i don't know who's behind the idea that every promising debut author has to immediately release a short story collection. but tell them i love themi don't know who's behind the idea that every promising debut author has to immediately release a short story collection. but tell them i love them...more
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
(this comes to mind because this book explores the line between dream and reality, and not because i'm just thinking about childrenlife is but a dream
(this comes to mind because this book explores the line between dream and reality, and not because i'm just thinking about children's songs)
(anyway)
there were moments this was truly interesting, but for the most part it was overambitious and seemed to find the huge number of symbols, motifs, themes, and Various Things Of Literary Significance it had saddled itself with unwieldy. it didn't nail the dismount, so to speak.
i love books about women having mental breakdowns.
and this was kind of that, but what it mostly was was very, very good.
it's a brilliant exploration oi love books about women having mental breakdowns.
and this was kind of that, but what it mostly was was very, very good.
it's a brilliant exploration of womanhood, of what it means to mother and to work and to try to do your moral best and look around at everyone else and be unconvinced they're doing any of it — and for that worry to extend so far you wonder if you're actually doing any of it yourself.
this encapsulation of a few days in one ordinary life totally riveted me. i loved the protagonist's children, and while i wish a few more things were fleshed out — the husband, the babysitter, the ending — all in all this felt like drinking a cool glass of water.
this is a book about monsters and girls and girls who become monsters and monsters who become girls.
it's also a book i really wanted to like. it has athis is a book about monsters and girls and girls who become monsters and monsters who become girls.
it's also a book i really wanted to like. it has a weird eerie cover! it has weird eerie contents! it's filled with teeth and blood and sex and ghosts! i like books with all of these things.
in execution, though, it felt uneven, maybe less than the sum of its parts. the stories didn't seem to build on one another, and though their synopses varied, their themes felt unrelentingly the same. it was more cringey than spooky, and generally seemed as though the author's intent may have been beyond the scope of her writing talent.
in other words, a debut!
that being said, i'll definitely read more from this author.
this was the rare short story collection that makes me wish it'd been a novel instead: one synopsis, pursued to the extent of its meaning, rather than many short stories shallowly delving into the same one.
but i found it fast-paced and readable, two things i rarely think about short story collections.
bottom line: this is a review of a book about monster girls written by a girl monster. sorry i'm mean.
------------------ pre-review
...ok fine i'm judging books by their covers again
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