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4.33 AVERAGE
4.33 AVERAGE
“Dirty Suburbia” is a brilliant title for Sara Hosey’s new collection of short stories! I began reading with the expectation the author would expose the underbelly of the suburbs and so shatter the idea they’re a safe haven for the contented, and she did not disappoint.
Instead, her stories bring home the fact that people are people, no matter where they live. Like anywhere else, those who live in the suburbs experience heartache, disappointment, humor, joy, family dysfunction and edgy moments of fear.
While the author shows all of those so well, she excels at illustrating moments that twist enough to send lives offtrack toward new revelations, sometimes happy, sometimes not. One of my favorite stories is that of a 30-something academic chained to caring for her dementia-besieged mother. When the woman finally gets a break to attend a professional retreat in Concord, MA, she meets Henry David Thoreau, or rather, the young man who plays the famous writer and philosopher.
I only allowed myself to read one story a night in order to savor the wonderful characters, themes and descriptions, all of which had a lovely bite amidst the humor and lightness.
Instead, her stories bring home the fact that people are people, no matter where they live. Like anywhere else, those who live in the suburbs experience heartache, disappointment, humor, joy, family dysfunction and edgy moments of fear.
While the author shows all of those so well, she excels at illustrating moments that twist enough to send lives offtrack toward new revelations, sometimes happy, sometimes not. One of my favorite stories is that of a 30-something academic chained to caring for her dementia-besieged mother. When the woman finally gets a break to attend a professional retreat in Concord, MA, she meets Henry David Thoreau, or rather, the young man who plays the famous writer and philosopher.
I only allowed myself to read one story a night in order to savor the wonderful characters, themes and descriptions, all of which had a lovely bite amidst the humor and lightness.
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Simply astounding, not since the work of Deborah Eisenberg have I enjoyed a short story collection as much as Sara Hosey's Dirty Suburbia. Not only are these ten stories incredibly tightly woven, with crash-bang openings, sharp prose, memorable characters, and bucketloads of tension, but each one delivers a striking epiphany while remaining distinct from the rest, thus avoiding the repetitious effect of some collections. I loved so many of the stories so much that I simply have to write about my favorites in more detail (though narrowing this down was difficult!):
"Blessed Virgin" features a divorced mother who meets up with the old high school teacher (and former nun) who captured her imagination two decades before. In this rollercoaster of a story, Hosey captures the complications of the protagonist's infatuation, a '90s understanding of sexuality, and the cruelty of selfish acts long past as she moves toward an ending that will leave readers breathless.
"Back to the Beach," (yes, the same title as the 1987 comedy) shows us the functionally dysfunctional relationship of Paula, who's preparing for her third abortion, and Julian, an active member of an anarchist collective. Rather than structuring the story around an escalating argument, Hosey subtly unpacks the dynamics of their relationship, how they relate to each other and their past, and eventually their future. Throughout, Hosey's keen eye for compassion (and the characters' lack of compassion for each other) remains clear, with no easy answers for how to move forward in life and love.
"Not For Everyone" begins with the protagonist's mother reporting that she's seen a phallus on the local supermarket television, ushering us into a chaotic world of body shaming, passive-aggressive political spars, overreliance on technology, and an inability to communicate. Certainly the funniest story in the collection, it shows off Hosey's biting prose style with gusto while capturing a crumbling family dynamic that feels both fresh and familiar.
I could also go on about the depressingly restrictive home-schooled Christian world of "Another Eden," the tongue-in-cheek look at historical impersonators in "Land Mammals," and the difficulties in maintaining friendships across the class divide in "Mickey Makes a Salad." This is to say nothing of the title story, "Dirty Suburbia," in which Hosey offers up a hopeless suburban dumping ground with few options for its characters besides attacking one another in their desperation (with bonus points for focusing on a video store).
Simply put, this collection is funny, cool, thoughtful, compassionate, and a page-turner. I'm looking forward to more of Hosey's work, including more short fiction.
"Blessed Virgin" features a divorced mother who meets up with the old high school teacher (and former nun) who captured her imagination two decades before. In this rollercoaster of a story, Hosey captures the complications of the protagonist's infatuation, a '90s understanding of sexuality, and the cruelty of selfish acts long past as she moves toward an ending that will leave readers breathless.
"Back to the Beach," (yes, the same title as the 1987 comedy) shows us the functionally dysfunctional relationship of Paula, who's preparing for her third abortion, and Julian, an active member of an anarchist collective. Rather than structuring the story around an escalating argument, Hosey subtly unpacks the dynamics of their relationship, how they relate to each other and their past, and eventually their future. Throughout, Hosey's keen eye for compassion (and the characters' lack of compassion for each other) remains clear, with no easy answers for how to move forward in life and love.
"Not For Everyone" begins with the protagonist's mother reporting that she's seen a phallus on the local supermarket television, ushering us into a chaotic world of body shaming, passive-aggressive political spars, overreliance on technology, and an inability to communicate. Certainly the funniest story in the collection, it shows off Hosey's biting prose style with gusto while capturing a crumbling family dynamic that feels both fresh and familiar.
I could also go on about the depressingly restrictive home-schooled Christian world of "Another Eden," the tongue-in-cheek look at historical impersonators in "Land Mammals," and the difficulties in maintaining friendships across the class divide in "Mickey Makes a Salad." This is to say nothing of the title story, "Dirty Suburbia," in which Hosey offers up a hopeless suburban dumping ground with few options for its characters besides attacking one another in their desperation (with bonus points for focusing on a video store).
Simply put, this collection is funny, cool, thoughtful, compassionate, and a page-turner. I'm looking forward to more of Hosey's work, including more short fiction.