The Philosopher Stories by Jerry Levy is a collection of short stories about Karl, a complicated character who perceives himself as a philosopher and as the description of the book puts it, an "ubermensch" which is exactly where the book begins, when Karl's teacher calls his mother into school because he has been telling everyone he is actually from a far away star system.

"Be not inhospitable to strangers lest they be angels in disguise" was a sign hanging in the bookstore in the short story "when she left" and this isexactly how I feel about this book. Perhaps it is not the writing style I usually gel with, perhaps the authors actions and observations were not clicking with my preferences, but what I really liked was the raw authenticity of the stories.

If you look beyond the mind flow, there is a lot of insight in these stories and a lot that the reader is able to reflect upon, disagree with and build on. It is interesting, entertaining. When I refer to the authenticity, an example is the clear flow of thoughts without reshaping or polishing to fit a mould, it is like each story poured from Levy's mind into Karls character and actions and that was it, that part done

I enjoyed this type of authenticity that is essentially the backbone of the book that ties the stories together. The weird kid whose dad was not around, was close to his mom, determined his path throughout life. Behaviour of stepdads determined his outlook while he still retained that desire to be something else, someone else.

The Philosopher Stories is a good read in the sense of observing an observer writing about an observer who sees themselves as apart from soceity and others. Seeing how their mind is processing their thoughts without restraint. I did not directly relate to Karl. At times he was pretentious, a little irksome, quick with his fists, but always speaking with integrity and just a little bit of wry humour

Thank you to Netgalley, Guernica Editions and Jerry Levy for this interesting ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

I absolutely ate this book up - it was incredibly entertaining. I usually find with books like this that are told in a series of anecdotes that the pacing is done poorly, but that was not an issue at all with The Philosopher Stories.

I found the main character became exceedingly unlikeable by the end of the book, which was undoubtedly intentional and was very well done. Karl was likable enough in the beginning that I became attached but not so much so that his fall from grace was unrealistic.

My only issue with this novel was the ending. I wanted something more - I’m not sure exactly what, but this ending just didn’t do it for me. It didn’t feel at all complete or satisfying, which was disappointing since I enjoyed the rest of the book so much.