This is actually a short story, published in the book My True Love Gave to Me. It tells the story of Mags and Noel. They are best friends, transitioning between adolescence and adulthood. The story is told over four New Years Eve midnights, where they party in a friend’s basement. Their meetings are chaotic, and the two circle one another, holding tight to their friendship. They aren’t involved with one another, but they are drawn indelibly to a shared connection. This is the kind of love […]
The Quiet Heartbreak of Unreached Potential
In May 2012, Marina Keegan had a lot to look forward to. She graduated magna cum laude from Yale, had a play being produced at the New York International Fringe Festival, and lined up a job at The New Yorker. Just before she graduated, Marina wrote an essay titled “The Opposite of Loneliness.” Five days after receiving her diploma, Marina died in a car crash. She was 22 years old. “We’re so young. We’re so young.” Marina wrote in her final essay. “We’re twenty-two years […]
Oh, Baby….
Paula Bomer spoke at my MFA last August and I’ve wanted to read some of her work for a while after listening to her presentation. Since her work is ridiculously funny while also being incredibly deep, I thought this would be a nice follow-up to Rachel Cusk’s memoir on motherhood, and it did not disappoint! Bomer is as funny and deep in her writing as she was in person. This short story collection focuses on the many facets of dysfunction that can (and often do) […]
Some thoughts on the zombie genre.
This book is shit. It’s not a “different people like different things” situation. If you enjoyed this book, I’m sorry, but you’re wrong. Yes, your enjoyment is wrong. The number of good reviews that this has on Goodreads and Amazon is appalling, but still not as appalling as this sorry excuse for a garbage fire of a book. I am actually offended by how bad this book is. Let’s unpack this. First, maybe you’re thinking “If it’s so bad, why did you read it?” Well, […]
Go into this great classic knowing as little as possible
This book! So good! I was pointed towards this book by the A Case for Books blog as one of her favorites of last year and I figured I’d give it a go. This novel is tiny, really it’s a short story, but it packs a huge punch. It kept me guessing the whole way through and I can’t stop thinking about it days later. It’s really, really worth seeking out (especially at that great price). I won’t say too much about the plot because […]
Eight stories about ugly, beautiful, human women.
Oh, this book. I have hearts in my eyes over this book. It’s so odd that 2/3 of my CBR8 books so far are anthologies, but here we go. If you have any affection at all for anthologies, this one is like sliding into a warm bubble bath with a glass of dry red wine. I’ll get to summaries of each story shortly, but first, can we talk about Schappell’s treatment of her female characters? It’s implicit in the title that this might be a […]