Book Club: Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood
This is a collection of 9 short stories. I have mixed feelings about short story collections. I tend to get attached and then get really disappointed when they're over. The first three were a tied in that they were told from 3 different character perspectives reminiscing about the past. My pick to win - I would have read an entire book about it - was the short about a man who gave away shares of a book that he hadn't written yet in order to make rent and of course it becomes a cult classic. A very good revenge plot. A good recommendation for: indecisive people and maybe someone who doesn't have time to read a longer book.
Bone Gap - Laura Ruby
It was a magical realism story about a girl who goes missing from a small town where everyone knows everyone. Ehhhh... I didn't like the over powering themes of beauty vs. ugly and made all men out to be sexual predators. It was supposedly empowering and feminist according to reviews I read. But mostly it was damsel in distress and a man comes to save the day. The man this time fitting a more beta-male archetype. A good recommendation for: Angsty teens who secretly like disney.
The Residue Years - Mitchell S. Jackson
A drug addict mother gets out of rehab and has to follow state protocols in order to free herself of the system - meanwhile her drug dealing son is trying to sell enough to set his family sailing in a comfortable way. Both of them struggle to look out for one another. I love that this looked at a broken system without pointing fingers and shouting "this is a broken system!" Jackson has a really strong voice and it was an enthralling read. The themes of addiction, family, consequence and cycle are tightly woven. A story gritty to the touch, a poverty - if you've been around American poverty, that rings true. This does contain drugs, sex, graphic situations. A good recommendation for: My old english teacher, Mrs. Hamblin.
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