Scan barcode
lolajoan's review
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This book of short stories is complicated. Some of it feels like the kind of stories that if you really worked hard enough there be some transcendental flare of meaning, but some of them just seem sad twists of absurdity. There's the germ of her later books discernible, so you can kind of see how incisive and insightful she'll become in her writing, but some of these just seem like exercises for the sake of being weird.
katiewagner's review against another edition
4.0
What a fun, unique short story collection! I enjoyed reading each of them, although all ended abruptly, as if the author wants us to use our imagination for what’s to come. With no rhyme or reason to the stories, it seems there should be an underlining meaning that I could not pick up on, but that somehow seemed intentional from the author.
alicroz34's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.5
This book is like I Think You Should Leave for literature: short stories where nothing goes the way you expected. In fact, sentences that don't go the way you expected. But there's something brilliant & charming & dark about every one.
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
suzannasati's review
fast-paced
3.75
Short and brutal stories that often reflect the ways the world is brutal, particularly to women who are so often punished in fairy tale as in life.
bosstoes2's review against another edition
4.0
THIS is why we love Sheila!!! Would recommend reading out loud w a pal!
lacywolfe's review against another edition
3.0
This is one of the most interesting collections of short stories that I've ever read. Weird, unsettling, fun.
beckyisbookish's review against another edition
5.0
and she realized that she was twenty-one, and she thought of her life, "What a waste," and nothing convinced her otherwise.
Walking past a fountain on his way to the train station, he passed a girl of late teenage years who was blond and who he supposed would like the companionship of a man like him. Dragging her into the park he tore out two-thirds of her hair.
These were best described to me as "short brutalities". I like that. That's exactly what these are. And they were fantastic.
Walking past a fountain on his way to the train station, he passed a girl of late teenage years who was blond and who he supposed would like the companionship of a man like him. Dragging her into the park he tore out two-thirds of her hair.
These were best described to me as "short brutalities". I like that. That's exactly what these are. And they were fantastic.