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chillcox15's review against another edition
4.0
It felt good to dig into a short story collection that demands a lot of the reader on a narratological level. Ríos does not follow the easiest way into her violent stories of civil unrest and neoliberal destruction, and as a result, entire stories can go by before you find your way into them. It's a book that demands rereading, without being endlessly pedantic. Some highlights: The Head, The Student, Dead Men Don't Rape, and Cars on Fire.
marvbars's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.25
dbuchheister's review against another edition
Short stories usually aren't for me anyway. I felt like I had no idea what was happening in the stories. Probably me and not the book.
sarahcolleen12's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
3.0
This was a harder book for me to wrap my head around. Perhaps I wasn’t in the right headspace- I was looking for something different than what this book offered. I could see myself re-visiting and rereading to understand each story on a deeper level. But at first read, this book just was not engaging to me.
sam_epub's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
drifterontherun's review against another edition
1.0
Sometimes one just has to be honest — it's not me, it's you. Or, in this case, it's Ríos.
I really wanted to like this short story collection out of Chile. I had high hopes. But these stories read as a collection of empty words stripped of all passion and meaning. There's just nothing here worth recounting, or even remembering.
I had no sooner finished a story than I'd forgotten about it. Never have I felt so unmoved by a piece of writing. The manuals one gets from IKEA on how to put a bookcase together have more feeling in them.
Is this down to the translation or to the writer? I can't say. Because when I read the summary of the book — which I did in order to try and figure out what these stories were actually trying to say — the "feminine desire to subvert the oppressive forces―xenophobia, neoliberalism, social hierarchies within the academic world―that shape life in Chile and the United States," then I'm all on board. But then you read and find that any desire, any force, any attempt to subvert oppression, is woefully lacking here.
The first few stories failed to leave any impression whatsoever, but nevertheless, I pressed on until getting to the title story. That one was just as devoid of passion, of feeling, as the rest. If the title story doesn't do it, why keep going?
So I stopped. No point wasting any more of either of our time. Like a bad date, I'll just chalk this one up to a lack of chemistry, and while I could go on, there's just nothing more worth saying.
Swipe left on this one.
I really wanted to like this short story collection out of Chile. I had high hopes. But these stories read as a collection of empty words stripped of all passion and meaning. There's just nothing here worth recounting, or even remembering.
I had no sooner finished a story than I'd forgotten about it. Never have I felt so unmoved by a piece of writing. The manuals one gets from IKEA on how to put a bookcase together have more feeling in them.
Is this down to the translation or to the writer? I can't say. Because when I read the summary of the book — which I did in order to try and figure out what these stories were actually trying to say — the "feminine desire to subvert the oppressive forces―xenophobia, neoliberalism, social hierarchies within the academic world―that shape life in Chile and the United States," then I'm all on board. But then you read and find that any desire, any force, any attempt to subvert oppression, is woefully lacking here.
The first few stories failed to leave any impression whatsoever, but nevertheless, I pressed on until getting to the title story. That one was just as devoid of passion, of feeling, as the rest. If the title story doesn't do it, why keep going?
So I stopped. No point wasting any more of either of our time. Like a bad date, I'll just chalk this one up to a lack of chemistry, and while I could go on, there's just nothing more worth saying.
Swipe left on this one.
alexlanz's review against another edition
Edgy and dense, so impressively structured; a bit academic at times.
flying_monkey's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Be warned, the thematically-linked stories in this fresh, experimental collection by this young Chilean author, Mónica Ramón Ríos, are frequently difficult. Sometimes what's going on is completely unclear, sometimes the protagonist is vague and only half there, almost all the time, everrything is haunted by absent parents, unfulfilled desires, and the everpresence of systems of oppression and violence, whether it's dictatorship or capitalism, universties or psychiatry. People are shiftless, bitter, stupid. They try to resist, or to turn the bad into something beautiful, but nothing happens, they don't go anywhere, cars catch fire. Some people seem to hate this book. And sure, not all the stories work as well as the best ones like The Student and the eponymous Cars on Fire. But in this case, the polarized reactions only go to show Riós has done something right.