A review by estaskato
Cries for Help, Various: Stories by Padgett Powell

2.0

I really, really wanted to like these stories. Don’t get me wrong, I liked a couple— the ones with actual narrative! Powell just seemed to pick a shock value phrase and then stream of consciousness into a explicitly stated “moral” for like 3 pages, which isn’t necessarily bad, until it’s what 75% of the stories are. There’s no uniqueness in narrators, and also I don’t want a man to describe nipples to me ever again. In addition, Powell blatantly fetishized women of color? He calls a woman of color “chewy” at one point? Anyway. His style is very nice, but it seems as though he banks on it instead of coming up with good characters or a plot. Unfortunately, two stars.