St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves

Somewhat uneven. I had read a couple of these stories in the New Yorker and Zoetrope, and on re-reading them, those are still as brilliant as I originally thought. The titular story is also brilliant. But some of the other stories are a little disappointing, if only because I had such high expectations. Overall a great read though, and I'm excited to read more from this author.

I could not finish this book, hence the 1-star rating.

Russell is highly imaginative and has good ideas. The characters were different and quirky, and I liked how the setting of each short story (that I read) was engaging and kept me wanting more. And that's what I wanted - more - but in a bad, bad way. Overall, the stories always had something lacking.

It felt like Russell found a fool-proof formula on how to write a good short story, so she kept on applying it, and unfortunately, it got old very quickly. I had to put the book down after reading the first four, her author voice became stale and painful to read as I went on.

The fourth story was also disgustingly crude. I could not see myself enjoying the rest of the book.

Would not recommend.