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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
The content was extremely difficult to read (sexual assault, rape, abuse of all kinds).
Gay continues to be a great writer, but with this collection of short stories I found repetition of the tedious kind. Themes repeated? Great. Themes repeated with the same metaphors, phrasing, and plot execution? Tired.
Overall prefer her nonfiction to her fiction.
Gay continues to be a great writer, but with this collection of short stories I found repetition of the tedious kind. Themes repeated? Great. Themes repeated with the same metaphors, phrasing, and plot execution? Tired.
Overall prefer her nonfiction to her fiction.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It's collections like this that keep me trying short story collections, despite the fact that they are not my favorite format. Each story was thoughtful and well developed; no story ended abruptly or left me with a vague feeling of wondering what the point was. A lot of the stories cover difficult subjects, but revealed many important thoughts, emotions, experiences, and themes.
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Racism
I have been wanting to read the work of Roxane Gay for some time now and I am honored I finally had the opportunity to read this collection of short stories. Not only is the author entrancing, but so is her writing within each story.
If I dared to go through each story and stated why I liked each with supporting reasons, I could write a whole essay. Therefore, I am going to stick to generals because I didn't find much I didn't like in this collection. I found characters both interesting and infuriating, loving and hateful, beautiful and ugly. All of them were difficult in one way or another and that is what made each of them uniquely human. I loved the elements of general life, how many of them lived in either the south or in the north woods, either sweating away or freezing. There were such lively extremes in the characters and the environments. I also enjoyed that some held haunting and even fantasy elements, that some things were just hard to believe as true or of this world. It changed things up from the stories that were otherwise very reflective of everyday life. What it comes down to though, with every story, is the realism of the characters and what happened to them. To the cheating wife, or the father who abandons his kids, or the couple desperately trying to start a family. It was all real, any character could live next door. That is what made all of these characters difficult, it wasn't their actions, it is that they are difficult to take in as they could very well be ourselves. At least that is what I took away from the collection.
I look forward to reading more of Roxane Gay's work. Her writing reminds one of their own flaws and at the same time the beauty of those flaws.
If I dared to go through each story and stated why I liked each with supporting reasons, I could write a whole essay. Therefore, I am going to stick to generals because I didn't find much I didn't like in this collection. I found characters both interesting and infuriating, loving and hateful, beautiful and ugly. All of them were difficult in one way or another and that is what made each of them uniquely human. I loved the elements of general life, how many of them lived in either the south or in the north woods, either sweating away or freezing. There were such lively extremes in the characters and the environments. I also enjoyed that some held haunting and even fantasy elements, that some things were just hard to believe as true or of this world. It changed things up from the stories that were otherwise very reflective of everyday life. What it comes down to though, with every story, is the realism of the characters and what happened to them. To the cheating wife, or the father who abandons his kids, or the couple desperately trying to start a family. It was all real, any character could live next door. That is what made all of these characters difficult, it wasn't their actions, it is that they are difficult to take in as they could very well be ourselves. At least that is what I took away from the collection.
I look forward to reading more of Roxane Gay's work. Her writing reminds one of their own flaws and at the same time the beauty of those flaws.
challenging
dark
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm not a big fan collections of short stories, so I'm not surprised that I was not really into this one. Some of the stories were good, some were weird, and some I did not care for. However, there were some stories that were hard to read due to the topics (e.g. rape). So trigger warnings before reading this one.
I’m a huge Roxane Gay fan, and this book definitely lived up to my expectations. I think I prefer her long fiction or non-fiction, but these short stories were excellent. They were discomforting and thought-provoking. If there is a unifying “theme” to the stories, I think they discomfort the familiar, even the clichéd. I especially loved “Requiem for a Glass Heart” and “I am a Knife”, which have repeating motifs in new and different ways.
Finally getting through my backlog of TBR on here. I follow Ms. Gay on Twitter, have seen her give a live reading, have seen her host a live conversation (in the Before Times), I've read one of her novels (An Untamed State) and her memoir (Hunger). You could say I like her and her work. This collection of short stories is no exception. It's a great writer who can create a story using simple, easy-to-follow language, even when the stories bend the edges of reality and dare you to join her in some created worlds. Other worlds are very much real and knowable. Each story holds so much in such a small container. It's quite amazing to me. There were some I preferred and some that I didn't think about again, but the ones that I keep returning to in my head are powerful. This collection is a great introduction to her work if you haven't read anything else of hers.