Reviews

Because I Don't Know What You Mean and What You Don't by Josie Long

saz's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

scytmo's review

4.0

This is an engaging and complex set of short stories, all from a first person perspective. Each story is from the point of view of a character whose distinct flaws or insecurities are explored through the interactions with other characters and their own internal monologue. There is a ‘stream of consciousness’ style to many of the stories (somewhat reminiscent of Max Porter’s books) which allowed me to feel like I was inhabiting that character - travelling along inside their head for a short time.

I sometimes had a little difficulty with the first person perspective - it wasn’t always clear the gender of the narrator, and the lack of third-person exposition meant that sometimes relationships between people weren’t clear to me. Also, this is not an uplifting book - some of the themes are a little dark, and many of the stories deal with insecurity at some level. However, these minor issues aside, I found the character explorations very satisfying, and enjoyed each one.

The story “Poets Rise Again” stood out as the most enjoyable for me. I would love to see the ideas and characters in this story expanded into a novel in their own right - I was fascinated by what their back-story was, and would have enjoyed a longer, more satisfying narrative arc than the short story form allows.

Thank you #NetGalley and Canongate Books for the free review copy of #BecauseIdontknow in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

soupeatingpigeon's review

2.0

all of these short stories were so depressing... 

ecjl's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

kat_amc's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

bonemade's review

funny reflective sad

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.75

leighbrady's review

adventurous challenging emotional lighthearted mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

teresapetralia's review against another edition

mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

linda3's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Josie is a fantastic writer. I went super slow with this one because I didn’t want it to be finished. Really original stories and relatable, and sometimes unexpectedly loveable,  characters, with a few twists and revelations along the way. I don’t re-read books but might make an exception this time. 

esther6mw's review

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This collection of short stories I'd glorious. Each is so different from the one before. Pulls on the hearts strings and revs up the soul.