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kleonard's review against another edition
2.0
I wanted to like this book, but in the end, the stories are more like slightly-fictionalized reports, and the heavy citations--dozens of footnotes providing the real-life contexts for each story--are distracting. The writing is unpolished and awkward. It's sometimes repetitive, and is frequently heavy-handed in telling the reader about characters, events, and actions. Ultimately, it's like reading a collection of essays for an assignment: "compare and contrast the actual policies with the story. How does the story reflect the policy? Point to the specific policies referenced in the stories." A slightly more sophisticated approach would have communicated the message the author seems to be promoting far more effectively.
ari76's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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
4.25
angelinaxng's review against another edition
3.0
I liked the title of the book because it could be either hopeful or threatening and I vibe with that. Anyway some of the stories were really good and some weren't as great, the variance was very large imo. My favourite quote that hit home: "After graduating from college, the Administrator went to law school, because, like the rest of us, he leads a fear-based life." Made me LOL. It's cool that the stories are based on news articles from the TRUMP administration I guess but it got super intense bc they were so possible it was scary. 6.3/10 stars
nicolekey's review against another edition
5.0
everybody stop what you're doing and read this right now
nuhafariha's review against another edition
5.0
Thank you to University of Nevada and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!
Available Aug 11 2020
Without a doubt, Yxta Maya Murray is one of the most creative writers I've had the pleasure of reading in a long time. In "The World Doesn't Work That Way, But it Could," Murray creates a parallel to our world, drawing on recent political events like the Miss USA Pageant 2015, ICE family separation and the school to prison pipeline. Reminiscent of George Saunders and Kevin Wilson, Murray expands on the bizarre, hilarious and somber to showcase the cognitive dissonance in our modern political climate. Yet there is something very tender at the heart of the stories, of humanizing those who we often think of as the "enemy"; the single mother who is forced to become an ICE worker, the harried father who advocates for family separation while trying to hold together his own, the mother who hides her government work with schoolchildren to protect her own autistic son. I loved spending time with Murray in this twisted world and highly recommend this book!
Available Aug 11 2020
Without a doubt, Yxta Maya Murray is one of the most creative writers I've had the pleasure of reading in a long time. In "The World Doesn't Work That Way, But it Could," Murray creates a parallel to our world, drawing on recent political events like the Miss USA Pageant 2015, ICE family separation and the school to prison pipeline. Reminiscent of George Saunders and Kevin Wilson, Murray expands on the bizarre, hilarious and somber to showcase the cognitive dissonance in our modern political climate. Yet there is something very tender at the heart of the stories, of humanizing those who we often think of as the "enemy"; the single mother who is forced to become an ICE worker, the harried father who advocates for family separation while trying to hold together his own, the mother who hides her government work with schoolchildren to protect her own autistic son. I loved spending time with Murray in this twisted world and highly recommend this book!
sextance's review against another edition
emotional
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
1.5
gpg's review against another edition
4.0
These compelling stories are based on recent headlines from before the pandemic crisis, when environmental regulations were overturned at breakneck speed and society had already started to become numb in the face of moral depravity and a lack of objective truth.
Here's my New Books Network interview with Yxta Maya Murray: https://newbooksnetwork.com/yxta-maya-murray-the-world-doesnt-work-that-way-but-it-could-stories-u-nevada-press-2020
Here's my New Books Network interview with Yxta Maya Murray: https://newbooksnetwork.com/yxta-maya-murray-the-world-doesnt-work-that-way-but-it-could-stories-u-nevada-press-2020
gulshanbatra's review against another edition
3.0
This collection of short stories is as current and relevant as it can get, short of reading the news (!).
The author does a fine job of bringing out the circumstances that the current political and socioeconomic situation is making everyone go through. The writing is at a clipped pace, the narrative fairly fast though not quite smooth. The ideas covered are wide ranging.
That last part is primarily where I felt the book fell short. In trying to cover such a wide variety of situations, each story is reduced to about as much content as a news blurb, literally torn from the headlines! While that makes for some white-knuckle reading (not for the thrill, but for the anger and frustration), it also makes for some really dissatisfying reading. All this has been reported ad nauseam by the mainstream - and fringe (!) - media, and literally everyone around the world is aware of the transgressions the current US administration is accused of. While many of those may be true and all that, reading them in fiction form should have provided an opportunity for personalizing and adding some nuances to the situation. As readers, we could have identified with the characters more and easier. While there are obvious attempts at personalizing the events, and the repeated use of the first person to narrate the stories does add a sense of personalization and urgency, what is lacks is - something new. A new perspective, a new voice, a new fact (or factoid!) or even a new (more malicious or "out-there") situation.
Reading these stories kept taking me back to all the analyses articles I'd read in the Times, the TIME, the Post, the Journal, the Vox, the Yorker, the Jones, the Atlantic... Other than fictionalizing all those narratives, and adding names to the mix, while overtly referencing to - and in fact, inserting - facts into the pages, there is precious little I could find new with the book.
However, having said that, I must warn the book is not a pleasant read, and it makes for a very difficult reading session, for the almost sheer barbaric honesty with which the author sometimes chooses to expose her truths.
While it is heartening to read what the stories reveal about us as a Nation and as a people, anyone who has been following the media s***storm these past three years would have read them already in the headlines and opinion pages and Editorials.
Thanks to NetGalley and Univ. of Nevada Press for an ARC to provide my honest opinion.
The author does a fine job of bringing out the circumstances that the current political and socioeconomic situation is making everyone go through. The writing is at a clipped pace, the narrative fairly fast though not quite smooth. The ideas covered are wide ranging.
That last part is primarily where I felt the book fell short. In trying to cover such a wide variety of situations, each story is reduced to about as much content as a news blurb, literally torn from the headlines! While that makes for some white-knuckle reading (not for the thrill, but for the anger and frustration), it also makes for some really dissatisfying reading. All this has been reported ad nauseam by the mainstream - and fringe (!) - media, and literally everyone around the world is aware of the transgressions the current US administration is accused of. While many of those may be true and all that, reading them in fiction form should have provided an opportunity for personalizing and adding some nuances to the situation. As readers, we could have identified with the characters more and easier. While there are obvious attempts at personalizing the events, and the repeated use of the first person to narrate the stories does add a sense of personalization and urgency, what is lacks is - something new. A new perspective, a new voice, a new fact (or factoid!) or even a new (more malicious or "out-there") situation.
Reading these stories kept taking me back to all the analyses articles I'd read in the Times, the TIME, the Post, the Journal, the Vox, the Yorker, the Jones, the Atlantic... Other than fictionalizing all those narratives, and adding names to the mix, while overtly referencing to - and in fact, inserting - facts into the pages, there is precious little I could find new with the book.
However, having said that, I must warn the book is not a pleasant read, and it makes for a very difficult reading session, for the almost sheer barbaric honesty with which the author sometimes chooses to expose her truths.
While it is heartening to read what the stories reveal about us as a Nation and as a people, anyone who has been following the media s***storm these past three years would have read them already in the headlines and opinion pages and Editorials.
Thanks to NetGalley and Univ. of Nevada Press for an ARC to provide my honest opinion.
raoionna's review against another edition
5.0
A thoughtful, compelling set of stories. Each Short story is seemingly simple, but as you finish you’re hit with their power. Really one of the best set of short stories I’ve read in a long time.
Thanks to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.