Thomcat
6/16/2023
This was a very uneven collection of short stories, many published elsewhere previously. The collection was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer, it lost out to The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen.
The story I liked most was Two Houses, a Shirley Jackson award nominee. Science fiction transitioning to horror, it is one of the more standard in the collection.
Other stories are set in a different universe with rules not explained to the reader. This can work at times, but felt often in this collection like it didn't work. One set in a superhero convention, only it turns out that maybe this isn't just cosplay. Another has more ordinary folks, though in the end we find out minor super powers (e.g. levitation, but only two feet) are a thing.
Then there were stories I just didn't like the writing. The Lesson is an example of those. Maybe it's just me?