I recently read a couple of short story collections and decided to review them both together.
--Lynnie
For a short book of short stories (& a novella), The Office of Historical Corrections actually took me a while to read. Like any short story collection, some stories resonate more than others (Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain & Alcatraz, for example), but each one feels uncomfortable in very specific ways, shining a light on dark places and ideologies. Danielle Evans has certainly created a collection that will make you think, and there's a lot of value in that. Curiously, the title novella comes at the end of the book and I wish it had been the first story. I found that by the time I got to the novella, I had less patience for the story than I might have if it had been the first one I'd read in the collection. Still, there's no denying the power of these stories to help you step outside of your comfort zone and give both voice and visibility to characters who deserve to be seen.
Bring Your Baggage and Don't Pack Light: Essays by Helen Ellis
I
adored Helen Ellis' American Housewife, so I was more than happy to
spend some more time with her thoughtful musings on the world. This book
appears more autobiographical that the other collection of short
stories I read and I chuckled and nodded my way through each of them. It
was easy to relate to Ellis' stories of her grown-ass lady friends and
their friendships, foibles, menopause, & more. Ellis is most
certainly "my kind of people" & her stories are entertainment
personified- self-deprecating when necessary, a bit catty, and full of
fun details. I can't wait to read the next thing she writes!
No comments:
Post a Comment