itsshortforgeneva 's review for:

Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell

4.0

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karen russell does with words what the best of painters do with oils and acrylics and the best of musicians do with guitar strings and piano keys. her prose is a symphony of magic, humor, and poignancy. favorites in this collection are "the barn at the end of our term" and "the graveless doll of eric mutis." russell seems to particularly love writing about young teens and pre-teens, and it is perhaps because they are in that phase change of believing in everything to believing in nothing. i'm also fascinated by her preoccupation with mothers and pets. what do we care for? what cares for us? what does that say about our relationship to others? while i enjoyed every story, i wasn't quite sure what the tailgating in the antarctic story was doing alongside the rest of the stories, so, as enjoyable and funny as it was, it felt very out of place.