Review of Strange Tales of the Curiously Uncommon by Andrew Biss

Strange Tales of the Curiously Uncommon byAndrew Biss is another batch of brilliantly witty stories in the tradition of Roald Dahl in Tales of the Unexpected.

There is not a dud among these five stories. Andrew Biss has certainly got into his stride and shows that he has mastered his art of surprising us in these expertly crafted stories.

In An Honest Mistake, Madge, the put upon wife of an obnoxious, verbally abusive husband, is a bit forgetful and mixes up a couple of jars while preparing his dinner with the inevitable result. Her blithe acceptance of her mistake makes this story both dark and amusing.

With superb psychological penetration Andrew Biss has created in Madge a living, breathing woman with whom it is easy to empathise, while at the same time being horrified at her cynical, if understandable, attitude.

In A Familiar Face, Eydie’s friend, Dora, has just buried her husband after 42 years of marriage. Eydie envied her friend her long and loving marriage. Or was it? Was Albert a philanderer who kept it secret from his wife all those years? Or was his secret something much more sinister? Or is it all a huge mistake? The jar that Dora finds under the stairs seems to reveal the truth. Or does it?

In a Slip of the Tongue, Miss Perkins is being sexually harassed by her employer. His dexterous use of the English language is open to interpretation until he makes a Slip of the Tongue too far. This is an amusing and disturbing story in which poetic justice is given full play.

An Embarrassing Odour is such a skilfully written story that Andrew Biss had me completely fooled by the outcome. I was convinced I knew the answer to the embarrassing odour halfway through the story but the humorous twist in the tale came as a complete surprise.

Ethel is a smelly old woman of seventy eight, or is she? Andrew Biss will keep you guessing right to the end in this extremely accomplished story from the pen of a master short story writer.

In A Stunning Confession Ron tells his wife Janice that he is not the father of their son, Craig, but how can that be possible? And how does Francesca, another woman, come into the picture? The answer is not what you expect in this skilfully contrived story.

Overall, it is difficult to find anything to criticise in this excellent collection, except the use of a few swear words and the odd blasphemy and the use of English slang, but these are in keeping with the nature of the characters that Andrew Biss has created and is in keeping with his style of narration.

Andrew Biss, in this superb collection of short stories has quite firmly taken on the mantle of Roald Dahl as a master story teller of the unexpected, and he deserves to be as well-known.