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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
I liked the best of these stories as much as anything in Karen Russell's first collection--St. Lucy's Home For Girls Raised by Wolves--but it had more stories that fell flat. Overall, however, amazingly well recounted fantastic tales delivered in a realistic manner that are primarily about the imagination and secondarily about almost comically unrealistic yearnings and desires.
My favorite was "Reeling for the Empire" which was about girls in Meiji Japan who were purchased from their families, turned into giant silkworms, and put to work spinning for the empire. A close second is the title story, "Vampires in the Lemon Grove", which is about older vampires trying to avoid blood while sucking on lemons in an Italian lemon grove. I also liked "The New Veterans", which was about a massage therapist who could manipulate a veterans feelings/memories by massaging the highly realistic tattoo of a battle he had on his back.
"The Barn at the End of Our Term" and "Dougbert Shackleton's Rules for Antarctic Tailgating" were both amusing trifles but not much more, the former about eleven President's reincarnated as horses in a barn on a farm scheming to run again and the later about an obsessive supporter of "team krill" in the competition against the whales, although he is also realistic that they have never won a competition.
I did not really get into the other three stories to anywhere the same degree.
My favorite was "Reeling for the Empire" which was about girls in Meiji Japan who were purchased from their families, turned into giant silkworms, and put to work spinning for the empire. A close second is the title story, "Vampires in the Lemon Grove", which is about older vampires trying to avoid blood while sucking on lemons in an Italian lemon grove. I also liked "The New Veterans", which was about a massage therapist who could manipulate a veterans feelings/memories by massaging the highly realistic tattoo of a battle he had on his back.
"The Barn at the End of Our Term" and "Dougbert Shackleton's Rules for Antarctic Tailgating" were both amusing trifles but not much more, the former about eleven President's reincarnated as horses in a barn on a farm scheming to run again and the later about an obsessive supporter of "team krill" in the competition against the whales, although he is also realistic that they have never won a competition.
I did not really get into the other three stories to anywhere the same degree.
An entertaining collection of off-beat short stories. I listened to the audio version, which had a different narrator for each story. I enjoyed some more than others, but they were all really unique.
Read for book club.
Thoughts:
-Creepy funny creepy funny creepy funny creepy
-Ending a story without resolution ups the creepiness by a factor of 10.
-Would I really ding 1 star because after reading this at bedtime I had a dream about the scariest thing in the world, scarecrows? Yes, yes, I would.
-"I am definitely never reading Karen Russell again."
-"Hi, do you have 'Swamplandia' by Karen Russell in stock?"
Thoughts:
-Creepy funny creepy funny creepy funny creepy
-Ending a story without resolution ups the creepiness by a factor of 10.
-Would I really ding 1 star because after reading this at bedtime I had a dream about the scariest thing in the world, scarecrows? Yes, yes, I would.
-"I am definitely never reading Karen Russell again."
-"Hi, do you have 'Swamplandia' by Karen Russell in stock?"
Wow! What an imagination. I enjoyed this collection so much, highly recommend.
Unsettling, haunting, and usually sad, Karen Russell's short story collection ticked all of my boxes. Although in many of these stories, the characters are usually inhuman in some form or another, Russell deftly and unexpectedly exposes human emotions that are easy to sympathize with and understand. I'd recommend this collection to anyone who loves: slightly off-putting inhuman creatures, sad inhuman creatures, & stories that gives you a bit of goosebumps.
I loved this set of stories. My favorite story was “Reeling for the Empire”. I love the magical realism... the stories that are totally normal until they aren’t. Karen Russell is a favorite of mine!!!
As long as more than half the stories in a collection are great, I claim the book as great. Almost all of these stories have stuck in my brain for weeks now and continue to make me think about them.
Audio version is phenomenal.
Audio version is phenomenal.
enjoyed “vampires in the lemon grove” and “reeling for the empire” so much! some of the others were definitely not stories I would have chosen were they not in this collection, but enjoyed the writing style throughout
5 stars!! reeling for the empire lives in my brain permanently now. the others are not quite as incredible, but they are so Creative. i like proving up too, especially followed by the barn at the end of our term. i am going to read her other short story collection
Unsettling, haunting, and usually sad, Karen Russell's short story collection ticked all of my boxes. Although in many of these stories, the characters are usually inhuman in some form or another, Russell deftly and unexpectedly exposes human emotions that are easy to sympathize with and understand. I'd recommend this collection to anyone who loves: slightly off-putting inhuman creatures, sad inhuman creatures, & stories that gives you a bit of goosebumps.