The History of Sound by Ben Shattuck

Ben Shattuck’s The History of Sound is a remarkable collection that transcends the boundaries of time and form, offering a meditation on memory, love, and the traces we leave behind. Across twelve beautifully crafted stories set in New England, Shattuck constructs an intricate web of connections between generations, where the echoes of the past resurface in unexpected ways. The result is a collection that feels both intimate and expansive, each story resonating with the hum of shared history and emotional truth.

The stories span more than three centuries, from the windswept coasts of eighteenth-century Nantucket to the forests and small towns of contemporary Maine and New Hampshire. Each tale stands alone, yet is interwoven with another, its companion revealing a hidden detail or emotional undercurrent that reframes what came before. This structure, reminiscent of a chain of songs or call-and-response melody, gives the book a rhythm that feels organic and alive. Shattuck’s handling of time and connection is subtle and deeply satisfying; the reader senses the invisible threads that tie one life to another, one story to the next.

At the heart of the collection lies the title story, which follows two young men who travel the Maine woods during the First World War, recording folk songs on fragile wax cylinders. Their journey, filled with tenderness and yearning, captures the precariousness of human connection and the impermanence of art and memory. Later stories revisit this moment from other perspectives, revealing how history is continually reinterpreted by those who inherit its remnants. Shattuck’s fascination with objects such as photographs, recordings, journals, heirlooms, illuminates how meaning is transformed over time. An artefact may once have been a treasure, then forgotten, only to gain new life in another’s hands.

Shattuck’s prose is precise, balancing emotional weight with a lightness of touch. His descriptions of landscape and weather evoke New England not just as a setting, but as a living character: the fog rolling off the coast, the creak of wooden houses, the shifting light of orchards and shorelines. The natural world mirrors the inner states of his characters - grief, longing, discovery - with a quiet grace. Each story feels whole and self-contained, yet enriched by its placement within the broader composition.

Themes of desire, loss, and rediscovery weave throughout the collection, often framed by the question of how stories are preserved or distorted across generations. Shattuck shows that history is not static; it is something continually rewritten through love, misremembering, and art. The book’s emotional intelligence and structural ingenuity invite re-reading, rewarding those who linger on its layers and repetitions.

The History of Sound is a profound exploration of how the past reverberates through the present. It stands as both a love letter to New England and a meditation on the fragile beauty of human connection. Shattuck’s voice is assured, tender, and wise. A true reverberation of of heart and craft.

Reviewer: Chris Reed

Swift