like nothing you have probably read.

UNDER THE SKIN was the first work of Michel Faber I have read. Recently, searching for the shining lights of contemporary science fiction, a review in Netsurfer Digest found that book for me. A delightful find. The only new talent on a par with William Gibson has been my refrain.I pre-ordered this current edition of Faber's short stories and it arrived a day ago. Now that I'm half-way through, I have to correct myself in mid-flight of enjoyment and say that he's a talent partaking of all possible directions of the writer's craft -- unchallenged by any theme or context.The reviewer cited in Publisher's Weekly has led too narrow a life -- or has too confined a brainpan! When Faber can leap from a sentient and egregious bit of anatomy [Nina's Hand] to a self-defeating family on a mission of dead-end science, self-destruction and deception [The Crust of Hell] -- from a painful single day's tale seen through the eyes of an unknowing kid brother [Somewhere Warm and Comfortable] to the crisis-solving anodyne cum mother and teacher in the feature story [Some Rain Must Fall] -- Faber is the sort of young talent I will worry about and watch for in the coming years. I hope he can steer clear of type-casting editors and agents, writer's block and, of course, TV and screenplays. The latter of which are bound to land in his lap when some improbable director spies out his work and wants to cram it into whichever medium. It can be done; but, the world of that sort of production is more dangerous than any desert in the Horn of Africa.Well, this is a Friday. My day to listen to music and read. Faber has made it the very best Friday since my semi-retirement a year ago.