All the Names They Used for God
Ratings8
Average rating4.3
15
Ratings8
Average rating4.3
"A haunting, diverse debut story collection that explores the isolation we experience in the face of the mysterious, often dangerous forces that shape our lives Anjali Sachdeva's debut collection spans centuries, continents, and a diverse set of characters but is united by each character's epic struggle with fate: A workman in Andrew Carnegie's steel mills is irrevocably changed by the brutal power of the furnaces; a fisherman sets sail into overfished waters and finds a secret obsession from which he can't return; an online date ends with a frightening, inexplicable dissapearance. Her story "Pleiades" was called "a masterpiece" by Dave Eggers. Sachdeva has a talent for creating moving and poignant scenes, following her highly imaginative plots to their logical ends, and depicting how one small miracle can affect everyone in its wake"--
Reviews with the most likes.
4.5 I found myself continuing some of the stories in my dreams at night.
I'd round this up to 4.5 stars, especially for “Glass-Lung,” “Robert Greenman and the Mermaid,” “Killer of Kings,” and “Pleiades.” All the stories are lovely and haunting, but those 4 will stay with me for a long time. This collection was as beautiful as it was unsettling.
Imaginative
And, well written, I suppose. I found most of the stories to be too dark and unsettling for my taste.
All the Names They Used for God is a collection of unique stories that seamlessly fit together, oozing mysticism. Though unrelated, they are woven increasing with both intensity and undertone of allusion to god either explicitly or in a more nuanced way.
The stories take place across a variety of worlds and years, but what I enjoyed most was the feeling that each character was driven by some force unbeknownst to them. I found this captivating. Only one of the stories was centered on religion, and yet every single story expressed the nature of our world and our faith in an unknown beyond.
I withhold my fifth star simply because it was hard for me to stay completely engaged with the format of a short story collection itself due to all the stopping and starting, but don't let that deter you from picking up this fantastic work! I really enjoyed the reading experience overall.
