In my twenties, I adored Boyd's work. It seemed to hit the perfect mark between the worldly, romantic, and distinctly human while often bringing to life locations and periods of history I'd rarely encountered. Somewhere along the line in the late 2000s, his newer works and I fell out of love with each other.So having randomly discovered The Dreams of Bethany Mellmouth on the returns shelf of my local library, I decided to give him another go.
Boyd was never at his strongest in short story format - and so it is with this collection. It's the disparate range of well drawn characters which is probably most satisfying and there's the dark comedic vibe from Tales of the Unexpected in some of the plots. The title story, taking up half of the book as is it does, is closer to a novella than a short story and probably not the one I'd have chosen to expand upon.
Verdict: Boyd's melancholia and eye for character remains satisfying, but this collection is not his best work.
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