A review by captaincocanutty
Miss Muriel and Other Stories by Ann Petry

challenging emotional reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.75

This is a compilation of all the short stories Ann Petry wrote. Her writing style puts you right in a characters head and environment, some stories in the beginning are from the point of view of the same character, but as the collection goes on you are introduced to new ones each time. They are usually regular people caught up in either mundane or extraordinary events. She does a lot more showing than telling, which I really prefer.

I think enjoyment of each one will depend on readers preference in short story format and storytelling. I would recommend finding a synopsis of the stories and reading them in order of interest, not in publication order. I did not enjoy Miss Muriel as much as some of the other stories and it almost made me give up on reading the collection as a whole, but it really picks up as you go along if you read in publication order.