''Marry Me'' is a short story collection by British author

Dan Rhodes Dan Rhodes (born 1972) is an English writer, possibly best known for the novel '' Timoleon Vieta Come Home'' (2003), a subversion of the popular ''Lassie Come Home'' movie. He is also the author of ''Anthropology'' (2000), a collection of 101 st ...

. It was published in 2013 by

Canongate Books Canongate Books (trading as Canongate) is an independent publishing firm based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is named after the Canongate area of the city. It is most recognised for publishing the Booker Prizewinner ''Life of Pi''. Canongate was n ...

. It is a sequel to his earlier collection '' Anthropology: And a Hundred Other Stories'', moving the girlfriend relationships of the earlier book into the realm of marriage. It carries the strapline "Essential reading for anyone who is, has ever been, or might one day be married."

Reception

Reviews were positive: * Stuart Evers in ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'' praises the collection, concluding "In Rhodes’s hands marriage is something between a fairy story and a night terror – a place where one can find oneself, or lose oneself. The single tone of the stories and the repetitions ends up working beautifully: just when you think you know where a story is going, Rhodes changes tack, adding something macabre to the romantic or something surreal to the melancholic...Few writers can match Rhodes gag for gag; fewer still can match his effortless creation of a fully realised fictional universe. And while it perhaps lacks the control and precision of Anthropology, ''Marry Me'' is a welcome return to the form." *

Kate Kellaway Kate Kellaway (born 15 July 1957) is an English journalist and literary critic who writes for ''The Observer''. Early life The daughter of the Australians Bill and Deborah Kellaway, she is the older sister of the journalist Lucy Kellaway. B ...

in ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' is similarly impressed: "Going too far is Dan Rhodes's forte. The reader is constantly and pleasurably aware that he is not a safe pair of hands. This entertaining book should not be bought by any innocent purchaser as a hint of a marriage proposal to come (although Rhodes, who seems to like writing dangerously, would almost certainly disagree). The size of a prayer book, the contents are rum, original and seriously flippant. Shorter than the average short story and occasionally no longer than a couple of paragraphs or two or three sentences, these fictional conceits are about marriage, weddings, infidelity, fatal attraction – and the lack of it. Rhodes's wilfully flat tone makes the way his stories dive into disaster and ricochet through romance much funnier. He has a comedian's talent for the deadpan." *

Doug Johnstone Doug Johnstone (born 22 July 1970) is a Scottish crime writer based in Edinburgh. His ninth novel ''Fault Lines'' was published by Orenda Books in May 2018. His 2015 book ''The Jump'' (published by Faber & Faber) was shortlisted for the McIlvann ...

in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' finishes with "Taken individually, the stories invariably raise a chuckle, usually accompanied by a wince and an involuntary acknowledgement of the truth behind the sloppy stuff of romance. But more impressively, when taken as a whole, ''Marry Me'' amounts to a bleak yet funny world view, as if

P G Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...

and

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

had got together to form a greetings card company.Till ordinary life does us part ...
Retrieved 24 Jan 2014

References

External links

*
Author interviewMarry Me Shorts
{{Dan Rhodes 2013 short story collections Works by Dan Rhodes British short story collections Canongate Books books Sequel books