Bucket of Tongues

Rating:
Summary: Perfect Introduction to McLean's Range
Review: From the author of the totally creepy Bunker Man and the deftly delightful Blackden comes this collection of 23 short stories ranging in length from a half-page to 42 pages. McLean's voice and fine writing is as evident in these short works as in his two novels. If one placed each of his novels at the end of a spectrum of creepiness and wholesomeness, the stories in this collection would fill the gap between them. Indeed, the longest story, "Hours of Darkness" shares many of the creepy and ultimately nasty characteristics of Bunker Man, while others such as "Tongue" or "The Druids S***e It and Fail To Show" hearken to Blackden. As a whole, the collection is a great example of the new Scottish writing, and a perfect introduction to McLean.

Rating:
Summary: Solid shorts
Review: Good, solid, slice-of-life type of stories. Reads quickly.

Rating:
Summary: well written if underwhelming
Review: These stories describe the antics of contemporary Scottish pond life. But they do so in a flat, affectless voice. The experience is akin to half watching other people whilst waiting in a bus station. Only slightly more diverting than watching dry leaves being blown about on a crisp autumn day.