This Is Not an Accident: Stories

by April Wilder

From a truly distinctive voice brimming with wicked humor, tales of the little disasters that befall and befuddle us

April Wilder’s characters (some normal, some less so) have this in common: they are spiraling (or inching) toward self-destruction. An almost poetic range of disasters are sought out and savored in This Is Not an Accident, from bad romance to iffy adoption decisions to unsteady liaisons with animals and dolls; from compulsive driving to compulsive written correspondence with oneself.

A house sitter hides among poets in Salt Lake City after his canine charge dies tragically. A grandma’s boyfriend holds a backyard barbecue under siege—with the kids as his pint-sized guards. The world of these slightly off-center individuals is similarly off by a few degrees. But by the end, we realize it’s not as far off as we would like to think: this is modern American life. What Wilder captures is not a dark side, but rather the side we all know well and hide from others, and ourselves. In the tradition of Wells Tower and Jim Shepard, This Is Not an Accident signals a bold new voice and delivers the kind of insanely incisive moments only a master of the human condition can conjure.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Humor, Novella, Adult Fiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 30, 2014

About the author

April Wilder grew up mainly in California. She holds a BS in math from UCLA, an MFA in fiction from U-Montana, a PhD in literature/creative writing from U-Utah, and is a former fiction fellow from U-Wisconsin's Institute for Creative Writing. She is the author of THIS IS NOT AN ACCIDENT, a collection of stories that explores the territory of the American absurd--and various other manuscripts that have been burned (and the ashes then burned a second time). She lives with her daughter in Northern California, where she is currently working on a novel, "I Think About You All The Time, Starting Tomorrow," a book involving some babies, a stolen car, and mistaken identity. Oh!--and eternal love.

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

For fifteen miles they nosed along with mosquitoes pouring out of the sky, the stream steady and meaty and thick. Then, near the end of the swarm, the mosquitoes---the fattened calves hanging back---started spilling motherfucking blood. Russ jerked flat against his seat when the heavy ones hit, and it was real blood, whatever or whomever they'd sucked it out of, so it was like the windshield was a living thing being shot up with machine-gun fire, with Russ and Eckhart watching from inside. When the buildup got bad, Eckhart pulled on two jackets and wrapped a shirt around his head and reached into the onslaught and doused the windshield with water, then with the Fat Tire beer Russ was smuggling back for friends who couldn't get it full strength in Utah. Inside the cab, Russ cranked Christian metal because it was the only station that came in, and because it was the right thing to do.
from You're That Guy

Nice, huh? I love that last line. What a better soundtrack for a deluge of blood-sucking insects than Christian metal?

Wilder has produced a thoroughly enjoyable collection of eight stories and a novella. Her work features off-beat characters dealing with stressful situations, and her tales are imaginative, clever and well-written.

---The atmosphere at traffic school is fraught with human drama.

---Deep secrets are blurted out at a pig roast.

---A backyard becomes a battleground when a playhouse is held hostage

---One woman's European jaunt with a platonic friend goes sour

---A self-centered woman adopts a manipulative brat.

While not overwhelmingly funny, each of these tales possesses a sly humor that I loved. I'm hoping this author has a lot more stories inside her just clamoring to get out.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a long time since I've sat down to read a book of short stories, preferring to envelope myself in the unfolding plot of a mystery or thriller.

I'd forgotten how satisfying it is to read descriptions that paint pictures in your head, without any regard to moving the plot along.

Like this passage from "We Were Champions:"

"The barbecue was a mean piece of hardware--a steel barrel sawed in half with posts and prongs and a crank welded to the sides. It was the work of a country boy consigned to a cubicle who gets fired for clogging up the network with right-wing chain e-mail."

The stories are all slices of life--mostly dysfunctional life, but life all the same. The process of marriages disintegrating, dealing with substance abusing siblings as they make messes of their lives, recalling the conflicted feelings of an inappropriate relationship between a coach and a teen aged girl, that's what's here.

I was impressed with Wilder's writing and I look forward to reading her next book.

***I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.***

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collections of short stories are often variations on a common theme, and in This Is Not an Accident April Wilder seems to have chosen the theme of chaos, disaster, their effects on relationships, and maintaining a sense of purpose through it all. Let's examine that theory shall we? In "This is not an accident" (the short story, not the collection), Kat is enrolled in a remedial driver's training course for adults d/t her apparent inability to control and/or maintain her vehicle at a safe speed. She also happens to be obsessed with the possibility that she fatally hit someone with her vehicle without remembering that she did. Her musings seem to support the theory. "The main thing was that she'd made it through a night that was over now and could never happen again, unless the doctrine of eternal return was right, which was unthinkable when the aim was to somehow trust that the worst thing you could think of wasn't always about to happen just as a matter of course. She had to learn to make room for an average day."

"Butcher Shop" describes Jack meeting up with a long-time friend and his girlfriend at a steakhouse. Jack's also in the process of a divorce (and doesn't seem to be handling it well). As he watches the couple across the table from him, he ponders..."Already Jack couldn't remember how people got together, how you walked up and imposed yourself on someone so completely." Later, on the phone with his wife, he struggles with his desire to vent about his hellish day--"but he knows he has to start not telling her things or he'll never make it out of this. He'll start small, is what he'll do, and work his way up." This passage made me a bit sad...probably because my husband is my confidant/vent board/best friend and I can't imagine living life without being able to *tell* him about it. This is just one small example of how Wilder hits the nail of life on the head.

"We Were Champions" is probably one of the darker short stories in the collection. It starts off with a bang. "Stephanie called and told me Bob had shot himself in the foot, then in the gut...I guess I was surprised he'd used a shotgun, and that he took his foot off first, because I didn't see the need for that, unless he was trying to keep himself from getting away." Stephanie is a childhood friend, and Bob was their softball coach in high school. I won't go into much detail because I don't want to spoil the story, but suffice it to say past events make the relationship between our narrator and her boyfriend Mack difficult, and then impossible. "I tried to envision one man finding a little of another man in himself, and hating what he saw, and deciding to hate the girl who was the link, only to find loathing and self-loathing aren't that different in the end."

"It's a Long Dang Life" is an odd story about a grandmother whose high school crush gets sent off to war, her parent's convince her he died, and then she marries a "good match" who ends up abusing her. She divorces the scumbag, finds out her high school crush didn't really die, but is now a semi-functional alcoholic, and tries to decide if she wants to take another go at marriage.

"Me Me Me" involves the lives of two dysfunctional (possibly mentally ill) sisters. The younger, Fawn, has emerged from her drug-haze years, and decided she wants to adopt a child. She asks her sister for advice. "I suggested she get a dog instead, one of those big, lazy hounds you can use as an ottoman. 'Maybe a St. Bernard with a terminal disease?'" Fawn reliably ignores her advice, starts adoption proceedings, and ends up with a girl with destructive tendencies and a colorful vocabulary.

"Christiania" involves a young lady and her long-time (male) friend vacationing in Europe together. Their relationship is platonic, however they fight like a romantic couple. "She told him she resented his thinking that he could say whatever he wanted as long as he couched it in his stupid I format, and he said calling the I statements stupid wasn't useful. She said she was trying to be truthful, not useful...She saw he didn't understand that this was the part where lazy or greedy fighters (she was both) started trying on theatrics...All she had to do was stop talking--swallow the next line, the line she had ready to go...as with shopping, you could only gauge want versus desire versus need versus temporary need by your willingness to let a thing go."

"Three Men" is named for the three men in Jess's life--her husband, father, and brother. Her husband is about to leave her, her father is a veteran of war, and her brother is an alcoholic (this theme has also emerged over the collection). At dinner with all three, Jess observes "She doesn't remember when her brother made the leap from bullshit artist to mythomaniac. She knew you could drink yourself useless, but she didn't know you could drink yourself delusional."

Finally, in "You're That Guy", Eckhart is trying to make a life for himself in the outskirts of LA. He's still recovering from the shock of his father's death, and deciding whether life should be more than house sitting for a deployed marine while eating pot brownies. His friend Russ scoops Eckhart out of his funk, and brings him to Salt Lake City to live with him and his girlfriend (a reformed Morman). Much weirdness, poetry readings, following a homeless guy around who meticulously cares for a doll, and a Halloween party ensue. The end contains the moral for the whole collection though. "his father used to say that simple awareness was the only freedom any of us really had...He saw now what his father had meant, he saw that it was beautiful to not turn way from your life at any cost or for any reason, no matter what a mess you'd made of it all."

Embrace the mess of this collection. Given 3.5 stars or "Very good".

[Nick Milinazzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories and novella are about relationships: the ones we have with friends, significant others, or ourselves. I found this while randomly looking around GoodReads and am extremely happy I got it. This books hits all the right marks for me, especially with its dark, off-kilter humor. The use and frequency of qualifiers in the novella brought to mind DFW. Above all Wilder has an incredible ear for conversation. Smart, observant, and extremely funny, this was a joy to read.

[Debbie "DJ" · Rating 1 out of 5]

I won this copy on first reads for an honest review.

I guess everyone has a different sense of humor. I forced myself to finish the first story in this book. It was crazy beyond what I could handle. If you are in the mood for a read unlike any other you might enjoy this. I just couldn't go on.

[Donna Huber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the stories were kind of strange. Not really your feel good kind of stories, but ones that make you think. Read my full review at Girl Who Reads.

[Virgowriter (Brad Windhauser) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Atypical characters experiencing situations many would care to admit they can relate to. Nice tone to the voices. Funny in spots. Interestingly untidy in places.

[Stacey Avis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't care for short stories. To me they seem rushed or not well developed.

Reading challenge- short stories

[Sandie · Rating 4 out of 5]

These eight stories and concluding novella are April Wilder's first book although her stories have been published in various collections and writing magazines. The overarching theme is that while we think we can plan our lives, life will do what it wants and we are left to react. The novella talks about a housesitter who agrees to the job for a few days, maybe a week or so. Two years later, he is still there walking the dog and waiting for the soldier whose house it is to return. When the dog escapes and is killed, he can't bring himself to give such news to a soldier in a military zone, perhaps being shot at. The housesitter flees to another state where he lives with friends while deciding what to do.

April Wilder is a writing teacher who lives in California with her daughter. Wilder has written about her experience with getting pregnant which happened with her ex-husband four years after their divorce at a wedding where they drank a bit too much and fell into bed together. This kind of experience is exactly what these stories are about, how life has a way of happening regardless of our plans. This book is recommended for anthology readers of literary fiction.

[Chris Notionless · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry this book read as though it was missing pages or something. I'm all for an outlandish read; short stories are often the perfect narrative to explore thought bursts stretching beyond what's traditionally thought of as "real" -- but I don't know about this one. I had to keep re-reading things as the writing style felt, to me, very incomplete and scatter brained. Maybe that was the point, I don't know, but I have to say that I definitely wasn't a compatible read for this one.

[Theresa Sivelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

The stories just didn't resonate with me. They felt rushed and incomplete.

[Angie · Rating 1 out of 5]

When you start to feel annoyed and wonder will this story EVER end? - then the book probably isn’t meant for you.

[Susannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect mix of whimsy and dark humor and weirdness and existentialism. Such relatable characters and so much fun to read!

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

…I felt achy the rest of the day – the ache that comes with the helplessness of endings, any ending.

This is Not an Accident by April Wilder
224 pages, Viking Adult, January 2014
Short Stories

I was never much of a short-story person. I like meatier things. I like to know more about characters, and I like to know their whole story, not just a snippet that a short story gives you.

I have, however, been very lucky with short story collections lately. Either authors are stepping up their games or I’m getting old-age short-attention-span-syndrome.

April Wilder’s This is Not an Accident is eight short stories and a novella. It started slow for me; I was a little worried where it was going. Then it got better, but not only did it get better, how much better it got made me reevaluate the earlier stories and realize they were actually kind of beautiful, as well…and now, looking them over, I don’t know what I originally didn’t relate to in the earlier stories. She absolutely won me over.

Her theme, overall, is the fragility of relationships…how we destroy each other, how we destroy ourselves, how we try so hard to hold it all together and how it slips through our fingers, sometimes without us even noticing it. Each of her characters is more broken than the next, and more relatable. I know these people. I have been these people, I’ve been surrounded by these people, I’ve loved these people, I’ve been destroyed by these people.

If I told you about each story, and why I loved each one, we’d be here much too long, so just let me briefly tell you, as briefly as I can, about some of the things that hit me right in the chest, that made me gasp a little, that brought quick hot tears to my eyes and made me say “yes” and “I know” and “oh” and "oh."

In “We Were Champions,” a revelation about her past makes the narrator’s boyfriend both explode and implode at the same time, while the narrator herself is mired in the memories; they’re dangerous, those memories, and they’re an unsafe place to stay, but she thinks, “It’s strange how much you miss and overlook, how little you know about the one you want most,” and my heart caught at this. We’re all mysteries to one another, aren’t we? No matter how well we know one another, how close we are…there’s a mystery there. We’ll never know all there is to know there. There’s always that space.

In “It’s a Long Dang Life,” we meet Laney, who married the wrong man and was lucky enough to find the right one, the one she’d lost, many years later. She loves her children, and her grandchildren, more than her own life – she’s given up everything for them – but this man. This man is hers. “…he will drink too much again and he will play too hard, he will pick them up…hold them screaming in midair, and some day he’ll play until he’s not playing anymore. And Laney won’t stop him. She never will. If he asked her, if it’s what he needed to make it through the night, she would deliver them to him in her own arms.”

We love until we have nothing left, and then we keep loving; we love until we are empty shells of ourselves, and if we’re lucky, we find someone who loves us back just as hard…and sometimes we make it work between us, don’t we? Sometimes we don’t destroy one another. Sometimes we collide and it just…works.

In “Three Men,” Jess thinks back to three broken men who have affected her – her father, her husband, and her brother. Her father, with his war stories that mutate, depending on who he’s telling them to; her husband, who she is leaving (or is he leaving her?) who can’t dress himself, who always has a ripped seam, a stained shirt, a frayed tie; and her brother, a child stuntman who has never grown up. “His wife told Jess once he has to drink until one in order to write his name legibly. But write this name on what?”

Each story so full of sorrow and pain and darkness that your heart hurts with every word; but even as you’re hurting, you have to read more. You need to know what happens to these people. Because these people are you, and these are the people you love, and you have a vested interest in their lives, somehow; if only they can make it work, maybe you can, too. Maybe you’ll be alright.

We’re all broken, and we all destroy one another and destroy ourselves…but sometimes we find ourselves, right before things go too far. Sometimes there’s a way out.

(For the most beautiful review of this book, and the reason I knew I had to read it, please read Cassie’s review here; she does it much more justice than I can. She’s who I aspire to be in my reviewing, this woman. And also just a damn amazing lady, to boot.)

Previously published on Burning the Bridges

[Sophie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received a copy of This Is Not an Accident from Goodreads First Reads.

I don’t understand this book. I went into this book knowing that the characters were going to be weird, but I overestimated my weirdness tolerance. This Is Not an Accident is a creative spin on reality, OR a realistic look at the lives we live, depending on how well you can relate to the characters. I couldn’t relate to the characters at all, and to me, Wilder’s characters and storylines seem to teeter between insanity and, well, insanity. I didn’t get the humor at all, and the stories were too short to make any sense out of them. (I guess that’s why they’re called short stories? Ha.)

Introduction
This Is Not an Accident is a collection of eight short stories and one novella. In the first short story, This Is Not an Accident, Kat thinks about her relationship problems while taking driving lessons with other traffic offenders. Newly divorced Jack has a meal with his friend and his friend’s girlfriend in The Butcher Shop. In We Were Champions, a woman finds out that her high school softball coach shot himself and recollects the time when he sexually harassed her. In It’s a Long Dang Life, a grandmother contemplates her relationship with her maybe-boyfriend. In Me Me Me, Gilda’s younger sister adopts an unexpectedly scary kid, and Gilda writes letters to her other self. Lauren plans to visit Wahl, an old friend, on a trip across Europe in Christiania. In Three Men, Jess spends the last minutes of married life with her soon-to-be-divorced husband, the actuary; her father; and her brother. The Creative Writing Instructor Evaluation Form is what it is. And in You’re That Guy, Eckhart moves to Utah with his friend after spending a year taking care of a marine’s house and dog.

Discussion
These are not happy stories. These aren’t even sad stories. I can only say that these are weird stories. The one-sentence summaries I wrote about each story are so much tamer than the stories actually are; the characters in all of these stories move in and out of reality like it’s their job, and often, I have no clue if things are happening in their head or actually happening in the physical world.

I actually found the characters interesting despite their craziness. Because the stories are short, each story basically comprises of a single scene or two, and I was surprised by how much interesting quirks and conversations Wilder was able to cram in a limited number of words. But even though I found the characters interesting, I couldn’t relate to them at all. I didn’t get enough time to grow fond of them or sympathize with them, but they also weren’t easy to sympathize with. They don’t seem to feel sorry about themselves or express intense emotions – they face problems with a practical (or indifferent? Dazed? I couldn’t tell) attitude.

There are some slightly gruesome details and obscene language in this book, albeit dulled down because the characters delivered them in such an indifferent (practical? Dazed?) manner. These details are the centerpiece of some stories and a side note in others, but they still bothered me because of how unexpected they seemed.

Conclusion
This Is Not an Accident is full of interestingly weird characters and weirder scenes, and I’m not sure I fully understand what I read. And humor, what humor? I seriously didn’t smile, snicker, snort, or laugh throughout any part of this book, so maybe this is just not the right book for me.

Paper Breathers (Book Reviews & Discussions)

[Madison C. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, to start this off, I won this book from the GoodReads giveaways. So, thank you! I love to read new books, just as they're coming out. At first, I was intrigued by this book. I knew beforehand that it was going to be very weird and a little out there. Generally, I love strange, alternative novels. I'm all for anything creepy or dark. Wicked humor usually makes me laugh, so I assumed that I was the perfect audience to read This is Not an Accident.

Unfortunately, however, this book just wasn't for me. I enjoy reading short stories sometimes, when I'm in the mood. If they can be done well, then they're great. But all of the short stories in this novel (there were eight, plus a novella) were just really... strange. Not in a good way. Some of it was supposed to be humorous, but the only part of the whole book that I thought was funny was the Creative Writing Instructor Evaluation Form. I could see the point that the author was trying to make in her stories, but I felt like she was going about it in the wrong way. The characters were not easy to sympathize with and some of the plots were way too complicated to grasp in only 30 pages or so. I wasn't a fan of the writing style, either. There were a few good quotes in the book, but mostly it was choppy and confusing. Sometimes there were random details (like a paragraph about the neighbors, in a short story about a divorced couple) that I felt were pointless. Adding little, irrelevant details works well in a full-length novel. But when there's only a limited amount of space available in a short story, I think it's best not to include them.

It took me forever to read this book, simply because I couldn't get past the first short story. The pace was just too slow. Ironically, the first story ended up being my favorite, because it was the only one that I could ALMOST relate to (it was about a girl dealing with some mental disorders-- OCD, depression, etc. and I've known people who have gone through similar situations). But the first ten pages of it were awful, because I couldn't figure out where Wilder was going with it. Her stories seem to be all over the place. Some of them have very good points, but it's hard to get to them amidst all of the other stuff going on.

It just didn't work for me. But some people seem to have liked it. And, because I can see the point to her stories (some of them did tackle difficult topics), I gave it two stars. Maybe there's a more specific group of readers that this collection of stories would appeal to. I'm not sure. I feel like some of the short stories could have been better if they were longer, too. Who knows. But the book as a whole wasn't great. I've read worse, but I still wouldn't recommend it.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Not an Accident by April Wilder is a pretty great collection of short stories. When I read the third story, "We Were Champions", I felt like I had found a new very best friend. "We Were Champions" is the story of a girl, living in the City of Wrigleyville, State of Chicago, having a pig roast during a Cubs game that she could hear but not see. She had recently learned that her high school softball coach, who had gone to jail for molesting most of the team, had killed himself. Meanwhile, her relationship with her current boyfriend is disintegrating before her eyes, one swing at a time.

"It's a Long Dang Life" is a story of lost and found love. Laney, a grandmother, has reunited with her former boyfriend, who she believed was killed in Vietnam. Recognizing his shortcomings, and her own failure at an earlier marriage, she refuses to marry him. In what might or might not be mock despair, the boyfriend, Odd, takes her grandsons hostage in their backyard play house. A part of him wants to force her to marry him, but another part realizes it's all just a game for the grandchildren. He thinks.

In both of these stories, the woman is managing a relationship with a man who has a drinking problem. The topics of codependency, enabling, and relationships slowly ending invade most of Wilder's stories. "Three Men" is a story told in the format of a musical round. Wilder starts with the story of Jess' husband, an actuary who she calls "The Count". From there, we move a little backward in time, while still moving forward, to the story of Jess' brother. Then we go to Jess' father's story, to complete the round. The effect is really interesting, in that it tells a full story, focusing separately on three different people, all from the perspective of one woman.

Another story, "Me, Me, Me" is about a woman who can't tell her feelings to her boyfriend, but instead writes them down in letters that she mails to herself. This all seems innocent enough, until she starts refusing to go out, because the mailman is coming, and she needs to stay and see which letter will come to her in the mail that day.

If Lorrie Moore and Tobias Wolff are on your shelves, April Wilder will fit right in. So many lines were precisely right, accurate, and true. Wilder knows the subject of modern American relationships, and calls them like she sees them.


To read more of this review, please click here: http://sonotarunner.blogspot.com/2014...

[Donna Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's sick. It's wrong. It's twisted. It's very, very funny!

Thank you to Random House and the Goodreads First Read program for the opportunity to read this free of cost.

If you took Jenny Lawson (2 parts), Garrison Keillor (1 part) and a pint of bitters, and shook vigorously, this is the sense of humor which might be the outcome. It's wry, edgy, and very dark. You can see from the divergence of the ratings and reviews that this is controversial (courageous, even) work. It's not political humor, though. Instead, it is a series of stories, some extremely short, and some quite a bit longer (though the term "novella" seemed to me to be stretching it a bit), all of which have to do with disaster in one form or another.

So ask yourself where your ick button is. If you liked The Blues Brothers and/or Little Shop of Horrors, this might be your magic moment. Here are some areas I don't go: snuff films are out for me, and you won't find them here. Domestic abuse is not funny ever, in my book, and though the disastrous foster parent story warmed my edges a little bit, ultimately it got past my inner humor censor. It was the closest to an over-my-boundary area that this book came.

Examine your tastes. If your sense of humor embraces the very dark and is not offended by the use of profanity--oh, and definitely if you are not a Mormon--this might be your next good read.

[Jill Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

I won this book from Goodreads first reads. This was not my favorite book and was really hard for me to read all the way through. I was definitely expecting something else. The description said "from a truly distinctive voice brimming with wicked humor, tales of the little disasters that befall and befuddle us". That was the book I thought I was reading. This book is a bunch of short stories about horribly depressing people. None of them are befuddling little disasters - they are all characters who are in serious need of therapy and antidepressants! I love wicked humor as much as the next guy (probably more) but I didn't see much of it in this book. The first story was probably my least favorite. If I were to choose a "favorite" I guess it would be "We were Champions" and that one was about child molestation so "favorite" is not really the word I'm looking for - maybe just the most readable.
There were points to be made in each of the stories but I feel like all of that was overshadowed by the pathetic lives these people lived and the people they lived them with - which of course was the whole point...

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I love short stories, even—sometimes especially—when they truck in the familiar, the comforting, the well-worn. But there's always the little voice in the back of my mind clamoring to be told something new, or something old in a new way. And these are those stories, without a doubt. This is a challenging and complicated collection, not a quick read. And while the voice is wickedly clever and the humor dark, the tone is never smart-assy or show-offy. Wilder cares about these characters, no matter how offbeat or strange they seem. Because, in fact, they're no different from any of us, and this is her point—a point she makes eloquently, sometimes hilariously, and sometimes in such a bittersweet way as to make me close the book for a minute and just think.

These stories are well worth the time it takes to read them closely, and will mess with your head, just a little, in the best possible way.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Not an Accident is a very interesting collection of short stories. When it comes to the main characters, this collection has a whole range of crazy. All of them in each story are on the brink of some type of self-destruction, whether it is compulsively driving hundreds of miles a day or the reaction to an admission of an inappropriate relationship with a softball coach. Personally, my favorite piece from the collection is "Creative Writing Instructor Evaluation Form" because it had so many layers within its seemingly simply appearance. This collection definitely isn't for people who don't read short stories on a regular basis, but those who enjoy similar collections will find a piece they like.

*Reviewer received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads

[Candice · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of the few books I actually put down, and never picked up again. The first story was confusing and they led quite weird lives. I couldn't wrap my head around it. The second story was no better, because I felt that the main character was a jerk so I couldn't exactly feel sorry for his situation. After those two chapters, I just couldn't waste my time on the book anymore. Maybe one day I will pick it back up and finish it all, but as of right now, it's simply not good.

**However, I did receive this book as a Good Reads Firstread, and for that I am thankful for the opportunity to read this book.

[Ally · Rating 1 out of 5]

I won a copy from Goodreads First Reads.

This was not what I expected. I'm so sorry, but I couldn't get through it. I was just...ugh! I felt too bored to get through everything and I didn't really connect. There wasn't anything for me to feel with these characters. No spark or feeling of connection.

It was like these characters were strangers. Most character to me are family and extended family...especially Harry Potter. He was like an older brother to me. A wizard fictional older brother. But there was a spark.

But with this...or these stories? There wasn't anything. These characters felt mundane and boring. Strangers, actually. Emotionally distant and cold.

Rating: One out of Five

[Holly Jolly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book free through First-Reads giveaways.



As a general rule I like things that are considered weird or alternative; however, this was really hard to read. It was difficult to understand, especially the first 2 stories. The last story seemed to have the most potential and I found the most interesting. There were pieces that were funny and some small areas that were entertaining, but these were too small of excerpts to bring my rating up. Even short stories have some sort of ending and these didn't seem to end, but cut off mid-thought, like someone stops in mid-sentence when they get distracted.

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

While there is humor found in most of the stories in this collection, the feeling that was left after reading each one more resembled despair. April Wilder's characters are all facing some type of crisis, whether real or imagined, and none seem to be winning. It is easy to be able to relate to some of the characters, but it wasn't something I necessarily wanted to be able to do, since all seem to be headed for a break down at the least. These stories are dark and show some of the depressing sides of humanity, but do so in a beautiful manner.

[Kayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

***I received this book through Goodreads First Reads.

Throughout each story in this book I wavered on my eventual rating. It was hit or miss, leaning towards the hit side of things due to the great amount of detail and vividness put into each tale, whether or not I enjoyed or related to the actual content.

First off, these stories are weird. Secondly, they're WEIRD, I tell you!

Have an open mind, maybe a little quirk here and there for good measure and you will find this book at least somewhat enjoyable.

[Lola · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are looking for short stories that submerge you completely into someone's head without first introducing you to the environment, or even the physical person, this is the book for you!

Characters were skillfully built around intimate and sometimes unexplainable actions. Environments came as snapshots from what characters were seeing.

My hope is that if there are really that many people wandering around who are so dysfunctional and dark, I don't want to know about it.

[Monica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I won an advance uncorrected proof of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

Whenever I read a book of short stories, I always find that I like some of the stories more than I do others. This book was no exception. The story "Creative Writing Instructor Evaluation Form" made me laugh out loud. However, the other short stories and the novella were full of creepy-crawly characters that made me shudder.

Fans of Tama Janowitz and Joyce Carol Oates would like this book.

[Abbey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can see why people would like this book--the dark humor works very well for those who appreciate it. For me, once I realized that everyone was bad-neuroitc and doomed to remain so, it just smacked a little too much of high school and I found myself unwilling to continue. Best audience bet: hipsters and lovers of very dark humor.

[Cindelu · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this book on Goodreads. It is a series of short stories. From the first story I was confused and frankly disappointed. It does say it is stories of failures and people having difficulty coping with life in general. This is true. It has a very nice style and is keenly descriptive however the stories themselves were just not for me.