A review by rleibrock
Battleborn by Claire Vaye Watkins

4.0

I'm a sucker for these kinds of short stories--sharply written tales of malaise, despair, brutality and aimless unease. Watkins writes darkly complex female characters, The story in which she details the questionable decisions made by a woman facing the demise of relationship is particularly compelling, as is the uncomfortable friendship triangle she sketches out between two female friends and a guy. The stories are set in Nevada and Northern California's Mother Lode country made them all the more interesting to me. Less successful was the story of two brothers mining for gold--here the tale meandered with both purpose and plot falling flat due, at least in part, to the story's concrete pacing.