A review by jfaberrit
Orange World and Other Stories by Karen Russell

5.0

If Karen Russell didn't quite get the magic-to-realistic ratio right in Swamplandia!, which was very good in parts but kind of messy overall, then she definitely figured it all out here. In 8 stories that are all fantastic in their own deadpan, largely unspoken ways, she finds her voice and shows how the magical can be used to a number of different goals, fiercely clever in their own unique ways. Particular highlights include Bog Girl, which plays as a macabre teen comedy featuring a dead girl buried a few millennia ago, Orange World, which grapples with the terrors of parenthood in a way that more straightforward takes have very rarely achieved, and Black Corfu, which is basically a zombie story turned completely on its head with regard to where the threats to society and humanity lie. My favorite, though, is The Tornado Auction, in small part because the Audiobook narrator was absolutely perfect. It's a melancholy take on a whole different kind of "wind farming", whose voice is strong and just disconcerting enough to hit home hard. Some of the endings are a little rough, but basically the collection is darn near perfect, and should win awards.