This is a book of stories which are connected by the theme of work and workmen's tools, hence titles such as `Bins', `Iron', `Glass', `Tyres', and `Sawmills'. It's a clever idea, and one which works exceptionally well as a way of unifying the entire book: the sum of a fragmented book of short stories is sometimes not very much, but the brick-upon-brick structure of Shifts clocks up to an impressive total.
These are odd, haunting stories, which are suffused with a true blast of originality. Many of them have the range of a novella, such as `Iron', the dark and moving portrait of a German family, which begins with a bomb during the scrag end of the second World War, and ends with a son who works "in plastic" for the Miele factory. In between, is the story of the blacksmith, Helmut, who works in iron and his wife, who has iron in the soul.
Thorpe is clever and careful with language without being tricksy: a writer who works with themes as effortlessly as poets who can rhyme without being obvious about it - and unsurprisingly, he's the author of three books of poetry himself.
`Bins', the story of an English dustman, doubles as a ghost story, and also a commentary on society by looking at what different people leave out as rubbish. Like `Iron' and many of the other stories, it also explores the metaphysical meaning of the title: in this instance, how some people, such as the binmen, get treated like the rubbish they spend their lives collecting.
However, Thorpe is often weak at characterising women. Giving someone a woman's name, such as Estelle in the bitter little story, `Business', does not automatically create a convincing female character. But there's still so much in Shifts that is exciting and strange, that he somehow manages to get away with poor characterisation that would have scuppered a writer less blessed with ideas.
Rosita Boland is a writer and journalist
