Reviews

The misogyny was a bit much for me at times and was ever present as an undercurrent throughout the majority of this collection. And yet, the writing still intrigued me and kept me reading. Some of these stories will stick with me and I still recommend this work with that caveat attached.

isabelrstev's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense

3.25

adusiek's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful 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

4.25

juli_mod's review against another edition

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3.0

Eugenides, the master of the everyday mystery, wrote in the last 30 years many short stories, some of them are now printed in this book. There are many characters, all of them rather unlikeable and trapped in the sadness of their own lives.
The storys are well written and you jump in them as they would be little novels. But characters and plots are so average sometimes even cliche like and uncharming, that it was no delight to follow the books pages to the end.

marlo42's review against another edition

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4.0

Objectively speaking this is probably a three or less (based on the quality of the writing here and in the author's other work) but I enjoyed it. Let's call this a 3.75. The stories are not all of equal quality (which, newsflash, happens in short story collections), but the good ones are good and the mediocre ones are thankfully short.
In addition, it's fascinating to see how characters and scenarios from this writing evolved into his later novels. I like peeks into the processes of authors, and this gave me that. I especially enjoyed "Early Music," "Complaints" and "Capricious Gardens."

amyw_97's review against another edition

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1.0

DNF. I read the first story and that was enough for me. Hard to get through and I found it jumping with no actual character development. I love literary fiction but what I saw here was the extreme end, where themes are explored but in miniscule amounts and in rapid succession. This is MFA workshop literary fiction. Concepts and themes are explored without much of a plot, which is typically fine with me, but when I'm given shallow characters and a revolving door - that's the end.

I am driven to the point where I'm asking how Point A links to Point B. I got the feeling I was supposed to making something profound with dementia and what was given to me in the story, but the connections failed to be made due to the shallow nature of them.

This is why I did not progress further with the book.

kristianawithak's review against another edition

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2.0

Short stories are so sad. They pack such plot and bleakness into their compact forms.

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