A fine and varied collection that gives eloquent voice to the unsayable.
An anthology offers short stories about breaking cultural and family rules.
The editors of this collection—Smith, Neville, and Laskar—gained their inspiration from the fourth lesson, titled “Ideas: Exploring Taboo and Darkness,” in Joyce Carol Oates’ MasterClass lecture on the art of the short story. Tales about the overall theme, breaking taboos, were in some cases solicited directly from contributors while others were selected from entries by authors responding to an open call for stories. Many of these were previously published in other collections or literary journals. The anthology also reprints “Gargoyle” by Oates. Unsurprisingly one of the strongest tales in the collection, the story is narrated by a woman who is driving the streets in the wee hours, her thoughts directed at her lover’s wife. Adultery, though, isn’t her chief transgression; it’s loneliness, something that can’t be talked about and has twisted her sensibility toward the grotesque. The narrator’s memory and imagination, especially of her lover’s wife’s pregnancy, are haunted by the sinister, with Oates maintaining the chilling tone in sentences where every word counts. The opening piece, “True Crime” by Kim Addonizio, is another potent tale that digs beneath the surface. Teenage girls steal from school lockers or stores, even taking a diamond necklace from a friend’s house; they get fake IDs and have unprotected sex. Or do they? The narrator’s story keeps changing: “Here’s the necklace. Is it real? Is it fake? Does it even exist? Who gives a shit?” The powerlessness of their world and the hopelessness of their prospects are the true crimes.
Drugs and alcoholism represent another class of taboo examined in several tales. In “Exit Stage” by Chavisa Woods, for example, a high school girl endangers her future by snorting cocaine with her mother even as she suspects that, on some level, her mom wants her to fail. Other stories concern transgressions of family and cultural mores, as in “The Tao of Good Families” by Soniah Kamal, in which a Pakistani girl learns what she truly values about people, and “I Still Like Pink” by Francine Rodriguez, in which a gay teenager resolves that being her true self is more important than facing anyone’s disapproval. Few readers would argue with the premise of such pieces, but other tales challenge the sensibilities more intensely. In “Not a Cupid,” for instance, by Molly Giles, the female narrator buys a young boy named Beto in Juarez. Hedrugs, gags, and binds her, touching her sexually and playing with her body. The encounter assuages her loneliness, so she concludes: “I will not use my knife on this one I thought....It will take some time, but this one I will teach.” The story’s tender ending makes it all the more horrifying and truly transgressive. Some pieces are more lighthearted, such as “Jamboree” by Pam Houston, in which a woman and her dog prank a gun-loving “Mountain Man” convention.
A fine and varied collection that gives eloquent voice to the unsayable.Pub Date: March 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-94-869264-9
Page Count: 268
Publisher: Madville Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PROFILES
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A boarding-school fantasia, with Hilderbrand’s signature upgrades to the cuisine and decor. Sign us up for next term.
A year in the life of the No. 2 boarding school in America—up from No. 19 last year!
Rumors of Hilderbrand’s retirement were greatly exaggerated, it turns out, since not only has she not gone out to pasture, she’s started over in high school, with her daughter Shelby Cunningham as co-author. As their delicious new book opens, it’s Move-In Day at Tiffin Academy, and Head of School Audre Robinson is warmly welcoming the returning and new students to the New England campus, the latter group including a rare midstream addition to the junior class. Brainiac Charley Hicks is transferring from public school in Maryland to a spot that opened up when one of the school’s most beloved students died by suicide the preceding year. She will be joining a large, diverse cast of adult and teenage characters—queen bees, jealous second-stringers, boozehounds young and old, secret lesbians, people chasing the wrong people chasing other wrong people—all of them royally screwed when an app called Zip Zap appears and starts blasting everyone’s secrets all over campus. How the heck…? Meanwhile, it seems so unlikely that Tiffin has jumped up to the No. 2 spot in the boarding-school rankings that a high-profile magazine launches an investigation, and even the head is worried that there may have been payola involved. The school has a reputation for being more social than academic, and this quality gets an exciting new exclamation point when the resident millionaire bad boy opens a high-style secret speakeasy for select juniors in a forgotten basement. It’s called Priorities. Exactly. One problem: Cinnamon Peters’ mysterious suicide hangs over the book in an odd way, especially since the note she left for her closest male friend is not to be opened for another year—and isn’t. This is surely a setup for a sequel, but it’s a bit frustrating here, and bobs sort of shallowly along amid the general high spirits.
A boarding-school fantasia, with Hilderbrand’s signature upgrades to the cuisine and decor. Sign us up for next term.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9780316567855
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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