book data
58 ratings, 4.05 average rating, 23 reviews
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published
2007
by Counterpoint Press
binding
Hardcover, 261 pages
isbn
1582433712
(isbn13: 9781582433714)
description
This new collection from Pushcart Prize-winning author Stacey Richter brings cavemen, bat boys, clones, and other odd bits of reality together with ...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 108)
Read in October, 2007
What a pleasant surprise to find a gem of an unknown author at the library! This book of short stories is amazing. Some of the stories are astonishing; some are just excellent; most are quirky and funny. I look forward to "My date with Satan." (the name of her other book!)
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This is way, way, way better than "My Date with Satan," her first collection. Here, she masters the art of surprised, twisty endings and compelling characters. There's a story about an elderly lady who befriends a twenty-something punk kid, and hangs out at a punk show with him and his friends! Who else can pull that off? Ms. Cavemen in the Hedges can. There's one story told as a half sci fi, half medical journal, that I wasn't really feeling. But I tend to prefer the classic single pl...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
fans of George Saunders and Kelly Link
Like the stories of George Saunders, these pieces made me laugh while forcing me to contemplate my own intellectual hubris. The stories go down easy, with only an occasional shard of glass to stick in the throat. The stories are populated by cavemen (already explored by Saunders), potsmoking Asberger's-syndrome "Bat Boys," thirtysomethings adrift in a southwestern landscape populated by deadbeat dads and wino moms, twins who switch identities as easily as they switch clothing, and th...more
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Read in July, 2008
I picked up this collection after reading Richter's story in Tin House: Fantastic Women. Not every story here was "genre-bending," but that didn't matter. I loved the writing all the same, particularly the diaglogue. I read it, cover to cover, in a week--which is lightspeed for me (when I'm not reading flash fiction). This collection gets a five, though, because the connecting thread between the stories ...more
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Read in June, 2007
I loved Richter's first short story collection, My Date With Satan, and this, her second, did not disappoint. Richter has an amazing ability to take strange ideas and make them seem normal, or to take seemingly normal concepts and make them strange. I loved the title story, about twins resolute in their non-inter-changeableness, and all the others have something quirky or fun or surprising to recommend them. (And then there was the ...more
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Read in October, 2008
I've never heard of this before....just picked it up off a shelf during a book-buying spree.
Now it's my new purse book (7/31/08)
10/17/08 - Really enjoyed this quirky, imaginative stories from Richter. The book started out incredibly strong with the wonderful "Twin Study" and "Velvet" (perfect for anyone who has ever wondered how his or her dog thinks). Some of the others were a bit uneven, but even those were usually fun. If you enjoy short stories in the Alice M...more
Now it's my new purse book (7/31/08)
10/17/08 - Really enjoyed this quirky, imaginative stories from Richter. The book started out incredibly strong with the wonderful "Twin Study" and "Velvet" (perfect for anyone who has ever wondered how his or her dog thinks). Some of the others were a bit uneven, but even those were usually fun. If you enjoy short stories in the Alice M...more
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
lovers of short stories
This was a really phenomenal short story collection; I was lukewarm on maybe 3 of the stories, hence the 4 star rating, but otherwise was absolutely captivated. Richter has a way of imagining these really bizarre premises for her stories, but inhabiting them so completely and with such confidence that I didn't question the plausibility, but was instead fully invested in the ride. And she's very talented at turning a phrase. Highly recommended.
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Flawed in parts, lovely in others. When the author's self-consciousness gets in the way, it hurts. Sometimes there are veins of faux-hipsterishness painfully injected into the prose that feels so so untruthful and so so ham-fisted. Her experimental side is often more convincing than her straight-up "storytelling" side. When it feels like she's telling us the truth, I admire her. When it feels like she's putting on a performance, I'm yawning.
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Read in April, 2007
I picked up this book of short stories by chance because of the title. The titular short story is really good/weird/funny, and several others I really enjoyed. A few though are just kind of too weird for me to really get behind. One of my problems is that they don't really seem to resolve/change anything in the character's lives. Nothing actually happens; they just live these strange lives and wander around.
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Read in January, 2008
Although the stories in this collection didn't rock me as much as the stories in My Date With Satan, I'm just totally impressed with Richter's ability to narratively throw her voice, the way she satirizes via exquisitely controlled language. She's definitely one of the masters at that particular skill.
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These storeies were REAL, brah. Doo, I was like mesmerized, you know? I dont know, main, I mean, her writing style is like simple yet exquisite... Peace.
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Read in October, 2008
breezy yet engrossing, the characters seem slight but are totally believable and linger in your head. plus, namesake story is about a twin study!
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Again, I'm just not a fan of short stories. I thought this collection might break the mold for me, but unfortunately, alas, I was wrong.
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Read in April, 2007
recommends it for:
anyone who loves the unsual
If you liked, My Date With Satan, this second collection will delight as well. Still quirky, but more solemn and ever earnest.
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Read in July, 2007
I loved the first story and was hoping to read more about those twin sisters, but I never got another chance in this collection.
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Read in February, 2008
I really liked the first story (about twins) but all the others were just ok ...
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Read in March, 2007
It was a spectaculaer collection of short stories; each was a morsel of humanity.
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Read in June, 2007
A great collection. Sincere, disturbed and plainly awesome.
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