I’ve read and loved enough by Kate Atkinson (and reviewed some too!) to expect a bit of weirdness from her work. I was excited to see that her latest release is a collection of short stories and looked forward to seeing how her talents fared in this format. My initial impression of Normal Rules Don’t Apply is that there are the makings of a really cool novel here.
Normal Rules Don’t Apply is a series of linked short stories. Some characters appear in a few stories – a man named Franklin who works on a soap opera called Green Acres, for example – and the stories seem to take place in the same fictional universal where, as you might guess, normal rules don’t apply. The first story, titled The Void, immediately lets us know this when we are introduced to a world where, in 5 minute intervals, everyone outside dies. The next story, Dogs in Jeopardy, seems a lot more normal in comparison when we meet Franklin for the first time, spending the day at the horse races. Spellbound also seems like a more normal family scenario until we realize that the border between fact and fairy tale may not be as firm as we expected.
Many of the stories end on an abrupt reveal or transition. Just as we might be beginning to understand the rules of the universe, it’s too late and we’re on to the next story. The fact that characters show up again helps and I therefore trusted Atkinson to take me through and explain where we were. For me, that explanation never came in a satisfying way. There are ways in which the stories intersect or a character shows up again that I enjoyed and that offered a glimpse of their fate but I didn’t finish the book feeling like I understood the rules. In the story Gene-sis, in which we get perhaps the best view at just why this universe is the way it is, I expected it to connect more clearly with a previous story (Shine, Pamela, Shine!) but I could never quite draw the two together.
Even in a less than wholly satisfying collection, Atkinson is still a terrific writer and the fact that I cared so much about these characters speaks to her talent. There are several parts of the stories that I am finding myself still thinking about days later.
Karissa Reads Books 
She’s always struck me as a stealth genre/sf writer, and this collection seems like a definite jeu d’esprit in that direction.
Stealth genre writer! I love it! That does kind of fit what’s going on here.
I’ve never read any Kate Atkinson – I’ve tried the Jackson Brodie series on audio but didn’t get on with it, at least in that format. Sometimes I find short stories a good introduction to an author I’ve not had much headway with in the past, so I will look to see if the library’s got this!
I haven’t read any of the Jackson Brodie series but my favourite Atkinson is Life After Life. I could see how that one wouldn’t lend itself well to audio format.
Frickin Kelly Link is the same way! AMAZING story, you just get into it, turn the page, boom, it’s a new story. 🤦♀️ Also, Green Acres was a real show, so I’m not sure if she was playing with that.
It’s a bit frustrating! I guess it’s a sign of good writing and it did make me want to keep reading to see if those characters would come back. I thought Green Acres sounded familiar as a TV show. She has to have done that deliberately but I’m not sure why?
She’s a very talented writer, I always want to read more of her books. Interesting she’s attempted short stories here, but sounds like you’d rather read a novel version!
I wonder how I would feel about this book if I’d never read her before…I do love her novels a lot.
[…] Normal Rules Don’t Apply – Kate Atkinson […]
I was happy to find a new Kate Atkinson without the Jackson Brody mystery genre retirement fund schlock.
Normal Rules Don’t Apply took my back to the characters of fiction used in unique and quiry ways. I decided half way through to start at the begin again. I needed to know these characters more deeply and psy attention to the background as much as the main individual in each scene.
Her writing is superb. I’m reminded of bit from Monty Python, British television shows and medieval fairy tails and classic myths. A collage of characters and imagination.