Sarah Shun-lien Bynum

This collection reminded me of how good a traditional short story can be. The stories aren't themselves old-fashioned at all, but the structure and rigor of them feels a little old school, in the best possible way. These are stories that remind me of why I love short stories.
I found this book when it was a finalist for The Story Prize, which is a great resource for finding excellent collections. (http://thestoryprize.org)

These stories are varied and never felt repetitive. A father worries about his daughter as he watches her instagram feed. A burglar cases a house that he's sure will be empty when he breaks in. A writer spends much of her time at a writers's retreat walking and becomes fixated on one specific house. A trio of girls find the balances in their friendship changing with adolescence. Each story is so well crafted and I could have read an entire novel about any one of them, but each was complete in itself. This is an excellent collection.… (altro)

National Book finalist? Really? I've only recently noticed the presence of the National Book Award, and when I checked out the website, I realize I've read a few of the finalists and winners...and have really enjoyed them. I don't know what to make of this one.

I chose this book after reading Bynum's short story in Tin House's "Fantastic Women" issue. Plus it's, in part, about carnies, and really, who doesn't like stories about carnies? The style is creative--sort of "chapters" on just about every page--which should have equalled a quicker read, but I was surprised to find myself trudging along. It took some time to get used to the changing perspectives, and the characters never seemed fleshed out enough. I'm thinking this is possibly due to those short "chapters" along with some really annoying structural quirks (which it appears were entirely intentional). Like incomplete sentences. And, commas, in weird places. Normally I put a book down that bugs me this much, but I kept reading for the next oddity (of which there were many) and hoping for some revelation at the end. My hopes were left unfulfilled.

I need a little more realism now.… (altro)