Black Light by Kimberly King Parsons
Published by Atlantic Books, August 6th 2020
This hyper-realistic short story collection is dark and depressing and with prose not always sharp enough to work for me. The stories are mostly about people in the middle of bad decisions; not necessarily life-threatening bad decisions but rather smaller, mundane ones. Often these decisions involve neglect, neglect of their own bodies, their living environment, or most tragically their children. In subject matter it reminded me of Lidia Yuknavitch’s writing (who makes an appearance in the acknowledgements) but writing wise it could not reach her brilliance. I did not love the way Parsons wrote about weight and sadly too many of her protagonists were unkind about either their own bodies or the bodies of others.
My rating: 3 out of 5 stars
I received an arc of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Home Remedies by Xuan Juliana Wang
Published by Atlantic Books, July 2019
Really really good! These mostly realistic stories worked exceedingly well for me – especially those that were told unchronologically in a way that I have not encountered in short stories before. This way of telling a story is something I particularly enjoy, so I was very pleased when I realized what Wang was doing. Not every story did work for me but enough did that I will be reading whatever she writes next. I also cannot get over the absolutely stunning cover.
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
How To Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa
Published by Bloomsbury Publishing, April 16th 2020
I enjoyed these stories a lot with their thoughtful explorations on families, focussing on the lives of Laos immigrants and their children. I particularly enjoyed that the parents depicted really do try to do the best for their children (especially contrasted to the horrible parents in this years crop of Women’s Prize longlisted books) even if they sometimes miss the mark or sometimes cannot be the parent they would love to be if they had more time/ money/ knowledge.
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
I received an arc of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Verge by Lidia Yuknavitch
Published by Riverhead Books, February 2020
Sadly disappointing. My expectations were mile-high: I love Yuknavitch’s writing and had been anticipating her first short story collection in years (her earlier ones are our of print and I haven’t manage to find a copy yet) but while her prose is sharp as ever, for some reasons many of these stories did not work for me. Part of that has to do with the inherent cynicism of her stories that was not tempered by the endless capacity for empathy that her other books of hers I read possessed. I left the collection feeling kind of sad.
My rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Verge is the only one of these I’m familiar with, and I’m sad to hear it didn’t work that well. But I’d like to try Home Remedies😁
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I was so disappointed in Verge! Yuknavitch is one of my favourite authors and I usually adore short stories. Home Remedies was really really great!
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I have Verge from Netgalley, as I loved The Chronology of Water. Sorry to hear it didn’t work for you. Also looking forward to Home Remedies
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I also loved Chronology of Water! It’s my favourite memoir, so I am very disappointed that I didn’t love her short stories. Home Remedies was really surprisingly great – I think I saw somebody not liking it so I went in with lowered expectations and just adored the unchronological structure of her stories!
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Im sold on Home Remedies. Check out the American cover though, oddly similar but different don’t and colour scheme. I prefer the UK!
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I also prefer the UK! The hot pink is SUCH a great choice.
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Great reviews! I really need to pick up Home Remedies; I’m glad it worked so well for you! But I think I’ll take Black Light off my list, it just doesn’t sound as exciting to me anymore as it once did. I was also curious about Verge, but I think I’ll try something else from Yuknavitch instead.
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Thank you! I really enjoyed Home Remedies and the cover alone is a good reason to buy it. Black Light REALLY disappointed me because I was so excited about it and I found it very one-note in its depressing nature, plus the fatphobia! There were a few stories that worked better for me than others but I do not understand how it became so highly acclaimed. And yes, different Yuknavitch for sure! I do love her normally, but this wasn’t her best work.
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I loved the Thammavongsa; I thought she wrote incredibly well about childhood in particular. Home Remedies is on my 2020 TBR and I’m even more excited to get to it now!
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Oh yes, the childhood writing was wonderful. I also loved the emphasis on parents trying their best (especially in contrast to the Women’s Prize books..).
I hope you’ll enjoy Home Remedies!
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great reviews! you’ve inspired me to add Home Remedies to my tbr. 🙂
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Thank you! I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did!
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Great reviews. Even though I’m not interested in realistic short stories, I enjoy reading what you have to share about them. (I might take a peek at Home Remedies, though – bright pink cover always catches my eye.)
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I usually also gravitate more towards weird short stories, that I read four realistic ones in a row was more coincidence than anything.
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