So-so. I found it hard to fully beleive the mesh between the fantastical and the real world, and the prose was too much for me at times. But the st3.5
So-so. I found it hard to fully beleive the mesh between the fantastical and the real world, and the prose was too much for me at times. But the stories were very enjoyable and easy to get into. The title story is definitely a winner....more
Berlin's stories are just strings of meticulous detail and I'm here for itBerlin's stories are just strings of meticulous detail and I'm here for it...more
The collection is a mixed bag, but wholly a very endearing experience. The stories are so intriguing even where there's so little going. The relationsThe collection is a mixed bag, but wholly a very endearing experience. The stories are so intriguing even where there's so little going. The relationships are set up so easily and explored in such natural ways. I feel like Munro has done a lot of silent observation on the way society runs, especially her rural 20th century Canadian niche (which i enjoyed hearing about!).
Also, she uses first person past so masterfully. What delectable narrative voice. I'll definitely read some more stories from her in the future....more
Unlike anything else I've read; Moshfegh's style is a beast of its own and I enjoy it thoroughlyOutrageous, sickening, hilarious, genius, meandering.
Unlike anything else I've read; Moshfegh's style is a beast of its own and I enjoy it thoroughly. It was a bit of a mixed-bag of stories though, and none of them ever seemed to have a point. All set-up and no punchline, although I found the prose-level, dark humor to be just superb.
It lost some stars for the content going past my comfort zone (especially sexual content, which is why I definitely had to skip a few portions of the book when it got to be too much), but the whole point of the book is making itself as uncomfortable, gross, and real as possible.
There's something so unsettling about how Moshfegh paints reality, strikingly relatable and yet completely off-the-wall, breaking the social contract that authors and readers have to not mention all the embarrassing habits and desires of ours.
I wouldn't recommend this to really anyone because the only way to 'enjoy' it is to acquire its rare taste. I don't even know if I would have continued without reading a few essays by O'Connor on grotesque depictions in fiction. I really wonder how she would feel being compared to Moshfegh as she is now. Although they were cut from the same corner of literary cloth, they're indescribably different.
My favorite story was "Nothing Ever Happens Here" in which nothing at all happens....more