The Lost Salt Gift of Blood (New Canadian Library)

Rating:
Summary: Story telling at its best
Review: MacLeod's short stories are the best I have ever read, and I write that as someone who doesn't usually like short stories. He manages to compress more emotion into one of these tales than the most writers can manage in a whole novel. Utterly wonderful.

Rating:
Summary: A heart warming celebration of life in the face of adversity
Review: On the surface 'The Lost Salt Gift of Blood' appears preoccupied with tragedy and death. However, read a little deeper and one finds it to be very life affirming. The themes of family, traditions, relationships, death, isolation and endurance echo throughout the short stories. The thematic parallels are skillfully woven into the fabric of the novel, highlighting that indeed, no one story can stand alone. It is worth reading!

Rating:
Summary: Story telling at its best
Review: This is a collection of wonderful stories told by a master story teller in the old tradition. Unlike most other collections of stories these live in your ear. Most others live on the page. And these are truly American stories, but unlike anything you'll find in popular anthologies of contemporary North American short stories, because they reach far back into our immigrant consciousness in an elastic, unpretentious way. I choose Alistair MacLeod over John Updike any day to describe what it means to me to be American.

Rating:
Summary: enlightening reading
Review: Written with great care, precision and meaning. You must read between the lines to get the most out of the book. Although all the stories revolve around death, grief, and pain, the focus on the life of the characters, rites of passage, and relationships is truly inspiring. I really enjoyed this book.