I think I probably read this in a bad mood but I was just pushing myself to reach the end from like halfway in. Too many stories which might have an interesting concept but go off on a totally unrelated and uninteresting tangent ( )

Beautiful words ( )

Some stories were beautiful, some forgettable. I laughed out loud a few times, and there was a sufficient number of twisted scenarios that I've come to love about Aimee Bender. While I mostly enjoyed reading this collection when I was able to get to it, it didn't quite have the quality of insisting that I keep at it...I think mainly because there was less magical realism than her other short story collections. Still a fan though, and still looking forward to more of her work. ( )

I love Aimee Bender’s mind and these stories do not disappoint. The stand out story (at least for me personally at this specific moment) is “On a Saturday Afternoon.” The paragraph about loneliness and dating? Searing. ( )

Mythic, but anti-epic, these fascinating stories arise in the hinterlands of our lives or of the fantasy literature with which we are familiar. A somnolent syrup flows in their veins, but they have sharp teeth. ( )