You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
hopeful
medium-paced
An excellent collection of stories — inventive and fresh and fascinating!
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Beautiful vignettes of queerness. A compelling collection of characters who all experienced their identities and relationships differently. Some stories captured me more than others, but that’s to be expected.
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Manywhere is a collection of short stories that talks about different queer and genderqueer experiences throughout various time periods. The writing style is very interesting, and the way it's written is such that the stories are on the border of reality and magic. When I read the synopsis I was very excited to read this, and I expected to love it. The stories are interesting, but I can't say I enjoyed all of them. Maybe some of them went over my head.
While I did think all of the stories were interesting, my favorites were Transit, The Daring life of Philippa Cook the Rogue, and Bump. The ones I enjoyed the least were That Drowning Place and Surrogate - for all I tried, I didn't understand them. The rest I didn't find bad, they simply left less of an impression on me.
All of these stories deal with topics of finding yourself, feeling of exclusion, and finding a place for yourself in the world. They deal with topics of family, of doing what's right for you, and how it affects other aspects of life. I enjoyed the writing style, despite saying that I didn't understand all of the stories. I think the writing is one of the strongest aspects of this collection.
As I mentioned, the stories span several different time periods, with Taylor Johnson's Lightning Man talking about the early 1900s, The Daring life of Philippa Cook the Rogue taking place in part in the 18th century, and The Expectations of Cooper Hill talking about the 1920s and most stories being set in the present day. I am not from the US so I did find myself searching for additional information on many of the things mentioned. I don't mean this in a negative way in the slightest - I enjoyed researching the historical context of some of these stories.
I did like most of the stories' protagonists, even when I didn't enjoy the stories as a whole - I like that all of them felt real. They felt tangible, like real people you may know. They were at times flawed, selfish, and messy but they are human. That's what I think this collection is about - showing all kinds of people and their experiences.
cw: I did want to mention that the first story uses the word g*psy to describe Roma, the context is historic and I suppose that at the time it would've been the commonly used word, but I wanted to mention that. And in the story Transit are depicted eating disorders, and self-harm, so take that into consideration before reading.
My rating might seem like I disliked the book but in truth, with collections, it is inevitable that not all of the stories will work for you. Some of them were simply too vague for my liking. If this collection interests you, I would still recommend it as it is interesting.
I received the arc through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
While I did think all of the stories were interesting, my favorites were Transit, The Daring life of Philippa Cook the Rogue, and Bump. The ones I enjoyed the least were That Drowning Place and Surrogate - for all I tried, I didn't understand them. The rest I didn't find bad, they simply left less of an impression on me.
All of these stories deal with topics of finding yourself, feeling of exclusion, and finding a place for yourself in the world. They deal with topics of family, of doing what's right for you, and how it affects other aspects of life. I enjoyed the writing style, despite saying that I didn't understand all of the stories. I think the writing is one of the strongest aspects of this collection.
As I mentioned, the stories span several different time periods, with Taylor Johnson's Lightning Man talking about the early 1900s, The Daring life of Philippa Cook the Rogue taking place in part in the 18th century, and The Expectations of Cooper Hill talking about the 1920s and most stories being set in the present day. I am not from the US so I did find myself searching for additional information on many of the things mentioned. I don't mean this in a negative way in the slightest - I enjoyed researching the historical context of some of these stories.
I did like most of the stories' protagonists, even when I didn't enjoy the stories as a whole - I like that all of them felt real. They felt tangible, like real people you may know. They were at times flawed, selfish, and messy but they are human. That's what I think this collection is about - showing all kinds of people and their experiences.
cw: I did want to mention that the first story uses the word g*psy to describe Roma, the context is historic and I suppose that at the time it would've been the commonly used word, but I wanted to mention that. And in the story Transit are depicted eating disorders, and self-harm, so take that into consideration before reading.
My rating might seem like I disliked the book but in truth, with collections, it is inevitable that not all of the stories will work for you. Some of them were simply too vague for my liking. If this collection interests you, I would still recommend it as it is interesting.
I received the arc through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Mostly I just thought this was okay! The writing didn’t really wow me, and the stories were either kind of hard to follow (I didn’t know about the magical realism aspect until I was embarrassingly far into it, I just thought I was a dummy for not understanding what was going on) or kind of boring. I did enjoy the connective theme of history and time, how we see ourselves in the past and how queer people have always existed. The characters in each story were pretty interesting, but I’m mostly leaving this collection wishing for more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder
Minor: Transphobia