Reviews - Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?: Selected Early Stories

161 reviews for:

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?: Selected Early Stories

Connie is at that stage somewhere between child and adult. She shows a desire to go to places where older boys and girls go , and have a boyfriend even though it seems she is more in love with the idea of having a boyfriend than anything else. She is still a child in many ways. It is not surprising that she stands on her own home threshold throughout much of the story. She is being drawn into a world she wants to experience, which also happens to be a world she fears. The story works as an allegory, but one in which the characters are both real while, at the same time, also representing abstract ideas. It works to some extent, but its allegorical nature sucks out any real power it might have had for me. It’s too easy to get caught up in what in what everything stands for – the threshold, the ‘biblical’ numbers on the car, Arthur Friend ( or is it Fiend ?). OK, but no , not for me.
Please note I am only commenting on the title story here.

nicoelle's review against another edition

4.0

mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: N/A

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

graysweed's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense

It's harder for me to rate stories with triggering topics on a 1-5 scale but this was definitely good.
I loved the writing style & the story was really effective & honestly scary, even a little nauseating.

findallyreading's review against another edition

5.0

dark reflective tense fast-paced

yeslek_5's review

Read it in my women's literature class and was confused and couldn't help but wonder why am I reading this? But having read it again, I like it, it's interesting looking at the idea of innoncence and vulnerability. And of course there is Arnold Friend who still creeps me out...

peoplesprincess's review

4.0

i read this in high school and i wanted to go back and read it again, and it surpassed my memories of it. the darkness and the gravity of the situation, contrasted with the innocence of connie provide such an interesting dynamic to read about. connie's fear is literally tangible