A blind man spends his days roaming the beaches of Kenya collecting shells, classifying them by feeling their whorls, spines and folds in his fingers. A young woman discovers that she can explore the inner world of an animal's mind by touching its freshly dead body. A refugee from Liberia, who cannot escape the horrors that he has witnessed, finds salvation in the clandestine act of burying the hearts of beached whales.
In The Shell Collector Antony Doerr illuminates both the riotous dangers of the natural world and the rocky terrain of the human heart.
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The shell collector was scrubbing limpets at his sink when he heard the water taxi come scraping over the reef. - THE SHELL COLLECTOR
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(Fourth Estate, 21 December 2011, e-book, 226 pages, borrowed from Glasgow Libraries via Overdrive, Popsugar Reading Challenge, A Book With Magical Realism)
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I'm a fan of the author. I really enjoyed stories in The Shell Collector. The stories are all quite different though the theme of shells and nature run through all of the them. I liked the fact no stories were the same so a treat awaited each time I started a new story. The stories are all beautifully written and hugely enjoyable. I especially liked the title story, For A Long Time This Was Griselda's Story and
