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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
I don't often read short story collections, but this one is making me rethink that decision. Surprisingly, my least favorite story is the title one. My favorite story was Reeling for the Empire. I could see reading The a Seagull Army in high school, except for the sex (which is probably why it should be read in high school!). Anyway, I loved the complete diversity and creativity of the stories. Highly recommend!
The first two stories are SO GOOD, but it fell off dramatically after that.
Man, did this line make me take pause:
What my ma seemed to want me to do — to hold on to the name without the man — felt very silly to me, like the cartoon where Wile E. Coyote holds on to the handle (just the handle) of an exploded suitcase.
That’s the beauty of Russell’s writing. I remember reading an interview somewhere along the line, where she discussed writing at the sentence level, and that sort of craftsmanship is so evident in all of her stories.
I found that I prefer St. Lucy’s Home to Wayward Home and Swamplandia to this, and said so pretty frequently to others while in the midst of reading.
But once I closed the cover, with that story within a story about the rabbit towards the end of The Graveless Doll of Eric Mutis poised to forever haunt my heart, I find that it was a finer structure than I had originally given it credit for being.
What my ma seemed to want me to do — to hold on to the name without the man — felt very silly to me, like the cartoon where Wile E. Coyote holds on to the handle (just the handle) of an exploded suitcase.
That’s the beauty of Russell’s writing. I remember reading an interview somewhere along the line, where she discussed writing at the sentence level, and that sort of craftsmanship is so evident in all of her stories.
I found that I prefer St. Lucy’s Home to Wayward Home and Swamplandia to this, and said so pretty frequently to others while in the midst of reading.
But once I closed the cover, with that story within a story about the rabbit towards the end of The Graveless Doll of Eric Mutis poised to forever haunt my heart, I find that it was a finer structure than I had originally given it credit for being.
A collection of mostly dark, haunting, and humorous-horrific stories, each with its own unique voice. I appreciated the deep emotional truths presented in each of these otherworldly settings and her clever writing. A bit of a letdown from Swamplandia!, though I did enjoy almost every story here, especially the title story, Proving Up, The Barn at the End of Our Term, and Reeling For The Empire.
this book was so so beautifully written. definitely going to buy it and read more of Karen Russel's books just due to this one. A more believable take on vampires.
I fell in love with Karen Russell's writing style when I read "Swamplandia!" a few years back (see that review here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1748721347?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1), so I was very excited to pick up this short story collection. And I was not disappointed! This was a mostly delightful tour through the author's strange and marvelous imagination.
The title story is evocative and darkly comic. A morose vampire named Clyde, whose thirst is slaked by lemon juice, spends his days in the Italian sun with his vampire companion, Magreb. Though Magreb argues that none of the old myths are true and that any blood lust they feel is imaginary, Clyde struggles to rid himself of his desire for the red stuff.
I also really enjoyed "Reeling for the Empire," which concerns a group of Japanese women who become human silkworms. They are kept captive by a faceless organization and spend all day producing their silk. This is a body horror story told beautifully, and I did not anticipate the ending.
My favorite story, for its sheer ridiculousness and hilarity, is "The Barn at the End of Our Term." It's not a spoiler to say that this story is about a bunch of US presidents finding themselves reincarnated as horses! Can it get any better than that?
I also really liked "Proving Up," which is about the lengths a family would go to in order to settle their tract of land on the prairie under the Homestead Act, and the dangers of that isolated setting.
No two stories are alike, and they range in setting from 1800s American Midwest to modern day Australia to the Italian countryside to Antarctica. All in all, a great collection.
The title story is evocative and darkly comic. A morose vampire named Clyde, whose thirst is slaked by lemon juice, spends his days in the Italian sun with his vampire companion, Magreb. Though Magreb argues that none of the old myths are true and that any blood lust they feel is imaginary, Clyde struggles to rid himself of his desire for the red stuff.
I also really enjoyed "Reeling for the Empire," which concerns a group of Japanese women who become human silkworms. They are kept captive by a faceless organization and spend all day producing their silk. This is a body horror story told beautifully, and I did not anticipate the ending.
My favorite story, for its sheer ridiculousness and hilarity, is "The Barn at the End of Our Term." It's not a spoiler to say that this story is about a bunch of US presidents finding themselves reincarnated as horses! Can it get any better than that?
I also really liked "Proving Up," which is about the lengths a family would go to in order to settle their tract of land on the prairie under the Homestead Act, and the dangers of that isolated setting.
No two stories are alike, and they range in setting from 1800s American Midwest to modern day Australia to the Italian countryside to Antarctica. All in all, a great collection.
Overall, a good collection of short stories. My favorites were Reeling for the Empire and The New Veterans. Others were pretty good, but some of the stories were really flat, especially The Seagull Army Descends on Strong Beach, 1979 and Dougbert Shackleton’s Rules For Antarctic Tailgating.
I was a little disappointed with this collection, I loved her first collection so much and I just assumed this would be brilliant, but most of the stories just didn’t click with me though. The first three stories were amazing though (so I gave it a star for each) especially ‘Reeling for the Empire’
