Paula Bomer spoke at my MFA last August and I’ve wanted to read some of her work for a while after listening to her presentation. Since her work is ridiculously funny while also being incredibly deep, I thought this would be a nice follow-up to Rachel Cusk’s memoir on motherhood, and it did not disappoint! Bomer is as funny and deep in her writing as she was in person. This short story collection focuses on the many facets of dysfunction that can (and often do) […]
Some thoughts on the zombie genre.
This book is shit. It’s not a “different people like different things” situation. If you enjoyed this book, I’m sorry, but you’re wrong. Yes, your enjoyment is wrong. The number of good reviews that this has on Goodreads and Amazon is appalling, but still not as appalling as this sorry excuse for a garbage fire of a book. I am actually offended by how bad this book is. Let’s unpack this. First, maybe you’re thinking “If it’s so bad, why did you read it?” Well, […]
Go into this great classic knowing as little as possible
This book! So good! I was pointed towards this book by the A Case for Books blog as one of her favorites of last year and I figured I’d give it a go. This novel is tiny, really it’s a short story, but it packs a huge punch. It kept me guessing the whole way through and I can’t stop thinking about it days later. It’s really, really worth seeking out (especially at that great price). I won’t say too much about the plot because […]
Eight stories about ugly, beautiful, human women.
Oh, this book. I have hearts in my eyes over this book. It’s so odd that 2/3 of my CBR8 books so far are anthologies, but here we go. If you have any affection at all for anthologies, this one is like sliding into a warm bubble bath with a glass of dry red wine. I’ll get to summaries of each story shortly, but first, can we talk about Schappell’s treatment of her female characters? It’s implicit in the title that this might be a […]
It’s always hard for me to say if I love or hate a book of short stories.
Kevin Wilson’s collection of eleven short stories was my first time reading him, and it turned out to be one of those books that I’d recommend to someone but I wouldn’t really want to read any of his other stuff. It’s impossible to generalize with how I felt about these stories, so I’ll review each one briefly. Grand Stand-In: Wilson started strong with this one, which was hands down my favorite story in the series. An agency hires out stand-in grandparents for a variety […]
By Lying, Cheating, and Cheating, Yes, “This Is How You Lose Her”
Junot Diaz’s This Is How You Lose Her (2012) is an eight story collection of machismo, misogynistic narratives centered around Yunior, a seemingly compulsive cheater who is forced to face the consequences of his actions. Never having read Diaz before, I had no idea what to expect, and after reading epigraph by Sandra Cisneros, I used my knowledge her structure and style from The House on Mango Street (1984) to guide me. What ensued was a rather confusing read. Unlike some who found Diaz’s use of Spanglish to be the […]