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A review by gregzimmerman
Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil by Ananda Lima
5.0
Full disclosure (and only partially a humble brag): Ananda Lima is a colleague of mine at StoryStudio Chicago. So take this gushing review with a grain of salt (or don't because this is an OBJECTIVELY incredible book).
I've read hundreds and hundreds of books in my life, but I've never read anything like this. I didn't know fiction could do this. This is "sort of" a short story collection, but they're all connected, sometimes by plot, sometimes by little detail, sometimes by the meta-story of the writer writing each of these stories while dealing with the pandemic and other indignities. As I read, I sort of imagined each of these stories as a living thing, subtly winking and smiling at each of the other stories in the book, augmenting and lifting each other up.
Special mention of the absolutely hysterical story "Idle Hand."
It's such a brilliant creation, I'm in awe.
I've read hundreds and hundreds of books in my life, but I've never read anything like this. I didn't know fiction could do this. This is "sort of" a short story collection, but they're all connected, sometimes by plot, sometimes by little detail, sometimes by the meta-story of the writer writing each of these stories while dealing with the pandemic and other indignities. As I read, I sort of imagined each of these stories as a living thing, subtly winking and smiling at each of the other stories in the book, augmenting and lifting each other up.
Special mention of the absolutely hysterical story "Idle Hand."
It's such a brilliant creation, I'm in awe.