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meghan111's review
3.0
"And what is a love affair if not a little boat, pushing off from shore, its tilting, untethered bob, its sensitivity to one's quietest gestures?"
"Her body was like a tract of nature that she understood perfectly - a constellation whose movement across the night sky she could predict, or a gathering storm, or maybe, more accurately, a sparkling stream of elements into which she introduced alcohol with such careful calibration that her blood flowed exactly as she desired, uphill and down, intersecting precisely, chemically, with time and fertility."
ndwollin's review
5.0
I love this book so much. I was in a terrible reading slump and this was the perfect fix. These short stories were light and very quick reads (obviously) but I still found that I was drawn into each story and actually cared about the characters. Rebecca Lee did an amazing job with this, and I'd love to read more of her work.
horthhill's review
2.0
"Bobcat and other stories" by Rebecca Lee is a collection of stories that I found to be somewhat disappointing. The title story "Bobcat" takes place during a dinner party. A story about an encounter with a bobcat unfolds during dinner. By the end of the evening, the bobcat's reality is doubted just as much as the happy marriages of the guests is doubted. An epilogue to the story set several months later recounts the break up of some of those couples. In short, a story's surfaces hides its depth.
rocketiza's review
3.0
While I liked her prose, I found the stories to all be fairly boring, and sometimes opting to try and seem smarter than they were at the price of sincerity.
peelspls's review
3.0
I was struggling with 3.5 stars because the author does write well, but the sentences are incredibly labored and all of her protagonist/narrators seem to be similar people. The predominant themes that underline the book are infidelity and the "youth and innocence" of the college experience of majoring in the Humanities. Almost no couple in this collection goes untouched without infidelity, separation, conflict and the slow (and frighteningly certain?) decomposition of relationships.
Almost all of the stories intersect with an important historical theme or timeline. Almost all the protagonists seem to be ridden with some sort of internal neurosis or angst about the beauty that they have found or not found in the world they inhabit, which while intensely romantic, also strikes me as unreal in perception. Maybe it's an intentional paradox that the author intends to create, but it's hard to believe that these protagonists carry such nuanced degrees of omniscience while suffering through the grittier travails of life.
I would say my favorite story in the collection was "Min", especially since I could relate to the poetry of the grandmother who left behind notes while filtering her prospective daughters-in-law. At the close when Sarah envisions Min and Rapti in their futuristic relationship, she finds their child to be the union of all of Asia and that was perhaps one of my favorite sentences in this book.
Almost all of the stories intersect with an important historical theme or timeline. Almost all the protagonists seem to be ridden with some sort of internal neurosis or angst about the beauty that they have found or not found in the world they inhabit, which while intensely romantic, also strikes me as unreal in perception. Maybe it's an intentional paradox that the author intends to create, but it's hard to believe that these protagonists carry such nuanced degrees of omniscience while suffering through the grittier travails of life.
I would say my favorite story in the collection was "Min", especially since I could relate to the poetry of the grandmother who left behind notes while filtering her prospective daughters-in-law. At the close when Sarah envisions Min and Rapti in their futuristic relationship, she finds their child to be the union of all of Asia and that was perhaps one of my favorite sentences in this book.
emjay24's review against another edition
2.0
I read the first few of these short stories. They are fiction, not about much at all. The first one, Bobcat, was the best, and then they were getting worse, so I stopped reading. These stories may be for others, just not for me.
wizkid_alex's review
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
3.75
Lots of short stories. Some weird and confusing, some interesting. Almost all of them involve some inappropriate relationship or something bad happening in a relationship. But overall pretty good read
erik_gamlem's review
1.0
There are a few reasons why I didn't finish this book. I picked this off the shelf of of a friend who worked at an alt-weekly in town. I picked up some other books that were more my speed at the time and focused on those. My editor friend never asked about this book and it's good because I hate it. I mean it was some of the most privileged white girl whining bullshit I've ever read. The writing itself is good, but not good enough to make me give two shits about any of the women and their vacant lives. Antipathy is not the same as hate. I mean, I just wanted them all to die so their lives wouldn't be so boring. My editor friend is no longer at the paper, so I don't owe her a review, which is good, because I don't think I could even do justice trashing this.
wordsmithreads's review
4.0
I have never been a short story person. The only short story in my life that's really stuck with me has been The Most Dangerous Game, which I was made to read at least 5 times throughout middle and high school. A friend of mine swears by short story collections, so I have tried.
But the previous problem is all of my short story collections have been "weird": [b:Gutshot|22237153|Gutshot|Amelia Gray|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405015536l/22237153._SX50_.jpg|41610669] ; [b:St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves|47085|St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves|Karen Russell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388816410l/47085._SX50_.jpg|301652] ; [b:His Hideous Heart|39127647|His Hideous Heart|Dahlia Adler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1551462502l/39127647._SX50_.jpg|60732077] ; [b:Swamplandia!|40940157|Swamplandia!|Karen Russell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1532478763l/40940157._SY75_.jpg|13438215] ; [b:Orange World and Other Stories|42063901|Orange World and Other Stories|Karen Russell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1544105497l/42063901._SY75_.jpg|69895397] ; [b:Stories of Your Life and Others|223380|Stories of Your Life and Others|Ted Chiang|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1356138316l/223380._SY75_.jpg|216334] ; [b:Get in Trouble|22125258|Get in Trouble|Kelly Link|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1400856552l/22125258._SX50_.jpg|41463275] ; [b:I Hold a Wolf by the Ears|53113329|I Hold a Wolf by the Ears|Laura van den Berg|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568398844l/53113329._SX50_SY75_.jpg|73348930] ; [b:The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories|24885533|The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories|Ken Liu|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1511290092l/24885533._SY75_.jpg|44534169]. There have absolutely been some stories that I have read and loved, but on the whole I've been lukewarm.
I expressed this to this friend, who recommended me a handful of "normal" stories, Rebecca Lee's collection being the one to start with. My instructions: start with "Fialta" and if I don't like it, quit the collection.
"Fialta" is definitely the most beautifully written, even if the plot to me is still ~ weird ~. Lee writes what I would call dreamy fiction — while you're reading it, it all feels totally plausible. It's only when you're explaining it to another person that you realize wait a second, people don't act like that. That said, I still enjoyed the collection, specifically the way Lee uses her language to make you feel and see and think exactly what she intends. Examples:
Each wanted the other to be happy and content, and each knew that the way to make the other happy was to be happy himself. (Min)
But the Bible is clear; children will have a destiny, and they will have a mountain, and all you can do is accompany them with the terrible knowledge of all the difficulties they will encounter. (World Party, my favorite story of the collection)
Her clothes were as plain as possible and her hair pulled back in a ponytail, all as is she were trying to overcome beauty, but this would be like lashing down sails in a high wind. You might get a hand on one stretch, but then the rest would fly away, billowing out. (Fialta, and my favorite line in the collection)
If you have ever felt that the table at which you sit contains everything and everybody that matters to you, like a little boat, then you know how I felt. It doesn't feel secure at all, but rather a little tipsy. (Fialta)
In all: one of the better short story collections I've read, but I still don't think I'm sold on short stories as a medium. They feel like cliffhanger episodes of canceled TV shows: they end right as things are getting good, and never resolve.
But the previous problem is all of my short story collections have been "weird": [b:Gutshot|22237153|Gutshot|Amelia Gray|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405015536l/22237153._SX50_.jpg|41610669] ; [b:St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves|47085|St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves|Karen Russell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388816410l/47085._SX50_.jpg|301652] ; [b:His Hideous Heart|39127647|His Hideous Heart|Dahlia Adler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1551462502l/39127647._SX50_.jpg|60732077] ; [b:Swamplandia!|40940157|Swamplandia!|Karen Russell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1532478763l/40940157._SY75_.jpg|13438215] ; [b:Orange World and Other Stories|42063901|Orange World and Other Stories|Karen Russell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1544105497l/42063901._SY75_.jpg|69895397] ; [b:Stories of Your Life and Others|223380|Stories of Your Life and Others|Ted Chiang|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1356138316l/223380._SY75_.jpg|216334] ; [b:Get in Trouble|22125258|Get in Trouble|Kelly Link|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1400856552l/22125258._SX50_.jpg|41463275] ; [b:I Hold a Wolf by the Ears|53113329|I Hold a Wolf by the Ears|Laura van den Berg|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568398844l/53113329._SX50_SY75_.jpg|73348930] ; [b:The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories|24885533|The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories|Ken Liu|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1511290092l/24885533._SY75_.jpg|44534169]. There have absolutely been some stories that I have read and loved, but on the whole I've been lukewarm.
I expressed this to this friend, who recommended me a handful of "normal" stories, Rebecca Lee's collection being the one to start with. My instructions: start with "Fialta" and if I don't like it, quit the collection.
"Fialta" is definitely the most beautifully written, even if the plot to me is still ~ weird ~. Lee writes what I would call dreamy fiction — while you're reading it, it all feels totally plausible. It's only when you're explaining it to another person that you realize wait a second, people don't act like that. That said, I still enjoyed the collection, specifically the way Lee uses her language to make you feel and see and think exactly what she intends. Examples:
Each wanted the other to be happy and content, and each knew that the way to make the other happy was to be happy himself. (Min)
But the Bible is clear; children will have a destiny, and they will have a mountain, and all you can do is accompany them with the terrible knowledge of all the difficulties they will encounter. (World Party, my favorite story of the collection)
Her clothes were as plain as possible and her hair pulled back in a ponytail, all as is she were trying to overcome beauty, but this would be like lashing down sails in a high wind. You might get a hand on one stretch, but then the rest would fly away, billowing out. (Fialta, and my favorite line in the collection)
If you have ever felt that the table at which you sit contains everything and everybody that matters to you, like a little boat, then you know how I felt. It doesn't feel secure at all, but rather a little tipsy. (Fialta)
In all: one of the better short story collections I've read, but I still don't think I'm sold on short stories as a medium. They feel like cliffhanger episodes of canceled TV shows: they end right as things are getting good, and never resolve.