Kelly Link: Magic For Beginners

I just finished reading Kelly Link's 2005 book of short stories Magic For Beginners. I recently heard a NPR review of her most recent book Get In Trouble and I was intrigued. Unfortunately, that book isn't in my library yet so, I picked up Magic. I can now say that I am a fan and will be hunting down Get In Trouble.

Link is often described as a writer of magical realism. That seems to be about right. Her stories have a quietly creepy edge to them that make you feel uneasy, but not exactly frightened. Link's stories also made me feel like I had dropped into the middle of a much larger tale. There is more to the story on both ends. That might frustrate some people, but it allowed my imagination to go into overtime. I'm still thinking about the stories.

Without giving much away, my favorites were "The Faery Handbag" about a young woman who should have inherited her grandmother's magical handbag; "Catskin" a fairy tale about a witch's revenge that reads like Grimms; "Some Zombie Contingency Plans" that lets the scary creep up on you; "The Great Divorce" about the possibility of the living marrying the dead; and "Magic For Beginners" which has two stories in one that could definitely have been a novel. I didn't want that story to end and I wished the television series in the story was real.

This is good bedtime reading.