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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
Someone just asked me "How did you learn to read poetry?"
It's a great question. It really is. Because I didn't know the answer, but at the same time there's a skill to pick up somewhere.
By that same token, I have to wonder if people struggle with short stories because they don't know how to read them. The poetry is a question I have to think over, but for the short stories I have an idea.
Short stories are the serial monogamy of reading.
For those who aren't familiar with that term and just don't feel like working it out, serial monogamy is the idea of dating someone exclusively, dating people one at a time, then moving on to someone else without crossover or any of this dating around business. It's like serial killing. You kill someone, then you move on. You kill one person at a time, not a bunch of people all at once.
I wish I'd come up with a better comparison than serial killing. It can be hard on the heart, but serial monogamy isn't a death penalty crime just yet.
To enjoy short stories, it helps to be a serial monogamist. A short story might hurt your feelings. It might leave way before you're ready. Even still, you have to be able to read as if, just maybe, this time the story will last. It'll be the short story that turns into the novel that turns into your favorite book you read over and over. You have to learn enough about yourself to say that it's okay to be in love more than once. Maybe more than once in a single day. And just because you've been in love before doesn't mean your new love doesn't mean as much.
The good thing about being a serial monogamist is that you get to date more than one really great person. You get to know them and the best things about them. You don't waste a lot of time on people you don't really like because you're kind of looking for something more than a person you can tolerate long enough to figure out why you REALLY hate them. There are a lot of good things about serial monogamy.
The bad thing, the really bad parts, are the parts where the relationships end. Those are hard. They're hard because you're involved and the people mean something to you. It's more than a fling, but somehow it's not all as epic as a dissolving marriage. There's no lawyers to see or houses to divvy.
The good thing about the short story version is that the short story doesn't have feelings. It's a break up at the last word, and it's okay for that breakup to be all about you, the reader. How sad you are to see this story go. How hurt you are it ended the way it did.
The other bad thing, the other worst part, is being strong enough to pick up the next story and read it like you didn't just have your heart broken.
If you have struggles with short stories, try thinking like a serial monogamist. Let yourself fall for characters even when you know they won't stick around. It might be the only chance you've got of falling for the right one.
It's a great question. It really is. Because I didn't know the answer, but at the same time there's a skill to pick up somewhere.
By that same token, I have to wonder if people struggle with short stories because they don't know how to read them. The poetry is a question I have to think over, but for the short stories I have an idea.
Short stories are the serial monogamy of reading.
For those who aren't familiar with that term and just don't feel like working it out, serial monogamy is the idea of dating someone exclusively, dating people one at a time, then moving on to someone else without crossover or any of this dating around business. It's like serial killing. You kill someone, then you move on. You kill one person at a time, not a bunch of people all at once.
I wish I'd come up with a better comparison than serial killing. It can be hard on the heart, but serial monogamy isn't a death penalty crime just yet.
To enjoy short stories, it helps to be a serial monogamist. A short story might hurt your feelings. It might leave way before you're ready. Even still, you have to be able to read as if, just maybe, this time the story will last. It'll be the short story that turns into the novel that turns into your favorite book you read over and over. You have to learn enough about yourself to say that it's okay to be in love more than once. Maybe more than once in a single day. And just because you've been in love before doesn't mean your new love doesn't mean as much.
The good thing about being a serial monogamist is that you get to date more than one really great person. You get to know them and the best things about them. You don't waste a lot of time on people you don't really like because you're kind of looking for something more than a person you can tolerate long enough to figure out why you REALLY hate them. There are a lot of good things about serial monogamy.
The bad thing, the really bad parts, are the parts where the relationships end. Those are hard. They're hard because you're involved and the people mean something to you. It's more than a fling, but somehow it's not all as epic as a dissolving marriage. There's no lawyers to see or houses to divvy.
The good thing about the short story version is that the short story doesn't have feelings. It's a break up at the last word, and it's okay for that breakup to be all about you, the reader. How sad you are to see this story go. How hurt you are it ended the way it did.
The other bad thing, the other worst part, is being strong enough to pick up the next story and read it like you didn't just have your heart broken.
If you have struggles with short stories, try thinking like a serial monogamist. Let yourself fall for characters even when you know they won't stick around. It might be the only chance you've got of falling for the right one.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Claire Vaye Watkins has an infamous father. I don’t point this out in a salacious “looky here” way, but this father looms large over the first story in this collection. Her father is Tex Watson, yes, that Tex Watson. Murderer. Manson Family member. Currently and indefinitely imprisoned Tex Watson who married a prison pen pal and fathered four children while in jail. Claire wrests the reins from her father, her family, and her history to tell her own story- and it’s a doozy.
All of the stories in this volume will break your heart…but you will wait in line for it to happen like the 49ers, tourists, lost children, and down and out losers that populate this book. You’ll wait in line for your broken heart, and quickly pay another dollar into the video poker machine to feel it fall apart again. You can smell the beer soaked carpets. You can feel yourself fall in too deep with her wounded and wandering women. When she writes “It was an inevitable kiss. A kiss like I had caught the hem of my skirt on the seat of my bike while trying to mount it, and toppled. A kiss like we had fallen into each other, which I suppose we had” you will feel that tug running through your body down through the soles of your feet.
Battleborn is full of ghosts. These ghosts kick around in the American West, mostly floundering about in Reno but sometimes rushing Westward towards promises of the Golden State. The ghosts live in trailers behind brothels, drink warm beer in churches, and sneak into their sibling’s houses to secretly wash the dust out of their laundry. For every mountain of dirt there is a tiny fleck of gold luring you further into the mess.
All of the stories in this volume will break your heart…but you will wait in line for it to happen like the 49ers, tourists, lost children, and down and out losers that populate this book. You’ll wait in line for your broken heart, and quickly pay another dollar into the video poker machine to feel it fall apart again. You can smell the beer soaked carpets. You can feel yourself fall in too deep with her wounded and wandering women. When she writes “It was an inevitable kiss. A kiss like I had caught the hem of my skirt on the seat of my bike while trying to mount it, and toppled. A kiss like we had fallen into each other, which I suppose we had” you will feel that tug running through your body down through the soles of your feet.
Battleborn is full of ghosts. These ghosts kick around in the American West, mostly floundering about in Reno but sometimes rushing Westward towards promises of the Golden State. The ghosts live in trailers behind brothels, drink warm beer in churches, and sneak into their sibling’s houses to secretly wash the dust out of their laundry. For every mountain of dirt there is a tiny fleck of gold luring you further into the mess.
The first story of this collection is perhaps the most jarring opener I’ve ever read; not for any horrific details, but rather the realization of what it’s about (as I knew little about the author going in). From there, it’s one engaging reminder after another that everyone is trying to find something and it may not be happiness. It may be happiness adjacent or even adjacent to whatever that is. In the bleak landscape of the deserty American west, especially in and around Las Vegas, anything from safety and security to joy and jubilation to rationale and realization can be a copy of a copy of a copy — but it’s the closest you’ll likely ever get to purity, so you take it and hold onto it; not exactly treasuring it, not exactly dismissing it. It’s worth something, even if it’s not everything you want it to be. I found this collection fascinating, even when the desolation rolled through my body. These are characters aware of an absence within them, and even when they speak from the heart, they can come across as if they’re talking with gritted teeth. The hardened ones seem sharper and the softer souls seem ripe for the world’s devouring. I respect this world, but I do not fear it. Yet I worry how true it may be.
If I could give this 7 stars, I would. One of the best short story collections I've read in a while.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated