The Souvenir Museum

Stories

By: Elizabeth McCracken

Narrated by: Kate Reading

A Most Anticipated Book From: OprahMag.com * Refinery 29 * Seattle Times * LitHub * Houston Chronicle * The Millions * Buzzfeed

Award-winning author Elizabeth McCracken is an undisputed virtuoso of the short story, and this new collection features her most vibrant and heartrending work to date

In these stories, the mysterious bonds of family are tested, transformed, fractured, and fortified. A recent widower and his adult son ferry to a craggy Scottish island in search of puffins. An actress who plays a children’s game-show villainess ushers in the New Year with her deadbeat half brother. A mother, pining for her children, feasts on loaves of challah to fill the void. A new couple navigates a tightrope walk toward love. And on a trip to a Texas water park with their son, two fathers each confront a personal fear.

With sentences that crackle and spark and showcase her trademark wit, McCracken traces how our closely held desires—for intimacy, atonement, comfort—bloom and wither against the indifferent passing of time. Her characters embark on journeys that leave them indelibly changed—and so do her readers. The Souvenir Museum showcases the talents of one of our finest contemporary writers as she tenderly takes the pulse of our collective and individual lives.

Total Disappointment

Cannot understand the good reviews of this book. When a story ends, I have to look at my device to confirm it's really over. A group of people looking at puffins, a wedding with a duplicate gift, a young kid shacking up with a middle-aged ventriloquist - it's a slow train with no destination. Even the narration is bad - staccato, monotone, choppy reading. I really wanted to like it. But, it's my most regrettable use of a credit to date.

Rather a melancholy collection.

Stories don't seem to go anywhere...they just end. I was disappointed since reviews had been positive