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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
Easy quick read. Good if you're in for an overwhelming sense of melancholy.
Wow! This book of short stories is fantastic. The thing about short stories is that each word, each sentence, each phrase must exactly picked and placed precisely or it simply doesn't work. Perabo does that in spades. Every story grips you from the first sentence; one ends with a twist, another the way you thought it would. Each one perfectly. She wrote in the acknowledgments that it took 15 years to write this book; gads, I hope it's not that long for the next one.
Why should you pick up Susan Perabo’s collection, Why They Run the Way They Do? Brilliant, perfectly crafted stories. Hilarious and moving, with endings that will leave you breathless. Many thanks to Erika Dreifus for introducing me to her work. On my TBR—the rest of Perabo’s books.
Susan Perabo has a gift for writing characters in short stories that you'll be thinking of and wondering about long after the story has passed. This work is vibrant and tender and even sometimes raw, but the undercurrent is a sustained empathy for the innermost motivations and desires of those we meet through her vignettes. I really enjoyed this book.
This first 4/6 of this collection's stories were like bleh. Nothing special but nothing bad either. It was really strange to read stories that were just okay--as flat at that. Which was kinda cool too. The stories did get better. The story the collection was named after was my hope but it was okay too. Starting at the story about the lady and her shelter of dogs was interesting and everything past that. There were some really cool things the writer did. In terms of character, themes, and setting. Some of the details will stick with me for a while.
The best collection of short stories I've read in forever. Hilarious and heartbreaking. But mostly hilarious.
Every story in this book was good and I rarely say that about any book. This was by far one of my all-time favorites. Every sentence was relevant to moving the plots along, the fragile humanity of the intricate characters was exposed in such beautiful ways, and some parts were laugh-out-loud funny. The situations were often ordinary, but about things we usually don't take the time to notice. The endings were gorgeously untidy, the fabric between characters woven strong and delicate at the same time. Each story made me fall more in love with her style. And several of the stories featured dogs which only made the stories even more meaningful for me. I'm so glad I picked up this book. And I normally never read a book twice, but I'm going read these stories again right away.
My library had a display of books with blue covers and I randomly picked this up. So glad I really enjoyed it.
Thank You to Simon & Schuster for providing me with an advanced copy of Susan Perabo's short story collection, Why They Run the Way They Do, in exchange for an honest review.
PLOT- Susan Perabo's short story collection, Why They Run the Way They Do, is filled with mentally unbalanced, secretive, and lonely characters. They face cancer, torrid affairs, and accidental deaths. One story even has a child choosing to name her stuffed armadillo; Michael, a name that sends chills through her parent's, which the reader will learn is the name of a man that her mother had an affair with many years in the past. Until this reveal, the story has the air of a ghost tale and is unsettling. Although the stories involve heavy subjects, irony and wit dominate in Perabo's writing.
LIKE- Perabo writes in a direct, almost confrontational manner. Many of her stories are told in first person. Combining this narrative choice and strong voice, her characters were daring me to be judgmental. They demand to be heard. These characters often make odd, if not terrible decisions. For example, in the title story, co-workers are having an affair and they decide to pay a monthly fee to "adopt" a needy child from Africa to be "their baby". As they stay late in the office, they become overly invested in this child living on another continent, relying on her to fill a gap in their relationship.
In The Payoff, two sixth grade girls witness a sexual act between their art teacher and the school principal. They decide to blackmail the principal, multiple times. With each blackmail letter, they become more willing to insert their personal feelings towards the situation. Neither girl realizes that they are too young to understand the complexities of this adult relationship or the damage that they are inflicting.
Although I enjoyed all of the stories, one reigns supreme. Indulgence begins with a mom thrilled to have dodged lung cancer after years of being a smoker. She does however, have brain cancer. Her adult daughter returns home for a weekend to be with her mom before the cancer diminishes her. During this weekend, the daughter tries to tell her mother all of the things that she needs to say, but her mother cuts her off, letting her know that some things have to remain a secret and go unresolved. Indulgence was a punch to my gut. My mom died of cancer and Perabo's story made me long to have taken the opportunity to have those tough conversations with my mom. I want a redo. The real kicker is the twist at the end. I was left sobbing.
DISLIKE- Nothing. Perabo's collection is riveting. Her stories are haunting and tragic, often taking me to places that I didn't want to visit, but felt compelled to stay.
RECOMMEND- Yes! In Why They Run the Way They Do, Perabo tackles uncomfortable, taboo topics with humor and grace. Her talent for creating memorable characters is undeniable.
Like my review? Check out my blog!
PLOT- Susan Perabo's short story collection, Why They Run the Way They Do, is filled with mentally unbalanced, secretive, and lonely characters. They face cancer, torrid affairs, and accidental deaths. One story even has a child choosing to name her stuffed armadillo; Michael, a name that sends chills through her parent's, which the reader will learn is the name of a man that her mother had an affair with many years in the past. Until this reveal, the story has the air of a ghost tale and is unsettling. Although the stories involve heavy subjects, irony and wit dominate in Perabo's writing.
LIKE- Perabo writes in a direct, almost confrontational manner. Many of her stories are told in first person. Combining this narrative choice and strong voice, her characters were daring me to be judgmental. They demand to be heard. These characters often make odd, if not terrible decisions. For example, in the title story, co-workers are having an affair and they decide to pay a monthly fee to "adopt" a needy child from Africa to be "their baby". As they stay late in the office, they become overly invested in this child living on another continent, relying on her to fill a gap in their relationship.
In The Payoff, two sixth grade girls witness a sexual act between their art teacher and the school principal. They decide to blackmail the principal, multiple times. With each blackmail letter, they become more willing to insert their personal feelings towards the situation. Neither girl realizes that they are too young to understand the complexities of this adult relationship or the damage that they are inflicting.
Although I enjoyed all of the stories, one reigns supreme. Indulgence begins with a mom thrilled to have dodged lung cancer after years of being a smoker. She does however, have brain cancer. Her adult daughter returns home for a weekend to be with her mom before the cancer diminishes her. During this weekend, the daughter tries to tell her mother all of the things that she needs to say, but her mother cuts her off, letting her know that some things have to remain a secret and go unresolved. Indulgence was a punch to my gut. My mom died of cancer and Perabo's story made me long to have taken the opportunity to have those tough conversations with my mom. I want a redo. The real kicker is the twist at the end. I was left sobbing.
DISLIKE- Nothing. Perabo's collection is riveting. Her stories are haunting and tragic, often taking me to places that I didn't want to visit, but felt compelled to stay.
RECOMMEND- Yes! In Why They Run the Way They Do, Perabo tackles uncomfortable, taboo topics with humor and grace. Her talent for creating memorable characters is undeniable.
Like my review? Check out my blog!
This collection of stories is like a box of chocolates and every chocolate is better than the last one and maybe better than anything you've ever tasted. Each story was unique and exquisite. Read this book!