Reviews

Verge: Stories by Lidia Yuknavitch

Only show reviews with written explanations

maramergens's review against another edition

3.5

Jesus fucked a leper! Stories were all unsettling. The Drive Thru was my favorite. Skillful, don’t think I would read again.

claireyroo's review

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Verge boasts a respectable opening quartet of stories (The Pull, The Organ Runner, Street Walker, Garden of Earthly Delights ) but quickly grows repetitive and forced in its delivery. All the stories focus on people on the margins of society, yet several don't offer much commentary beyond that. As the stories went on, I became increasingly less interested and waiting for a departure from the monotony. Most narratives are too short (<5 pages) to offer much depth or rely on shock value to leave an impression.

Where stories do hone in on a singular theme or societal commentary, the writing is far too literal and to be blunt, weak ("capitalism and youth" emerging from a drive-thru window was particularly egregious). The entries span different issues including womanhood, mental health, capitalism, immigration, and race - yet the result is surface-level depictions of these lived experiences. I don't expect any short story to dive into complex issues like these fully, but I think the collection would have worked significantly better if the scope had been lessened. In its current state, it inconsistently oscillates between abstract and flowery delivery in one story and into direct and literal interpretation in the next. This is largely a relic of how different these underlying themes are and how they are explored between entries.

It was a real disappointment for a collection that intends to be disturbing and bizarre to be so...literal. The ideas here are not bad (though not especially unique), but the writing quality is not there for me. I don't see myself reaching to pick up anything else by Yuknavitch in the future. The stronger entries in here were good, but come across as a fluke rather than a true stroke of genius.

ssmith1407's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

markcummings's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

jasonlesher's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

melissalinette's review

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3.0

Lidia Yuknavitch is one of my favorite authors--I will read anything she writes. Her latest is a collection of short stories that has the familiar gut-wrenching aftershocks we've come to expect from her. Characters living on the fringes of society, the fringes of trauma, the fringes of recovery...Yuknavitch pulls us into their worlds and shows us the light and the dark that exist in all of them, and in all of us. A worthwhile read, especially for anyone who has ever felt like an outcast. I felt a deeper connection, personally, to her nonfiction (The Chronology of Water), but would certainly recommend this collection for any Yuknavitch fan.