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A review by julinino19
A Manual for How to Love Us by Erin Slaughter
4.0
Stunning. Truly exquisite writing. Every couple of pages I'd whisper to myself: yes, this is why I love literature, this thirst for words can only be quenched by a book like this.
I decided to take notes after each story and give each their own rating out of 5. I won't give any details as to what each story is about, but I will share my individual ratings below. My absolute favorites were Watching Boys Do Things and A Manual for How to Love us.
1. Anywhere || 4.5/5
2. You Too Can Cure Your Life || 2.5/5
3. The Box || 4.5/5
4. We Were Wolves || 4/5
5. The Dragging Route || 3/5
6. Watching Boys Do Things || 5/5
7. A Manual for How to Love Us || 5/5
8. Burrowing || 2.5/5
9. Nest || 4/5
10. The Forgotten Coast || 1/5
11. Crescendo 1.5/5
12. Instructions for Assembly || 3.5/5
13. Elsewhere 4.5/5
Recurring themes all throughout: girlhood, womanhood, female friendships, parenthood, marriage, grief, coping mechanisms, feeling trapped/stuck, poverty, class, etc.
Slaughter divides this book into three parts (six stories in Part One, one story in Part Two, and the last six stories in Part Three), and at first I didn't see why you would break up a collection of short stories into different parts when all stories are different in their own way...until I reached Part Three and it all made perfect sense. Even though my least favorite stories were in Part Three, I still enjoyed the clever shift in writing style, and it all starts with the single story that makes up Part Two: A Manual for How to Love Us. This was the catalyst, the story that lets the reader know what Slaughter is capable of. Anyone that has read short story collections knows that the story behind the title of the collection is usually the first one. But in this book, the title story is in the middle. It's a key to a door, one that leads you to a room with a magnifying glass and tweezers, inviting you to open your mind's eye a little wider, and find what cannot be easily seen. In the first half, I was impressed by Slaughter's brilliant writing and the variety of themes presented, but the latter half impressed me by Slaughter's use of allegory. I found myself pausing more often, highlighting what I felt needed to be carefully dissected.
There are feelings that I have never tried to put into words (thinking it would be too difficult), but Slaughter captured them perfectly and put them in writing; as I read these intimate realizations, I was forced to swallow them, accepting their truth.
This collection is for any and all who love coming across proof that words are magic, and that this magic is deliciously satisfying.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for an ARC in exchange for my honest review (:
I decided to take notes after each story and give each their own rating out of 5. I won't give any details as to what each story is about, but I will share my individual ratings below. My absolute favorites were Watching Boys Do Things and A Manual for How to Love us.
1. Anywhere || 4.5/5
2. You Too Can Cure Your Life || 2.5/5
3. The Box || 4.5/5
4. We Were Wolves || 4/5
5. The Dragging Route || 3/5
6. Watching Boys Do Things || 5/5
7. A Manual for How to Love Us || 5/5
8. Burrowing || 2.5/5
9. Nest || 4/5
10. The Forgotten Coast || 1/5
11. Crescendo 1.5/5
12. Instructions for Assembly || 3.5/5
13. Elsewhere 4.5/5
Recurring themes all throughout: girlhood, womanhood, female friendships, parenthood, marriage, grief, coping mechanisms, feeling trapped/stuck, poverty, class, etc.
Slaughter divides this book into three parts (six stories in Part One, one story in Part Two, and the last six stories in Part Three), and at first I didn't see why you would break up a collection of short stories into different parts when all stories are different in their own way...until I reached Part Three and it all made perfect sense. Even though my least favorite stories were in Part Three, I still enjoyed the clever shift in writing style, and it all starts with the single story that makes up Part Two: A Manual for How to Love Us. This was the catalyst, the story that lets the reader know what Slaughter is capable of. Anyone that has read short story collections knows that the story behind the title of the collection is usually the first one. But in this book, the title story is in the middle. It's a key to a door, one that leads you to a room with a magnifying glass and tweezers, inviting you to open your mind's eye a little wider, and find what cannot be easily seen. In the first half, I was impressed by Slaughter's brilliant writing and the variety of themes presented, but the latter half impressed me by Slaughter's use of allegory. I found myself pausing more often, highlighting what I felt needed to be carefully dissected.
There are feelings that I have never tried to put into words (thinking it would be too difficult), but Slaughter captured them perfectly and put them in writing; as I read these intimate realizations, I was forced to swallow them, accepting their truth.
This collection is for any and all who love coming across proof that words are magic, and that this magic is deliciously satisfying.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for an ARC in exchange for my honest review (: