A book review: Six Word Story (ARC)

TITLE: Six Word Story

AUTHOR: Doug Weller

PUBLISHED: February 2021

MY RATING: 3/5

I received an eARC copy of this title from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. My thanks goes to NetGalley and the publisher Hebe Publications for the opportunity to review this book.

*Synopsis taken from Goodreads*

Six Word Story is a collection of stories, jokes, memoirs, and poems, all written in only six words.

Find horror, romance, thriller, hilarity, and tragedy all bundled in a few tiny words.

This collection of micro-fiction gives readers a chance to get an instant dose of story.

Six Word Story by Doug Weller includes the winner of the 2020 Six Word Wonder Contest, with over 1000 stories were entered. As well as publication, the winner receives a $50 prize as the Six Word Wonder 2020.

This is the follow-up book to Six Word Wonder by Doug Weller. Over 500 six word stories to surprise, entertain, and amuse.

@SixWordWonder has over 10,000 followers. You can find out more at dougweller.net

Here are a few six word stories to spark your interest:

– Undertaker paused when he heard tapping
– Today, I remembered I had dementia.
– Slowly completed father’s bucket list.
– Dear diary, he’s outside the door. . .

These stories and many more are played out over ten movements in Six Word Story.

I actually requested this title on a bit of whim. I was browsing NetGalley one evening, (always a dangerous activity when your willpower is as low as mine when it comes to books!) and I stumbled across Six Word Story accidently. The concept of the six word story was one with which I was already familiar, I’ve read quite a few here and there and really enjoyed them. The idea of an entire book of them was intriguing to say the least so I hit request.

If you aren’t familiar with what a six word story is, well, it’s exactly as it sounds – a story told using only six words. It sounds impossible doesn’t it, indeed for myself it would be the biggest challenge because I do tend to waffle on! But yes, the story is told in six words, and must be open for interpretation and always arresting and thought-provoking. I think the interpretation angle is probably why I enjoy six word stories so much; I love to think that so few words could conjure up such differing images depending on the reader. Fascinating!

Anyway, back to this collection. As I said I was intrigued to see how an entire book could be made up of only six word stories and not become boring or repetitive. The answer to this was to add some extra bits in, facts and background mainly. I particularly liked the addition of the history of the six word story, and the first ever six word story known to exist. To discover the origins was a welcome and interesting read, and a nice way to break up the included fictional stories. The book also included some submissions from competition winners and I thought this was lovely – I’m sure they will be really pleased to see their work in print.

The downside to this book, and the reason for why it wasn’t rated higher is that I did feel at times that I was confronted with a little bit of filler. I’m open to the possibility that some of the stories simply resonated more than others, however when I read other reviews I saw my thoughts echoed there, so it is something to bear in mind. Even now as I think back I cannot shake the feeling that some of the stories (in my opinion) shouldn’t have made the final cut.

I had no idea what to expect from this one, and overall I was pleasantly surprised. It’s a short read, I got through it in one sitting in only a couple of hours, so with that in mind it is definitely worth a go if you’re looking for something a little more unusual.

Have you read Six Word Story? What did you think about it? If you haven’t read it do you think that you will? As always I would love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks for reading, I hope that you enjoyed!

Find me on: Instagram | Pinterest | Goodreads

Until the next time…Jess x