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opldxblqo's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The Stories in Emma Cline's Daddy force the reader to take the perspective of people made persona non grata by their own base impulses. While Cline's prose here is lush and fully ripened, the characters in the stories just barely graze the over the line of acceptable behavior. I wanted to be pushed just a little more, to be made to sit with the discomfort of exile each character must endure.
Two stories stood out from the rest: Menlo Park, in which we take the view of a man, whose sexual harrassment results in being ejected from his seat at a Condé Nast style magazine, and the resulting dissolution of his reputation; and Marion, in which we embody the confused naivety of an adolescent girl pushed by the tides of her best friend's experiments in sexuality.
What Can You Do with a General: 3/5
Los Angeles: 3/5
Menlo Park: 5/5
Son of Friedman: 3/5
The Nanny: 2/5
Arcadia: 1/5
Northeast Regional: 2/5
Marion: 5/5 (I want this as a whole novel 🙏)
Mack the Knife: 3/5
A/S/L: 4/5
31/50, or 62%, or 3.1 stars
Two stories stood out from the rest: Menlo Park, in which we take the view of a man, whose sexual harrassment results in being ejected from his seat at a Condé Nast style magazine, and the resulting dissolution of his reputation; and Marion, in which we embody the confused naivety of an adolescent girl pushed by the tides of her best friend's experiments in sexuality.
What Can You Do with a General: 3/5
Los Angeles: 3/5
Menlo Park: 5/5
Son of Friedman: 3/5
The Nanny: 2/5
Arcadia: 1/5
Northeast Regional: 2/5
Marion: 5/5 (I want this as a whole novel 🙏)
Mack the Knife: 3/5
A/S/L: 4/5
31/50, or 62%, or 3.1 stars
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Sexual violence, and Drug use
jhege's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I think I’m learning I don’t love short stories. But the writing was very good, I want to read her novel now.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment
memegi's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Addiction, and Panic attacks/disorders
redewhurst's review against another edition
While a couple of the stories had been good, the more I read the more I became frustrated with the stop-start feeling of reading short stories. I thought I would persevere nonetheless; I’d read 5 out of the 10 stories and could have easily interspersed the remaining 5 over a few days while predominately reading something else. But then I started reading story 6: Arcadia, nothing caught my attention, I couldn’t differentiate between the characters, I had no attachment to them or the story, and it’s the longest story in the collection. I very quickly (3 pages) realised that this was not the story for me, and I could feel my frustrations growing. I wasn’t even really reading it, I was skimming and even that wasn’t getting it over with quick enough.
January is, historically, a month of reading slumps so I was soo happy to be so engaged and enthusiastic with my first read of the year; The Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotson, I could clearly see this undoing all that of that enthusiasm.
I still believe that Emma Cline is a talented writer, I really enjoyed The Girls and will be interested to see what novels she releases next. My DNFing is more down to the realisation that short stories don’t tend to be an enjoyable experience for me.
January is, historically, a month of reading slumps so I was soo happy to be so engaged and enthusiastic with my first read of the year; The Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotson, I could clearly see this undoing all that of that enthusiasm.
I still believe that Emma Cline is a talented writer, I really enjoyed The Girls and will be interested to see what novels she releases next. My DNFing is more down to the realisation that short stories don’t tend to be an enjoyable experience for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Homophobic slur used in the first story: What can you do with a general. (Specific page reference: 13)
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