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emjay2021 's review for:
Vampires in the Lemon Grove
by Karen Russell
I liked four of the stories--"Vampires in the Lemon Grove," "Reeling for the Empire," "The Barn at the End of Our Term," and "The Graveless Doll of Eric Mutis"--and found the rest relatively unengaging. I don't know, they're almost too intense to read consecutively. I would probably have enjoyed them more if I had come across them individually, sprinkled here and there throughout various short story anthologies.
Russell can be whimsical ("The Barn") and can also create an incredibly effective sense of creeping dread ("The Graveless Doll"). I think she's a talented writer, but she doesn't seem to have a good way of measuring out the...intensity? of her writing. It's as though each story begins full-bore and ends that way too, and it gets to be a bit much after a while, like eating too many rich little appetizers, or too many fancy pastries. It's delicious at first, but by the third one, you feel a bit ill, and by the eighth, you're pretty sure you're going to swear off them forever.
Russell can be whimsical ("The Barn") and can also create an incredibly effective sense of creeping dread ("The Graveless Doll"). I think she's a talented writer, but she doesn't seem to have a good way of measuring out the...intensity? of her writing. It's as though each story begins full-bore and ends that way too, and it gets to be a bit much after a while, like eating too many rich little appetizers, or too many fancy pastries. It's delicious at first, but by the third one, you feel a bit ill, and by the eighth, you're pretty sure you're going to swear off them forever.