When I read - and enjoyed - Parasol Against the Axe, the word that most came to mind was 'puzzling' and that's again true of What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, a collection of stories linked by themes and motifs (keys recur) and, for reasons that aren't clear, characters ... although those glimpsed recurrences of characters, seen from different perspectives and at different points in their lives across different stories, add to the sense that the whole is something that has at least an orientation towards meaning.
I had to take my time with these stories; mostly, I didn't feel they gave up their meanings easily or (in the case of the one about puppets, "Is Your Blood As Red As This?"), at all. Still, they're compelling. "Presence" stands out; strangely, for a story about two psychologists who come across a method of encountering their hypothetical, unborn child through a series of ghostly visitations, it feels the most naturalistic of the lot. So does " 'Sorry' Doesn't Sweeten Her Tea".
Curious, but not for curiosity's sake; crisp writing, a slantwise view on the world. A lot to like, though I'm not sure I'll return to these in the way that I have done to, say, Kelly Link (with whom she's definitely in the same ballpark, vibes-wise).
