PositiveThe RumpusCline thrives in these small moments, the messy flotsam of lives, the poetic, understated details in a story that could easily be marketed as a blockbuster thriller: 'fog dripping audibly from the eucalyptus leaves'; 'ghosts of grease' left on a wineglass; Russell’s interest in Evie described as 'a quick tightening of ribbon.' The Girls’ most radical and rewarding formal innovation may be its efforts to slow down, hang out, observe.
Padgett Powell
MixedThe Rumpus...[a] beguiling, absurd, and hilariously batshit new collection of stories ... With its fusion of dadaist wordplay, gonzo slapstick, and deadpan Southern irony, reading Cries for Help, Various is like watching a lost episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus scripted by the late, great Barry Hannah. Of course there’s a risk that its charm will run out; but we’re in the hands of a serious storyteller, one with an unusual sensitivity to the pathos that can anchor the most surreal scenarios and motivate characters ... Sometimes Powell’s trapped-next-to-a-questionably-sane-guy-on-a-bus intensity grows tedious, and the pacing of the 44-story collection can be scattershot. But this is more of a cumulative blown fuse. One needs only to stop, pick a page at random, and retake the loopy joy of his sentences.
