grace_astudentreading 's review for:

Difficult Women by Roxane Gay

3.0

dark emotional fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This was my first experience with Roxane Gay’s writing, and it made it very clear she is a master author. Her writing was beautiful, emotional, and brutally honest. The stories in this collection were clever and raw and thought provoking. Some of my favorites included The “Sacrifice of Darkness”, which was like reading a fairytale; “Open Marriage”, which had my favorite main character/narrator; “How”, which had a unique organization and compelling characters; “North Country”, which made me tear up; and “Difficult Women”, which was just spectacularly well written in a clever style. So technically speaking this was a very well written collection of short stories, but it was ultimately a bit dark for my taste. While I enjoyed many of the stories, I also found many to be too dark and depressing for my liking. While many were well rounded, others felt underdeveloped and just confusing. I also found the themes a bit repetitive after the first half of the stories. But overall this collection was well done and impactful.