DevilsOfLoudun t1_j89u3qm wrote on February 12, 2023 at 7:01 PM

Personally I didn't like this collection at all, the stories were too vague. A good short story should still have a beginning and an end, but these started in the middle and ended when the author felt like she should stop writing. And the more experimental stories didn't work at all. I haven't picked up her famous memoir yet because I disliked her writing here so much.

IndigoBlueBird OP t1_j8a2yvc wrote on February 12, 2023 at 8:01 PM

The vagueness was definitely a sticking point for me. I don’t necessarily want to be hit over the head with the point, but for some of these I was kind of left wondering what the ultimate message was. I think that just might be her style though

Bazinator1975 t1_j8kp1dn wrote on February 15, 2023 at 12:32 AM

Art (of any genre) has no "shoulds" or "shouldn'ts".

Consumers of art--in this case, readers--have their preferences, and an author may or may not meet those preferences to one degree or another.

But where a narrative starts and ends, and whatever closure (if any) a story has, is entirely the choice of the person creating it.

saucemaking t1_j8a1jak wrote on February 12, 2023 at 7:51 PM

Her memoir isn't any better. I've read through all her stuff that I could find and ended up disliking her on top of her writing, she comes across as whiny and incredibly insecure. And repeatedly fails at proper endings or even a point.