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A review by myrtosfullybooked
Send Nudes by Saba Sams
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I want to start by saying I think it’s really important we start expecting (dare I say hold accountable even?) more publishers and authors to include content or trigger warnings to their books. This book deals with potentially quite traumatic themes for some people and I feel there should be a preface or designated CW area to list those.
Short story collections tend to be a mixed bag. Very much in that spirit, I found ‘Send Nudes’ average; neither disappointing nor outstanding. The majority of characters exuded a passive, resigned vibe and many of them were caught in depressing or, let’s say, suboptimal situations and, admittedly, I do not usually love that type of story or character trope. Some of said situations also felt quite easily escapable, and generally, writing characters perpetuating or remaining stuck in those, tends to annoy me; though I do take time to interrogate why that is.
That said, I did actually quite enjoy ‘Overnight’, ‘Here Alone’, and ‘Blue 4eva’; I found the characters a bit more relatable, and felt the stories managed to convey a strange type of optimism despite the main characters’ often hopeless circumstances. These three stories managed to celebrate life’s small victories the best and create that much coveted wink of unspoken understanding or shared experience between author and reader.
Overall, sad girl literature –I am not using the term derogatorily or belittlingly by the way– is not really my thing, and predictably enough I was not blown away by this collection. However, I do expect it to gain quite a cult following, if it doesn’t have one already…
Finally, even though the collection has been promoted as featuring ‘coming of age’ stories and exploring the complexities of growing up, I felt that was inaccurate. Many of the characters are in their late 20s, 30s, or older, but even the teenage characters did not necessarily seem to be going through a ‘coming of age’ experience. I think it would be more accurate to describe these stories as ‘slice of life’ instead.
No favourite lines from this one I am afraid…
⚠️ TRIGGER WARNINGS:
• Abortion
• Toxic Relationships
• Alcohol & substance (ab-)use
• Adult/minor relationship
• Child neglect
• Body shaming (internalised and external)
Short story collections tend to be a mixed bag. Very much in that spirit, I found ‘Send Nudes’ average; neither disappointing nor outstanding. The majority of characters exuded a passive, resigned vibe and many of them were caught in depressing or, let’s say, suboptimal situations and, admittedly, I do not usually love that type of story or character trope. Some of said situations also felt quite easily escapable, and generally, writing characters perpetuating or remaining stuck in those, tends to annoy me; though I do take time to interrogate why that is.
That said, I did actually quite enjoy ‘Overnight’, ‘Here Alone’, and ‘Blue 4eva’; I found the characters a bit more relatable, and felt the stories managed to convey a strange type of optimism despite the main characters’ often hopeless circumstances. These three stories managed to celebrate life’s small victories the best and create that much coveted wink of unspoken understanding or shared experience between author and reader.
Overall, sad girl literature –I am not using the term derogatorily or belittlingly by the way– is not really my thing, and predictably enough I was not blown away by this collection. However, I do expect it to gain quite a cult following, if it doesn’t have one already…
Finally, even though the collection has been promoted as featuring ‘coming of age’ stories and exploring the complexities of growing up, I felt that was inaccurate. Many of the characters are in their late 20s, 30s, or older, but even the teenage characters did not necessarily seem to be going through a ‘coming of age’ experience. I think it would be more accurate to describe these stories as ‘slice of life’ instead.
No favourite lines from this one I am afraid…
⚠️ TRIGGER WARNINGS:
• Abortion
• Toxic Relationships
• Alcohol & substance (ab-)use
• Adult/minor relationship
• Child neglect
• Body shaming (internalised and external)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Abortion, and Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Abandonment, Alcohol, Drug use, and Toxic relationship