The Long and The Short of It by Jan Ruth

I found this book through one of my reader's services and it looked intriguing so I ordered it. I wasn't sure what I was getting into but thought it might be interesting to read something from a British novelist.I will say that it was rather confusing in the sense that none of what was included in The Long and The Short of It was ever really complete. I get the fact that it includes some short stories and a first chapter from each of Ms. Ruth's novels. However, the short stories seemed incomplete; rather, they just abruptly ended leaving the reader wondering what happened. I was highly disappointed and would have rather the author come full circle and include a few more pages to really finish each of the individual shorts.

 

In terms of the first chapters, I have to admit that I didn't quite understand what I was reading until after the fact and I did some further research on what The Long and The Short of It was really supposed to be. Had I have known, perhaps I would have had a better appreciation of what I had read. Nevertheless, since I didn't I can only say I was disappointed because I felt "cheated" in the sense that these stories again seemed incomplete.

 

Frankly, I'm not sure what the point of this book was really. I would have rather seen a collection of just the short stories (full and complete ones that is) than what was presented in this anthology. That way, I could choose to continue on with the rest of her novels and would probably liked them better than just reading a single chapter of each. To me, presentation is everything, and this book really lacked in the category.