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kleonard's review
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.
pvn's review
4.0
A strong collection of short stories, many of which pack a punch. There is a good mix, and many of the stories are quite timely. The book is essentially a showcase for the author's talent, at least in the short story format. Recommended for scifi and other short story fans.
Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!
Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!
michellehogmire's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Thank you to the University of Nevada Press for an advance Netgalley of this short story collection (pub date Aug 11, 2020):
Whoa: Yxta Maya Murray makes a huge gamble with this book--writing fiction based on quotations from current news articles--but boy does it pay off. Often, when authors attempt to make political points with fiction, the characters feel like puppets performing the author's opinions--unrealistic mouthpieces only created for commentary. Even if I agree with the points, I generally wish the writer had written an essay, instead of awkwardly shoving these ideas into fiction. But Murray nails it.
These characters are so real and messy and empathetic, and they show the complicated human consequences of the headlines. In "Miss USA 2015" a transgender pageant coach remembers what the contest was like after Trump's horrid "Mexicans are rapists" campaign claim: a white woman drops out of the pageant for moral reasons and makes a viral speech, but the narrator's Latina hopeful can't afford to step back. In "The Perfect Palomino" a young woman who's trying to get an abortion realizes she might have to lie and say she was assaulted, due to her state's restrictive laws. In "Walmart" a mother whose grandmother died in a racially-motivated Walmart shooting panics while trying to purchase groceries with her young child. "The Prisoner's Dilemma" addresses the issue of gentrification through a fake satirical Zillow listing, highlighting the importance of intersectional analysis and challenging the notion that gentrification is a "natural" progress. Other pieces tackle Hurricane Maria, Scott Pruitt's destructive work heading the EPA, sexual abuse scandals involving circuit court judges, California wildfires, oil drilling, family separation at the border, and the links between private schools and private prisons.
Murray's collection is incredibly astute, emotionally heavy, and (unfortunately) even more timely than ever. So many of these stories depict the class rifts created by late-stage capitalism--the way that people can justify harming others for the sake of "protecting" their own family, especially when money is on the line. This sense of callous individual entitlement over community social responsibility has reared its ugly head to an extreme degree during the current pandemic. Wouldn't it be great if, instead, we united against oppression from above? As Murray would say, the world doesn't work that way. But it could.
Whoa: Yxta Maya Murray makes a huge gamble with this book--writing fiction based on quotations from current news articles--but boy does it pay off. Often, when authors attempt to make political points with fiction, the characters feel like puppets performing the author's opinions--unrealistic mouthpieces only created for commentary. Even if I agree with the points, I generally wish the writer had written an essay, instead of awkwardly shoving these ideas into fiction. But Murray nails it.
These characters are so real and messy and empathetic, and they show the complicated human consequences of the headlines. In "Miss USA 2015" a transgender pageant coach remembers what the contest was like after Trump's horrid "Mexicans are rapists" campaign claim: a white woman drops out of the pageant for moral reasons and makes a viral speech, but the narrator's Latina hopeful can't afford to step back. In "The Perfect Palomino" a young woman who's trying to get an abortion realizes she might have to lie and say she was assaulted, due to her state's restrictive laws. In "Walmart" a mother whose grandmother died in a racially-motivated Walmart shooting panics while trying to purchase groceries with her young child. "The Prisoner's Dilemma" addresses the issue of gentrification through a fake satirical Zillow listing, highlighting the importance of intersectional analysis and challenging the notion that gentrification is a "natural" progress. Other pieces tackle Hurricane Maria, Scott Pruitt's destructive work heading the EPA, sexual abuse scandals involving circuit court judges, California wildfires, oil drilling, family separation at the border, and the links between private schools and private prisons.
Murray's collection is incredibly astute, emotionally heavy, and (unfortunately) even more timely than ever. So many of these stories depict the class rifts created by late-stage capitalism--the way that people can justify harming others for the sake of "protecting" their own family, especially when money is on the line. This sense of callous individual entitlement over community social responsibility has reared its ugly head to an extreme degree during the current pandemic. Wouldn't it be great if, instead, we united against oppression from above? As Murray would say, the world doesn't work that way. But it could.
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