Reviews

Sweetlust: Stories by Asja Bakić

canditheduck's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

3.5

Interesting concepts in the stories, critiquing sex/eroticism and its intersection with technology, religious dogma, and sprinkled in some sci fi/dystopian edge. Sometimes felt a little cheesy

serranok's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-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

4.0

darumachan's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

This collection landed more as magical realism than as science fiction for me, even in the case of the stories that were set in a kind of future or that explored futuristic/ahistorical medical or technological imagination. The horror of each story is deeply lodged in the characters' bodies; I think I generally understood the purpose of exploring themes of gender, sexuality, and autonomy from various angles in most of these stories, but there were enough moments when the discomfort felt superficial like the writing was going over the top just to be provocative rather than to make a lasting point. In some cases,

as in the use of rape in multiple stories,

the overuse of taboos made the shock lose its impact. Oh, and the flippant use of disability in the story about how the character's blindness was magically cured was straight-up lazy and gross.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Incest

Lots of non-consensual treatments of characters' bodies, whether explicitly sexual or not.

hitbooksnotgirlz's review

2.0

I liked the more futuristic stories & dystopian tales, but really did not care for any of the others.

thequeenoftoads's review

2.0

It is clear that Bakić is a talented writer, unfortunately most of these stories just weren't for me. I'm glad I read it though for "1740" alone. 10/10 story that one.

asunnybooknook's review

5.0

4.5 long live short stories and women’s speculative fiction and socialist feminist surrealism

georgiasharkey's review

challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.5

jcrnom03's review

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

4.0

Writing style and narratives characteristic of the Balkans but with a satirical feminist twist. Happy this one was translated into English :)

juliaehill's review against another edition

3.0

This is one of the most unusual and strangest books I've read. Feminist, queer, sci-fi short stories from the Balkans--I felt clueless reading some, but there were a few gems. Superb translation.

charlottecherry's review

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

3.25

This short story collection is labeled as a feminist piece of writing. While the stories feature women, I felt there was little diversity. Who were the women? What is their voice? These are women in weird situations and while we visit their inner musings, the point of certain stories just didn't translate to me.
The stories are also various interpretations of different myths. Fellow's Gully for example, toys with the Hades x Persephone myth, but the roles are reversed. Daphne is a queer interpretation of Daphne/Apollo, the Sorrows of Young Lotte imagines a Goethe novel.

My favorite stories were Fellow's Gully & The Sorrows of Young Lotte. Both stories deal with the way mothers relate to their sons and the second story also makes the connection to how men see the women around them. 

Generally, I feel lukewarm about this, and I didn't always understand/like the choices the author made in certain stories, but the last story redeemed a lot for me, hence the rating.