Fragile Objects

by Katy Carl

In these stories, characters’ bodies trouble their souls, stirring questions about why we are here and how we are to live. Confronted by their own vulnerabilities, they must also contend with the weaknesses of those they want to love. Will they find their trust well placed; will they rise to moments of grace—or will their lives crack under pressure? These stories seek to do justice in art to the human condition’s real, though fleeting, gifts—to our much-explored, but only ever partially understood, potential for comic resolution, tragic failure, and the substance of things hoped for between the two. “Authentic, meaningful fiction [can] only be created by writers who love[ ] their characters—in all of their follies, paradoxes, and sins. Katy Carl loves her characters.”
—Nick Ripatrazone , Culture Editor of Image Journal

“Katy Carl has mastered the art of short fiction. Every single story in this collection lands—maybe in the gut, or right beneath the ribs, somehow always finding that buried place in us that needs healing. With unflinching honesty and tenderness, Katy Carl’s stories expose the hardness of the human heart, as well as its terrible to pain, yes, but also to love. These are stories that pry you open, that reverberate beyond the final word.”
—Abigail Favale , author of The Genesis of Gender

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

318 pages, Paperback

Published August 12, 2023

Reviews

[Mollie Osborne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always disappointed when I had to put it down and looking forward to when I could pick it up. "Sequatchie Valley" is breathtaking, perfect.

[Benjamin Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are engaging, moving, and though-provoking stories in the tradition of Flannery O'Connor. You should not, however, let the obvious O'Connor comparison mislead you: Carl is an original talent with her own voice. "Sequatchie Valley," "The Convert," and the title story were standouts for me, but I found all of the stories to be extremely well-crafted, on the level of both plot and sentence. The characters are vividly and sympathetically imagined.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tore through this collection in a couple days. Katy Carl doesn't flinch from her observations and depictions of real life, and one story in particular is probably permanently lodged in my brain now.

[Eric Cyr · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories are not afraid to have the hardest realities of life, but even in those darkest places Katy allows for the reality of grace and hope. Powerful writing. You can't read Sequatchie Valley and not be viscerally affected.

[Shemaiah Gonzalez · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has been a long time since I have read a short story collection this brilliant.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Katy Carl is a spectacular writer. These stories made my heart ache but also swell with gratitude for my upbringing and my faith.