Collapse Years is a book I would recommend for anyone who is
looking for a good quality short stories. It exceeds my expectation, I like all
the tales and how they are presented.
Touching deep and mature subjects, the stories are
well-written, but the strongest factor of all is how every tale is presented
through the lens of characters who experience it directly. It gives closeness,
attachment, and readers are able to read along as if they are there.
The tales are dark and heavy, but they’re right up my alley.
I also like that it explores various places and cultures. There are some minor
nitpicks, like the first story is based on Indonesian culture, but chopstick is
not the common utensil, especially not used to eat goreng, which is a term to
describe how the food is prepared instead of the food. Komang is also a
Balinese name, an area that has a very defined culture. It refers to the third
child, while it’s not the case in the story, and usually, they would use the
same way of naming for the first child as well. It can be important since there
are a plethora of ghost types in the country, and Bali has its own, which
doesn’t seem to be the type told in the story.
Almost every story ends on the right note. I can imagine
this would make a good anthology for a TV series, similar to Black Mirror, but
more realistic and sociological.
5 stars out of 5
