poachedeggs's review against another edition
4.0
This is a very strong collection that reminds me a lot of Alice Munro's writing. The only reason why I give this four stars is because the slightly stream-of-consciousness writing was a bit difficult to read after a while and I wish the style had been varied a bit. (This is rather hypocritical though, because Munro writes about the same thing in pretty much the same way for all her short stories... and I still worship her.)
Horrocks writes about women placed in challenging positions - being married to men without integrity; being alone and lonely in a big city; being burdened by past lives. Each story is beautifully written, yet sometimes the pain and frustration get overwhelming and upset me (especially a particular short story indirectly involving the buying and selling of dogs for use in lab experiments). This is a good thing.
I will be looking out for Horrocks's next work for sure.
PS: I am impressed by how the national library has managed to obtain and catalogue this book so quickly, considering how it was published in June 2011 and is rather obscure.
Horrocks writes about women placed in challenging positions - being married to men without integrity; being alone and lonely in a big city; being burdened by past lives. Each story is beautifully written, yet sometimes the pain and frustration get overwhelming and upset me (especially a particular short story indirectly involving the buying and selling of dogs for use in lab experiments). This is a good thing.
I will be looking out for Horrocks's next work for sure.
PS: I am impressed by how the national library has managed to obtain and catalogue this book so quickly, considering how it was published in June 2011 and is rather obscure.
literaryjunarin's review against another edition
3.0
Loved that story about a woman who remembers all her 127 past lives. In her 127th life, she got pregnant and found out that her baby is someone from her past life (clue: murder). The other stories are hit or miss.
mterre8's review against another edition
4.0
Unique collection of short stories. Kept me interested and held my attention...which is hard!
literaryleftie's review against another edition
4.0
This book was kind of hard to swallow. This book is a collection of short stories by women of many ages and across countries. These stories all have one very big thing in common. Each of these stories is a sad one. They are not all about the same things, but each one of these stories is heavy and full of heartache and they make you think. These stories make you reflect on your life.
mildbestwishes's review against another edition
3.0
The first story is mind-blowing. After that, the stories are really hit or miss. I enjoyed some of them, and really appreciate the range of the author's style and subject matter. I just found myself wishing that more of the stories grabbed me as much as the opening one.
kathrynth's review against another edition
5.0
An amazing collection. Caitlin Horrocks looks at the ugly lurking inside us all and somehow transforms what she sees into a beautiful collection. I tore through each individual story, but then had to take time after reading each one to sort of digest what was there, to let it linger in my life. The first story, Zolaria, I let percolate in my head for over a week before feeling ready to move on. And none of what I've said here is particularly elegant, but you need to read this collection.
quietjenn's review against another edition
4.0
A very solid collection; I'll certainly keep an eye out for further offerings from Horrocks. Although I am emphatically not a fan of the 'final books that look and feel like ARCs' thing. But, bonus points for all the midwestern (and, er, Estonia) settings.
sarahcastic's review against another edition
4.0
"Embodied" was one of the best short stories I've read lately.
mia_difelice's review against another edition
4.0
After reading "Zolaria," the first story in this collection, I knew I wanted to pick up the collection and I was not disappointed. Caitlin Horrocks' This Is Not Your City left me feeling raw and heavy. The book is expansive in setting, moving from Estonia to Finland to Greece to small-town Michigan. But even more striking are the characters. This is not a showy collection; Horrocks' language is simple, at times sparse; the narration is straight-forward, taking no leaps and bounds in structure or form; some of the plots feel unresolved or static; and the voices of the narrator sometimes blend together. But what Horrocks does so well is character. This Is Not Your City becomes intense in strangely subtle and unexpected way through her protagonists. She deftly captures fear and anxiety and makes the reader share in them. She captures the specifics that make a person's thoughts/memories real and vital -- and she illuminates the little, uncanny things that have the most unexpected consequences on how we feel and act. The inner worlds of her characters are dense, richly textured, and I felt fully immersed in each one.
My favorites of the stories were "At the Zoo," exploring the relationships between grandfather, mother, and son in the wake of a grandmother's death; and "The Lion's Gate," about a middle-aged solo traveller in Greece who strikes a bright, fleeting relationship with a wayward backpacking youth. Other standouts were "Zero Conditional," "World Champion of the Cow Insane," "In the Gulf of Aden," and "Steal Small."
My favorites of the stories were "At the Zoo," exploring the relationships between grandfather, mother, and son in the wake of a grandmother's death; and "The Lion's Gate," about a middle-aged solo traveller in Greece who strikes a bright, fleeting relationship with a wayward backpacking youth. Other standouts were "Zero Conditional," "World Champion of the Cow Insane," "In the Gulf of Aden," and "Steal Small."