You Are Not a Stranger Here in Queereaders

Jun 19, 2016 Thomas rated it really liked it

Shelves: adult-fiction, lgbtq, short-stories-for-fun

4.5 stars

The first four short stories in this collection ripped my heart to shreds. I have never felt so moved by short fiction; Adam Haslett has this stunning, almost scary ability to make you care so goddamn much about his characters even when they inhabit 30 pages or less. His stories focus on grief, mental illness, and sexuality. Some of my favorites include: "Notes to My Biographer," in which a mentally ill father visits his son for the first time in years; "The Beginnings of Grief," about 4.5 stars

The first four short stories in this collection ripped my heart to shreds. I have never felt so moved by short fiction; Adam Haslett has this stunning, almost scary ability to make you care so goddamn much about his characters even when they inhabit 30 pages or less. His stories focus on grief, mental illness, and sexuality. Some of my favorites include: "Notes to My Biographer," in which a mentally ill father visits his son for the first time in years; "The Beginnings of Grief," about a boy who forms an abusive relationship with a classmate to cope with his parents' deaths; and "Devotion," in which two siblings both wait for the arrival of an old friend.

I have developed a serious author crush on Adam Haslett after reading both Imagine Me Gone and You Are Not a Stranger Here. His writing exhibits remarkable restraint and communicates so much emotion without resorting to dramatics. His empathy and compassion for his characters literally made me put this book down twice to go on a walk, just so I could continue to appreciate his care-filled prose with a clear head. And as an aspiring psychologist, I love his portrayals of characters with mental illnesses and their family members. He captures their immense pain, resilience, and bittersweet joy that comes with learning how to live in the dark.

Back to why I have a huge crush on Mr. Haslett: he has three degrees (a B.A., an M.F.A., and a J.D.), he writes about challenging topics I care a lot about, and we are only 25 years apart, so I think I have a fighting chance. Though I guess I would feel content just reading more of his wonderful writing. Either way, I give You Are Not a Stranger Here 4.5 stars because even though a few of the stories feel less complete or compelling than the first four and the last one, the stories that succeed in this collection impacted me just as much as some of my favorite full-length novels. Check this book out if you want your heart punctured, if you want your literary reminder that you have feelings, that you are, indeed, human. ...more

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Mar 01, 2009 Djrmel rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, short-stories, contemporary

All of the stories in this collection deal with characters that are suffering emotionally. Sometimes, it is because of psychosis - in The Volunteer a woman who's break with reality occurred during the birth and death of her only child is befriended by a young man going through first love while his family fails to deal with it's own mental illness. Sometimes it is grief - in The Beginnings of Grief a young man masks the pain of the death of his parents by subjecting himself to abuse from an equal ...more

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