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patchy_at_best's review against another edition
3.0
Every story in this collection is fresh and fantastical. They share a sad streak, using magical realism to tap into the nerve centre of the human condition.
DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME ★★★★★
A woman believes chopping her boyfriend in half will save their relationship. This funny but confronting story starts the collection with a bang. It lingered in my mind for weeks after reading.
CONCEPTUAL ★★☆☆☆
A family of artists falls apart when unhappy reality disrupts their utopia. The melodrama of the story got into the way with me emotionally connecting to it.
SURVIVING SAINTHOOD ★★☆☆☆
When his disabled sister becomes a saint, neglected teen Ben drifts away from his family. While I didn’t find the characters very convincing, I appreciate that Surviving Sainthood touches some sensitive topics that could lead to great book club conversations.
THERE’S A WOMAN WORKS DOWN THE CHIP SHOP ★★★★☆
One magical summer, a working-class mother transforms into Elvis. You can interpret this story any way you like, but I read it as a metaphor for the woman’s concealed sexual identity. I invested in the characters and loved the originality of this idea.
BIRDS WITHOUT WINGS ★★★☆☆
A failed vacation drives a wedge between a well-meaning mother and her overweight daughter. The pain and conflict in Birds Without Wings is well-developed even in so few pages. Although this story doesn’t include a magical element, it fits the themes of the collection perfectly, incorporating parent/child conflicts and a sense of the macabre.
SHINE ON ★★☆☆☆
A young woman with superhuman hearing is fighting a losing custody battle over her baby. The protagonist’s flaws make her pitiful but also realistic. This story left me with a strong sense of her despair.
WHEN WE WERE WITCHES ★★★☆☆
The local witch adopts a hunchbacked girl to teach her the ways of the wild. Unlike the previous magical realism stories, When We Were Witches is fantasy. I didn’t mind jumping genres, and enjoyed getting lost in this imaginative world.
EVERYWHERE YOU DON’T WANT TO BE ★★★☆☆
A successful woman is forced to rethink her life when she meets her alternate self. This idea reminds me of a comedy film cliché, but I still enjoyed the character development.
DOG YEARS ★☆☆☆☆
A girl covered with fur becomes a freak show attraction. This extremely short story felt jarring because it lacked the strong style of the rest of the collection.
THE KEEPER OF THE JACKALOPES ★★★★☆
A bankrupt man and his daughter sell taxidermied critters to save their trailer park from urban development. Throughout The Keeper of the Jackalopes, I enjoyed piecing together the characters’ world. I felt it had the most heart, and the deepest character development of any story in the collection.
CATWOMAN HAD SOMETHING ★★★☆☆
A young girl inherits her aunt’s secret to seduction. How would your personality change if suddenly the opposite sex found you irresistible? While sad, this idea is definitely fresh and compelling.
BOYS LIKE DOLLS ★★☆☆☆
A little boy’s GI Joe doll comes to life and gives him bad advice. Following such inventive ideas, I felt like this was a comparatively weak ending point for the collection.
Overall, Don’t Try This at Home is a thought-provoking collection, with a compelling pace and strong thematic backbone. Angela Readman combines whacky magical realism with her sense of the macabre to construct a unique look on life.
This review can also be found on my blog Paige's Pages.
DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME ★★★★★
A woman believes chopping her boyfriend in half will save their relationship. This funny but confronting story starts the collection with a bang. It lingered in my mind for weeks after reading.
CONCEPTUAL ★★☆☆☆
A family of artists falls apart when unhappy reality disrupts their utopia. The melodrama of the story got into the way with me emotionally connecting to it.
SURVIVING SAINTHOOD ★★☆☆☆
When his disabled sister becomes a saint, neglected teen Ben drifts away from his family. While I didn’t find the characters very convincing, I appreciate that Surviving Sainthood touches some sensitive topics that could lead to great book club conversations.
THERE’S A WOMAN WORKS DOWN THE CHIP SHOP ★★★★☆
One magical summer, a working-class mother transforms into Elvis. You can interpret this story any way you like, but I read it as a metaphor for the woman’s concealed sexual identity. I invested in the characters and loved the originality of this idea.
BIRDS WITHOUT WINGS ★★★☆☆
A failed vacation drives a wedge between a well-meaning mother and her overweight daughter. The pain and conflict in Birds Without Wings is well-developed even in so few pages. Although this story doesn’t include a magical element, it fits the themes of the collection perfectly, incorporating parent/child conflicts and a sense of the macabre.
SHINE ON ★★☆☆☆
A young woman with superhuman hearing is fighting a losing custody battle over her baby. The protagonist’s flaws make her pitiful but also realistic. This story left me with a strong sense of her despair.
WHEN WE WERE WITCHES ★★★☆☆
The local witch adopts a hunchbacked girl to teach her the ways of the wild. Unlike the previous magical realism stories, When We Were Witches is fantasy. I didn’t mind jumping genres, and enjoyed getting lost in this imaginative world.
EVERYWHERE YOU DON’T WANT TO BE ★★★☆☆
A successful woman is forced to rethink her life when she meets her alternate self. This idea reminds me of a comedy film cliché, but I still enjoyed the character development.
DOG YEARS ★☆☆☆☆
A girl covered with fur becomes a freak show attraction. This extremely short story felt jarring because it lacked the strong style of the rest of the collection.
THE KEEPER OF THE JACKALOPES ★★★★☆
A bankrupt man and his daughter sell taxidermied critters to save their trailer park from urban development. Throughout The Keeper of the Jackalopes, I enjoyed piecing together the characters’ world. I felt it had the most heart, and the deepest character development of any story in the collection.
CATWOMAN HAD SOMETHING ★★★☆☆
A young girl inherits her aunt’s secret to seduction. How would your personality change if suddenly the opposite sex found you irresistible? While sad, this idea is definitely fresh and compelling.
BOYS LIKE DOLLS ★★☆☆☆
A little boy’s GI Joe doll comes to life and gives him bad advice. Following such inventive ideas, I felt like this was a comparatively weak ending point for the collection.
Overall, Don’t Try This at Home is a thought-provoking collection, with a compelling pace and strong thematic backbone. Angela Readman combines whacky magical realism with her sense of the macabre to construct a unique look on life.
This review can also be found on my blog Paige's Pages.
joannaarp's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
sarahjjs's review against another edition
5.0
I love twisted short stories and witches so this was going to always be a winner for me.
tarynhaasaurusrex's review against another edition
5.0
I loved these short stories. They were clever and intriguing and I haven't felt this way about short stories in a long time. I highly recommend this.
amyetherington's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars. I don't know, I thought one or two of these stories were really good but I found the majority of them to be just okay. They aren't overly written or bloated with metaphors, but I felt oddly disconnected throughout most of this collection. I found it difficult to connect with the stories and grew less and less interested as I was reading.
I think maybe this collection just isn't for me. Like I said, I enjoyed a couple of the stories but none of them stuck with me each time I put this down. The best of the bunch is the title story, in which a woman repeatedly cuts her boyfriend in half. Being the first story in the collection, it sadly went down hill for me after that.
I think maybe this collection just isn't for me. Like I said, I enjoyed a couple of the stories but none of them stuck with me each time I put this down. The best of the bunch is the title story, in which a woman repeatedly cuts her boyfriend in half. Being the first story in the collection, it sadly went down hill for me after that.
tomsbooknook's review against another edition
4.0
This is such a great short story collection. Each one packs a punch, offering something new and interesting.
I loved how the stories are open to interpretation, and could be read as magical-realism or extended metaphors. I also enjoyed how each story had a profound message, without making it too explicit, or trying too hard to convey it.
Naturally, I enjoyed some more than others, though a collection as short as this, covering themes such as aging, gender, coping strategies and disability (along with many others), certainly warrants a read.
I loved how the stories are open to interpretation, and could be read as magical-realism or extended metaphors. I also enjoyed how each story had a profound message, without making it too explicit, or trying too hard to convey it.
Naturally, I enjoyed some more than others, though a collection as short as this, covering themes such as aging, gender, coping strategies and disability (along with many others), certainly warrants a read.
shonaholmes's review against another edition
3.0
Really interesting collection of short stories - I felt like I should be writing commentaries on all of them!