Info: Title: You Won't Remember This
Author: Kate Blackwell
Publication Date: May 15, 2015
Publisher: Bacon Press Books
Source: Freebie
Synopsis:
"These are necessary stories, which often possess a quality of devastating clarity all too infrequent in short fiction. Each is a rare entrée into the ordinary everyday world without the added special effects of all-consuming tragedy. This collection is prime proof that there is nothing, nothing like a collection of short stories to offer an almost Cubist perspective on the way women live."--Cynthia Shearer
The twelve stories in Kate Blackwell's debut collection illuminate the lives of men and women who appear as unremarkable as your next-door-neighbor until their lives explode quietly on the page. Her wry, often darkly funny voice describes the repressed underside of a range of middle-class characters living in the South.
"You most definitely WILL remember this extraordinary collection. All of Blackwell's finely crafted stories move as easily as an overheard conversation about what is too often hushed in the human heart."--Robert Bausch
Review:
This book was certainly a lot more literary than I usually read and I think that hurt my enjoyment of the stories. Some of them I did enjoy and even became invested in the characters of some of the longer ones. But I did love any of them and I didn't really understand the point of many of them. Most profiled periods of people's lives without really making any impact of me.
I guess the major theme for me was just the every day struggles of life. But many of these struggles turned out to be fairly depressing. Also, some of the stories were downright strange. Specifically the one about "pepper hunting". Totally missed any point or conclusion in that one and was very graphic and upsetting for me.
Overall, this collection of stories wasn't my favourite. I did enjoy the writing style, but the content threw me off. I think readers who enjoy books focusing on the quiet struggles of daily life would enjoy this one, but it simply wasn't my cup of tea.
This book was certainly a lot more literary than I usually read and I think that hurt my enjoyment of the stories. Some of them I did enjoy and even became invested in the characters of some of the longer ones. But I did love any of them and I didn't really understand the point of many of them. Most profiled periods of people's lives without really making any impact of me.
I guess the major theme for me was just the every day struggles of life. But many of these struggles turned out to be fairly depressing. Also, some of the stories were downright strange. Specifically the one about "pepper hunting". Totally missed any point or conclusion in that one and was very graphic and upsetting for me.
Overall, this collection of stories wasn't my favourite. I did enjoy the writing style, but the content threw me off. I think readers who enjoy books focusing on the quiet struggles of daily life would enjoy this one, but it simply wasn't my cup of tea.
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If you weren't expecting a more literary read then I can definitely see why it would make this a harder one.
ReplyDeleteGreat review!