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annalisem's review against another edition
4.0
LOVED this. Rich and thick and clever and considered. Gorgeous time and place.
sara0125's review against another edition
5.0
Thank you to @netgalley for the advance copy. All thoughts are my own.
4.5 stars! Leesa Cross-Smith’s book of short stories centers around the lives of women and their complex inner worlds. Each story was personal and vulnerable, and reminded me of all the overthinking we, as women, do on a daily basis. SO WE CAN GLOW peels back the intricate layers of women and powerfully affirms their tendencies to give their whole, entire selves for those they love. Stand out stories included We, Moons; Pink Bubblegum And Flowers; You Should Love The Right Things; and Cloud Report.
4.5 stars! Leesa Cross-Smith’s book of short stories centers around the lives of women and their complex inner worlds. Each story was personal and vulnerable, and reminded me of all the overthinking we, as women, do on a daily basis. SO WE CAN GLOW peels back the intricate layers of women and powerfully affirms their tendencies to give their whole, entire selves for those they love. Stand out stories included We, Moons; Pink Bubblegum And Flowers; You Should Love The Right Things; and Cloud Report.
bookgirlmagic's review against another edition
5.0
Had the pleasure of reading So We Can Glow by Leesa Cross-Smith last week and absolutely L O V E D this collection of short stories. A 4.5 star read for me!
I’ve loved Leesa’s writing since reading Whiskey & Ribbons a couple of years ago and this collection of short stories is no different. I could see myself in so many of the women written about in these stories. Love, wonder, heartbreak, heartache, to be young, wild and free, life lessons, strength, adventure, motherhood, being a wife, daughter and friend. You name it. Everything it means to be a woman and so much more.
I also loved how many of the stories intertwined and circled back to characters that were previously mentioned. It sometimes gave us a alternate perspective of the same story. Beautifully written collection and I’m glad I was able to add it to my summer reading list!
I’ve loved Leesa’s writing since reading Whiskey & Ribbons a couple of years ago and this collection of short stories is no different. I could see myself in so many of the women written about in these stories. Love, wonder, heartbreak, heartache, to be young, wild and free, life lessons, strength, adventure, motherhood, being a wife, daughter and friend. You name it. Everything it means to be a woman and so much more.
I also loved how many of the stories intertwined and circled back to characters that were previously mentioned. It sometimes gave us a alternate perspective of the same story. Beautifully written collection and I’m glad I was able to add it to my summer reading list!
sjones08's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
maviemerveilleuse's review against another edition
3.0
I almost gave up on this one in the first half, but the second half brought me around. The shorter, vignette-style stories didn’t do much for me (aside from “Girlheart Cake With Glitter Frosting”), but the longer stories are really lovely.
kell_xavi's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars (a few good ones, but many were just okay)
Received in a Goodreads giveaway! It’s taken me a while to finish this collection, but it’s been great company for as much summer as has passed while I’ve read it. This collection is a balance of teenage girl stories—who wear fruity lipgloss and live in the south and have curly hair that smells like flowers—and stories of women in their 30s—who listen to cowboy tunes in bars and think about their teenager crushes, tough and soft and wild girls who have kids and sometimes-boyfriends and still wear lipgloss. The stories are pretty consistently female-led and about straight relationships.
These are glowing stories and summer stories and American girl stories. Some, like “Girlheart Cake,” are lists of what makes the summer American girl. In music, the stories (and some of what Cross-Smith names) are Linda Ronstadt, Ravyn Lenae, Kacey Musgraves, Britney Spears, Lana del Rey, Stevie Nicks.
It’s refreshing to see the Black girls and white girls take up the same grief, music, sun, and joy. “Out of the Strong” does that too, makes a single kind of partial-fantasy world where beauty shimmers over everything. A lot of these stories are, indeed, the fantasy version of a crush or a relationship or a life. The confident, flirty girls who populate the stories are the same ones who show up in candid beach photos in flower crowns, grins and bikinis, or in drawings with tiny waists, high-waisted jeans, and arms around each other’s freckles shoulders. They’re like Shelley in Twin Peaks or the character Winona Ryder plays in Mermaids. They’re cool and sweet and motherly like Janelle Monae in Moonlight, like @_jnatae_ on Insta/TikTok.
There are daydreams of construction workers in yards (Pink Bubblegum and Flowers), of crushes on brothers’ friends (“And Down We Go!”), of safe boys who are friends (“Some are Dark”), of rockstars (“Fast as You”), poolside boys (“The Darl Inn”), finding the right man after a long time of being alone (“Dandelion Light,” “Unknown Legend”), or finding someone in a strange place (“Home Safe,” “Two Cherries,” “Crepuscular”) or realizing you’re with one who can’t make you happy (so many).
This is a blending together story collection, all of them in a similar pink-sunset-high headspace, a limbo that never quite touches on reality. Some of these stories are paired, but with so many, I had mostly forgotten the first story by the time I discovered the second. In most cases, the follow up wasn’t as strong as the original, and dragged them both down. The exception was “Chateau Marmont, Champagne, Chanel” and “California, Keep Us,” which were two of my favourites and which each became more in the reflection of the other.
Though there remained a buzzing excitement throughout this collection, I found that the format of a number of very short stories didn’t work very well for me. I prefer a smaller number of deeper stories, usually. A lot of these felt like experiments, pieces of candy like poems that were surface-level sugary but never quite satisfying.
These were my favourite few:
We, Moons
The Great Barrier Reef
A Tennis Court
Winona Forever
Girlheart Cake with Glitter Frosting*
Chateau Mormont, Champagne, Chanel
/ California, Keep Us
Out of the Strong, Something Sweet*
Some Are Dark, Some Are Light*
And Down We Go!*
Crepuscular
Received in a Goodreads giveaway! It’s taken me a while to finish this collection, but it’s been great company for as much summer as has passed while I’ve read it. This collection is a balance of teenage girl stories—who wear fruity lipgloss and live in the south and have curly hair that smells like flowers—and stories of women in their 30s—who listen to cowboy tunes in bars and think about their teenager crushes, tough and soft and wild girls who have kids and sometimes-boyfriends and still wear lipgloss. The stories are pretty consistently female-led and about straight relationships.
These are glowing stories and summer stories and American girl stories. Some, like “Girlheart Cake,” are lists of what makes the summer American girl. In music, the stories (and some of what Cross-Smith names) are Linda Ronstadt, Ravyn Lenae, Kacey Musgraves, Britney Spears, Lana del Rey, Stevie Nicks.
It’s refreshing to see the Black girls and white girls take up the same grief, music, sun, and joy. “Out of the Strong” does that too, makes a single kind of partial-fantasy world where beauty shimmers over everything. A lot of these stories are, indeed, the fantasy version of a crush or a relationship or a life. The confident, flirty girls who populate the stories are the same ones who show up in candid beach photos in flower crowns, grins and bikinis, or in drawings with tiny waists, high-waisted jeans, and arms around each other’s freckles shoulders. They’re like Shelley in Twin Peaks or the character Winona Ryder plays in Mermaids. They’re cool and sweet and motherly like Janelle Monae in Moonlight, like @_jnatae_ on Insta/TikTok.
There are daydreams of construction workers in yards (Pink Bubblegum and Flowers), of crushes on brothers’ friends (“And Down We Go!”), of safe boys who are friends (“Some are Dark”), of rockstars (“Fast as You”), poolside boys (“The Darl Inn”), finding the right man after a long time of being alone (“Dandelion Light,” “Unknown Legend”), or finding someone in a strange place (“Home Safe,” “Two Cherries,” “Crepuscular”) or realizing you’re with one who can’t make you happy (so many).
This is a blending together story collection, all of them in a similar pink-sunset-high headspace, a limbo that never quite touches on reality. Some of these stories are paired, but with so many, I had mostly forgotten the first story by the time I discovered the second. In most cases, the follow up wasn’t as strong as the original, and dragged them both down. The exception was “Chateau Marmont, Champagne, Chanel” and “California, Keep Us,” which were two of my favourites and which each became more in the reflection of the other.
Though there remained a buzzing excitement throughout this collection, I found that the format of a number of very short stories didn’t work very well for me. I prefer a smaller number of deeper stories, usually. A lot of these felt like experiments, pieces of candy like poems that were surface-level sugary but never quite satisfying.
These were my favourite few:
We, Moons
The Great Barrier Reef
A Tennis Court
Winona Forever
Girlheart Cake with Glitter Frosting*
Chateau Mormont, Champagne, Chanel
/ California, Keep Us
Out of the Strong, Something Sweet*
Some Are Dark, Some Are Light*
And Down We Go!*
Crepuscular
christine_queenofbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for a free e-arc for review. (I switched back and forth between that and an audio copy from my local library.)
So We Can Glow is a lyrical collection of short stories, a few of which play with form. Some of the stories are quite short, others a bit longer, but I couldn't help feeling that each just gives you a taste. I wouldn't call any of them satisfying - Cross-Smith reels you in, then drops you back on into the water, over and over again.
My favorite aspect of these were that some of the (42!) stories were linked (i.e. featuring the same characters you'd already met). That helped me to get my bearings a bit. Often, though, I struggled to connect with this (very good!) collection. Frequently it felt like, just when I'd get into a story, it'd be time for a new one! And then I wouldn't have the easiest time getting into the following story, because my brain/heart wouldn't be done with the previous one.
I'd recommend this collection to anyone who's a fan of metaphors in particular or Sally Rooney's books in general. I also had a much more enjoyable reading experience when I blew through half of it in a day - I know short stories can often be read in isolation, but I think this one works best if you read it in big chunks.
(One caveat: The publisher blurb says that the stories "drench readers in nostalgia for summer nights and sultry days" and I think that's true. I read this collection while staying at home during the coronavirus outbreak. It's possible I'd have loved it, had I not felt so separated from summer nights as they used to be.)
Content warnings: cutting, death of a teenager, prostitution, cigarette smoking, reference to man who gambled and was killed in prison, reference to brother who hanged himself (and grief), miscarriage/grieving over that, unintentional pregnancy, reference to abuse and assault, cheating
So We Can Glow is a lyrical collection of short stories, a few of which play with form. Some of the stories are quite short, others a bit longer, but I couldn't help feeling that each just gives you a taste. I wouldn't call any of them satisfying - Cross-Smith reels you in, then drops you back on into the water, over and over again.
My favorite aspect of these were that some of the (42!) stories were linked (i.e. featuring the same characters you'd already met). That helped me to get my bearings a bit. Often, though, I struggled to connect with this (very good!) collection. Frequently it felt like, just when I'd get into a story, it'd be time for a new one! And then I wouldn't have the easiest time getting into the following story, because my brain/heart wouldn't be done with the previous one.
I'd recommend this collection to anyone who's a fan of metaphors in particular or Sally Rooney's books in general. I also had a much more enjoyable reading experience when I blew through half of it in a day - I know short stories can often be read in isolation, but I think this one works best if you read it in big chunks.
(One caveat: The publisher blurb says that the stories "drench readers in nostalgia for summer nights and sultry days" and I think that's true. I read this collection while staying at home during the coronavirus outbreak. It's possible I'd have loved it, had I not felt so separated from summer nights as they used to be.)
Content warnings: cutting, death of a teenager, prostitution, cigarette smoking, reference to man who gambled and was killed in prison, reference to brother who hanged himself (and grief), miscarriage/grieving over that, unintentional pregnancy, reference to abuse and assault, cheating
laurenv08's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
annalisem's review against another edition
5.0
LOVED this. Rich and thick and clever and considered. Gorgeous time and place.