The Souvenir Museum is Elizabeth McCracken’s third short story collection and an assured and masterful set of 12 exceptionally plotted tales about the absurd nature of existence featuring characters, in everyday realistic settings, that have been uprooted from their usual surroundings. There are four linked stories about a couple who we are initially introduced to in the first story The Irish Wedding. Jack Valerts and his new beau, Jewish American Sadie Brody, travel from Boston to Ireland so she can meet Jack’s family for the first time at his older sister’s nuptials to a Dutchman. Cracks begin to appear in their relationship and the reality of realising they don't know each other as well as they thought is poignant but in the last story their love manages to endure and 20 years later they get married in Amsterdam where they fight and remember long-standing resentments but when a family tragedy occurs they pull together and realise their love for one another.

In Mistress Mickle All at Sea, Jenny, an actor who plays the villain on a children’s television show, is alone on a ferry from The Hook of Holland to Harwich, England after visiting her brother and celebrating New Year’s Eve in Rotterdam. She finds herself attending kids’ entertainment to watch an elderly Chinese man known as Magnificant Jimmy, turn balloons into animals and perform magic in front of gleeful children. Robinson Crusoe at the Waterpark features a 4-year-old boy named Cody whose two gay fathers, Ernest and Bruno, spend the day with him at a German-themed waterpark in the Schlitterbahn area of Galveston, Texas. They enter the manmade river where families float along on inner tubes with a wave machine slapping out a wave every few seconds leading to the couple losing their grip on Cody. If one positive came of the experience it's that this shock to the system revealed to the seemingly previously detached Bruno just how much he loves, values and needs his wonderful family. And they will be a proper family, in Ernest’s eyes, now that Bruno had changed his mind about marriage and proposes.

McCracken never fails to deliver a classy, complex and acutely perceptive collection and these are some of her best stories to date; quite how she delivers so much thoughtfulness and nuance in such concise pieces is beyond my comprehension. It is an emotionally raw, incisive and powerful read and surprisingly I didn't feel like there was a single dud among the twelve. These are realistic tales of ordinary people and themes such as enduring love, loss, grief and the fleeting impermanence of time are explored throughout. Her characterisation is impressive with each cast member being three-dimensional and even more importantly flawed, making them relatable. You also cannot write a review for any of McCracken’s work without praising her wry wit which had me laughing out loud many times as I progressed and her observations of life, especially the quotidian, have you nodding in agreement. A riveting, captivating and thoroughly absorbing anthology. Highly recommended.

Elizabeth McCracken demonstrates her impressive range in this new collection of short stories. The characters carry her signature spikiness mixed with absurdity and empathy. and there's a strong theme of family and displacement and belonging. The book felt strongest when it revisited the same characters, Jack (Lenny) and Sadie, introduced in the first story. They are typical McCracken in the best way, full of conflict and contradictions and culture-shock. Some of the stand-alone stories felt a little unmoored because of this thread of common stories but there were still some gems, particularly Proof which was beautifully tender and Birdsong from the Radio which has Grimm overtones (comparing children to "plump loaves of bread, delicious") and turns into a very dark, sad story of motherhood and loss that felt almost like the origin story of the fairy-tale witch in the wood and will stay with me for a long time.

As collections of short stories go this feels a bit unfocused. These short stories are rambly and lack a cohesive storyline. The absurdist tone was nothing new or exciting and I also did not care for the clichéd portrayal of British people in the first story.

3.5 rounded up

My first Elizabeth McCracken book, and it certainly won't be my last. On the basis of this collection of short stories, I'd say the strength of her writing lies in her artful rendering of her characters' motivations and inner thoughts: these felt like real, flawed people who I believed in. Some of these stories (maybe all? I somehow only noticed this quite late into the book...) are interconnected with overlapping characters, and many feature Americans in the UK or abroad. There are often humorous or somewhat absurd moments, and the writing is strong. Recommended.

I am a fan of Elizabeth McCracken and The Souvenir Museum does not disappoint. A collection of short stories about characters that you become invested in. She has a way with words that I admire.