Why We Never Talk About Sugar

by Aubrey Hirsch

Get ready. These are not your mother's bedtime stories. In this mesmerizing debut collection, Aubrey Hirsch will lead you into the darkest recesses of human life, where hope and longing and love and loss look all too much like one another. Each of these sixteen stories may be filled with its own kind of despair, but they are not despairing as Hirsch enters with deep sympathy into the souls of lonely women (Cheater, Hydrogen Event in a Bubble Chamber, Made in Indonesia), broken men (Leaving Seoul, Advice for Dealing with the Loss of a Beloved Pet), young recruits (The Specialists), and dutiful daughters (Strategy #13: Journal, No System for Blindness). With a hard intelligence, Hirsch considers the toll of heartache (Why We Never Talk About Sugar, Certainty) and loss (The Borovsky Circus Goes to Littlefield, Paradise Hardware) and the simple cost of longing. Taut and tension filled, these stories will transport you into the heart of what it means to be human. But be careful. Hirsch's compassion arrives on a knife blade. And you just may find your own heart cut open.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published March 4, 2012

About the author

Aubrey Hirsch is the author of Graphic Rage: Comics on Gender, Justice, and Life as a Woman in America, and Why We Never Talk About Sugar, a short story collection. Her comics, essays, and stories have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vox, The Nib, TIME Magazine, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in literature and an Individual Artist Award from the Sustainable Arts foundation.

Reviews

[Suzanne Ondrus · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would be a good anthology in a gender studies class! I would suggest reading: The 3-page story "Why We Never Talk About Sugar" has women getting pregnant with objects such as spoons and cars; it touches on women having abortions for being pregnant with big objects.
The 3-page story "Pinocchio" has Pinocchio realizing he/she is not the right gender. [I found the opening of the story a bit offensive- not sure how Transpeople might read it. - Could come off as jokey. Half way through where Pinocchio's internal reflection comes in seemed authentic. I think flipping the start of the story would be interesting to consider in a writing class.] Overall, I think this story can open dialogue on feeling gender dysphoria.
"Certainty" , four pages, takes a lesbian couple that wants to have their own child among themselves. Again, I was not sure if this might offend some readers, perhaps heterosexist, and yet it could show the perspective of wanting exactly what hetero couples have/do. However, the element of fierce belief in being able to manifest one's desire was interesting.
***"The Specialists" a 11-page story was excellent. It is about a man who rapes a woman, does not get prosecuted, and joins the army. His "awesome" reputation follows him as his army buddies cajole him into re-telling the event. We see this man struggling with the fact he has committed rape. One colleague is haunted by learning from this man that indeed the woman did not want sex and her "no's" were not meant as "yes's", visualizing his own girlfriend being raped. In the story the soldiers are even trained on identifying rape, which turns out to be more of a mockery. This story would be well paired with the documentary about rape in the U.S. military: The Invisible War.
The story "Cheater" could be used to discuss the concept of slut shaming as it features a female having many hook ups. Also this would pair nice with the Audrey Tatou film "He loves me, He loves me Not" as the character makes up being married to people she stalks.

[Michelle Boehm · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book because Ms Hirch's comics about parenting and schooling during the pandemic spoke to the very core of my soul, and while these are obviously not comics, these short stories were similar in how they cut to the core of the story. A lot of short story collections aspire to be this sharp, but few do it as universally well as this book does. Also some stories took place in Pittsburgh which was a fun surprise.

[Brit Fomin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun collection of short stories. I read this after seeing Aubrey on a panel about writing through trauma. I thought a lot of the shorts felt like writing exercises but it was a playful and brief book that was a delight to read while dining solo. Also, great timing as there is a story on black holes and two young scientists with very different approaches to research and creativity.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was some of the best writing I've read in 2020 and ranks up there with some of the best short fiction writing I've read. Her voice, intelligence, compassion, and verve are compelling. Highly recommend.

[N · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories , very good , creative

[Laura Zurowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pittsburgh deserves a big round of applause for the truly awesome collection of writers calling this area home; and a solid "Whoo-Hoo!" for the small press/indie bookstore/cafe culture that embraces and promotes it.

Even within this already vibrant literary community, Aubrey Hirsch's book of short stories stands out like a beautiful shining gem. I hate to gush, but these stories are really great - and they're great because they are real. Who hasn't been suckered by a pretty face, been in a doomed relationship, or held the fantastical hope that maybe, just maybe, they could be that lucky Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes winner?

Hirsh explores family dynamics and the illness of our loved ones with painful accuracy. A young daughter is accepted to an elite university while her father crumbles from MS, a husband undergoing chemotherapy develops a deep connection with his dog suffering from the same disease, and a group of young military recruits must decide if the bonds of fraternity are greater than the rules of society. Throughout all sixteen stories the reading is effortless, the characters memorable, and the little details perfectly executed. Why We Never Talk About Sugar is a worthy addition to any personal library or collection regardless of your geographical location - just read it and see for yourself!

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid debut collection of stories on the fabulist side of the experimental fiction ledger-- the title story is a winner, as is "Certainty" about a lesbian couple trying to conceive and "Pinnochio." Some of the stories don't have endings, or don't have satisfying endings-- I'd jump on "The Disappearance of Maliseet Lake," as an example, but it comes up a lot here, where Hirsch is very good at leading us to the climax with all the requisite steps well presented, but at the end, it falls flat.

Also, and this will sound rude, but one story per book about being abandoned by your family to care for your sick dad; I think there's a novel in the material, but until it comes out, trying to make that work more than once (three times here) in a book this small is kind of a drawback.

I'm making this sound harsh: I liked the book; Hirsch writes well, with energy and panache, and the ideas are funny and striking and memorable, and some of the character's psychology is shot through with luminous insight. I just wished all the stories were as good as the best stories.

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection of highly creative stories told with grace and simplicity. Most of the stories have concepts that, while realistic, step away from the usual realist expectations. They avoid typical slice of life by finding a less familiar section of life from which to slice. Hirsch's humor is present without being assertive ('Jonah wants to call it "the miracle committee" but the group settles on "tourism."'). Her empathy is never moralistic ("There will probably be a time when I find that creepy, but for now I am fascinated."). It seems the word I'm working toward is "balanced." The narrative components feel carved with precision instruments. There aren't often existential revelations, the the stories all have a feeling of rightness that I don't find in much short fiction.

[Michael Brockley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The early years of the 21st century have been a motherlode of masterful short story collections, many of them written by young authors. Add Aubrey Hirsch and her WHY WE NEVER TALK ABOUT SUGAR to this roster. Whip-smart love stories inhabited by the God particle, a woman who cheats on imaginary husbands and women who become pregnant with the inanimate objects that tickle their libidos. Pinocchio wants to be a girl. A Russian circus is stranded in an abandoned Texas prison. Open the pages of SUGAR to find scams that work or don't, disappearing lakes and and the sentence "We spend so much energy being strong for each other that we can't talk anymore about the things that make us weak." Short stories with the sensibilities of the best prose poems.

[Stanley Dankoski · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading Hirsch's short story, "Elysian" (renamed "Paradise Hardware" here) in Annalemma awhile ago, I was impressed with the depth of the quirky characters. When I found out about this collection, I knew I had to pick it up to read more of her work. Notable stories include its introductory story, "Leaving Seoul," as well as "The Disappearance of Maliseet Lake" (not just because I used to live in Maine and was nodding at her characterizations of some Mainers I've known and its small-town culture), "The Specialists," "Cheater" and lighter flash stories all round out a solid debut.

[Melanie Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like my fiction collections like I like my cereal: with a theme, colorful, and some of the pieces look similar (don’t tell me you didn’t love the rainbows in your Lucky Charms). Aubrey Hirsch dishes out 16 pieces of fiction in this collection. The key themes were physics, being stranded, childlessness, and illness. I especially applaud Hirsch for having these themes without pounding me over the head, telling me in an obvious fashion that her stories are related. She trusts her reader...

Read the rest at grabthelapels.weebly.com

[Robert Vaughan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this collection a few times- was already a fan of Hirsch before, from her presence in literary journals. Her strange, yet intelligent stories have always thrilled me. I've also utilized stories from Why We Never Talk About Sugar as teaching tools, as examples of how to utilize experimental fiction that works. And boy, does it ever! Hirsch does not shy away from the stranger aspects of character, or conflicts. Instead we get to dive in, and go deeper. A really wonderful collection filled with life!

[Eliot · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a quick read but can take a while to digest. The stories themselves are imaginative and eclectic, and tend to be somewhat experimental as is often the case with short stories. Hirsch showcases herself as a versatile writer and is able to distill and concentrate many human emotions. While the stories may be considered depressing, I would not say that they bring you down (or lift you up by comparison); rather each one simply makes you feel. Will re-read this at a later date.

[Bowie Rowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories are strange, moving, & uniquely imaginative. Some favorites include: "Strategy #13: Journal", "Hydrogen Event in a Bubble Chamber", "Advice for Dealing with the Loss of a Beloved Pet", "The Disappearance of Maliseet Lake", and "Why We Never Talk About Sugar". I can't wait for Hirsch's next book.

[Big Wonderful Press · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing short story collection. This one was right up there with The Great Frustration for me last year, and I hope it gets as much attention now that it is released.

[James Figy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hirsch walks the line between realism and the surreal, crossing back and forth. I especially loved "The Borovsky Circus Goes to Littlefield" and the way she told it.

[Emily Sackett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled upon this book at Half Priced Books near me and I am so happy I did! I loved each one of the different stories. It has easily become one of my favorite books that I've read. Must read!!