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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
A collection of short stories, that are completely different from each other, very unusual, and a lot of fun to read.
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Almost every story has an immediately fascinating core concept. Some pay off more than others in the end. The last story, though, is just fantastic.
Russell is a critical darling, but these short stories sparked no joy for me.
I read this book 2 months ago and forgot to write a review at the time. I picked it up from the library on a whim, but it did not pay off. This is a collection of short stories, and I found the majority of them to be really uninteresting. The only story I liked was the one about the women in the silk factory. Sometimes the ideas were good but the execution was just lacking to me. I'm not a short story reader so maybe I'm just not used to the style, but I was just thankful the stories were short to get them over with.
I loved a few stories in this collection, namely “Vampires in the Lemon Grove,” “Reeling for the Empire” and “New Veterans.” However, the other stories in the collection (and even the ones I liked, at times) often read like early drafts. The ideas are brilliant, the characters and situations fascinating, but I sometimes felt like the author didn’t sit with them long enough to really get to know them. Instead, it felt like the next step in the plot was whatever came to her mind. It’s a shame because with some good revision, these stories could have gone from OK to awesome. I wonder if Russell was counting on the shock value of the stories’ premises to carry the collection. With such inventive material being written in the magical realism sub genre these days, it just doesn’t hold up.
This is some of the best writing I have ever read
Strange feelings about this book. Swamplandia was one of my all-time faves and I guess I expected something a little more personal. I can't say I disliked the stories in this book — thinking back, each one of them was good and very moving — but the book also felt like a bit of a slog, lacking the crisp detail which made me love her previous works.
This collection of short stories was entertaining. All of them were a little bit spooky, and lots of ambiguity going on. Enjoyable.