A review by pixe1
Fresh Complaint by Jeffrey Eugenides
4.0
3.5 stars
I've had this on hold at the library since before it was even published. I'm generally a big Eugenides fan, and [b: Middlesex|2187|Middlesex|Jeffrey Eugenides|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1437029776s/2187.jpg|1352495] has to be one of my all time faves. Plus I've read nothing but novels this fall, so some short stories were a good change of pace.
That said, I felt like the first story, which was one of the previously unpublished and more recent works, was such a snooze and I was worried I'd be left disappointed. However, once the author got "warmed up", there were some really strong pieces.
My favourites from the collection were definitely, "Find the Bad Guy", "The Great Experiment" and the titular work. That I most enjoyed the entries that involves some aspect of crime says a lot about me, but in the other stories, I felt like the plot wasn't always been driven along and they never had a wow moment that made them feel truly special.
I also felt that "The Oracular Vulva" was good, but the themes had been explored to greater effect in Middlesex, which probably isn't fair to compare but context matters. And in terms of context, there were a couple of lines about the relationships between men and women in the earlier works that just made me cringe, because they seemed like outdated, sexist ideas that weren't necessarily in-line with the "human touch" and empathy I usually expect from Eugenides.
I've had this on hold at the library since before it was even published. I'm generally a big Eugenides fan, and [b: Middlesex|2187|Middlesex|Jeffrey Eugenides|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1437029776s/2187.jpg|1352495] has to be one of my all time faves. Plus I've read nothing but novels this fall, so some short stories were a good change of pace.
That said, I felt like the first story, which was one of the previously unpublished and more recent works, was such a snooze and I was worried I'd be left disappointed. However, once the author got "warmed up", there were some really strong pieces.
My favourites from the collection were definitely, "Find the Bad Guy", "The Great Experiment" and the titular work. That I most enjoyed the entries that involves some aspect of crime says a lot about me, but in the other stories, I felt like the plot wasn't always been driven along and they never had a wow moment that made them feel truly special.
I also felt that "The Oracular Vulva" was good, but the themes had been explored to greater effect in Middlesex, which probably isn't fair to compare but context matters. And in terms of context, there were a couple of lines about the relationships between men and women in the earlier works that just made me cringe, because they seemed like outdated, sexist ideas that weren't necessarily in-line with the "human touch" and empathy I usually expect from Eugenides.