Gutshot, Amelia Gray, Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2015, 207 pp
Installment #3 of the tale of my April reading slump, in which I hit bottom.
Continuing my lethal slide into reading apathy, I struggled through this collection of short stories. Gutshot was the May 2015 selection of the Nervous Breakdown Book Club. I had listened to the Other People podcast with Amelia Gray some months ago and she sounded fairly normal. Reader, she is not!
I know there is a crossing-genres genre called The Weird and this collection would qualify. It is not Sci Fi but looks at a layer of society living probably right next to us but largely invisible. Messed up, weird people who do gross things and live outside what is thought of as mainstream.
Do I need to be aware of these things? Do such people need a voice or a place in literature? While reading these stories, I would go to the grocery store or RiteAid or 7-11 and wonder if some of the humans I saw there might be like the people in the book. Major creep factor.
Out of the 35 mostly very short stories, I only found 4 that were tolerable. "Western Passage," "Gutshot," "Year of the Snake," and "Legacy." I am sorry Amelia Gray. I know you have admirers so I guess you can do without me.
(Gutshot is available in paperback by order from Once Upon A Time Bookstore.)
Stay tuned for the next installment when I attempt to climb out of my slump.
It sounds as if this is at least appropriate to the book club for which it was picked!
ReplyDeleteFunny Debbie!
DeleteWow, Judy! Was it that bad?! Thank goodness it was relatively short anyways.
ReplyDeleteFor me it was-:(
DeleteBut why don't you tell us how you REALLY felt about it?!
ReplyDeleteAnother funny commenter! I am so blessed.
DeleteSorry to hear that...;-(( That is why I don't spend my precious time with things that doesn't interest me - I chose to never review books I didn't like...
ReplyDeleteBy the way dear Judy,I can tell you straight away that I have a crush on Sister Carrie (so far...) Thank you so much for this suggestion. Love it
So glad to hear you are liking Sister Carrie!
DeleteI think I'm also in the category of : do I need to be aware of these things. Nah! The Weird genre sounds a bit too, well, weird. But I do like the name of the Book Club.
ReplyDeleteThe Nervous Breakdown Book Club is a subscription service and I have received many amazing books I might otherwise have overlooked since I signed up for it. Then each author is featured on the podcast Other People. So it is pretty cool but once in a while, as in this case, the book I get is not to my tastes.
Delete