Stephanie Jane reviewed Expletives deleted by Angela Carter
A bit hit and miss
3 stars
I grabbed Expletives Deleted from a book exchange on spotting Angela Carter's name on the cover, without particularly taking note of what this book was about. I had a vague idea it would be short stories and so, having loved her novel Wise Children, was keen to read more of her work. On getting around to read Expletives Deleted however, I discovered that it is actually a collection of nonfiction writings, starting with a section of extended book reviews of books that I haven't yet read - and probably won't ever read - so I initially found myself struggling to keep an interest. The book was probably intended as a dip-into collection, one or two essays to be read at a time, and I certainly did enjoy the pieces where I felt some connection to the subject - a review of J G Ballard's career upon the publication of Empire …
I grabbed Expletives Deleted from a book exchange on spotting Angela Carter's name on the cover, without particularly taking note of what this book was about. I had a vague idea it would be short stories and so, having loved her novel Wise Children, was keen to read more of her work. On getting around to read Expletives Deleted however, I discovered that it is actually a collection of nonfiction writings, starting with a section of extended book reviews of books that I haven't yet read - and probably won't ever read - so I initially found myself struggling to keep an interest. The book was probably intended as a dip-into collection, one or two essays to be read at a time, and I certainly did enjoy the pieces where I felt some connection to the subject - a review of J G Ballard's career upon the publication of Empire Of The Sun, thoughts on a history of corsets, and an essay about worldly English cooks and their particular style of autobiographical cookery books. Expletives Deleted does contain quite a varied range of essays! So, overall, a bit hit and miss for me, but that hasn't stopped me wanting to read more of Carter's fiction and has also encouraged me to listen again to my Wise Children audiobook which I noticed I heard long enough ago that I hadn't started reviewing my books