A review by ruthlessly
You Know You Want This: "Cat Person" and Other Stories by Kristen Roupenian
2.0
I truly truly despised the opening three stories of this (I didn't like the fourth one either, but it coming back to back with the fifth story made more sense to me) and I will not sway from that, but some of these are much better and I enjoyed a handful of them. This is not a ringing endorsement I know but it was okay.
Out of all of these, later, I think I only liked maybe two or three and a handful more were okay. It's not that these are badly written because they're not, I just feel like not many of them stick their landing at all. What's the point of them? If you're writing a short story, doesn't it need to have a clearer point? Or, if you're making the point, I just feel like it shouldn't feel like such a cheap shot. There's a story in here about a Nice Guy which is the longest one and it was like, okay. It was fine. The fact it was so long maybe would have been fine but it's clearly one of two central pieces in here (the other being Cat Person) and I just don't think it shines. She definitely does not stick that landing.
I hadn't read Cat Person before this and it was okay I guess.
Not surprising probably, but my favourite stories here were the ones about the princess and the one where a woman summons a man and uses his blood for other spells. They were both interesting, short, played with horror and fairy tale tropes in a way that I thought was easily some of the most exciting work here. They also were compact, with a definitive structure and end. I liked Biter for the same reason, but I think ending on a good note made me less ambivalent about it momentarily and I won't be taken in that way!
Anyway this was fine I guess and I wouldn't dissuade anyone from reading it, but I wouldn't recommend it either. Short stories can be a fun way of seeing if an author works for you, sometimes, but I still don't know if this one does!
Out of all of these, later, I think I only liked maybe two or three and a handful more were okay. It's not that these are badly written because they're not, I just feel like not many of them stick their landing at all. What's the point of them? If you're writing a short story, doesn't it need to have a clearer point? Or, if you're making the point, I just feel like it shouldn't feel like such a cheap shot. There's a story in here about a Nice Guy which is the longest one and it was like, okay. It was fine. The fact it was so long maybe would have been fine but it's clearly one of two central pieces in here (the other being Cat Person) and I just don't think it shines. She definitely does not stick that landing.
I hadn't read Cat Person before this and it was okay I guess.
Not surprising probably, but my favourite stories here were the ones about the princess and the one where a woman summons a man and uses his blood for other spells. They were both interesting, short, played with horror and fairy tale tropes in a way that I thought was easily some of the most exciting work here. They also were compact, with a definitive structure and end. I liked Biter for the same reason, but I think ending on a good note made me less ambivalent about it momentarily and I won't be taken in that way!
Anyway this was fine I guess and I wouldn't dissuade anyone from reading it, but I wouldn't recommend it either. Short stories can be a fun way of seeing if an author works for you, sometimes, but I still don't know if this one does!