RaveThird Coast ReviewSometimes with short story collections, there is a standout crowd pleaser, maybe one or two stories that you expect everyone will be talking about. But the prose is so strong, and these stories are all so different, so it’s tough to say which is the one that people will be talking about ... They reflect the real pains and anxieties of family, romantic, and work relationships.
Brandon Taylor
RaveThe Southern Review of BooksTaylor lets his characters live in their physical, animal bodies. Characters are extra-aware of their hungers. More than one story has a character growling. Taylor doesn’t just keep the joys and upsets of life in his characters’ mind, either. He shows the pleasures these characters experience through their bodies, like in eating and sex. Likewise, characters’ have both emotional and physical frustrations, through illness and pain ... The nastiness inflicted on some of these characters are so palpable that at times I found myself physically cringing ... Taylor effectively explores how people can suffer under racism, sexism, classism, and, most prevalently in the collection, homophobia, but the stories aren’t heavy-handed rallying cries against bigotry. They are nuanced, and there are the unmistakable effects of prejudice, but moreso the collection is about the friction that exists between people that can’t be explained through simple personality clashes. Everyone has a story, even people who are vicious \'for no reason.\' Taylor shows us that there are always reasons ... Just a few words do a lot of work in Taylor’s prose. In tight phrases, he sums up entire experiences that offer both clarity as well as a little mystery ... a great collection for any diehard novel-readers who are nervous or otherwise skeptical to venture into short story territory. But if you’re not afraid of short stories, of a little violence, or of a lot of pain, this is still a collection to keep.
