To Cut a Long Story Short

Rating:
Summary: Just another book
Review: All the stories has their own message, but I can't tell you that is a good reading, if you have another book to read take it and read it, read this one between books (one or two stories) and then another book and may be you will be interested in the stories, as always in these kind of books, you just can skip the last story, is very long and it says almost nothing.

Rating:
Summary: Skip it.
Review: Archer has about 3 tricks he likes to use in this book. With 14 stories, this gets old. By then end I was reading the first couple pages and then skipping to the end of the story to read the clever little ending. A very unfulfilling way to read. I just got the feeling that the author found himself to be very clever. With a novel there can be character development and such that will mitigate this fact, but in a short story if the gimick is weak the rest will fail as well. With the exception of "The Endgame" I found the stories quite forgettable.

Rating:
Summary: Some stories were good, others were bland...
Review: Generally, I enjoyed this book and some of it's stories, however several stories were a little bland. The Grass is Greener was especially enjoyable though. Recommended for lite summer beach reading as you don't get too invested in any of the characters or stories.

Rating:
Summary: Take a rest
Review: I have enjoyed most of this authors books. In this one he appears to have been writing in his sleep, the old "get up and grab the reader" is missing. Perhaps he has too much on his mind with his personal problems. He should take a break, then come back and wow us with his earlier skills.

Rating:
Summary: A "Short" Disappointment
Review: I have to say I'm a bit disappointed by this book. I have never read any of Mr. Archer's short stories, so I was quite excited to get my hands on this book.

The book is comprised of 14 short stories of different lengths and subjects. Of the stories, I have to say that "The Engame," a story of a man trying to find out who are his true friends, "Crime Pays," a man using the law to his advantaged, "Chalk and Cheese" two brothers and how they choose to work through life, and the "Grass Is Always Greener. . ." showing that success and happiness depends on how you view it, were the best of the lot. The rest of the book was just filler.

Still, I love Mr. Archer's writing, however, I would only recommend this if you needed something to read while waiting at the airport.

Rating:
Summary: highly entertaining
Review: Jeffrey Archer is at his best when he writes short stories. I am not usually a lover of this format but I love the way almost all his stories have a sting in the tail. My only complaint is that I finished the book too quickly. The style is so easy and each story just pulls you on the next. Did not like all the stories, but most, especially "Crime Pays" and "The grass is always greener" were brilliant. His use of language is exciting. Hope he puts out another book of short stories soon.

Rating:
Summary: One Smashing Collection
Review: Jeffrey Archer is by far the most versatile and fluid author of contemporary fiction. He has written novels ranging from politics (First Among Equals) to revenge (Not A Penny More, Not A Penney Less) to corporate rivalry (The Fourth Estate), all of which have elements of his trademark 'twist' at some point.

I awaited To Cut A Long Story Short with much anticipation, as I strongly believe that writing short stories is what he does best.

I found this book highly enjoyable though certain stories were a little disappointing.

'The Endgame', 'The Grass Is Always Greener' and 'Chalk And Cheese', were especially entertaining. 'The Grass Is Always Greener', in particular, I thought was a really superb read, both in terms of content and language. One aspect of Archer that makes his books so zestful and fun to read is his balanced usage of simple and complex language.

Then again, I found 'A Weekend To Remember' rather dull and mundane. Perhaps the plot was rather limited as it was based on a true incident.

Archer has written two very short stories, 'The Letter' and 'Love At First Sight'. These were not exceptionally good, but then, how many of us can produce really good short stories?

Contrary to the five stars displayed, I award this book 4.5 stars. It loses the 0.5 star as I still think A Quiver Full Of Arrows outperforms it in terms of plot twists. Certain stories, however, such as 'The Grass Is Always Greener' show Archer to be capable of outperforming himself. All in all, this is one terrific book.

Rating:
Summary: Another great collection!
Review: Jeffrey Archer's most recent anthology of short stories is every bit as good as the three previous volumes! Sometimes when I read story collections I will put a mark next to the ones that were particularly good. There is no need to do that here since each one was excellent.

Somehow Arhcer manages to put great detail and life into each vignette! There is always outstanding characterization, twists, and plot. I have always felt the Jeffrey Arhcer is one of the most talented uathors of recent times!

Of the ones that stand out as true works of art are "The Grass is Alwys Greener" a poignant look at perception and envy. "Love at First sight" is only a few pages long, but is so simply beautiful. Each story is so good and memorable.

This is a great book with which to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Rating:
Summary: just another book from Archer - he must be rich
Review: Long time back when I started reading Archer and read his short story compilations like "Quiver Full of Arrows" I thought this guy has the caliber to reach the standards of Graham Greene but alas 15 years from that time here we are with a very very mediocre writer like so many hundreds of other writers.

There are 15 stories and only 2 are really worth my time. These 2 stories are "Death Speaks" and "Chalk and Cheese". Many of these stories are images of real incidents - my question to Archer is then why does he try to create a twist in the end? Real life incidents most of the time do not have a twist in the end. As a result what we get is extremely mundane and prosaic stories of no significance.

Death Speaks is a gem of a story - it is short (brevity is the soul of this story) and you will keep on thinking about this for ever. Chalk and Cheese is also a quite interesting story about 2 brothers going through the realms of success and failure.

The question will be why did I give it 3 stars and not 2 or 1 well it is better than many other books I read and if you take the twist out of the stories then its readable. I will recommend try Roald Dahl and then try reading this book.

Rating:
Summary: May not be his best but still a good read
Review: Of the entire collection of short stories in this book, I liked the following best: The End Game, Chalk & Cheese, & The Grass is Always Greener. These 3 seem to be the favorites among readers, based on th various reviews I have seen prior to writing my own. Their plots seem to be very real & interesting from start to end. Stories with legal background were enlightening as you see the loopholes in the profession; interesting at first but the endings were quite so-so. Others like Something for Nothing & A Weekend to Remember were simply ok while Too Many Coincidences was too long.

Not all stories were excellent but overall, the book was one good & entertaining read.