The World Doesn't Require You

Sometimes you get it, and sometimes you just don't.

I received an Advanced Readers Copy of this book several months before it came out, and I was excited. This looked like it was going to be a fabulous read.

And sadly, I just couldn't get into it. There are always some clunkers in short story collections, but story after story in this collection bored me to no end. There was something in the style that kept me at a distance and failed to entertain or educate me.

And that was odd, because this collection seemed like it would have so much going for it. And I can't explain why it didn't exactly.

There were two exceptions in this entire collection: “... Knockers” and “Special Topics in Loneliness Studies.” The latter was a novella length piece that was actually quite compelling. These two left me with a desire for more from this author, but knowing I could end up with stories that run the gamut, I'm hesitant to reenter this world.

In the end, this fairly short collection took me more than six months to read. I took long breaks after finishing each story and dreaded coming back. Perhaps I shouldn't have continued to press on, but that's a lesson for another book.