33. The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios by Yann Martel I polished this off in one day of riding around the Metro. The second story in the collection takes place in D.C. as a matter of fact. The title story unfortunately did not live up to the curiosity its title induced. It felt very typical of the sort of story one might find in a literary magazine, a college boy's account of dealing with a friend dying of AIDS. The Helsinki Roccamatios are a fictional family the boys invent to pass the time and create a distraction. Family events are based on events from an encyclopedia of the twentieth century. Unfortunately, the readers don't get to hear the stories, only the facts, that is the encyclopedia entries, behind them. This was one of those incredibly frustrating stories when you don't want to be reading what you're reading, you want to read the stories the characters you're reading about are creating. They sound a lot more interesting and I wish writers woul...
Life, Books, and SFF