i flipped through this collection of short stories in such a breeze. the concepts for stories are incredibly creative and imaginative. it's definitely for readers seeking a sensory experience. most stories involved pretty sexual and bizarre characters, so you should brace yourself for that. for the a couple of characters, the author develops them so realistically that i could envision films or full plot lines built around them, even though i only spent 20 pages getting to know them.

Sometimes you want stories that make you think. Sometimes you want stories with a believable narrative. This has a little of bot, but didn't really succeed with me. Might have been my mood. I thought they were well crafted and creative, but not overly excited for any of them.

This book has a whole bunch of filler. I am sorta baffled how such filler... okay, "stories", ever made it to print. That being said, there are a few enjoyable reads in here as well. Thus, the two star rating on Goodreads which apparently = "It was OK" is how I mostly feel about this collection.

Aimee Bender likes the gimmick. Most of the stories in this collection revolve around one surreal characteristic or occurrence that could never exist in the real world and attempts to build a story around that one surreal aspect with all the characters and world never questioning that one weird trait or event. For example, a lover de-evolves out of a woman's life and eventually becomes a mere cell. A husband awakes one morning with a hole in his belly. A high school girl is actually a mermaid, etc. This all amounts to some comment on life and people...I guess. I dont want to give her too much credit here. These stories are for the most part are really annoying. Its actually when Bender loses the gimmicky BS that she actually, occasionally, writes a decent story such as "Dreaming in Polish" or the rather amusing "Call My Name".

I picked up this book because I wanted something easy, light and somewhat amusing to read. That's what I got.

Reading these stories was like walking through an extremely warped Narnia. Entrancing and messed up.

Fascinatingly peculiar stories. Some almost didn't make any sense to me. "Loser" (about a boy "who had a knack for finding lost things") is my favorite; the end is just heartbreaking.

These short stories are exceptionally creative, but they lack meat, umph, and on the verge of being critical, they feel pointless. Perhaps they're sophisticated, and I'm missing something. Perhaps it's a style I do not understand, nor do I feel like trying to develop a taste for. Regardless, Bender is talented with bizarre ideas.

Non ci ho capito nulla!
Troppo surreale, forse un senso c'è in questi brevi racconti, ma a me non hanno lasciato niente.

Aimee scrive racconti fantastici – in cui fantastico è inteso come genere letterario e non come aggettivo qualificativo che indichi qualcosa di particolarmente riuscito – in cui, quando va bene utilizza eventi surreali ed inspiegabili come metafore di situazioni fin troppo banali, quando invece va meno bene si limita a scrivere storie inconcludenti farcite di scene strane, ad esempio quella in cui un tizio si sveglia con un grosso buco al posto della pancia e sua moglie partorisce la sua stessa madre morta qualche mese prima. E poi? E poi niente, la famiglia cena e tutti insieme mangiano una torta. Fine.
..Bello eh?


Il libro è diviso in tre parti.
La prima è brutta, le altre anche.
Ogni volta la Bender inizia catturando l'attenzione del lettore e poi immancabilmente banalizza tutto e delude. In ogni racconto succedono cose assurde ma quasi sempre sono scene casuali e senza alcun senso.

In questa raccolta Aimee scrive come una ragazza delle medie ed è completamente incapace di scrivere un finale decente. Libro terribile e irritante.

3.5 because some were worse than others. i felt it really went down in quality in the later stories. it was overall a fun and quirky read that i don’t at all regret picking up

Aimee Bender as always has such a lyrical and delicious quality to her prose. I truly enjoyed some of these stories, "Loser" and "The Bowl" especially, but on the whole I didn't love the topics and pacing of many of these stories. I personally think The Color Master is far more to my liking.

It was suggested she was a female Etgar Keret, but Keret is far more artful and thoughtful in his shorts. Whereas I have the sense he's a melancholy and thoughtful man who hides his sensitivity with a cuddly veneer, I feel Bender is a Keret-wannabe who hides her lack of insight and wisdom with her cute, "imaginative" story lines.

bizarre, not of this planet, freakshow. For me, these stories were a fun exercise in letting go. Initially I tried searching for Bender's intentions, asking "is this a metaphor for that?" and dumbfounded, "what?... WHY?!" But just enjoying the ride, not trying to make sense of it, and just feeling the feelings the stories gave was a much more satisfying way of taking them in.