R.M. Green’s Small Lives, Big World is an exquisite collection of short stories that masterfully weaves ordinary and extraordinary aspects of human experience together. The book captivated me with its skilfully crafted characters, richly detailed, vivid settings, and thought-provoking plots.
Green has a strong talent for bringing everyday moments to life while imbuing them with intrigue and poignancy that stay with you long after you’ve turned the page.
The characters in this collection are as diverse as the settings they inhabit—an Ottawa suburban housewife, a Chinese shopkeeper, a private in the trenches of World War I, and a six-year-old train traveler, to name just a few. Each of them feels authentic and fully realized, their emotions and struggles palpable. Green’s ability to create characters who are simultaneously specific and relatable is quite remarkable. You don’t just read about their little lives; you step into them.
Equally vivid are the settings, which range from the bustling Parisian streets to tranquil yet enigmatic corners of Central America. The book’s descriptive prose breathes life into each location, steeping the reader in the sights, sounds, and atmosphere of these places. Whether it’s the tropical backwaters or the claustrophobic office of a factory, the settings feel essential to the stories they frame.
What truly places this collection on the top shelf, however, is the storytelling. Each story is intriguing and often takes unexpected, twisty turns that kept me thoroughly engaged. Humor and tragedy, despair and hope, are balanced to create a tapestry of human experience that is both entertaining and deeply moving – and real. Themes of love, fear, dreams, and resilience thread through the stories, uniting the characters and settings seamlessly.
Small Lives, Big World is a book that invites you to journey alongside its characters, sharing their lives, joys, and struggles – but only for a little while and with each story, I was left wanting more. For well-traveled readers and those with an interest in exploring the richness of human experience across the globe, this collection is a must-read. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
A later edit… I wanted to add to my review… this book is a perfect example of one of those wonderfully crafted books that is a totally satisfying read that for some random reason is not on best-seller lists, but jolly well should be because it’s a WAAAAY better read than most of the mediocre-to-rubbish stuff that the big publishing houses push onto consumers in the big book stores.
Books and beans 