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A review by ainsya
Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
"In a small town you are forever defined by the worst thing that happened to you."
Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town is a collection of short stories that follows a varied group of teen characters in small towns throughout the American West and Northwest. The book explores the concept of death in many different ways, beyond the literal sense of it like the death of innocence, childhood, memories, of love and of hope. It was unexpected but in a beautiful way.
Typically I don't tend to gravitate towards short stories as I always end up feeling like I'm missing a lot of the backstory and what happens next. However, this book did a great job at interweaving the stories and characters into each other that it feels relatively complete and enough to satisfy me as a reader. The connections between the characters are subtle and it just goes to show the complex connection of one human being to another. How you'll never know what a big or small impact you have on another person's lives. The stories are heavily character driven and there isn't much of a huge storyline really. It's more about the human experience and a slice of life kind of book, just stuff that could be happening on any other day (which are the types of books I love to read).
I thought the offerings were pretty consistent throughout the book despite a couple weak entries. There were a few instances where I wished the stories are longer though.
My top 3 favorites were:
1. There's Gas in the Tank, Louise! "She has missed them because sisters should never leave their sisters." This one honestly deserves a book on its own. Wished it was longer so I get to spend more time with the characters. It's so emotional, left me teary eyed. This was a good one to wrap up the collection.
2. The Right Kind of People.
3. The Stranger in the Woods.
4. [Honorary mention] Parking Lot Flowers.
Side note: can we talk about Hitchcock's unmatchable, top notch book/story titles? Some of the best titles I've come across.
Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town is a collection of short stories that follows a varied group of teen characters in small towns throughout the American West and Northwest. The book explores the concept of death in many different ways, beyond the literal sense of it like the death of innocence, childhood, memories, of love and of hope. It was unexpected but in a beautiful way.
Typically I don't tend to gravitate towards short stories as I always end up feeling like I'm missing a lot of the backstory and what happens next. However, this book did a great job at interweaving the stories and characters into each other that it feels relatively complete and enough to satisfy me as a reader. The connections between the characters are subtle and it just goes to show the complex connection of one human being to another. How you'll never know what a big or small impact you have on another person's lives. The stories are heavily character driven and there isn't much of a huge storyline really. It's more about the human experience and a slice of life kind of book, just stuff that could be happening on any other day (which are the types of books I love to read).
I thought the offerings were pretty consistent throughout the book despite a couple weak entries. There were a few instances where I wished the stories are longer though.
My top 3 favorites were:
1. There's Gas in the Tank, Louise! "She has missed them because sisters should never leave their sisters." This one honestly deserves a book on its own. Wished it was longer so I get to spend more time with the characters. It's so emotional, left me teary eyed. This was a good one to wrap up the collection.
2. The Right Kind of People.
3. The Stranger in the Woods.
4. [Honorary mention] Parking Lot Flowers.
Side note: can we talk about Hitchcock's unmatchable, top notch book/story titles? Some of the best titles I've come across.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
Moderate: Child death and Drug use