A review by theinkwyrm
Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird by Agustina Bazterrica

dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Dear sweet mercy this took so long to read and was so disappointing. I had really high expectations for this because I enjoyed Tender is the Flesh and still think about it pretty regularly, but this short story collection managed to dash almost every expectation I had in a mostly negative way. While most short story collections are generally uneven, for this one the scale is basically tipped over on its side because of how much the bad outweighs the good. While I did enjoy a couple stories (namely Unamuno’s Boxes, Perfect Symmetry, and The Continuous Equality of the Circumference- which no one will be able to convince me wasn’t inspired by the blueberry girl in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory- with special mention to Candy Pink and Teicher vs. Nietzsche), most of these were truly unbearably boring and over-written. I can’t believe any of these stories won awards. 
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