The Pier Falls

I only heard of this hypnotically readable short story collection when it was mentioned on BBC Radio 4’s A Good Read.

And then I was surprised to find out it was published in 2016. Surprised because it’s by Mark Haddon. Yes, author of gajillion-selling The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Somehow I missed its existence until now and when I went looking for it, could only track down a copy via a 2^nd hand outlet; it was un-orderable at my local bookshop.

Unless I’m completely in the dark and every book-lover in the world has read it, I can’t imagine why this isn’t better known. Or then again, when I stop to think about it, I can. Because every story in the book, however readable – and I really couldn’t stop a single one once I got started – is not exactly a barrel of laughs.

In the title story, a pier collapses into the sea and the author describes what follows in an almost journalistic, objective tone. No judgement. No emotion. A plain recording of fact, as though God’s secretary were reporting the daily events.

There’s a mission to Mars that goes wrong – no Matt Damon resourcefulness; a spoiled princess stranded on a rocky island; a modern day re-telling of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; a woman lost who finds no salvation in a return to home; a jungle expedition that goes wrong. They strike me as nothing so much as accounts of fate playing cruel tricks. And there’s little comfort in that.

And yet I can’t stress enough how gripped I was by each and every one. Even when I didn’t understand some of them. (I’m still trying to work out what Wodwo is about.) I went through the whole collection two days. And I’m going to wait a year or two  - so I can forget them - and then read them all over again.

This really is something special.