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whatcourtneyreads 's review for:
Ghost Lover
by Lisa Taddeo
Lisa Taddeo, my Queen. Sometimes I just don’t know who I love more, Lisa or Melissa Broder. Please don’t make me choose.
I rushed out and bought Lisa Taddeo’s latest book Ghost Lover, a collection of short stories, the day after it came out and then still took nearly two months to pick it up. Not because I didn’t want to read it, but because I was making sure my body was entirely prepared.
I will say that this was not my *favourite* of her books (that honour goes to Animal), but only because I usually find with short story collections that some are stronger than others, which was the case here. That’s not to say that they weren’t fantastic - I still DEVOURED this book in mere hours, despite initially telling myself I would snack on it in chapter-sized pieces.
Some standouts: Forty-Two, about a woman in her 40s perpetually attracted to younger men, in love with a man who is marrying his 26 year old fiancée. Some of the reflections on youth and ageing in this one really resonated with me. I also felt touched by A Suburban Weekend and Maid Marian. One line in the latter was particularly gut-wrenching; “let the poor creature think it. She needs it, don’t you see”. Ooof. (Obviously there is no context for you, but I’m trying to avoid spoilers here!)
One common thread through most of these stories is that they are about women in the shadowy background. Women who have been forgotten or disregarded, women with obsessions from afar, grieving women, women who are invisible, always second or third best, who have had cancer, who have died. Ghost women. Ghost Lovers. I feel haunted by many of these stories and characters, that’s for sure.
I rushed out and bought Lisa Taddeo’s latest book Ghost Lover, a collection of short stories, the day after it came out and then still took nearly two months to pick it up. Not because I didn’t want to read it, but because I was making sure my body was entirely prepared.
I will say that this was not my *favourite* of her books (that honour goes to Animal), but only because I usually find with short story collections that some are stronger than others, which was the case here. That’s not to say that they weren’t fantastic - I still DEVOURED this book in mere hours, despite initially telling myself I would snack on it in chapter-sized pieces.
Some standouts: Forty-Two, about a woman in her 40s perpetually attracted to younger men, in love with a man who is marrying his 26 year old fiancée. Some of the reflections on youth and ageing in this one really resonated with me. I also felt touched by A Suburban Weekend and Maid Marian. One line in the latter was particularly gut-wrenching; “let the poor creature think it. She needs it, don’t you see”. Ooof. (Obviously there is no context for you, but I’m trying to avoid spoilers here!)
One common thread through most of these stories is that they are about women in the shadowy background. Women who have been forgotten or disregarded, women with obsessions from afar, grieving women, women who are invisible, always second or third best, who have had cancer, who have died. Ghost women. Ghost Lovers. I feel haunted by many of these stories and characters, that’s for sure.