‘Nothing Else Matters’ Review
Nothing Else Matters is a short story by author Nicholas Royle. It is part of an anthology of short stories, by many writers, set to come out early next year.
Under the Fable was given an exclusive look at a selection of the short stories going to be in the anthology. I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to read two of the short stories to review. As you can see, I will be reviewing Nothing Else Matters in this post.
The narrator reflects on his relationship with his teenage son Joe. It is mentioned Joe’s parents are split, and they each have a partner now. Joe lives with his mother, but sometimes stays at his father’s house.
I think the opening to this story is brilliant. “Take your glasses off to wipe your eyes and everything in the distance loses definition. What is that down there? Right at the end. A snooker table? It looks a lot like one.” This is a great image to start with. I could really imagine seeing a blurry outline of a snooker table and how this image can be different depending on who is looking. I thought that was really interesting, especially because when reading a story, every reader has their own perception of it. What one person takes something to mean can be completely different to another’s. I thought this was a perfect parallel for the narrator and the reader and a very strong opening image.
I really liked how the narrator switches from playing snooker with Joe to driving Joe to and from Eddie’s funeral. The description of the narrator and Joe playing pool seems unimportant, almost like a distraction from the action of the story, but it is actually the part that tells us most about these characters. We find out that playing snooker seems to be a family activity, the narrator tells us Joe is using his father’s cue, suggesting it is a family heirloom to be passed down through the generations. Though it seems to be one of the first times Joe and his father are playing together, it seems it may be the first of many.
I liked how the story presents Joe as a typical teenager who’s always in his bedroom, or out of the house. I’m sure this is something we can all relate to, whether it’s having a teenager like this or having been one like this. This was very relatable to me and I immediately felt more of a connection with Joe’s character and yes, I was one of those teenagers.
It struck me Joe and his father don’t have much of a relationship. Perhaps it’s because Joe is in that awkward teenager phase where they don’t often talk to their parents. When the narrator is driving Joe home from Eddie’s funeral, he asks him how it went, which struck me as an odd thing to ask, as he had just been at a funeral. It seemed very self-explanatory. What shocked me more was when Joe responds “Good” and later says “They were fine. His dad seemed quite cheerful.” This was totally bizarre to me, especially when the narrator doesn’t question why Joe would believe Eddie’s father to be cheerful. I think it further implied this lack of communication between father and son which I found to be a really effective method and gave their characters a lot more depth.
In general, I enjoyed this representation of fatherhood. I think it accurately describes a lot of father-son relationships during teenage years. It is probably a story many fathers will be able to relate to.
I would definitely recommend Nothing Else Matters from this collection. It was a thoroughly enjoyable read. I believe this collection will be full of insightful stories on fatherhood, which makes me very happy, as short stories don’t often interest me. Congratulations to Nicholas, I’m sure this has made his day…
Yours weekly,
Jennie Byrne
@mustbejlb (on Instagram and Twitter)
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