A Multitude of Sins

Rating:
Summary: Excellent.
Review: The language used by Richard Ford can often feel like a rich, creamy piece of delicious chocolate cake. The reading feels soft and warm, yet under the cover of this warmth and sweetness hide brilliantly strung, sharp, realistically brutal stories. Ford manages to develop his characters in ways that turn his writing into tangible almost painful experiences. The theme is quite delicate here; failing, confused, complex relationships. This book could be seen as a depressing, but maybe more of a voyeuristic read. Let's take "Under the radar" as an example... A revealing multilayered illustration of a bad situation turning worse. The first sentence sets the stage for a perfect tragedy, and the story manages to slowly take us down the slope from bad to worse. As the plot and the complexity of the situation progress, the language keeps the deliciously sweet, slightly southern flavor. Just the first sentence is so good that it needs to be quoted: "On the drive over to the Nicholsons' for dinner - their first in some time - Marjorie Reeves told her husband, Steven Reeves, that she had had an affair with George Nicholson (their host) a year ago, but that it was all over with now and she hoped he - Steven - would not be mad about it and could go on with life."
That's just one sentence... out of an exciting collection of brilliant stories by one of our best contemporary authors.

Rating:
Summary: Strong Stories
Review: The stories in A Multitude of Sins really focus on one central sin--adultery. Infidelity and its various facets feature in all of the stories here, but the stories are in no way repetitive. In one story, a man accidentally meets the ex-husband of his former lover in a crowded train station. Another concerns a woman revealing her infidelities to her husband on the way to a dinner party at the ex-lover's house. Each story focuses on different aspects of the effects of infidelity, so in that sense, there are "multitudes" of sins. This is a well-written collection by a talented author.