short magical realism story collection about the beauty of being alive...this book is for me, specifically.
mini reviews for each story:
THE RETURN TO Mshort magical realism story collection about the beauty of being alive...this book is for me, specifically.
mini reviews for each story:
THE RETURN TO MONSTERLAND pretty traditional parent abandonment story, except what if your mom left your family to pursue the scientific study of godzilla. rating: 3
PLACENTOPHAGY this was just about the opposite of the last one: short and extremely unique. rating: 3.5
ROKUROKUBI if i were a demon and my only power was having a stretchy neck i would be so disappointed. all this guy does with his power is steal underwear and get cheated on by his wife. rating: 3
GIRL ZERO finally, some good f*cking food (if gordon ramsay was talking about a unique, emotional story that reminded me of why i loved the author's other work).
even if it lost it along the way. rating: 3.5
PEACH BOY i do love a fairytale vibe.
maybe now is a good time to point out that there are fun one-page interludes between these stories, which i enjoy even though they're messing with my format. rating: 3.5
THE INN OF THE DEAD'S ORIENTATION FOR BEING A JAPANESE GHOST the concept: :) the execution: ... :/
(this is the reaction of when you really want to like something but it's kinda just trying too hard and you have to cringe a bit.) rating: 3
THE PASSAGE OF TIME IN THE ABYSS contents aside, we've got some great titles here.
sorry but if i were taking my grandchildren on a fishing trip, i simply wouldn't go out when a huge storm was coming "because the catch is better before the storm." i'm just kind of built different like that. rating: 2.5
THE REST OF THE WAY sad one. but not sad enough? does that make sense? more depressing than emotional. rating: 2.5
WHERE WE GO WHEN ALL WE WERE IS GONE title story title story title story!
if you asked me to guess what this was about i probably would have had to go for a while before getting to "dystopian style dance party." rating: 3
THE SNOW BABY okay. rating: 2.5
HEADWATER LLC no matter how many interchangeable upsetting stories there are about human greed destroying nature, they will always be depressing. rating: 3.5
KENTA'S POSTHUMOUS CHRYSANTHEMUM i mean, the title is very literal. rating: 2.5
OVERALL i'm so disappointed by this book as to be actually confused. the author's novel is so emotional, so evocative, so powerfully rendered that each of its many perspectives feel unforgettable. with a few exceptions, this was...weird? trying to shock the reader? totally emotionless? shallow plays at feeling? i have no idea how the same person could have written both.
this book is not bad, but compared to the author's other work...sheesh. rating: 2.5...more
short stories about "slightly off-kilter worlds tucked away in the corners of everyday life"??? gimme
mini reviews for each story because i'm pretendinshort stories about "slightly off-kilter worlds tucked away in the corners of everyday life"??? gimme
mini reviews for each story because i'm pretending i have my life together:
TABLE FOR ONE sometimes i think that the title story being the very first story in the collection is not a good sign. this is a fun one about people who take lessons on how to eat alone, and it made me want korean bbq very badly. rating: 3.5
SWEET ESCAPE this story, which is about people eating popsicles and becoming obsessed with preventing bedbugs, includes a scene in which everyone in an apartment building smells cilantro — which apparently smells like bedbugs? — and is disgusted.
as a cilantro fan, i can't abide this insect-based propaganda. that's not the reason this story isn't great, but it didn't help. rating: 2.5
INVADER GRAPHIC i kinda wish i was a kleptomaniac. i love free stuff so i wish i didn't have my rule abiding self holding me back. plus i always made my sims have that trait since i thought it was fun to have them bring little presents back from work.
anyway. this is a story about a woman who works from a department store bathroom every day. rating: 3.5
HYEONMONG PARK'S HOUSE OF DREAMS it turns out if dreams were for sale it would mostly just be a capitalist contest to corner the industry.
which i guess is not that surprising. but it's also not all that fun to read about. rating: 3
ROADKILL there should be another word for "kafkaesque" meaning trying really hard to be. rating: 3
TIME CAPSULE 1994 i'm going to be real with you: i don't know what this one means. rating: 3
ICELAND this is a story about the category of "iceland person," which is a person who is obsessed with the concept of visiting and/or living in iceland.
we all know at least one. rating: 3
PIERCING they say if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. but this is MY goodreads account, so i get to say this was disgusting and stupid and i hated it so much. rating: 1
DON'T CRY, HONGDO this one was just about a kid who has to eat organic and has a crush on her teacher. maybe i'm just sensitive because being forced to eat organic was my trial in youth (i still remember the day they took the slushy machine out of the cafeteria...), but this one didn't quite click. rating: 2.5
OVERALL i honestly love when story collections are united by a theme, and it's something that if i were evil dictator of the world i would make a requirement. unfortunately these felt a bit elementary, and a little off, like they needed another polish before being sent out into the world. rating: 2.5
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