Vampires in the Lemon Grove: Stories

I enjoyed this thought-provoking collection of short stories a lot. By Karen Russell, the author of Swamplandia, the stories contain absurd and often funny fantasy elements – vampires sinking their fangs into lemons, girls turning into silk worms, former presidents reincarnated as horses, seagulls stealing items from the future, and more. Yet those serve only as starting points for tales that are grounded in vividly portrayed characters and settings. The eight stories, while independent, share thematic connections, exploring ideas of identity, memory, transformation, death, redemption.