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adam_nie's review
3.0
Highs and lows. I'm bewildered by how many men devoted their brief flashes to foregrounding unsympathetic, horned-up weirdos (as distinct from the many sympathetic horned-up weirdos with whom I have no quarrel). Tasked with distilling narrative to its bare essentials, that's what they prioritized? Tedious.
On page 16, Oren Peleg's Coffee Bean begins with "Pretty Asian girl asks if she can sit across from me." On page 17, Karen Benke's Fate On The Highway begins with "Driving back from the beach, I talk to my dead father." These consecutive stories reflect the general trend.
Nevertheless, 100-word microfiction is a cool format and this collection contains some strong examples. My top ten are Chicken Dance, Bob And Betty, Wedding Party Moved To The Cemetery At Midnight, Thicker Than Water, Useless Things, Moving Sale, Practicing, By The Sea, Never Nine, and Name That Tune.
On page 16, Oren Peleg's Coffee Bean begins with "Pretty Asian girl asks if she can sit across from me." On page 17, Karen Benke's Fate On The Highway begins with "Driving back from the beach, I talk to my dead father." These consecutive stories reflect the general trend.
Nevertheless, 100-word microfiction is a cool format and this collection contains some strong examples. My top ten are Chicken Dance, Bob And Betty, Wedding Party Moved To The Cemetery At Midnight, Thicker Than Water, Useless Things, Moving Sale, Practicing, By The Sea, Never Nine, and Name That Tune.
karnakjr's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
2.75
Minus a few standouts, this flash collection felt pretty forgettable. Maybe better if you want to read one a day and spend more time thinking about it?
kojobaffoe's review
3.0
An enjoyable quick read. I wanted to like it more than I did but, because there were stories from so many different writers, it didn’t grab me wholeheartedly. Some really great stories, some so-so ones but, overall, worth the read and the time.
debz57a52's review
3.0
Like any collection of short stories, this one had some that were excellent, some that were expressive and beautiful, and some that left me wondering what they were even about.
Goaded on my group of collaborative teacher friends, I'm hoping to encourage students to write a 100-word story about their lives, and I was looking for some mentor texts to read with the high school students. After reading through all of the stories in this book, the ones I noted, some of which can be found on 100wordstory.com, were: Hard Time, Bob and Betty, Snapshots of a Crash, Coffee Bean, Streets at Night, Martha, Thicker than Water, In Blackest Night, Divorce Party, Final Tally, Sister's Boyfriend, Five Things, Moving Sale, Humpty Dumpty, Practicing, Glyph, The Hive, Great Composers of the American Popular Song, Cassiopaeia, Fair, Naming, Under the Piano, Bruno, A Day in the Life of Steve, Houndstooth, Profile, Descent, The Toast, Naked (seems sexy, but great twist).
Goaded on my group of collaborative teacher friends, I'm hoping to encourage students to write a 100-word story about their lives, and I was looking for some mentor texts to read with the high school students. After reading through all of the stories in this book, the ones I noted, some of which can be found on 100wordstory.com, were: Hard Time, Bob and Betty, Snapshots of a Crash, Coffee Bean, Streets at Night, Martha, Thicker than Water, In Blackest Night, Divorce Party, Final Tally, Sister's Boyfriend, Five Things, Moving Sale, Humpty Dumpty, Practicing, Glyph, The Hive, Great Composers of the American Popular Song, Cassiopaeia, Fair, Naming, Under the Piano, Bruno, A Day in the Life of Steve, Houndstooth, Profile, Descent, The Toast, Naked (seems sexy, but great twist).
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