Honeycomb, Joanne Harris
Honeycomb is a collection of short stories which mostly connect, although some don’t (the farmyard ones only seem to connect to each other and not to the overarching story, and they are the ones with the heaviest moral/social commentary, which makes them stick out a bit).
There are some lovely stories in this collection, and the overall arc of it is quite satisfying, but it does take a while to see how it all comes together (and the farmyard stuff never does, to my knowledge). I enjoyed it, and found very compulsive reading; I’m sure some of the stories will stick in my head for a long time.
I’d say, though, that it’s not a book for people who don’t enjoy fairytales and fairytale-style narratives. There is an overarching story to which many of the chapters are relevant… but it takes a while to see it emerging and understand that it is really going to lead to changes and developments in the characters. Often it’s much more like a fairy story, where you don’t necessarily think that the character will have changed or grown when they recur.
The illustrations by Charles Vess are of course absolutely lovely, and very fitting for the stories.
