Reviews

I had so much fun reading this book. I think it's between a 4 and 4.5 star read according to my requirements. But it's hard to rate a book of so many different short stories, so I'm going to give each story a star rating and then find the average.

Salted Circus Cashews, Swear to God: 5
short stories: 4.5
A Most Blessed and Auspicious Occasion: 5
Missed Connection-m4w: 5
The Serial Monogamist's Guide to Important New York City: 4
We Men of Science: 4.5
Lies We Told Each Other (a partial list): 3.5
These Are Facts: 3.5
Lunch with the Person Who Dumped You: 3
rufus: 5
Rules for Taboo: 3.5
up-and-comers: 5 (I want a full book with this story SO badly!!!)
Move Across the Country: 4.5
You Want to Know What Plays Are Like?: 2
the poem: 4
The Average of All Possible Things: 3
More of the You That You Already Are: 3
We will be close on Friday 18 July: 2.5

TOTAL: 3.9

mjmarx59's review against another edition

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3.0

The stories were fine enough, but not many of them had a real emotional impact. I expected more from the creator of Bojack Horseman. Highlights were the dog one, the train one, and the president one.

binitkarki2003's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective slow-paced

3.75

kdelarosa's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

sairc's review against another edition

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3.5

A really fun collection of stories. Lots of laugh out loud moments as well as thoughtful quiet ones. A few odd stories I didn’t connect with but overall a fun read

melissafrench's review

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective fast-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

4.5

I often struggle to stay invested in collections of short stories, but I am so glad I decided to pick this one up. Highly recommend listening to the audiobook version because the performances are PHENOMENAL and really enhanced the emotional impact of some of the stories beyond what I would have heard in my own head. This was especially true in some of the weirder stories that I’m honestly not sure I would have finished on my own. Somehow the author managed to be silly and irreverent while simultaneously being deep and profound. Even the stories that bore the least resemblance to anything in my life felt viscerally relatable in dealing with relationships, grief, mental illness, etc. Highly recommend!

jannavanilla's review

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

I loved this book. My favorite short story would be we men of science. The authors creative writing that’s tied with emotional, sardonic, and comedic bits is what makes me so intrigued to continue reading. Typically I have a short attention span with books but the humor and lighthearted writing makes it more enjoyable to read. Especially when there are different plots and characters in the short stories throughout the book

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