Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King - 4 stars (Subdue)

[Joy D]

Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King - 4* - My Review

Collection of ten diverse short stories pertaining to almost every aspect of life, including love, desire, coming of age, identity, parent-child relationships, work-life balance, divorce, and grief. Lily King has a knack for depicting memorable characters in a succinct manner. This is a solid batch of stories, each with a distinct beginning, middle, and end. Unlike many short stories I have read, these provide a sense that the author has expressed a complete thought – they don’t just end abruptly. I particularly enjoyed the literary references inserted into each story.

As is typical of short story collections, I had a few favorites, and I’m sure these will vary from person to person. My personal favorites are: Five Tuesdays in Winter (a tender story about a widower, his daughter, and his crush on a young woman), When in the Dordogne (a fourteen-year-old learns about life from two college age young men hired by his parents to look after him while they are in France), Waiting for Charlie (a nonagenarian grandfather sits with his hospitalized comatose granddaughter), and The Man at the Door (a writer tries to banish her inner critic, who “appears” at her house while she tries to write and take care of her baby). While I liked some more than others, there are no duds here. If you enjoy short story collections, definitely check these out.

PBT Content warning: (view spoiler)[One story contains attempted rape and another passive aggressive traumatic gay sex (honestly thought this story could have been omitted - not sure the point of it). (hide spoiler)]

[Holly R W]

Joy, I had very similar reactions to the story collection and highlighted the first two stories you cite as favorites. And, my content warning was the same.

[Sue]

Great review! This was a 5 star book for me.

I love short story collections but have a hard time writing reviews that do them justice!

[Joy D]

Holly R W wrote: "Joy, I had very similar reactions to the story collection and highlighted the first two stories you cite as favorites. And, my content warning was the same."
Those first two mentioned were by far my favorites. I think the last story (The Man at the Door) will be a "love it or hate it" type.

[Joy D]

Sue wrote: "Great review! This was a 5 star book for me.

I love short story collections but have a hard time writing reviews that do them justice!"

Thanks. So glad you enjoyed it too!

[Theresa]

Added to my TBR. I have recently been pulling out of the TBR Towers various short story collections I own. In order to start reading them more regularly. After confirming that the majority are either crime fiction or Christmas - which is fine - I have started a wishlist of general fiction ones.

I also keep collections with a favorite story that I will end up rereading as a comfort read.

[Doughgirl5562]

Thanks for the review. I'm always looking for good short story collections.

[Amy]

I liked this one a lot. Read it for Fall flurries a year or two ago.