A review by xanthe
Here's Your Hat What's Your Hurry by Elizabeth McCracken

4.0

I requested this one through interlibrary loan because I ran across someone glowingly praising Elizabeth McCracken’s writing. I keep attempting to understand and value short stories and I’m still not quite there. This collection showcases McCracken’s writing, which is impressively good. Her descriptions and characterizations are so sharp, making me pause from time to time to just savor the way she made me think about the world differently for just a moment. But I still struggle with short stories in that they’re a bit like islands, isolated and meant to be complete and unconnected to a longer, larger story. And this was not the soul-crushing kind of Literature where the banality of humanity is exposed and explored, but I definitely came away from each story feeling and little sadder and a little warier. I guess I prefer longer stories that make me feel happy when I’m done reading, which maybe makes me uncultured, but whatever. In summary, lovely writing, but I continue not to appreciate short stories or Literature.