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A review by peeled_grape
Get in Trouble by Kelly Link
4.0
Kelly Link's writing reads like an impressionist painting. There's a lot of detail, and it's obviously very skillfully done, but you can't expect it to be clear. It's more about the impression it leaves. It is sometimes frustrating! Because it doesn't entirely make sense to me! But Link is very good. There is a great deal of confidence in her writing. She writes something weird/bizarre/magical, and while you stop to think about why it's there, it's like she hasn't even noticed that the weird/bizarre/magical isn't a part of reality. She isn't questioning any part of her style at all.
"Two Houses" is my favorite here, but "Light" is the best written. Link is at her best telling ghost stories. She is at her best when she's playing with the shape of her stories. "Valley of the Girls" was too much too fast for me. It needed more space; it felt crammed. The first story in the collection is "The Summer People," and it gets better the longer I think about it. (Maybe I should stop writing these reviews immediately after finishing the last story.) I really do like thinking of this stories as abstract with emotional truths. It's, like, the only way I can think about these without getting super frustrated, and then I actually enjoy and appreciate the writing. I just wish someone had told me that before I started reading Link's stuff.
My hot take is that "Magic for Beginners" is the better collection. I know, I know.
I feel like most of this review was negative. Link is very talented! And very good! Most of the flaws I am coming up with here are in my reading skills and not her writing.
"Two Houses" is my favorite here, but "Light" is the best written. Link is at her best telling ghost stories. She is at her best when she's playing with the shape of her stories. "Valley of the Girls" was too much too fast for me. It needed more space; it felt crammed. The first story in the collection is "The Summer People," and it gets better the longer I think about it. (Maybe I should stop writing these reviews immediately after finishing the last story.) I really do like thinking of this stories as abstract with emotional truths. It's, like, the only way I can think about these without getting super frustrated, and then I actually enjoy and appreciate the writing. I just wish someone had told me that before I started reading Link's stuff.
My hot take is that "Magic for Beginners" is the better collection. I know, I know.
I feel like most of this review was negative. Link is very talented! And very good! Most of the flaws I am coming up with here are in my reading skills and not her writing.