Ox-Tales: Water by Peter Florence

Ox-Tales: Water Reviews

• 
  Melissa

  I wasn't overly enamoured by this collection. For me, there were only two real stand-outs: Hari Kunzru's "Kaltes klares Wasser", about the ferryman of the dead, and Zoë Heller's "What She Did On Her Summer Vacation", a coming-of-age tale about a 14-year-old American girl abroad. Both powerful in their own way, and though I hadn't read anything by either author before, I definitely would in future. Their contributions happened to be amongst the very few that were actually real short stories, as opposed to extracts from novels, which is my chief annoyance with Water.
  
  The introduction explains that not all of the authors contacted actually write shorts, and so contributed what they could. Fine, but it meant that very few of the stories felt like self contained units, more teasers and advertising for longer works. The only two I'd even consider buying the full versions of are Michel Faber's "Walking After Midnight", about a missionary in a far-distant land (though Google frustratingly gives no indication of when the novel it's taken from, The Book of Strange New Things is due for publication), and possibly Michael Morpurgo's "Look At Me, I Need a Smile", though I can't stand his other works and the premise seems as exploitative as it does intriguing. (A boy mourning the death of his father is taken on holiday to Indonesia, goes on an elephant ride on the beach, when oh, the 2004 tsunami hits and the elephant whisks him off into the jungle. Actually, no, all things considered I'm really not going to read it.)
  
  A bit of a dud, then, but it did introduce me to at least two authors I'd be happy to read in future.
• 
  mussolet

  "Ox-Tales: Water" is one in a series of four short story collections published to raise awareness for the work of Oxfam International's aid projects around the world. In the case of "Water", the special subject is of course water projects.
  
  As with my previous reviews (for
  Earth,
  Air and
  Fire), my personal opinion on the stories does bear no connection to either Oxfam's work or the author's other stories, so please don't be offended :).
  
  "Water" by
  Vikram Seth
  This is probably my favourite of his four poems; it has a great connection to Oxfam, and shows water in a great variety, considering it is only two pages long.
  
  "Rice Cakes and Starbucks" by
  Esther Freud
  This story about a young family moving from London to rainy Hollywood so that Dad may find work, is part of Freud's 2010 novel
  Lucky Break. And I don't know whether this is because I don't like the mum, or because I have a lot of other things to read that are, simply put, a lot more interesting, I highly doubt that "Lucky Break" will make it onto my TBR.
  
  "Crossing the River" by
  David Park
  Written in the tradition of Greek mythology, this story about a ferryman and his customers is my favourite one in this book, and one of my favourites in the entire collection. Almost worth buying for this one alone. (But you will be buying it anyway, because you want to help Oxfam, will you not? ;).)
  
  "Kaltes klares Wasser" by
  Hari Kunzru
  I didn't know there was anything named like that other than an old German electro song, and to be absolutely honest, after reading it I can tell you that I don't think I missed out on much. I won't buy Kunzru's novels either. Can't explain it. Just don't like this. (Don't like the song either...)
  
  "What She Did On Her Summer Vacation" by
  Zoë Heller
  A young girl without much experience and without much supervision. Who meets an older man.
  Neatly written, but totally predictable.
  
  "Bethany-next-the-Sea" by
  William Boyd
  Another story about someone trying to break into the TV/movie business. What is it with water and movies?
  In any case, this is more interesting than, not quite as annoying as, and better written than "Rice Cakes and Starbucks". Not that I didn't guess all that before, when I read the name William Boyd ;).
  
  "Walking After Midnight" by
  Michel Faber
  Another excerpt from a book; this time from a work in progress called "The Book of Strange New Things".
  While the story has an interesting premise that somehow fits Oxfam's work as well (think about "Avatar" ...), I will certainly not buy it when it comes out.
  Reason #1: The main character has my least favourite job in the world (missionary). And with every single thing I detest about this noted as defining character traits in the first three pages of this excerpt, it would need a lot of convincing to get me to read it.
  Reason #2: The writing. No, no, no, no, no. I do get what a guy does after he first gets up in the morning. I do not need to read about it if it is not relevant. Certainly not in great detail! I don't need repeating descriptions of boring things that I could imagine when they were first mentioned. Just - no!
  
  "The Piano Man" by
  Joanna Trollope
  Much like my experience with Jeanette Winterson in "Fire", I've never heard of this OBE-awarded author either.
  Unlike "Dog Days" however, "The Piano Man" really moved me. Being an excerpt from a novel, this story is nowhere near being resolved in the end, but you can follow the grieving family as they deal with the death of their Dad in
  The Other Family.
  
  "(One Last) Throw of the Dice" by
  Giles Foden
  After the odd 200-word-whodunnit in "Earth", this is the second most weird thing in these collections.
  Readers who haven't read
  Turbulence will wonder what they're supposed to do with an "alternative ending" to said novel. It certainly doesn't encourage you to read it. (Who wants to read the wrong ending before reading the whole thing anyway?)
  For readers who have read "Turbulence" before - well, I don't know how that ended, but chances are you don't want to know the other one. Trust me.
  
  "Look At Me, I Need A Smile" by
  Michael Morpurgo
  Isn't it funny? First, I've never heard the name before. And then, after hearing that he is famous for "War Horse", I read two of his works - both with elephants ...
  This story is another one you should not read if you don't have
  Running Wild on hand ... or at least stop before the last three pages. Why do people do that? It was a nice story until then.
  
  All in all, a lot of "nice" stories, and one or two really good ones. This means four stars, and a recommendation for "Crossing the River".
• 
  u and me in wonderland

  Ox-Tales Water is part of a four series of books that were published for Oxfam, which is a charitable organization. The other three books were – Earth, Fire and air. I chanced upon this book in a used bookstore and because it was a collection of short stories purchased it instantly. But the book did not live up to my expectations.
  
  The book starts with a poem, by Vikram Seth, titled Water. The poem is then followed by nine different short stories. Now, the first thing is that not all of them are short stories. Some of them are excerpts from work in progress novels, which the authors have donated to Oxfam. So, at times the stories made no sense. Even the ones that were short stories were not that appealing.
  
  The poem “Water” by Vikram Seth was the saving grace. I was also impressed by just one story out of the nine. And that story is titled “Crossing the river” by David Park where a ferry man helps souls cross the river to afterlife. None of the other stories appealed to me. I would rate the book a 2 out of 5.
• 
  Alex Taylor

  Only a couple of the stories really engaged me.
  I am still not a fan of the short story format.
• 
  Chris Abraham

  Thoroughly enjoyed four out of the nine short stories in this collection. The ones by David Park and Michael Morpurgo were polished gems!
• 
  Bernie Morris

  If you like short stories by well-known authors, this is the book for you. It's the first one I've read of a series, so now I want to read the rest.
• 
  Hui Xiao

  Crossing the River by David Park is my favourite. I read it twice.
• 
  Leah

  I bought this one at the bookshop in St Pancras Station, London, last year, just because I liked the look of it. One of four titles, Oxfam compiled these books based around the elements to raise money and also awareness - WATER for water projects, FIRE for conflict areas, EARTH for agricultural development and AIR for climate change. The writers donated their stories for free and for some reason I was drawn to the Water volume (number IV) although all of them looked interesting, and together they looked good on the shelf.
  It didn't take long to read and as with all short story collections, some of the tales registered more than others. There are some highly acclaimed writers in each book.
  The stories that stood out in this volume were...
  Crossing the River by David Park - a different take on ferrying the dead across the river to the afterlife.
  What she did on her Summer Vacation by Zoe Heller, an interesting tale of a young girls encounter with another couple on a beach.
  The Piano Man by Joanna Trollope, how a family deals with the sudden death of their husband and father.
  Look at Me, I Need a Smile by Michael Morpurgo, about an elephant ride on a beach to heal the past.
  This was a stronger collection of short stories than the last few I have read. The Joanna Trollope I really enjoyed, but generally they were all pretty good, and most have some link to water, in one way or another. Not a bad read.
  
• 
  Frances

  There seemed to be more novel extracts in this book than the other titles rather than short stories. A few seemed to focus on the aftermath of death but is wasn't an entirely depressing collection but all fairly normal pictures of life and characters.
  My favourites were David Park's Crossing the River and has connection to each of his passengers. Zoe Heller's What She Did On Her Summer Vacation was a really interesting character and I could completely relate to the character's thought processes and tone. I liked Joanna Trollope's first chapter from The Piano Man and I would have no trouble reading on.
• 
  The Bookshop Umina

  We just read this series with book club. The stories came from some fabulous authors and I really enjoyed many of the stories, although the short story is not my favourite genre. Everyone identified with different stories as their favourites and the scores we gave the series (not just this title) are:
  
  8/7.5/7/9/5/7/7
• 
  Paul

  The final book in the Oxfam Ox-Tales set was not quite as good as the others, even though the authors are equally illustrious.
  
  The links to water are a little tenuous too, with only one of two picking up on the theme. Most of the stories were ok, but the story by Michael Morpurgo called Look at Me, I Need a Smile was magnificent and poignant.
• 
  Nina Chachu

  Good set of short stories, all with a theme of water.
• 
  Teddy

  Bit of a mix. I liked the poetry.
• 
  sisterimapoet

  A good little collection as all in this series have been. Perhaps not one of the strongest, but highlights for me were the Heller, Trollope and Morpurgo pieces.
• 
  Jennifer

  Another good collection of short stories and extracts in the Oxfam elements collection.
• 
  Kel Sta

  Great collection of crafted short stories (and one poem) donated by their writers to Oxfam, and gathered around the theme of water.
• 
  Dean Muscat

  Rice Cakes and Starbucks 3.5/5
  What She Did On Her Summer Vacation 4/5
  Bethany-next-the-Sea 3/5
  Walking After Midnight 3/5
  Look At Me, I Need A Smile 4/5