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katherineg's review
4.0
Fantastic collection of stories that is compulsively readable and full of hope
kelseyland's review
5.0
Masterfully written short stories about humanity and regret, just an absolutely stunning collection.
Content note: Child abuse, homophobic violence, animal harm/death.
Content note: Child abuse, homophobic violence, animal harm/death.
savaging's review
1.0
I think this is a good sign for me. I've long worried that my foundational literary aesthetic remains what it was when I was a child: how many animals are in the story? Lots of animals = great art. No animals = boring. And so I was pleased to find that I could read a book chock-full of animals and still find it bad.
All the narrators in these stories are whiny, cruel, and tiresome men. The bit about the alligator was nice, though.
All the narrators in these stories are whiny, cruel, and tiresome men. The bit about the alligator was nice, though.
careydimple33's review
5.0
Oh boy. I honestly feel like these short stories aren't for the faint of heart, but that doesn't mean their terrible. No, in fact, all of the stories in this collection are so well done, so full of imagery and complicated stories and realistic characters, that I'll be recommending this collection to all of my reading friends. Some of the subject matters left me feeling a bit heavy. They were heart-wrenching, dark, difficult to get through, some disturbing, but the lessons at each end of them always triumphed. Poissant has an incredible skill of realistic writing about the human spirit, the unfairness of death, the hardship of family and life, and so much more.
I look forward to whatever he deals out next.
Favorites: 100% Cotton, What the Wolf Wants, The Geometry of Despair, and How to Help Your Husband Die.
I look forward to whatever he deals out next.
Favorites: 100% Cotton, What the Wolf Wants, The Geometry of Despair, and How to Help Your Husband Die.
kawai's review
4.0
It's easy to see why this collection was ten years in the making. Each of Poissant's stories shows the marks of having been tuned to the perfect pitch: There's nary a wasted word or phrase in each story. As other reviews have mentioned, Poissant treats his characters with such empathy that it's almost like watching the work of a seasoned character actor, taking the roles of each person in an ensemble cast.
The stories tend to follow the standard contemporary short story form (limited third or first person POV; minimalist prose; linear timeline; realism as the central aesthetic), and some of the characters start to blur towards the end, as the middle-aged, middle-income, anglo-saxon everyman gets quite a bit of treatment. But Poissant has included several stories that break that form, weather surrealist ("What the Wolf Wants"), or second-person imperative ("How to Help Your Husband Die"), and these contribute a bit of diversity to the collection. Truth be told, they were some of my favorites.
There's barely a story in here that won't strike an emotional cord of some sort, and Poissant manages to do it in a million different ways, whether through humor, despair, tragedy, or the sort of love that can span all three and more. It's a worthy read and one that establishes a new talent in contemporary fiction.
The stories tend to follow the standard contemporary short story form (limited third or first person POV; minimalist prose; linear timeline; realism as the central aesthetic), and some of the characters start to blur towards the end, as the middle-aged, middle-income, anglo-saxon everyman gets quite a bit of treatment. But Poissant has included several stories that break that form, weather surrealist ("What the Wolf Wants"), or second-person imperative ("How to Help Your Husband Die"), and these contribute a bit of diversity to the collection. Truth be told, they were some of my favorites.
There's barely a story in here that won't strike an emotional cord of some sort, and Poissant manages to do it in a million different ways, whether through humor, despair, tragedy, or the sort of love that can span all three and more. It's a worthy read and one that establishes a new talent in contemporary fiction.
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