“Gay takes rewarding risks in form, placing traditional narratives about failed relationships alongside inventive stories that dive into surrealism … the real gift to readers in Difficult Women is her ability to marry her well-known intellectual concerns with good storytelling … We glimpse the slights and economic hardships these women endure and see how emotional damage manifests itself into hardened personalities and complicated relationships … Gay excels in her allowance for human complexity. Trauma gives way to unusual pleasure, and healing might be found through more pain or submission … One of the book’s greatest achievements is Gay’s psychological acuity in the creation of female characters who are teeming with dissonance and appealing self-awareness … In a dark and modern way, this collection celebrates the post-traumatic enlightenment of women.”
–Megan Mayhew Berman, The Washington Post, January 3, 2016
