Maybe this is just because I’m reading an advanced version but the writing in this book is awful. It’s repetitive and unfeeDnf at page 45 in the ARC.
Maybe this is just because I’m reading an advanced version but the writing in this book is awful. It’s repetitive and unfeeling and just not a fun time to read. Words are overused and descriptions go on for ages, repeating the same details over and over.
There are so many things that seem absurd even within the first 4 chapters?? Like... a man being told at the scene of a crime that his parents-in-law are dead without any investigation or bothering to confirm their identities OR a course on criminal psychology only talking about serial killers in their last class of the semester??
I’m not sure if this is an issue with the book itself or just a shoddy translation but I can’t stand reading any further. ...more
Average rating of all stories: 3.45/5 Final rating: 3/5
Longer review with full thoughts about each story to come! Thanks to Penguin Books for the free Average rating of all stories: 3.45/5 Final rating: 3/5
Longer review with full thoughts about each story to come! Thanks to Penguin Books for the free review copy.
Update 5/18/20 So, some quick thoughts to explain why this longer review is the way it is. First of all, this collection is about 220 pages long and there are a total of 21 stories. This is mostly because about half of the stories are what would be considered flash fiction, short stories of 2 pages or less. I really struggled with these stories and felt they detracted from the overall message and theme. That is also why some of my reviews are going to be shorter than others. Basically, many of the stories started to blend together and so it is more difficult to differentiate how I felt about each individual story. I hope that explains a bit more where I'm coming from when I go into detail with these stories. Ok, with that out of the way let's jump into more detailed reviews!
I KNOW YOU KNOW WHO I AM - 4/5 This is an interesting set up for the collection. I like the set up of a lie, one that once told can't be untold. And you can feel the anxiety lacing everything the main character does, which is super effective, even if you can't stand him and the little ways he makes life harder for himself. I think this opening story could have been stronger but it was solid enough to get me invested.
PUNCTURE - 3/5 This felt too short to say much of anything. I like the setting of a scene, focusing intently on a single moment of intimacy that also is lacking in the basic necessary elements of an emotional connection. It's faux-intimacy, two people forced together who are pretending to feel at something even though one of them is miles away. I just wish the story had gone on a bit and said more than it did. (These are the exact notes I took when I read this, I wasn't aware yet of how many of the stories would be flash fiction).
RIVER IS TO OCEAN AS ___ IS TO HEART - 4/5 I love the idea of this single lie being a defining moment. A snap decision can define you. And I also was very invested in this concept of a simple moment that will make people revert to how they thought of you before. It was mournful and difficult and the beginning of a story with much more lying still ahead.
HUMAN RESOURCES - 3/5 Another extremely short story, this one only 2 pages long. Again, I like the idea of a snapshot of a moment but I don't know if this is the length for me, I don't know if flash fiction is my jam. There is the moment of connection, where one person remembers and the other doesn't, the chance at infidelity, a little peak into a mischievous past, but it wasn't long enough to do much.
AUDITION - 4/5 Further into this collection I'm starting to see the themes and benefits of these interspersed bits of flash fiction. This is another first date, another failed evening that might lead to reluctant sex. I like this concept of Dating While Gay, these snapshots of reluctant encounters with men the characters don't like but who they'll probably lie to and sleep with anyway. It's an intriguing concept when you start to lay them all out together, even if it's a sad reflection on men dating men.
HOW TO LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE - 4.5/5 Damn. DAMN. What does it say about my reading tastes that my favorite story in this collection is probably the only speculative one? This is a Black Mirror-esque horror story about a world where a game show can give you your best life - or you could be killed on national TV. It's horrifying and inventive and disturbing at every turn as this awful thing is so easily normalized in society. I loved this.
PLEASE HOLD - 3.5/5 I liked the idea of this a lot, something horrible that the main character is ignoring overtaking a scene he's acting for a shitty made-for-tv special. I didn't fully get the backstory with the photographer boyfriend in surgery. This felt like it was trying to do too much at once, so it was overwhelming. But I loved the futility of this main character, the work he was doing and how unseen tragedy can be lurking.
BE ALIVE - 3/5 I'm back to not vibing with the flash fiction, oops. I think it's maybe because I'm uncomfortable with age gaps. But also I just felt we didn't see enough of these characters. A 40-something dating an early 20-something just squicks me out and I didn't see the value of this, mixed with a throwaway line about the mc's brother attempting suicide. Did not super work for me, but there wasn't really enough to this story to fully care about these issues.
BREATHING UNDERWATER - 3/5 I think the problem I'm having is that so many of these stories are so interchangeable. Too many of them are about just plain old compulsive liars, without variation. Lying compulsively to some guy and then it comes back to bite him in the end. This was a story of a random saving, a kid drowning and a character who has lied about his own swimming experience. It went just about exactly as predicted based on every story here.
SIGNS - 2/5 Genuinely don't know what this story was supposed to be about. It's barely a page long, about death and some ashes that remain unscattered. I guess the lie is a white lie, a simple moment of saying "nothing" when you mean "something" but there was too much going on here and not enough to pick through to form a cohesive story.
RORSCHACH - 4.5/5 I'm fucking obsessed with these stories about fascination with public death. I think there's such a horrifying human nature element to be explored there, the fact that at one point we gathered to watch death and that through some horrible means we could get there again. The last story like this played up an obsession with reality TV, this one played into the realism of a theatre production that blurs the line between fiction and reality. It's terrible and strange and impossible to look away from. Definitely a fan of this.
GOLDFISH BOWL - 2.5/5 I think the driving point, the theme for the flash fiction stories in this second section lies in things unsaid. They end "I wanted to say" and "what I said instead". Quiet lies, lies of omission. Having said that, I just can't get much out of them. This followed mostly the same plot as any of these other stories, save for a paragraph on the first page that I thought might be a turning point. It was fine. Forgettable. Taxing, now that I'm this far into the collection and not enjoying a single one of the stories that appear between every longer story.
DRIVING, DRIFTING - 3.5/5 A lesbian story! Surprised to see this, I had assumed every lead was a gay man. I wish I felt more for this. The writing was haunting and gorgeous, the details carefully and cruelly laid out. I think the plot threads felt disparate, unconnected but striving for connection anyway. I wish there was more here.
MASTER'S THESIS - 3.5/5 I almost gave this a 4/5 but I can't get over the lack of an ending. I like this look at older gay men, along with a slight nudge at artists and their futile attempt to put meaning into work without really caring about consequences. It was a cool idea, it just felt like a half finished story that concluded in the middle of a thought.
TOUCH POOL - 4/5 See, now, this is how I like to see intertwining narratives. THIS is a story that gives the necessary amount of space and time to each part of a moment, a character, a scene. This has three moments of time we are learning about in this one teenage boy's life. I think it's hopeless, it's about the cusp of adulthood and how much that shift reframes how you interact with the world. Super solid, I really enjoyed reading this.
CLEARWATER - 4/5 This felt like it actually had a concrete story as a piece of flash fiction. A small inkling of a terminal disease, alongside the discovery of a set of ribs on the beach. It was beautifully described and I actually dug the end. It felt complete. I got the story, and the underlying layer of character building. Solid work.
TOURNIQUET - 2/5 This was a paragraph long. Not even a full page. I'm unsure where the deception or falsehood is to be found in this story about mishearing a word in your youth and discovering its true meaning later on. I just didn't get enough of what was happening in a single paragraph's worth of story.
IN THE PALM OF HIS HAND - 4/5 God this was hard to read but a really excellent entry. There are various plot elements here (a possible promotion, a depressed roommate, a lie about being religious to a hot dude) and it all mixes just perfectly. It's ominous and sad and bitter and just really good. I appreciate where the lie came from and how it played out. Just overall a well-written story.
DOUBLE EDGE - This was really inventive and cool, much different from the other stories. I think there's still that theme here with the public viewing of death and danger, which is a great way to tie the collection together, but a strange quick snapshot of a sword swallower for the circus is a totally new idea to throw into the mix. I love the idea of disappearing and how it's done, alongside a neglectful relationship. I just vibe with this a lot.
MOORING - 2.5/5 This was a continuation of sorts from the first story in the collection and I think I liked it far less for that. There are sudden shifts in POV that I found jolting and strange, and I disliked hearing again about the same lie. It felt sort of pointless, like spending a month of reading this collection left me right back where I started. Unfortunate way to close out these stories.
Well, there you have it. Those are my thoughts about every single story in the collection. I had extremely high hopes for these stories and it was disappointing to feel let down a little bit more every day. Especially frustrating because there were some really shining moments where I could see the potential in this collection and from this author....more
Don't mind me, just making room in my heart for another adorable f/f superhero book because those are my everything. Don't mind me, just making room in my heart for another adorable f/f superhero book because those are my everything. ...more
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