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robindallav's review against another edition
4.0
(4.5) Pretty near perfect. These are the kinds of stories that are as funny as they are tragic, Moore weaves a perfect balance that feels so much like life. My favourite stories were "Which is More Than I Can Say About Some People" and "Real Estate".
whatulysses's review against another edition
5.0
When you realize you've already read this book but continue anyway because it's so rich that it doesn't matter if you know how it ends.
norab23's review against another edition
3.0
3.3 // A collection of quietly profound, beautifully written stories that cut to the core complexities of what it means to be human. At the same time, I alternatively referred to this as "The Book of Depressing Stories" because every single story was just so dang sad: infidelity, accidental infanticide (involuntary babyslaughter??), estranged siblings, decaying homes in every sense of both words, children with cancer... by the last two stories I was anxious to finish this book and return it to the library.
kaileycool's review against another edition
5.0
I read this book on a day I took off work because I was sad, and I still feel sad, but in a way that feels more connected to the human experience, and I think that’s exactly the point of a book.
pulphead's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
krosep's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
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
4.5
bbshams's review against another edition
5.0
certainly an all time favorite! beautiful vignettes of human life— painfully relatable characters. Witty, suffering, loving, and a little bit cynical. Moore creates fiction out of what is not, she highlights the absurd and soft spoken beauties of the sometimes seemingly mundane, always deceptively beautiful human experience. So lovely and comforting to read, so funny too, and at times written with such intensity that one cannot help but savor the tears welling in their eyes, and to bask in the power of human emotion and relation, glowing radiant melancholy love. wonderful!
shoba's review against another edition
3.0
Real estate
It must be, Ruth thought, that she was going to die in the spring. She felt such inexplicable desolation then, such sludge in the heart, felt the season's mockery, all that chartreuse humidity in her throat like a gag. How else to explain such a feeling? She could almost could one burst with joylessness? What she was feeling was too strange, too contrary, too isolated for a mere emotion. It had to be a premonition one of being finally whisked away after much boring flailing and flapping and the pained, purposeless work that constituted life. And in spring, no less: a premonition of death. A rehearsal. A secretary's call to remind of the appointment.
libristella's review against another edition
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
3.0