Difficult Women

A collection of marriage-, baby-normative stories with nearly identical protagonists. All formidably written of course.

Difficult to read, because of some of the trauma that these characters have experienced, but well worth it, in my opinion. Roxanne Gay's writing style is excellent and I'm excited to read more from her.

The book is well written, which annoys me, because the stories it contains are a strange mix of magical realism and wattpad porn.
I love magical realism and I can't bear to watch it be scathed with vulgar, repetitious accounts of sexual intercourse that always sounds the same, even if the people having it are always different.

What annoyed me the most, though, wasn't the unnecessary, boring sex.
It was the fact that the women protagonists are not difficult, they are just women.
Sad, broken women. But just women.

Here's a more accurate title for the book: Hurt Women.
Unless the clever idea is, there are difficult women and easy women, the latter being those who acquiesce silently to a society that wants us docile, defenseless and happy to be so.
I haven't met many such women, but I have met a lot of sad women and they aren't always the same.

Too many fucks given to lay claims to a universal.

No rating DNF'ed. I have to accept that short story collections just aren't my thing.

Wow. I'm not sure what I was expecting when I picked up this book, but I was not prepared for the reality. This collection of fictional stories features women from all walks of life experiencing a wide range of human emotions and relationships. Raw and blunt, most of the stories cover topics often avoided because they make people uncomfortable - sexuality, abuse, fractured families, and others. Roxane Gay shies away from nothing, and her stories challenge traditional portrayals of women in literature. This collection is well-written, but not for the faint of heart.

I won an ARC of this book in a Goodreads giveaway. Opinions are my own.

I never rate things half stars or quarter stars, but I'm going to make an exception for this book: It's a 3.5 stars from me. The first third or half of the book I really struggled with and almost DNF'd it because I felt like I was just watching women get beat up. Then, in some stories, it seemed as though the reader was meant to sympathize with the abusers. I was getting rather frustrated. But I kept going, and eventually the stories came around to the emotion and meaning of relationships. These relationships were mostly romantic ones between men and women. I don't think there were any homosexual relationships in the book, and that does annoy me because there was story after story after story that focused on a male/female romantic relationship. Enough seemed like enough. As you can tell, I have some issues with the book. However, the writing is wonderful and moving and powerful. It pulls you in and makes you really understand what these characters are feeling. My favorite in the collection is “North Country.” I also wanted to mention the fact that there are a few fantastical stories in this collection, but I think they fit because, on the whole, this collection seems to be about relationships, either good or bad ones. That's why I'm also annoyed with the title of the book. Yes, we have some “strong” women in here that may make life “difficult” for men, but that doesn't seem to be the focus here. I'm left wondering why this title was chosen, and part of me believes it's because Gay is known to be a feminist and a feminist-y title would sell well.

These are just my quick thoughts after just completing the book. I more comprehensive review will be coming on my YouTube channel (youtube.com/allisontheresa) and on my blog (allisontheresa7.wordpress.com).

3.5 stars. Short story collections are always difficult to review - there were several stories that were 4/5 stars for me and several that were 1-3 stars. Overall, I would recommend this book!

CW: I think every story in this is about either sexual assault or miscarriage...maybe not every but definitely most of them

Roxane Gay is a wonderful, powerful writer, of course, and I was so looking forward to reading this book! I...won't say I enjoyed reading this, exactly, since most of the stories are pretty heavy. But I appreciated the weight of her words and the resonance I felt with these fictional difficult women, for all their struggles and small victories (and large ones)

ps I know not to judge a book by what I wish it was, rather than what it actually is, but also....I hope she does another essay collection soon b/c that is my true jam

although published in 2017, difficult women reads like something from a different era and it is a quality about it that i appreciate.

every story sharp and shining, I couldn't read more than a couple in a row. that last one tho, I couldn't. it's based to closely on a true story.

This book was the catalyst to a long & loving relationship with Roxane Gay's work and other queer writers and creators. I would give a trigger warning for survivors of SA, however I felt more seen and understood than triggered by the content.

A disclaimer: I was not already a Roxane Gay fan when I picked up this collection. I'm still working on Bad Feminist (yay for the personal essays, boo for all of the pop culture crap I don't care about), and her writing wasn't rocking my world or anything. I love short stories, and decided to give this a go. I base my review solely on this collection.

A super solid collection of creative short fiction. The themes were all pretty similar-broken people just surviving any way they can. Honestly, I think the title doesn't work. The stories feature incredibly brave women who the world has tried to break and failed.

I'm going to list my favorite stories here just so I can reference them later:
How ( LOVE this story, it owns empowerment-twins, broken world, freedom)
The Sacrifice: (modern day fairy tale, no sun, had me enthralled)
North Country (hipster twee love story)
La Negra Blanca (so powerful)
Best Features (I will make my daughters read this one)

Twice I finished a story and was immediately put to mind of Oscar Wilde, and once George Saunders. I mean this as the highest compliment.
That said, it loses a star because it is not perfect and there are some “duds” imho. That is par for the course in most story collections. They were not awful, they just look like litter on slick city streets compared to the gems in this collection.

Roxane Gay has a very dark imagination. She says so in an interview at the end of this collection of short stories, but this is not a surprise at all once you've read it (or anything else she's written). I love her writing, but I didn't love this collection. It's violence, sex, loneliness, rape, brokenness, loss, shame; so many of the stories involve some kind of extramarital affair, even the stories that were interesting enough before the affair was introduced (Requiem for a Glass Heart, We Are All So Happy Now). These women, collectively, are not so much difficult as enduring, but reading about their endurance is difficult and bleak and often hopeless. There's not much to celebrate these women, which is not to say that these stories are unimportant, and this felt like a good time for me to have read it. I'd probably give it a 2.5.