Anthropology by Dan Rhodes

I was given this book for free with the Waterstones magazine. I liked the cover which reminded me of something by Tim Burton. It is only a small book and easy to dip in and out of.

It contains 101 short stories, all told in the first person, about the various girlfriends he has had relationships with. Each story is only a small paragraph in length betraying a skillful hand in writing. They are all complete and cover every topic from extreme happiness, love, jealousy, obsession, boredom, death, all with the authors unique view of the world. Amusing, entertaining, sometimes sad, always weird and unusual, each tale reads as strangely as his girlfriends names. Azure, Tallulah, Sapphire, Mariedel, January and Tortoiseshell. The names are as colourful as the stories.

This book was really easy to read and a delight on each page. Some of the stories made me laugh out loud, all of them made me smile. Anyone with a good sense of humour and a love of anything unusual, dark and off-kilter will like this book. I found myself re-reading some of them. The endings were clever and suitably glib.

This book would make a good present, or as something light and quick to read. The Guardian has called it ' A gleaming box of jazzy miniatures', and I'd agree with that. The author has written some novels that sound equally dark and intriguing. You can check out Dan Rhodes' website by using the link.