Ratings17
Average rating3.7
“Kirby has mastered the art of short fiction…A stunning collection from a writer whose talent and creativity seem boundless.” —NPR “Kirby takes joy in subverting the reader’s expectations at every turn. Her characters might be naïve, even reckless, but they aren’t about to be victims: They’re strong, and brave, and nearly always capable of rescuing themselves.” —New York Times Book Review Margaret Atwood meets Buffy in these funny, warm, and furious stories of women at their breaking points, from Hellenic times to today. Cassandra may have seen the future, but it doesn't mean she's resigned to telling the Trojans everything she knows. In this ebullient collection, virgins escape from being sacrificed, witches refuse to be burned, whores aren't ashamed, and every woman gets a chance to be a radioactive cockroach warrior who snaps back at catcallers. Gwen E. Kirby experiments with found structures--a Yelp review, a WikiHow article--which her fierce, irreverent narrators push against, showing how creativity within an enclosed space undermines and deconstructs the constraints themselves. When these women tell the stories of their triumphs as well as their pain, they emerge as funny, angry, loud, horny, lonely, strong protagonists who refuse to be secondary characters a moment longer. From "The Best and Only Whore of Cym Hyfryd, 1886" to the "Midwestern Girl Is Tired of Appearing in Your Short Stories," Kirby is playing and laughing with the women who have come before her and they are telling her, we have always been this way. You just had to know where to look.
Reviews with the most likes.
I picked up this collection of short stories to fulfill a reading challenge prompt. Specifically a Book about Mythology.
Cassandra has always been a favorite of mine. I love a character that can see the future. This particular version of Cassandra is sly and witty and full of that feminist rage you'd expect at knowing her truly awful plight in life. If you recall any Greek Mythology- you know her story is not a happy one.
But this set of stories moves quickly on to many different types of women and their pieces of life with their small humiliations and general inequalities.
Some of the stories are fantastical in their unspooling. Others are funny or just plain weird. One in particular, my favorite- called Friday Night- is frantic in its delivery. A two page story that is one long sentence. And wow does that work. Talk about driving the point home.
I love Gwen Kirby's writing. I see so clearly all that she describes and I found myself thoroughly immersed in these women and girls, and sometimes men, and the situations she put them in.
If you like short stories, women-centric narratives, and well drawn characters- add this one to your list.