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jess_mango's review against another edition
4.0
A weird, interesting, clever collection of short stories. Most of these stories have a twist of the fantastic about them...a couple feature zombies, one features a unicorn, another a sentient video game character. It was a fun read.
leigh_ann_15_deaf's review
1.0
I'm focusing specifically on "The Sounds of Early Morning," which features a deaf character.
The author is clearly trying to do something metaphorical with sound-as-weapon and deaf-as-protection, but it's completely lost on me because nothing about how the sound affects people makes any sense.
So, the unnamed POV character cannot hear, but acutely feels vibrations like her dog barking, to the point that she takes cover behind a couch to muffle the vibrations. She also uses an afghan and knit hats to muffle vibrations? This isn't how soundproofing works at all.
She has been traumatically deafened by knife to "protect" her ears. Not sure how this works--the knife would have had to destroy the inner ear in order to render the world completely silent, which would lead to all manner of issues like infection, chronic pain, etc.
Even the slightest sound could be fatal to the POV character. A cat yowls at a bird, rendering it unconscious as it flies, and is able to catch it. And yet literally screaming at a dog doesn't kill the dog, and a dog barking doesn't kill the humans hearing it, and a group of raggedy murderous children doesn't kill anyone, either. Literally, a whole group of local children band together to voice at her, and run away unsettled when nothing happens. (Why are the kids immune to each others' voices??) But then they come back and throw rocks at her.
It's probably a play on "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me," but this story is so, so weak/underdeveloped. It's told in such a strange, convoluted way that it just doesn't strike me as magical realism, which is what the collection purports to be. There's nothing realistic about it. In fact, it's often downright ridiculous.
PS. I don't understand why she had to close her eyes when approaching the dog? The confusion of senses also detracts from the story. It just doesn't seem to have any sort of logic behind it. Why wouldn't she just...open the door and wait for the dog to run out?? What's stopping the dog from coming back after she screams at it?
The author is clearly trying to do something metaphorical with sound-as-weapon and deaf-as-protection, but it's completely lost on me because nothing about how the sound affects people makes any sense.
So, the unnamed POV character cannot hear, but acutely feels vibrations like her dog barking, to the point that she takes cover behind a couch to muffle the vibrations. She also uses an afghan and knit hats to muffle vibrations? This isn't how soundproofing works at all.
She has been traumatically deafened by knife to "protect" her ears. Not sure how this works--the knife would have had to destroy the inner ear in order to render the world completely silent, which would lead to all manner of issues like infection, chronic pain, etc.
Even the slightest sound could be fatal to the POV character. A cat yowls at a bird, rendering it unconscious as it flies, and is able to catch it. And yet literally screaming at a dog doesn't kill the dog, and a dog barking doesn't kill the humans hearing it, and a group of raggedy murderous children doesn't kill anyone, either. Literally, a whole group of local children band together to voice at her, and run away unsettled when nothing happens. (Why are the kids immune to each others' voices??) But then they come back and throw rocks at her.
It's probably a play on "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me," but this story is so, so weak/underdeveloped. It's told in such a strange, convoluted way that it just doesn't strike me as magical realism, which is what the collection purports to be. There's nothing realistic about it. In fact, it's often downright ridiculous.
PS. I don't understand why she had to close her eyes when approaching the dog? The confusion of senses also detracts from the story. It just doesn't seem to have any sort of logic behind it. Why wouldn't she just...open the door and wait for the dog to run out?? What's stopping the dog from coming back after she screams at it?
Deaf reader reviewing books with deaf characters. This book is listed on my ranked list of books with deaf characters: https://slacowan.com/2023/01/14/ranked-deaf-characters-in-fiction.
louisakellogg's review
Really did not like this. Felt like what AI would spit out if you fed it a bunch of George Saunders. I love George Saunders, but this felt like a hollow imitation.
ridgewaygirl's review against another edition
4.0
In The Miniature Wife and Other Stories by Manuel Gonzales hijacked planes circle in perpetuity, a man frozen in a contorted position manages to speak through his ears, zombies roam shopping malls and something mysterious is killing the animals kept in an abandoned house. There's a surfeit of imagination here; each short story starts with a premise that would fuel a sizable novel. In the title story, for example, a scientist accidentally shrinks his wife, with whom he had not been getting along. Naturally, shrinking her does not improve their relationship and an odd, unequal battle ensues. Each story is so different from the previous, that reading several at one go never becomes repetitive. My only caveat is that some stories are all about the fantastic hook, leaving a somewhat heartless center to the imaginative shell, but not all of them; one even made me tear up. Gonzales may someday be a literary heavyweight.
sleighhh's review
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.5
thebookishattitude's review against another edition
4.0
MIND BLOWN
The thing you need to know about this book and it short story content, is it nothing I repeat Nothing like what your expecting.
It is wack, it is rash, its defiantly bold and daring.
It is also in part hilarious and disgusting, and probably scientifically inaccurate or completely accurate, I wouldn't know, Science was never my thing.
I highly enjoyed this book based on its ridiculousness, I was one of those kids who lived on books by authors like Andy Griffiths and this collection by Manuel Gonzales
instantly reminded me of that, if not the more "grown" up version.
The thing you need to know about this book and it short story content, is it nothing I repeat Nothing like what your expecting.
It is wack, it is rash, its defiantly bold and daring.
It is also in part hilarious and disgusting, and probably scientifically inaccurate or completely accurate, I wouldn't know, Science was never my thing.
I highly enjoyed this book based on its ridiculousness, I was one of those kids who lived on books by authors like Andy Griffiths and this collection by Manuel Gonzales
instantly reminded me of that, if not the more "grown" up version.
hanntastic's review against another edition
2.0
Some of the stories were clever, but most just seemed like ideas for stories rather than actual stories.
chirptrip's review against another edition
5.0
4.8 Rounded up
Shoutout to whoever donated this to a used bookstore I went into on a whim, I found this there and loved it!
Man, I really needed this collection to remind me that I like reading. The stories had me hooked, the concepts and spec. fiction aspects were good, the flow and inner character monologues and dialog felt extremely natural (and funny at times), and it really made me like reading again.
Highlights (hopefullyI won't reiterate the whole book lol):
Pilot, Copilot, Writer
The titular story (would the phrase "girlboss" fit here? You decide, lol.
The majority of the "A Meritorious Life" stories
The Artist's Voice
The two zombie-themed stories
"Wolf!"
The Disappearance of the Sebali Tribe
& Farewell, Africa
... okay, so I might have just mentioned like 7/10ths of the book, but still, it's really good.
Read this book if you want to get back into reading again. It has a good flow that makes you want to read more!
Shoutout to whoever donated this to a used bookstore I went into on a whim, I found this there and loved it!
Man, I really needed this collection to remind me that I like reading. The stories had me hooked, the concepts and spec. fiction aspects were good, the flow and inner character monologues and dialog felt extremely natural (and funny at times), and it really made me like reading again.
Highlights (hopefullyI won't reiterate the whole book lol):
Pilot, Copilot, Writer
The titular story (would the phrase "girlboss" fit here? You decide, lol.
The majority of the "A Meritorious Life" stories
The Artist's Voice
The two zombie-themed stories
"Wolf!"
The Disappearance of the Sebali Tribe
& Farewell, Africa
... okay, so I might have just mentioned like 7/10ths of the book, but still, it's really good.
Read this book if you want to get back into reading again. It has a good flow that makes you want to read more!