To Cut A Long Story Short - Jeffrey Archer

...a story would have been to come up with the idea behind it. The answer is probably more obvious than I thought as I gave the author the benefit of the doubt!

The thing that gets me about a series of short stories is that you may not be interested in a lot of them. Buying a book isn’t like buying say a CD. When I buy a book I read the back cover and any notes to see what the story is based on. I usually decide if it is something ...
...some of them may appeal to some tastes but others will definitely not and this will definitely lead to disappointment. With a CD you buy it mainly on trust, knowing that you enjoy that singer or type of music. I suppose you could argue that the writing style should be the same and I suppose it’s similar to Dooyoo where you read opinions based on trust as well as other factors. Anyway I decided that I had enjoyed the vast majority of Archer’s ... more

There are quite a lot of people who have preconceived ideas about a lot of things. Unfortunately for Jeffrey Archer he is one of them. I have lost count of the amount of people who have commented or have given my funny looks for reading “that rubbish”. When I have asked people what they don’t like about his writing it is nearly always the man that people dislike and they usually have never read any of his books which is a pity as there is a lot of excellent work there.

I have never read any of his previous collections of short stories but I have read and thoroughly enjoyed a lot of his novels so I thought I would give “To Cut A Long Story Short” a try. I quite liked the title as it sums up what is going on here. There are 14 short stories which make up the book. I wondered before I bought the book why Archer didn’t develop the stories into a full-length novel. Or if not all of them then why not choose the cream of the crop and keep the rest for later. After all I would have thought that the most difficult part of writing a story would have been to come up with the idea behind it. The answer is probably more obvious than I thought as I gave the author the benefit of the doubt!

The thing that gets me about a series of short stories is that you may not be interested in a lot of them. Buying a book isn’t like buying say a CD. When I buy a book I read the back cover and any notes to see what the story is based on. I usually decide if it is something that would interest me enough to read an entire book. This is a drawback with the short stories some of them may appeal to some tastes but others will definitely not and this will definitely lead to disappointment. With a CD you buy it mainly on trust, knowing that you enjoy that singer or type of music. I suppose you could argue that the writing style should be the same and I suppose it’s similar to Dooyoo where you read opinions based on trust as well as other factors. Anyway I decided that I had enjoyed the vast majority of Archer’s work so I would give this a try.

The stories are a mixture of pure fiction and those based on real life experiences. I will mark those which are based on real life as I found them more disappointing.

1. The Expert Witness (real)

This story is a courtroom type tale between two good friends. It is perhaps the most predictable story I have ever read. I can’t really give too much detail as you could probably guess what happens from the slightest detail. It was a poor choice to start the book with.

2. The Endgame

This was more like the Archer of old. This was a very clever idea and was an interesting read. It is probably the longest story in the book and perhaps the most enjoyable. It could easily have been made into a novel but I guess he managed to put the story across in less than one hundred pages so the rest would have been padding. This is where I was beginning to understand the beauty of a short story collection. The story itself is of a wealthy gentleman with no dependants who wants to distribute his wealth after he dies to those that like him most. This is difficult for a rich man to work out and Archer throws a thought-provoking story together. However, it is also slightly predictable in that the characters appear to be very stereotypical until the small twist in the tail.

3. The Letter

This is the biggest pile of nonsense I have read in a long time. It isn’t even a story, it purely concentrates on one person reading a letter which is secretive and when she gets caught how she gets out of it. It isn’t even a clever twist it’s just what you or I would do in the same circumstances. A massive disappointment and it was little surprise that this was thrown in after the best story in the book.

4. Crime Pays (real)

I enjoy legal stories; John Grisham is my favourite author so I thought that I would enjoy this story. It is one of a man who reads the letter of the law and uses it to his advantage. It lacks the class of a Grisham story and in the end is as boring as a legal story can be. It was a reasonable idea but struck me more as a collection of facts rather than a story. Again because it is based on a true story I don’t know if Archer wanted to stay faithful to the real story but it just didn’t work for me.

5. Chalk and Cheese

The story of two brothers, one who is successful and perceived not to be and the other who is a failure but is perceived to be very successful. That’s it really, from the beginning right through to the end. Another disappointment.

6. A change of heart (real)

Another real story where you think I have heard this before. It is nothing new, is not entertaining and is almost like a biblical parable. I don’t know if it is because the real stories are so familiar or if it is because they are not the correct stories from an entertainment viewpoint but they appear out of place.

7. Too many coincidences (real)

This is another story that is based on quirks in the law. This time it’s Jersey divorce law. I thought it suffered in much the same way as the other real stories in that it was more like a newspaper report than a genuine story. Also the story was very predictable, although I don’t know the first thing about Jersey divorce law, I was able to guess what it must contain by the character’s actions. Another story where there is sufficient detail to know what is going on but not enough to take away from the inevitable outcome.

8. Love at First Sight (real)

At the risk of being overly repetitive this is another real story that quite simply shouldn’t be in a novel. Archer explains at the end that he heard it at a dinner party of the people involved. It is an amusing tale if you know the people involved and probably would have gone down well at that dinner party. However, in a novel it is just a nothing story and one the book could have easily done without.

9. Both Sides Against The Middle (real)

Finally, a real story that was entertaining. This time it was the story of the police in Ireland struggling to contain a crook who was in the fortunate position of having half his house in Eire and half in Northern Ireland. This meant he could move from one room to another to fall under different jurisdiction. He had been the bane of a retiring Chief of Police and the story tells of how he tries to fix the problem on the night of his retirement dance. It was a much more enjoyable read and you could see that there was thought and a little bit of ingenuity, rather than a simple quirk of the law, which made it a story worth telling.

10. A weekend to remember (real)

This was a story written more for the female reader I think. It was OK, not a great read but better than some of the previous real stories. It probably deserves it’s place in the book. It is about two people that meet at a dinner party and how they have different motives for each other. It is quite clever and is an interesting look at how things are not what they seem.

11. Something for Nothing (real)

Sadly this is another true story that is way too predictable. From the opening page you can work out what is going to happen. It finishes in an open way that actually leaves you wanting more. Although that could also be interpreted as Archer not knowing how to finish the story. I prefer to give him the benefit of the doubt in this case.

12. Other Blighters’ Efforts

This was a strange story that I couldn’t really get into. It is a tale of a British ambassador’s attempts to find funding for a swimming pool. It concentrates on money movements and other funding issues. A poor story that doesn’t really go anywhere. Yet another disappointment.

13. The reclining woman (real)

This time it’s a true story about a piece in an art gallery. I actually quite enjoyed this story. It is a quick tale about the art world and raises a few interesting points. I felt that this was the way that more of the real stories should have been told. The final couple of paragraphs are like a commentary form Archer and I found that much more useful.

14. The Grass is Always Greener

On the back cover of the novel it states “The Grass is Always Greener is possibly the best piece Archer has written, and will haunt you for the rest of your life.” Now call me sceptical but I don’t think any story would achieve that and given the quality of some of the previous stories I was not hoping for much. Having said that the excellent “Endgame” was not mentioned on the back cover so if this one is more worthy then it may be better.

In fairness I thought that this was the second best story in the book. It is a day in the life of the occupants of a bank and of the tramp that spends a lot of his time outside it. The story cleverly moves from one person to the next, each one assuming that the other has a better situation. This is a well thought out story and is thoroughly enjoyable. Will it haunt me for the rest of my life? No but some of the others will!

On viewing my thoughts on each individual story I feel that I have perhaps been overly critical of the book as it was not as bad as the individual stories would lead you to believe. Having said that something’s value is the sum of all of it’s parts. I did enjoy enough of the book to make it worth the £3.84 I paid for it. Having said that there is a lot in it that quite simply shouldn’t have been. If you have not read anything by Archer I would suggest giving this one a wide berth in favour of “Kane and Able”. However, if you are a fan of Archer’s writing there is probably just about enough in this book to make it worth buying.

The book’s recommended price is £5.99 but Tesco’s have it on sale for £3.84 at the moment.

 

...less