All the Rage

All the Rage is a 2014 collection of short stories by Scottish author, academic, and stand-up comedian A.L. Kennedy. Each story, fitting loosely in the genre of comedy-drama, involves a damaged protagonist who responds with irony and humor to the frustrating, often tragic experiences of everyday life. Kennedy injects her trained comic voice into a diverse set of characters and scenes, ranging from awkward first dates to sex shops. Some of the stories are bleak, ending with some degree of ambivalence or personal alienation, while others culminate in triumphs of character. The collection received positive criticism for its broad exposure of the under-examined ironies and dysfunctions of ordinary life in the twenty-first century.

In the eponymous story, “All the Rage,” a man sits in a train station and compares the speeding cars to the inexorable forces of disruption and change in his life. As he worries about the future of his marriage, his whole universe begins to feel harsh, even violent. In “Takes You Home,” a man who has recently lost his wife packs up their old home, reflecting on the world’s cruelty. Another story, “These Small Pieces,” follows a man who serendipitously arrives at a church while lost wandering the streets. He ponders what recourse any god might afford should he admit to him that he is wholly disappointed with his effort to build a happy life. Despite the violence they observe or experience, all of the characters refrain from perpetrating violence.



In the story “Baby Blue,” a female protagonist goes to a sex toyshop. Here, Kennedy explores themes of human sexuality, elucidating the sexuality of the woman through her reflexive responses to the devices. She also comes to newly understand her memories of past sexual experiences. In “The Practice of Mercy,” a similarly lost and confused protagonist wanders a city in a foreign country. In a positive twist, she comes to find a subtle sense of stability and identity as she comes to terms with the fact that most of the world is almost irresolvedly foreign and strange.

The final story in the collection, “This Man,” considers the inner monologue of a woman on an awkward first date. It exposes what, to Kennedy, most women think when they are held in an especially captive situation with a man in a world of male hegemony. Even though dinner has barely started, the woman is already extrapolating her date’s suspect mannerisms into the future, should they end up in a relationship. His quirks and gross behavior quickly eliminate the interest she initially had. However, at the end of the story, the date takes a turn for the better. The woman’s cycle of negative thinking is disrupted when they share an enjoyable kiss.

Despite the feelings of futility, unfulfillment, and sadness they experience daily, Kennedy’s characters always muster on. All the Rage validates the efforts one can make, no matter how small, in relation to the universal and systemic negative pressures of the modern world, to improve one’s conditions.