blazenaat's review
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
manwithanagenda's review
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Though entertaining at times, and though Nordan has a gift for the unusual and the beautifully macabre - a must for the South it seems - the collection never added up. The stories in the first half centered on Sugar Mecklin and they all tread on each other's toes. Each story must have been published separately at some point because little details keep being repeated, quirky characters keep being reestablished, they're never built up and so remain cardboard oddities lurking on the edge of things.
Nordan has written a few other books set in his Arrow Catcher, Mississippi, but I have a strong suspicion that these stories are all scrap salvaged from a failed novel. Call me out for being unfair, but I feel that if stories are published together, unless they're some kind of representative sampling or similar, they should feel right together, yeah, vagueness, but I think you know what I mean. I'm not expecting a magnum opus, but there should be more to it than this. And in such a tiny book the quality of the stories should be much higher.
This slim book just doesn't sit well with me and I had the unjust notion of dismissing it entirely if it weren't for the brilliant, brilliant, bril-li-ant title story involving one boy's interesting reactions to a high school fundraiser which pits the girls against each other on the football field. The opening story, "Sugar Among the Chickens", visually quoted in the arresting cover art of a rooster about to be hooked on a fishing line, and that title story bookend an unfortunately uneven grouping.
Nordan has written a few other books set in his Arrow Catcher, Mississippi, but I have a strong suspicion that these stories are all scrap salvaged from a failed novel. Call me out for being unfair, but I feel that if stories are published together, unless they're some kind of representative sampling or similar, they should feel right together, yeah, vagueness, but I think you know what I mean. I'm not expecting a magnum opus, but there should be more to it than this. And in such a tiny book the quality of the stories should be much higher.
This slim book just doesn't sit well with me and I had the unjust notion of dismissing it entirely if it weren't for the brilliant, brilliant, bril-li-ant title story involving one boy's interesting reactions to a high school fundraiser which pits the girls against each other on the football field. The opening story, "Sugar Among the Chickens", visually quoted in the arresting cover art of a rooster about to be hooked on a fishing line, and that title story bookend an unfortunately uneven grouping.
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