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A review by whatsjennareading
Hot Little Hands: Fiction by Abigail Ulman
5.0
Ulman absolutely nails it in this debut short story collection. Her characters are so vividly imagined, incredibly relatable, flawed, and full of angst. I do not read a lot of short story collections, but Hot Little Hands has me both regretting and rethinking that habit. The beginning of each of the nine stories brought with it the excitement you feel when you start a really great new book; each one ending with a satisfying, and sometimes extremely surprising conclusion.
Every story is so unique, that I did not realize until after I was reading through it again in preparation for this review, that several of them center around the same character. While Claire is a recurring character throughout the book, each time she is introduced we are reading about a very different experience in her life. The fact that I read her as a new voice each time speaks to Ulman’s talent in capturing the way we are shaped by our past experiences. With each event, we grow and change, we can never be the same as we were before it.
While I enjoyed all of these stories, two in particular stuck out to me. In Warm-Ups, Kira is a talented young gymnast, who has just been presented with the opportunity to travel to America with her coach and a few other team members to perform at a conference. While her parents and grandparents are completely against it, the coach ultimately convinces them to allow her to go. The excitement leading up to and during their trip is so palpable, and these girls are so endearing. I could not have predicted the end of this story with a crystal ball, and I’m still reeling from it. I will likely never forget Kira and her friends.
My favorite story in the entire collection is the last one, Your Charm Won’t Help You Here. This is one of Claire’s stories, and in it, she is being held up in customs by TSA at an airport in Philadelphia after an eleven hour flight from Istanbul. She’s ultimately trying to make her way back to San Francisco, where she is currently living. Despite the fact that she is a London native, she spends the majority of her time traveling around the world, with her home base in California. After several hours of questioning, TSA charges her with a pre-crime (no idea this was a thing that existed) of the intent to migrate and she ends up in jail for the evening, where her ordeal is far from over. This one stirred up a lot of different emotions in me, the most prominent being anger and fear. I was on the edge of my seat up until the very end of this fast paced, and oftentimes frustrating tale.
Final Thoughts: Everyone should read this book. Whether you’re a parent, or a young adult, man or woman, it does not matter. I think this has an important message for everyone, and gives a no punches pulled look into the mind of a girl on the cusp of adulthood. I wish I had read this when I was younger, and I’m so glad I read it now. I’ve become a lifelong fan of Ulman, and cannot wait to see what she comes up with next.
Rating: 5 crowns
Favorite Characters: Kira, Amelia, Claire
I received a copy of Hot Little Hands from Random House LibraryThing giveaway in exchange for an honest review.
You can read more reviews like this at royalbookreview.wordpress.com.
Every story is so unique, that I did not realize until after I was reading through it again in preparation for this review, that several of them center around the same character. While Claire is a recurring character throughout the book, each time she is introduced we are reading about a very different experience in her life. The fact that I read her as a new voice each time speaks to Ulman’s talent in capturing the way we are shaped by our past experiences. With each event, we grow and change, we can never be the same as we were before it.
While I enjoyed all of these stories, two in particular stuck out to me. In Warm-Ups, Kira is a talented young gymnast, who has just been presented with the opportunity to travel to America with her coach and a few other team members to perform at a conference. While her parents and grandparents are completely against it, the coach ultimately convinces them to allow her to go. The excitement leading up to and during their trip is so palpable, and these girls are so endearing. I could not have predicted the end of this story with a crystal ball, and I’m still reeling from it. I will likely never forget Kira and her friends.
My favorite story in the entire collection is the last one, Your Charm Won’t Help You Here. This is one of Claire’s stories, and in it, she is being held up in customs by TSA at an airport in Philadelphia after an eleven hour flight from Istanbul. She’s ultimately trying to make her way back to San Francisco, where she is currently living. Despite the fact that she is a London native, she spends the majority of her time traveling around the world, with her home base in California. After several hours of questioning, TSA charges her with a pre-crime (no idea this was a thing that existed) of the intent to migrate and she ends up in jail for the evening, where her ordeal is far from over. This one stirred up a lot of different emotions in me, the most prominent being anger and fear. I was on the edge of my seat up until the very end of this fast paced, and oftentimes frustrating tale.
Final Thoughts: Everyone should read this book. Whether you’re a parent, or a young adult, man or woman, it does not matter. I think this has an important message for everyone, and gives a no punches pulled look into the mind of a girl on the cusp of adulthood. I wish I had read this when I was younger, and I’m so glad I read it now. I’ve become a lifelong fan of Ulman, and cannot wait to see what she comes up with next.
Rating: 5 crowns
Favorite Characters: Kira, Amelia, Claire
I received a copy of Hot Little Hands from Random House LibraryThing giveaway in exchange for an honest review.
You can read more reviews like this at royalbookreview.wordpress.com.