RaveZYZZYVASome who prefer to consume more uplifting content in troubling times may find the book ill-fitted for 2020, but if like me horror is a genre you hold near and dear, Tiny Nightmares is a great collection to escape into. Topping out at nearly 300 pages, but containing more than forty stories, Tiny Nightmares lives up to its title. Although the fleeting, unresolved nature of some of these narratives may posit that not every piece is suited for the less-than-1,500-words format, many of the grotesque, campy, and dystopic stories in this collection, once read, stay with you ... The collection contains a robust variety of refreshingly bizarre ‘creatures-lurking-in-the-dark,’ tales ... Although in the current climate a collection often driven by a fear of the future may feel inappropriately thrilling, Tiny Nightmares is balanced by supernatural, viscerally terrifying stories that strum strings less tied to reality.
Brit Bennett
PositiveZyzzyva...an enthralling addition to the literature of passing ... The Vanishing Half is powered by its reflections on deception, motherhood, and love, and where they intersect ... Although we live in a world of constructs, the novel shows how one thing inevitably leads to the next, and the truth catches up to you, even if everything feels unreal at times ... told deftly and assuredly.
Megha Majumdar
RaveZYZZYVA...one of the most invigorating debuts in recent memory ... Majumdar brings a grave immediacy to the novel as her characters face the often fatal consequences of negligence and complacency ... By the end of her novel, Majumdar is swift and certain in her denunciation of inequality and capitalism, the insidious carelessness in holding power, and the criminal justice system in India. A Burning is like a sparking power line, releasing jolts of bright light, humor and compassion.
Ishmael Beah
RaveZYZZYVABeah’s understated storytelling gives the family’s camaraderie and mutual understanding the subtle warmth of ever-glowing embers ... Beah writes elegantly about the unnamed country in his novel, capturing the stoicism of the natural world even as humans try to survive ... a tender story about a group of young people whose circumstances demand toughness. It’s a touching portrait of those whose lives are seemingly erased by the political and social order but are unfalteringly bright-eyed, sympathetic, and gutsy[.]
Emma Straub
PositiveZYZZYVA...delightful ... All Adults Here proceeds to entertainingly weave its characters’ numerous plotlines ... The novel’s keen analysis of family dynamics feels candid and representative of sociological truths, such as the shifting alliances in families, the exacting consequences of birth order, and the way we often magnify our family’s faults ... Straub writes about numerous social matters such as gentrification and queerness, some more successfully than others ... But despite that, All Adults Here is a testament to Straub’s ability to infuse the comic with wisdom.
Chelsea Bieker
PositiveZYZZYVABieker writes a highly readable prose and with an awareness of the questions that arise during a traumatic childhood. The story is dark and often sickening, but Lacey May’s glimmers of wisdom are her buoy, bringing her to the surface when she most needs air ... Godshot is a wild and intriguing examination of cult psychology and adolescence within the context of climate grief and isolation ... Godshot pierces the boundaries of fiction , reading as the true story of a California town we have not yet come to know, but one not far off from the California we know now.
