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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
Beautifully written stories, a pleasure to read, especially the one about the prescription drugs. I'll be watching for future work by this author.
"You're overthinking this, bro." - me to 99% of the people in this collection
There is a vague quality to the lucidity that accompanies Battleborn's style that is both harrowing and extremely gratifying. Reading this collection was like discovering a sharp object set amongst the softest of compartments - or swallowing a Halloween candy that has the razor blade in it that your parents always warned you about but never believed you would encounter.
Watkins's writing is fresh, revealing, and so blithely human that it's possible to connect to just about every single character one encounters. Highlights for me include the touching and moving story told through letters and the final story reconciling a sense of loss with a sense of restoration with a sense of purpose. Such a wonderful read!
Watkins's writing is fresh, revealing, and so blithely human that it's possible to connect to just about every single character one encounters. Highlights for me include the touching and moving story told through letters and the final story reconciling a sense of loss with a sense of restoration with a sense of purpose. Such a wonderful read!
First few stories weren't too engaging, but the last half of the book really picks up, hence the 4 star rating. The last four stories, The Archivist, The Diggings, Virginia City, and Graceland were deeply emotional and stunningly hopeless. 5 stars for those stories.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What a treat to read literary fiction from my adopted home state. Watkins is a talented writer and it took me way too long to discover me for myself.
This collection of stories is so good, I’m almost angry about it. The only miss (and not by much) is a period piece that overstays its welcome by a dozen pages, but even it has transcendent moments that make it easy to forgive. A really spectacular look at the modern west and all it entails.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
Really loved this collection. The stories are raw, gritty and centered in the places that are so familiar to me. I’m very curious to read her other books now.
My comment when I dnf'd the book in 2019: My inability to read this is probably more about me than the book - it is too loud, too broad-stroked, too many weathered characters ... it's just so loud that I can't hear anything.
And it is still accurate now that I have listened to it and rated it a 3 + star read . The book reminded me of Ottesa Moshfegh's Eileen or My Year of Rest and Relaxation. Clever, lyrical tales about lonely young women who struggle to make themselves vulnerable to others but are too much in their heads to do much other than share a moment with female friends or sisters.
In reading the book I was most interested to see how she depicts the American West - and, oh my, Cormac McCarthy's bleak stylized influence can be seen from the first paragraph on.
Yet, just like Moshfegh's work, I find the blurred lines between a bleak and lonely setting and a character's tenuous mental state to be overdone. I have a sense of McCarthy's Texas enduring beyond our hero riding the bloody meridian but I don't see Virginia City or Reno or the rural area between as separate from the narrator. Too much blending of inner and outer despair to distinguish character from setting.
And it is still accurate now that I have listened to it and rated it a 3 + star read . The book reminded me of Ottesa Moshfegh's Eileen or My Year of Rest and Relaxation. Clever, lyrical tales about lonely young women who struggle to make themselves vulnerable to others but are too much in their heads to do much other than share a moment with female friends or sisters.
In reading the book I was most interested to see how she depicts the American West - and, oh my, Cormac McCarthy's bleak stylized influence can be seen from the first paragraph on.
Yet, just like Moshfegh's work, I find the blurred lines between a bleak and lonely setting and a character's tenuous mental state to be overdone. I have a sense of McCarthy's Texas enduring beyond our hero riding the bloody meridian but I don't see Virginia City or Reno or the rural area between as separate from the narrator. Too much blending of inner and outer despair to distinguish character from setting.