Reviews

Burning Girls and Other Stories, by Veronica Schanoes

kkmsilver's review

mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

bundy23's review

DNF @ about 30%. It wasn't awful and I could've easily pushed through but I just wasn't digging it at all so I decided to move on...

dame_samara's review

4.0

I didn't love all of the stories in this book but I loved a fair number of them. The last one having me tear up at the end (The one the Title comes from). My favorite was Phosphorous, a story about the Phosphorous Girls of London.

I found the references to Alice in Wonderland incredibly interesting as they would always appear when I least expected them.

There were takes on tales I've heard before, as well as tales I hadn't (or at least didn't make a direct connection from one to the other).

I would definitely recommend this, even if you're just checking it out from the library for reading on individual time I would recommend it.

It is also gay, and being gay never seems to be anything out of the ordinary. Which I LOVE.

dame_samara's review against another edition

4.0

I didn't love all of the stories in this book but I loved a fair number of them. The last one having me tear up at the end (The one the Title comes from). My favorite was Phosphorous, a story about the Phosphorous Girls of London.

I found the references to Alice in Wonderland incredibly interesting as they would always appear when I least expected them.

There were takes on tales I've heard before, as well as tales I hadn't (or at least didn't make a direct connection from one to the other).

I would definitely recommend this, even if you're just checking it out from the library for reading on individual time I would recommend it.

It is also gay, and being gay never seems to be anything out of the ordinary. Which I LOVE.

This was 10 times better as an audiobook. it meant I was better able to visualize the places depicted.

pharmdad2007's review

5.0

Awesome collection of stories, ranging from magical realism, to fantasy, to just plain magical! Definitely will read author's other works.

zabacitanovine's review

4.0

I'll be honest, I didn't understand all of the stories, but oh man, did I enjoy them.

These short stories are MAD. They are dark and creepy and they made me say "what the actual fuck" out loud several times. I felt all kinds of emotions reading this book, and now I have to go and find more work by Veronica Schanoes.

missiejacobson's review against another edition

4.0

Wonderful short stories. The story about the witch was really good and will stick with me for awhile. The fairytails we read as little girls we grow up to thing it's TRUE, so interesting take on a different culture of them. Dark but very intriguing

esseastri's review

3.0

These stories are lavish, dream-like and nightmarish by turn, absurd until they aren't, real until they aren't, fact and fiction blurring the lines to ash. As with every short story collection, some tales, I liked better than others, and some that were not for me will be for you, if you choose to read them. But all of them are deeply entrenched in a folktale world that is, by turns, entirely our world and inexplicably not. Schanoes can write and she'll take you with her for the low price of a few hours of your time--it's worth it.

mirto's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

lynnelovesbooks's review

3.5

This is a really mixed collection of stories: Some of them are fantastic, some of them make no sense, and some of them don't work. A very mixed bag.