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Oct 03, 2008

Imogen rated it:

RAD BUT CAVEAT

Y'know how people will be like, 'I don't really listen to rap stuff, but I really liked that Nas album,' or whatever, and then you know that Nas album is probably not super representative of hip-hop? I don't really read fantasy, or sci-fi, but I fuckin love Kelly Link. I'm like, I guess these count as fantasy stories lots of the time, and that's clearly the community Ms Link is coming from, and about which she tends to talk, but still, her stories engage me in a way tha More...

5 comments like (8 people liked it)

Oct 26, 2008

Lynn rated it:

This wonderful book gathers 9 of Kelly Link’s stories in her first collection published for teens. Most of the stories have appeared in other books but old fans will welcome having them together and those unfamiliar with Link’s work will surely join the ranks of admirers. Her work is truly unique and blend horror, fantasy, and science fiction. While being extremely funny in a dead pan, sneak-up-on-you way, Link has a very sharp eye for human foibles. Whether she is writing about a handbag th More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 20, 2009

Monica rated it:

Absolutely superb. I always meant to read me some Kelly Link and am so glad I finally did. I loved each and every completely different story in this collection. Link is clever, witty, imaginative, and remarkable. And she writes like a dream. So many wonderful lines and bits. Here's just a tiny one I thought was hilarious (partly because of a certain writer-of-a-very-famous-boy-wizard's overuse of a certain part of speech): "The goats are sneezing emphatically." (In the title story, More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 23, 2009

Jennifer rated it:

There are nine short stories in Kelly Link's collection, Pretty Monsters. I picked this up without realizing that I'd actually read two of them before, both offered in other YA short story collections I had loved. Unfortunately, those two stories proved to be the best of the lot. There is one other story I liked. The rest have promise but tend to fall a bit flat. Reviews of each are below. Overall, however, 3 good stories out of 9 is not a great record. It's really frustrating because Link is a More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Nov 30, 2008

Jess rated it:

This collection of fantastical short stories covers a wide range of styles, moods and lengths, but they all include an element of the mysterious, the mythical, or the other-wordly. Some stories feature contemporary teens in odd situations, like the girl in “The Faery Handbag” searching for her grandmother’s handbag which contains another world. Other stories offer high fantasy, aliens, the undead, and bizarre TV shows that you’ve never seen, but “you wish you had.” Each story feels unique and More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 03, 2008

Scott rated it:

In a series of 9 stories, I liked 7 a whole bunch, 1 a little bit, and 1 not at all. But as the song goes, 7 1/2 outta 9 ain't bad. Even when I didn't like a story or found it ok, I was awed by Kelly Link's writing. I have read a ton of great books by great writers. Link surpasses every single one of those writers by a mile, at least. She's so compelling readable and every one of her words and thoughts are pitch perfect I just don't know how I haven't read anything by her before. In fact, I'm em More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 31, 2008

Jane rated it:

First book of fantasy short stories I've read. It's great! I wished that some of the stories were novels instead.

Stories:

The Wrong Grave - Miles Sperry digs up the wrong grave of his dead girlfriend. The dead girl follows him.

The Wizards of Perfil - I really liked this one. Halsa is sold as a servant to the wizards of Perfil. Many strange things happen. Her wizard never talks to her.

Magic for Beginners - A story centered around a television More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Oct 27, 2008

Jennifer rated it:

I'm not sure I like Link's stories as much as I admire them. I like a linear narrative, and Link is non-linear. I like a strong resolution, preferably happy (yes, I read like a 12 year old girl) while most if not all of Link's stories are open-ended. I like my fantasy grounded in reality, while Link's stories are nothing if not surreal. But though I have only read two of these previously published stories before, I was surprised at how many times I went back to see how she constructed characters More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 04, 2009

Roseann rated it:

One of my favorite collection of short stories...love the time-eating handbag one, you'll have to read it to see about it! Highly recommended!

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 20, 2009

Clickety rated it:

I'll have to read this again sometime, because I was kind of 'eh' about it. Bummer. I really thought I'd like it. I guess I like when stories balance out the weird and the ordinary, like they converge and depend on each other. When it's a bunch of meandering weird? not so much.

I'd read The Faery Handbag and ... uh... the one about the dead girlfriend... I think that's all... in other collections. I read the one about the TV show, also, and then I started one other (can't remember wh More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 17, 2009

Anina rated it:

I am absolutely in love with this. The stories are a mix of science fiction and fantasy with a little bit of teen romance thrown in. They are waaaay out there but she pulls it off wonderfully. The only criticism I would have of this book is that it's a little nichy, I don't see it having super wide teen appeal. But those who love it will love it. Like me.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Nov 07, 2008

oriana marked it as to-read

I will read anything by Kelly Link.

Um so if any of my super-cool bookstore / publishing friends stumble upon a proof or arc of this, I'll do something really nice for you in exchange. Like, uh, talk about your awesomeness incessantly.

****

Omigod why haven't I gotten this book yet.

If you, like me, are in the throes of Kelly Link withdrawal, check out this rad interview with her here.

(And I'll just save you the trouble of Wikipedia-ing o More...

10 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 10, 2010

Andrew added it

Marissa and I had this long discussion about the politics of the term "magical realism," and how that maybe gets applied to postcolonial writers like Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Salman Rushdie over, say, Kelly Link; all that aside, I think you could squarely slot Link as a magical realist. If you're hoity-toity, anyway, you could just as easily say that she writes fantasy or horror or science fiction. Certainly there's a spectrum of strange ideas and straightforward or modern-day presen More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 27, 2011

The Styling Librarian is currently reading it

Currently, this is one of my audiobook adventures. It is a brilliant collection of short stories- high school- and the audiobook is quite well done with a different reader for each story. These stories are quite the collection and they all have given me pause, freaked me out, and made me want to have them in a discussion group. Presently, I'm listening to a story, The Surfer, set in the future which is quite abysmal and it includes a widespread flu epidemic... Loved listening to the story cal More...

0 comments like

May 14, 2011

Lightreads rated it:

Kelly Link’s short stories are like other people’s dreams. Except usually when someone pins you down to tell you about a dream they just had because they’re so excited by how weird and meaningful it is, you’re like “…um, okay. Whatever.” Or maybe that’s just me. Other people’s subconsciouses? Boringly impenetrable.

But Kelly Link’s stories are like dreams we’ve all had. There’s something really down deep twisty and disturbing she gets at, some common psychological taproot of cultural More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Apr 10, 2011

Tim rated it:

Here's the thing about Kelly Link's writing: even those stories that don't end in a satisfying way still stick with me for a long time. I first experienced this with "The Hortlak," the uber-weird story in Magic for Beginners that ultimately doesn't make much sense and that lacks resolution. But I kept thinking about the story, and eventually re-read it, taking as much or more pleasure in its world-building the second time around, even though I knew how it would (or wouldn't) resolve. More...

0 comments like

Jan 06, 2011

Nesa rated it:

This one is supposed to be a collection of stories for young adults but it's great for adults as well. The tales have untrustworthy wizards, talking corpses, vampiric ghosts and undead babysitters. Here is an America where anything can happen and it usually does.

The book opens with “The Wrong Grave”, in which Miles, a teenage boy, digs up what he believes to be his girlfriend’s grave in an attempt to recover a sheaf of poetry so he can submit it to a contest.

In "Magic f More...

0 comments like

Oct 22, 2010

Emma rated it:

I'm not quite sure why authors are writing stories with no attempts at a storyline, no interesting/likable characters and spewed little sentence fragments, and readers are like 'oh, wow, that's deep and well written'.

No. It's a bunch of shallow, underdeveloped junk that wishes it was well written, but failed. Rather epically, I'd say.

Some of these stories actually were interesting. Magic for Beginners would have made a really interesting novel. The concept of a TV show li More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 16, 2010

Monster added it

Kelly Link taps into teenagers’ darkest emotions in Pretty Monsters. The selfishness and ego of a boy who attempts to dig up his dead girlfriend’s grave so he can reclaim the poetry he buried with her; the anger and fear at being singled out; the cruelty friends and siblings can visit on each other; ambivalence toward parents; the unhealthy fantasies that shape thoughts and actions. The main characters in these stories aren’t always monsters, and they usually have sympathetic or likable characte More...

0 comments like

May 05, 2010

Danielle rated it:

I originally picked up Pretty Monsters because of the kick-ass cover, and I actually considered bying it because the inside cover was adorned with glowing blurbs from some of my favorite authors, such as Holly Black, Alice Sebold, Garth Nix and Libba Bray. The summary itself was what sold me. Nine odd, quirky, perhaps a bit morbid tales involving a kid named Onion? I never stood a chance.

Pretty Monsters consists of nine short stories by Hugo award winner Kelly Link. The reviews thus More...

0 comments like

Jan 06, 2010

C.C. rated it:

Pretty Monsters is a collection of short stories in which the first three stories made me break into tears at the end. Only halfway through did I notice these were sort of horror stories, and it was only by the end that I noticed they were written for young adults. I picked this up because I read a book of short stories by Joe Hill (Stephen King's brilliant son, who knew?)--then I looked at Joe Hill's website, and he mentioned how much he loved Kelly Link's strange settings and tone. Brillian More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 18, 2009

Rosie rated it:

Stephen King once wrote that a short story is like a quick kiss in the dark from a stranger. Well, this book of short stories is like a quick peck on the cheek. Each story is short, pretty enjoyable, and leaves you wanting more. At first I was annoyed that each story did not really have an ending. It left me a little unsatisfied, but then I started thinking about how great this book could be to encourage teens to use their imagination more. If it wasn’t for the occasional curse word, I think som More...

0 comments like

Mar 20, 2011

Kaycie rated it:

I found out about Kelly Link because authors like Kevin Brockmeier and Karen Russell had mentioned her in various interviews (and in Brockmeier's case, one of her books showed up on his reading list that he passed out at a recent book signing) Some of the stories in this collection genuinely gave me the creeps and might give me nightmares...but in a good way meaning I'd read them again. I've already ordered her other two books and I have high hopes for them.

In this collection I think More...

0 comments like

Jul 14, 2010

Kirstyn rated it:

I hadn't read very much of Kelly Link's work before I picked up this copy of Pretty Monsters. Now I must certainly read more. She writes with such a clear and seemingly simple style -- but of course it's not simple, far from it; that's the enviable trick -- and her stories are rich and magical and always leave you with a very satisfied feeling.

In Pretty Monsters, the stories all revolve around young protagonists and Link write convincingly in their voices, and of their concerns, their More...

0 comments like

Dec 12, 2009

rachel rated it:

One night, I read the first story and thought, "This is fun and original!". I read the second story that same night and thought, "Wow, I may be in love with Kelly Link!". I went to bed, went to work the next day, and recommended this book to everyone who may be interested, antsy to get home and keep reading.

My enthusiasm waned a little bit at the beginning of "Magic for Beginners". I thought, "There's a lot of quirk here for the sake of quirk, More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 13, 2009

Nicole rated it:

Before I began this review, I read some other opinions on-line. It isn't that I didn't know my opinion of the stories so far, but I wasn't sure if I was alone. Kelly Link is a good writer. By that I mean Kelly Link is very creative and does write interesting narratives. That being written I don't particularly like these stories. I am a little more than halfway through them and have found only one or two that I can honestly write I enjoyed. The few I have found interesting were also beyond More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 03, 2010

Barky rated it:

This was an excellent short story collection. There’s something just a bit strange, just a bit quirky in each of the stories. My favorite was the first, which begins, “Anyone might accidentally dig up the wrong grave…” and goes on to tell the story of young Miles who dug up his girlfriend’s grave to get back the poems he’d buried with her. The corpse he uncovers, however, doesn’t appear to be her, and, in fact, it grabs hold of his ankle and has a conversation with him. Mile’s dead girl is n More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 29, 2009

Alan rated it:

The stories in Kelly Link's collection Pretty Monsters are all written in simple, lucid prose, and her protagonists are, by and large, teenagers and younger children. That's enough, I guess, to explain why I found this book in the "Teen Fiction" section of my local library (well, that and the fact that Link specifically selected these stories for young adults). But they're also uniformly surreal, antic, and above all well-written, and you shouldn't let that sort of niche marketing put More...

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Apr 28, 2011

Jay rated it:

I wavered on how much I enjoyed this collection, but decided to fall on the upside. There are a few stories that dragged for me, some that were just okay. For me 'Wizards of Perfil', 'The Specialist's Hat', and 'Pretty Monsters' really stood out. 'Monster' made me squirm - which is a very good thing. I found the 'Surfer' a grind to get through. 'Magic for Beginners' felt cutesy and too referential. 'The Constable of Abal' and 'The Faery Handbag' were solid fairytale fare without falling into tha More...

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Apr 26, 2010

Alicia rated it:

I'll be honest. I only read 6 of the 9 short stories in this book. Usually, I feel obligated to finish a book even if I'm not enjoying it so much, but because these were short stories, there was nothing tying me to it. I enjoyed at least a part of each story. I loved the voice and concept of Magic for Beginners. However, I was ultimately dissatisfied by where each story went and how each story ended. They seemed careless rather than haunting.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)