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elbowgrip_and_emdash's review against another edition
4.0
Some of my favorites were "Todo Luna, Todo Aña," "Grief," Let Me See You Smile," and "Mijito"—the longer stories, the stories (generally speaking) with multiple points of view. When I got into these stories, I didn't want them to end. She's surprisingly novelistic in scope; of course, her stories aren't exactly the traditional short story shape anyway (and I really like the two that call attention to themselves as short stories, "Point of View" and "Here It Is Saturday). She's blunt in an appreciable way about her character's struggles with alcohol and sexual abuse—that is, the secret of the story is never that the character is an alcoholic or was sexually abused as a child, but rather a fact of life, an additional complication that the characters are aware of to lesser and greater extents. I was surprised by how ugly some of her characters are, yet how I deeply I felt for them. I don't know if I've ever read a work of fiction that has felt so consistently real, right down to the tiniest, most ridiculous details (I do know that some of her stories are autofiction, but they can't all possibly be, can they?). She's not a flowery writer. Her prose isn't "beautiful," but there's certainly something beautiful about it, when the story comes together in the end.
sarahlreadseverything's review against another edition
1.0
I admit it improved slightly in the last third as the interlinks between the stories that draw them into a more cohesive narrative became more obvious, but on the whole I'd sum up this collection as 'plotless ramblings'.
nderiley's review against another edition
2.0
camillejov's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
geoffwood's review against another edition
5.0
joanxmartins's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
kickitupanotch7's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Death of parent, Racism, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Abortion, Alcoholism, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual violence, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Ableism, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment
pained_creations's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
lsparrow's review against another edition
4.0