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tiffreadsbooks's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent little book of short stories. The voices are so real. As a new comer to Maine, this book really helped me get a view into the real anthropology of the place. Fantastic.
giufsg's review
emotional
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
wish all the stories connected more towards the end :(
fionamcdiarmid's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
toryshepeluk's review
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
elvang's review against another edition
5.0
This is a haunting collection of stories. All are dark and speak of despair and struggle, of hope and endurance. As the title suggests, each story involves women at various ages and stages in their life. There are over protective parents trying to keep their children from harm and parents who “only saved me from foster care for the welfare cheques.” Many touch on life changing moments, of nature versus nurture, of mental illness and the effect it has on a family, an individual.
The writing is rich, powerful and raw. This quote from Hibernation;
“In the morning the sheets smelled like soup from her sweat.Her mouth tastes like pennies.”72
And this quote from Treelaw;
“The water’s many hands swim up and hold her, pressing her body to the sky.” 167
I had my favourites; Hibernation, Treelaw, Glow Baby, Werewolf and This is Who She Was. I could have listed all of the stories as there is not a weak one in the collection.
Good Night, Beautiful Women is a beautiful, often tragic and always thought-provoking book and its author, Anna Noyes is one to add to your must read list.
ARC received with thanks from Grove Press via NetGalley for review
The writing is rich, powerful and raw. This quote from Hibernation;
“In the morning the sheets smelled like soup from her sweat.Her mouth tastes like pennies.”72
And this quote from Treelaw;
“The water’s many hands swim up and hold her, pressing her body to the sky.” 167
I had my favourites; Hibernation, Treelaw, Glow Baby, Werewolf and This is Who She Was. I could have listed all of the stories as there is not a weak one in the collection.
Good Night, Beautiful Women is a beautiful, often tragic and always thought-provoking book and its author, Anna Noyes is one to add to your must read list.
ARC received with thanks from Grove Press via NetGalley for review
toryshepeluk's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
belovedsnail's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
eseide's review against another edition
3.0
Goodnight, Beautiful Women is a debut collection of eleven interconnected short narratives all revolving around young girls and burgeoning women in coastal Maine. I would not call this a collection of short stories; rather, they are brief scenes that give an overall sense of the confusion of desires of young women on the verge of understanding the motives of men.
The writing in this collection is intense. Noyes' imagery in these short narratives creates piercing anticipation. The scenes she creates are gripping from the outset, with familiar but haunting characters. I loved the fullness of the stories she wove. One of my favorites, "Drawing Blood", was reminiscent of Sarah Waters' historical fiction. The stories are all about relationships, between husbands and wives, or between mothers and daughters, or first loves. The stories are dark, melancholy, and without redemption, usually leaving the main character hopeless.
The thing about literary short stories, however, is that often they're just not stories. The stories in Goodnight, Beautiful Women were scenes, or paintings, or like the beginning-middle chapters of a powerful novel. These stories present an overall mysterious feeling of depression, but they weren't stories as I'm used to stories. I'm expecting a beginning/middle/end story arc, an enticing story with a satisfying denouement, and that is not what you get here. With each of these stories Noyes easily grabbed my heart with riveting beginnings and then left me, wilted and abandoned, wondering what happened.
Noyes definitely has the skill and literary chutzpah to pull off a great collection here, but if you're like me and like resolution, you may be disappointed. I'm looking forward to her next work. Many thanks to Netgalley, Grove Atlantic, and Anna Noyes for the advance copy.
The writing in this collection is intense. Noyes' imagery in these short narratives creates piercing anticipation. The scenes she creates are gripping from the outset, with familiar but haunting characters. I loved the fullness of the stories she wove. One of my favorites, "Drawing Blood", was reminiscent of Sarah Waters' historical fiction. The stories are all about relationships, between husbands and wives, or between mothers and daughters, or first loves. The stories are dark, melancholy, and without redemption, usually leaving the main character hopeless.
The thing about literary short stories, however, is that often they're just not stories. The stories in Goodnight, Beautiful Women were scenes, or paintings, or like the beginning-middle chapters of a powerful novel. These stories present an overall mysterious feeling of depression, but they weren't stories as I'm used to stories. I'm expecting a beginning/middle/end story arc, an enticing story with a satisfying denouement, and that is not what you get here. With each of these stories Noyes easily grabbed my heart with riveting beginnings and then left me, wilted and abandoned, wondering what happened.
Noyes definitely has the skill and literary chutzpah to pull off a great collection here, but if you're like me and like resolution, you may be disappointed. I'm looking forward to her next work. Many thanks to Netgalley, Grove Atlantic, and Anna Noyes for the advance copy.
megang815's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
rubymayj's review against another edition
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0