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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
Des nouvelles voguant autour des thèmes de l'obsession, la transformation, la liberté ; le tout prenant des formes différentes dans chaque histoire. Un beau tour de force même si mon engouement n'était pas le même pour chaque texte.
3.5/5
3.5/5
loved some of the short stories but so many felt so bland…..by the time i got to the end i had been let down by so many unsatisfying endings that i was bored. karen i still love you girl
Karen Russell has quickly risen to the top of my list of favorite authors. After reading Orange World last summer I was eager to read more of her short stories and I was equally obsessed with this one.
I love her ability to mix reality with a little bit of horror and dark fairy tale. I am in constant awe of how creative her stories are. When I describe her stories, it feels like describing a strange dream that the other person doesn't fully understand unless they've experienced it.
Some of my favorites from this collection:
-Vampires in the Lemon Grove
-Reeling for the Empire (!!!!)
-Proving Up
-The Barn at the End of Our Term
-Dougbert Shackleton's Rules for Antarctic Tailgating
-The Seagull Army Descends on Strong Beach, 1979
I love her ability to mix reality with a little bit of horror and dark fairy tale. I am in constant awe of how creative her stories are. When I describe her stories, it feels like describing a strange dream that the other person doesn't fully understand unless they've experienced it.
Some of my favorites from this collection:
-Vampires in the Lemon Grove
-Reeling for the Empire (!!!!)
-Proving Up
-The Barn at the End of Our Term
-Dougbert Shackleton's Rules for Antarctic Tailgating
-The Seagull Army Descends on Strong Beach, 1979
The stories are too slow and there isn't enough action or a real reason for me to follow it and that I find quite boring after a while. It's a pity because they're definitely original and there are some small bits that are fun but not enough to warrant listening to the all of the stories I only listen to the first two of them.
I love this book.
I LOVE THIS BOOK!
It makes me wish I’d given short story collections more of a chance! I never knew that the medium could be so symbolic and poetic. Russell has shown me the true power of a GOOD short story. This isn’t the stuff you’ve read in grade school, it’s so much more. Chaotic and beautiful, atrocious and lovely, it’s what stories are meant to be.
The writing is consistent throughout the book, even when characters change, and the tones of the writing change with those characters. Which is such a hard thing to do— I’ve read so many books that deal with the same character and the writing will be very inconsistent— but this? Oh my god it was heaven. I love this. So much. The writing is so brilliant, and shows when it needs to. I love that. I’d definitely recommend this for anyone who loves short stories or Ray Bradbury! This book was such a rare treat— stories were mysterious, well crafted, and full of heart, you can tell the writer really does care about the characters. I definitely will read again!
I LOVE THIS BOOK!
It makes me wish I’d given short story collections more of a chance! I never knew that the medium could be so symbolic and poetic. Russell has shown me the true power of a GOOD short story. This isn’t the stuff you’ve read in grade school, it’s so much more. Chaotic and beautiful, atrocious and lovely, it’s what stories are meant to be.
The writing is consistent throughout the book, even when characters change, and the tones of the writing change with those characters. Which is such a hard thing to do— I’ve read so many books that deal with the same character and the writing will be very inconsistent— but this? Oh my god it was heaven. I love this. So much. The writing is so brilliant, and shows when it needs to. I love that. I’d definitely recommend this for anyone who loves short stories or Ray Bradbury! This book was such a rare treat— stories were mysterious, well crafted, and full of heart, you can tell the writer really does care about the characters. I definitely will read again!
This collection came highly recommended but I didn’t really connect with it. The prose was unnecessarily dense and difficult to understand - I often found myself zoning out and having to re-read the same sentence multiple times. The stories in this collection are also so vastly different from one another that it almost felt like whiplash.
dark
emotional
mysterious
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:
N/A
One of the stories is great, two are good, most are mediocre, and one is bad.
I enjoyed this collection of short stories as much as Russell's previous anthology, [b:St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves|47085|St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves|Karen Russell|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320472492s/47085.jpg|301652]. Her writing continues to be strong, imaginative, unique and completely engaging. All of the stories contain elements of quirkiness and the best ones combine this with relatable themes and memorable events. My least favorite two, "The Barn at the End of Our Term" and "Dougbert Shackleton's Rules for Antarctic Tailgating," verge on being too ridiculous and didn't envelop me as a reader. I also was disappointed with the ending of "The Seagull Army Descends on Strong Beach, 1979" since the premise is so fantastic and promising. However, "Reeling for the Empire" completely embraces its weirdness and I desperately wanted it to keep going to find out what happened next, and "Proving Up" is as spooky and unnerving as any classic ghost story told around a campfire. Definitely well worth reading.
Story: 1 star
Characters: 2 stars
Prose/Language: 4 stars
A beautifully written collection of short stories that have absolutely nothing to say. Each story premise was promising - former US presidents reincarnated as horses, vampires who love lemons over blood - but ultimately lead nowhere and really don't appear to say anything. Like dreams that wander aimlessly.
Characters: 2 stars
Prose/Language: 4 stars
A beautifully written collection of short stories that have absolutely nothing to say. Each story premise was promising - former US presidents reincarnated as horses, vampires who love lemons over blood - but ultimately lead nowhere and really don't appear to say anything. Like dreams that wander aimlessly.