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Near Flesh: Stories
A previously unpublished collection of stories about motherhood, violence, and desire, from the cult icon Katherine Dunn, the author of Geek Love.
A woman invests in a series of sex robots to get her off and comes to terms with the limitations—and real threat—of automated companionship. A knowing young student pursues an affair with an older man, the poet in residence at the university where she studies writing, and weighs the benefits and costs of their arrangement. A mother moves to a farm with her family and must come to terms with the violence simmering beneath her skin.
Near Flesh is the first and only collection of short fiction by Katherine Dunn, the author of the bestselling novel Geek Love. These nineteen stories are, like Dunn’s entire body of work, attuned to the spit and grit of tough living. They pulse with yearning for a more prosperous life, for sexual satisfaction, to escape abusive husbands and the disappointments of convention. A better life, for these mostly female protagonists, seems always just out of reach. In Near Flesh, Dunn explores the struggle of women to live on their own terms, and the desire to relish—rather than squash—what distinguishes a person.
A woman invests in a series of sex robots to get her off and comes to terms with the limitations—and real threat—of automated companionship. A knowing young student pursues an affair with an older man, the poet in residence at the university where she studies writing, and weighs the benefits and costs of their arrangement. A mother moves to a farm with her family and must come to terms with the violence simmering beneath her skin.
Near Flesh is the first and only collection of short fiction by Katherine Dunn, the author of the bestselling novel Geek Love. These nineteen stories are, like Dunn’s entire body of work, attuned to the spit and grit of tough living. They pulse with yearning for a more prosperous life, for sexual satisfaction, to escape abusive husbands and the disappointments of convention. A better life, for these mostly female protagonists, seems always just out of reach. In Near Flesh, Dunn explores the struggle of women to live on their own terms, and the desire to relish—rather than squash—what distinguishes a person.
272 pages, Hardcover
Published October 7, 2025
About the author
Katherine Dunn
31 books1,672 followersKatherine Dunn was a novelist and boxing journalist who lived and worked in Oregon. She is the author of the three novels: Attic; Truck; and Geek Love. This, her most well-known work, was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Bram Stoker Prize for horror fiction. She also authored the essay collection One Ring Circus. She died in 2016.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
April 17, 2025
I took a class in college for my Comparative Literature minor — all about the uncanny: doppelgängers, liminal spaces, the like. You name it we consumed translated movies and texts about it.
Book so perfectly encapsulate that feeling— every day scenarios twisted (in my opinion) for the sneaky inklings that remain inside your head. Except they are laid out on paper, and artfully so.
I am amazed by Catherine Dunn‘s work with this absolute work of art. It’s hard to avoid stalking them while, and I had to force myself to digest as I went.
I’m not done with the book yet; I suspect it is one of those I will return to again and again. Whenever I’m ready for a new tale. Regardless, I already know how I’ll feel at the end. This is one of those collections for which you can tell after the first few pages.
Thank you #NetGalley for this ARC.
Book so perfectly encapsulate that feeling— every day scenarios twisted (in my opinion) for the sneaky inklings that remain inside your head. Except they are laid out on paper, and artfully so.
I am amazed by Catherine Dunn‘s work with this absolute work of art. It’s hard to avoid stalking them while, and I had to force myself to digest as I went.
I’m not done with the book yet; I suspect it is one of those I will return to again and again. Whenever I’m ready for a new tale. Regardless, I already know how I’ll feel at the end. This is one of those collections for which you can tell after the first few pages.
Thank you #NetGalley for this ARC.
June 20, 2025
Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
A posthumous collection of Dunn's work that is best suited for fans. I can definitely see her skill as a writer and storyteller, but many of the stories just didn't cohere for me. I also can't help but feel put-off by what seems to be Dunn's (negative) fixation with fat people.
A posthumous collection of Dunn's work that is best suited for fans. I can definitely see her skill as a writer and storyteller, but many of the stories just didn't cohere for me. I also can't help but feel put-off by what seems to be Dunn's (negative) fixation with fat people.
October 10, 2025
listened as an audiobook first & really into this writing! definitely have to get the print edition someday soon.
May 23, 2026
Rec. by: Previous work, and a NYT book review ("Winners and Losers," 10/26/2025)
Rec. for: Strugglers
Katherine Dunn is dead. And I don't think she'd mind me saying so, just that bluntly... after all, Dunn's own writing was always both vivid and visibly impatient with euphemism.
But it's also valid to say that "we lost Dunn," back in 2016—ten years ago now—because she did die too early, and her passing was a great loss to us as readers.
Her posthumous short-story collection Near Flesh is proof of that.
*
I last read one of Katherine Dunn's books back in 2010, when her novel Geek Love amazed me for the second time.
Near Flesh had a rather more diffuse impact on me... these stories didn't always have the sustained and lyrical force of Dunn's longer work, at least in my opinion. But they all did, by and large, speak to me as well. These are colorful stories, too, although the colors are often muted—Dunn deals primarily in the purples of scars and old bruises; the pale sheen of mushrooms and of white-trash corpses.
I think it's appropriate to warn you, right now, that Katherine Dunn does not, ever, look away from the more distressing aspects of our often sordid lives.
*
These are the stories contained within Near Flesh:
"Pieces"
The slogan I remember (from that Wendy's commercial in the 1980s) was "Parts is parts"—but some parts have much more significance than others.
In this first story, Dunn shows no reluctance to (in Stephen King's memorable phrase) "go for the gross out."
"I Had the Baby on My Left Hip"
Short and explosive. I found the Willamette Week review to be both nuanced and instructive.
"Fanno Creek"
You can look it up on Wikipedia—"Although heavily polluted, the creek supports aquatic life, including coastal cutthroat trout (leopard spotted) in its upper reaches."
But it's been getting better.
"The Flautist"
The Schnitz—heh. I very much liked that bit of local color. And yes, I don't get out much, but I could be another audience for the flautist who's also a cabbie...
"The Allies"
Seems like Edie's the one who really needs surrealities, whether from beyond or right here at home...
"The Education of Mrs. R."
Chicken farming, for a city girl, can definitely be an education.
"The Well"
"The Blowtorch"
Snake handlin' was the least of it...
"In Transit"
The Huberts, father and daughter, were really just passing through that small, pale town, a short commute away from Portland...
"The House Call"
Under what circumstances, exactly, would the family doctor make a house call these days?
"Rhonda Discovers Art"
The unthinking violence of childhood is unavoidably connected to the more considered acts of adulthood...
"Screaming Angel"
"Process"
As opposed to product, in this Kafkaesque little tale.
"Sweeney, or The Madness of Suibhne"
Touch not the ollave, for this is a saga retold, of the wise and the unwise; the sacred and the profane; the mad and the sane; and how Sweeney went from one t'other in ancient Eire.
"Near Flesh"
This title story is actually science fiction, of a sort—Boss Thelma Vole is a bitter bureaucrat, whose collection of MALE sexbots is her only consolation—until...
"The Resident Poet"
Like that Jonathan Lethem story "The King of Sentences" (2007), this one's also (sorta) about giving oneself to a (kind of) celebrated author... who drives a drafty VW (I know that feel!)
"The Novitiate"
A woman on her own can't be too careful... and the walls of her new place are so thin...
"A Revelation of Mrs. Andes"
This seems very much like a companion piece to "The Novitiate." One of the very few things I disliked about Dunn's writing, though, is the fat-shaming, which is most blatantly on display in these final pair of stories.
There's also the smugness of getting to feel like a benefactor, but I didn't mind that as much.
*
Dunn died in 2016... and I don't think she'd mind me saying so, just that bluntly. But at least we have these words of hers to remember her by.
Rec. for: Strugglers
Katherine Dunn is dead. And I don't think she'd mind me saying so, just that bluntly... after all, Dunn's own writing was always both vivid and visibly impatient with euphemism.
But it's also valid to say that "we lost Dunn," back in 2016—ten years ago now—because she did die too early, and her passing was a great loss to us as readers.
Her posthumous short-story collection Near Flesh is proof of that.
*
I last read one of Katherine Dunn's books back in 2010, when her novel Geek Love amazed me for the second time.
Near Flesh had a rather more diffuse impact on me... these stories didn't always have the sustained and lyrical force of Dunn's longer work, at least in my opinion. But they all did, by and large, speak to me as well. These are colorful stories, too, although the colors are often muted—Dunn deals primarily in the purples of scars and old bruises; the pale sheen of mushrooms and of white-trash corpses.
I think it's appropriate to warn you, right now, that Katherine Dunn does not, ever, look away from the more distressing aspects of our often sordid lives.
*
These are the stories contained within Near Flesh:
"Pieces"
The slogan I remember (from that Wendy's commercial in the 1980s) was "Parts is parts"—but some parts have much more significance than others.
In this first story, Dunn shows no reluctance to (in Stephen King's memorable phrase) "go for the gross out."
"I Had the Baby on My Left Hip"
Short and explosive. I found the Willamette Week review to be both nuanced and instructive.
"Fanno Creek"
You can look it up on Wikipedia—"Although heavily polluted, the creek supports aquatic life, including coastal cutthroat trout (leopard spotted) in its upper reaches."
But it's been getting better.
"The Flautist"
The Schnitz—heh. I very much liked that bit of local color. And yes, I don't get out much, but I could be another audience for the flautist who's also a cabbie...
"The Allies"
Seems like Edie's the one who really needs surrealities, whether from beyond or right here at home...
"The Education of Mrs. R."
Chicken farming, for a city girl, can definitely be an education.
"The Well"
The solitude that had frightened Gilly at first became a satisfaction to her.
—p.57
"The Blowtorch"
Snake handlin' was the least of it...
"In Transit"
The Huberts, father and daughter, were really just passing through that small, pale town, a short commute away from Portland...
"The House Call"
Under what circumstances, exactly, would the family doctor make a house call these days?
"Rhonda Discovers Art"
The unthinking violence of childhood is unavoidably connected to the more considered acts of adulthood...
"Screaming Angel"
"There'll be hell to pay if the hotel doesn't get its bucket back."Dunn leverages her own experiences with pugilism for this one.
—p.125
"Process"
As opposed to product, in this Kafkaesque little tale.
"Sweeney, or The Madness of Suibhne"
Touch not the ollave, for this is a saga retold, of the wise and the unwise; the sacred and the profane; the mad and the sane; and how Sweeney went from one t'other in ancient Eire.
"Near Flesh"
This title story is actually science fiction, of a sort—Boss Thelma Vole is a bitter bureaucrat, whose collection of MALE sexbots is her only consolation—until...
"The Resident Poet"
Like that Jonathan Lethem story "The King of Sentences" (2007), this one's also (sorta) about giving oneself to a (kind of) celebrated author... who drives a drafty VW (I know that feel!)
What dull stuff I get into for the sake of excitement.
—p.184
"The Novitiate"
A woman on her own can't be too careful... and the walls of her new place are so thin...
"A Revelation of Mrs. Andes"
"But don't you know?" I said. "We all feel that."
—p.235
This seems very much like a companion piece to "The Novitiate." One of the very few things I disliked about Dunn's writing, though, is the fat-shaming, which is most blatantly on display in these final pair of stories.
There's also the smugness of getting to feel like a benefactor, but I didn't mind that as much.
My mother would have said she was ladylike. Not perhaps a lady, not quite. But in every gesture, thought, and deed, she was ladylike.
—p.253
*
Dunn died in 2016... and I don't think she'd mind me saying so, just that bluntly. But at least we have these words of hers to remember her by.
February 18, 2026
Katherine Dunn’s posthumous collection Near Flesh: Stories is a masterclass in prose that never flinches, never soft-pedals, and often laughs right in the face of discomfort. Across nineteen stories — some brief flashes, others deeper excursions — Dunn’s voice remains unerringly exact and alive: direct in its observations, spare in its constructions, and viciously witty in its dark humor. She refuses the cozy, the sentimental, and the aestheticized; instead, her sentences cut to bone and spirit with a precision that feels both merciless and deeply humane. Her characters — mostly women negotiating perilous inner and outer landscapes — are vivid and immediate, their fears and desires laid bare with blistering clarity.
Plot Breakdowns & Highlights
“Pieces”
The collection’s opening salvo sets the tone immediately. This short, disturbing piece revolves around people obsessed with the belief that they must be buried with their lost body parts in order to reach heaven. Dunn’s prose here is matter-of-fact and chilling, the grotesque subject treated with the same narrative composure as a pastoral scene. It’s a kind of absurd metaphysical logic that feels — after a few lines — utterly convincing.
“The Education of Mrs. R.”
One of the standout longer stories, this tale follows Mrs. R. as she dispatches a troublesome flock of roosters at her husband’s behest. What could read as rural domestic comedy becomes a visceral exploration of violence, labor, and simmering hysteria, delivered in sharp, unembellished phrases that make the blood and feathers all the more startling in their immediacy.
“The Flautist”
A strikingly brief vignette, this story features a taxi driver who plays the flute for his fares on the way home from concerts. In a few pages, Dunn conjures an entire atmosphere — the uneasy intersection of performance, chance, and human loneliness — showing how her wit and eye for gesture turn even the smallest narrative into a fully formed scene.
“I Had the Baby on My Left Hip”
Barely two pages long, this fragment captures a catastrophic event through the bewildered perspective of a mother clutching a child’s shoe. The language here is so precise and stripped to essentials that the emotional impact is almost unbearable, a testament to Dunn’s ability to make novelistic expansiveness out of extreme brevity.
“The Well”
In a more extended exploration of fear and isolation, a young mother named Gilly finds herself literally at the bottom of a well on her isolated property. Dunn’s prose here renders physical terror with psychological depth: the natural world feels indifferent if not hostile, and every thought Gilly has — whether practical or panic-driven — is rendered with impeccable clarity.
“The Novitiate”
This taut, grim story places a vulnerable woman and her toddler in a bleak, unsafe apartment after being abandoned by her husband. The struggle for security, privacy, and maternal calm plays out in sentences that are as lean as they are unrelenting, with a bleak humor that undercuts any romanticism of hardship.
“Near Flesh” (Title Story)
One of the most memorable pieces in the book, “Near Flesh” spotlights Thelma Vole, a corporate manager with four sex robots — Wimp, Lips, Bluto, and the Brain. The absurd premise is handled with such straightforward precision that it becomes a dark satire of desire, autonomy, and technological intimacy. Dunn’s wit here is surgical, exposing the emotional and social void beneath Thelma’s mechanical companions.
Other Notable Stories
Stories like “The Allies” (a teen contemplating extraterrestrial life), “The Resident Poet” (a student’s fraught affair with an older campus poet), “Rhonda Discovers Art”, and “Screaming Angel” broaden the collection’s scope. Each is rooted in Dunn’s trademark precision and dark humor, even when they venture into speculative or surreal territory.
Final Verdict
Dunn’s prose in Near Flesh is as exact and unflinching as any you’ll find in contemporary short fiction. Her sentences reveal character, dread, and absurdity with the efficiency of a scalpel. While some stories are tragic, others are outright biting in their wit — and all bear the unmistakable imprint of a writer who knew how to balance unadorned clarity with disproportionate emotional force. For readers who relish prose that stares squarely at the raw edges of experience — with both compassion and a devil’s grin — this collection is a triumph.
Plot Breakdowns & Highlights
“Pieces”
The collection’s opening salvo sets the tone immediately. This short, disturbing piece revolves around people obsessed with the belief that they must be buried with their lost body parts in order to reach heaven. Dunn’s prose here is matter-of-fact and chilling, the grotesque subject treated with the same narrative composure as a pastoral scene. It’s a kind of absurd metaphysical logic that feels — after a few lines — utterly convincing.
“The Education of Mrs. R.”
One of the standout longer stories, this tale follows Mrs. R. as she dispatches a troublesome flock of roosters at her husband’s behest. What could read as rural domestic comedy becomes a visceral exploration of violence, labor, and simmering hysteria, delivered in sharp, unembellished phrases that make the blood and feathers all the more startling in their immediacy.
“The Flautist”
A strikingly brief vignette, this story features a taxi driver who plays the flute for his fares on the way home from concerts. In a few pages, Dunn conjures an entire atmosphere — the uneasy intersection of performance, chance, and human loneliness — showing how her wit and eye for gesture turn even the smallest narrative into a fully formed scene.
“I Had the Baby on My Left Hip”
Barely two pages long, this fragment captures a catastrophic event through the bewildered perspective of a mother clutching a child’s shoe. The language here is so precise and stripped to essentials that the emotional impact is almost unbearable, a testament to Dunn’s ability to make novelistic expansiveness out of extreme brevity.
“The Well”
In a more extended exploration of fear and isolation, a young mother named Gilly finds herself literally at the bottom of a well on her isolated property. Dunn’s prose here renders physical terror with psychological depth: the natural world feels indifferent if not hostile, and every thought Gilly has — whether practical or panic-driven — is rendered with impeccable clarity.
“The Novitiate”
This taut, grim story places a vulnerable woman and her toddler in a bleak, unsafe apartment after being abandoned by her husband. The struggle for security, privacy, and maternal calm plays out in sentences that are as lean as they are unrelenting, with a bleak humor that undercuts any romanticism of hardship.
“Near Flesh” (Title Story)
One of the most memorable pieces in the book, “Near Flesh” spotlights Thelma Vole, a corporate manager with four sex robots — Wimp, Lips, Bluto, and the Brain. The absurd premise is handled with such straightforward precision that it becomes a dark satire of desire, autonomy, and technological intimacy. Dunn’s wit here is surgical, exposing the emotional and social void beneath Thelma’s mechanical companions.
Other Notable Stories
Stories like “The Allies” (a teen contemplating extraterrestrial life), “The Resident Poet” (a student’s fraught affair with an older campus poet), “Rhonda Discovers Art”, and “Screaming Angel” broaden the collection’s scope. Each is rooted in Dunn’s trademark precision and dark humor, even when they venture into speculative or surreal territory.
Final Verdict
Dunn’s prose in Near Flesh is as exact and unflinching as any you’ll find in contemporary short fiction. Her sentences reveal character, dread, and absurdity with the efficiency of a scalpel. While some stories are tragic, others are outright biting in their wit — and all bear the unmistakable imprint of a writer who knew how to balance unadorned clarity with disproportionate emotional force. For readers who relish prose that stares squarely at the raw edges of experience — with both compassion and a devil’s grin — this collection is a triumph.
October 16, 2025
A really solid mix of stories with varied ideas and a strong, confident voice. A few of these broke my heart and left me gasping.
June 10, 2025
Geek Love is hands down one of my favorite books ever, and few authors have the same raw odd sincerity that Dunn did; there’s something so stunningly simple and honest about her prose.
This collection of previously unreleased shorts ranges from an epic folklore retelling to an atmospheric and extremely short horror story, and the pendulum of narration swings between first and third person. The stories occasionally spiral into each other neatly, sometimes nearly, and often branch out gently from a theme or concept carried over from another story. They’re all haunting and individual; ripe, delectable morsels of loss, responsibility, anxiety.
I savored each page, and would have gladly kept reading if only we’d been graced with more. These are stories that will sit with me for quite some time.
Immense gratitude to NetGalley & Macmillan for the e-galley of this, it was an absolute honor.
This collection of previously unreleased shorts ranges from an epic folklore retelling to an atmospheric and extremely short horror story, and the pendulum of narration swings between first and third person. The stories occasionally spiral into each other neatly, sometimes nearly, and often branch out gently from a theme or concept carried over from another story. They’re all haunting and individual; ripe, delectable morsels of loss, responsibility, anxiety.
I savored each page, and would have gladly kept reading if only we’d been graced with more. These are stories that will sit with me for quite some time.
Immense gratitude to NetGalley & Macmillan for the e-galley of this, it was an absolute honor.
April 18, 2026
Recently I read a review of Katherine Dunn's work as "beautifully disturbing" or something like that, and that's about right. This is a collection of short stories found and published posthumously. Each is a self-contained, crystalline, little vignette. The way she describes and builds pictures of her characters is so efficient. Her characters tend toward the unattractive, sad sack, mostly female, which I find interesting because she herself seemed to be none of these things from the bit I can gather from pics and interviews. Who is she basing them on? Each of the stories did not leave you wanting for more, but in the best way possible. You got a perfect encapsulation of a character in each, and from that you can guess where things go, or not, and that's also fine. This might be a good place to start reading her work, and if you can handle it, you can move on to her masterpiece "Geek Love". I hope they find more of these stories, because I'm sad to be done.
March 29, 2025
I <3 short stories. I genuinely enjoyed this collection and loved the writing style. This was my first Katherine Dunn read, so I will definitely be checking out geek love. I also enjoyed how every story is very different and takes you to a completely different place. Though some stories stuck out far more than others to me, I still very much enjoyed reading this! Thank you Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the earc.
October 16, 2025
(4.0 Stars)
I really enjoyed this collection of short stories, it reminded me a lot of Donald Barthelme. If you are familiar with Geek Love (and liked it), you should enjoy this book. There is a mix of more realistic stories and some that are closer tot he realm of the fantastic. It was a really good mix. And the audiobook narrator was spot on!
I really enjoyed this collection of short stories, it reminded me a lot of Donald Barthelme. If you are familiar with Geek Love (and liked it), you should enjoy this book. There is a mix of more realistic stories and some that are closer tot he realm of the fantastic. It was a really good mix. And the audiobook narrator was spot on!
February 18, 2026
Katherine Dunn wrote one of my favorite books of all time, Geek Love, so it only makes sense that I would like this short story collection. Reading her voice again felt like a homecoming. I admire her ease at coaxing out the wrinkled, ugly bits of us, the way she shows us a (quite literally) dirty or revolting intimacy that feels more real to the human experience.
September 28, 2025
Thank you so much to the publishers for providing me with an ARC!
3.5 stars! Rounded up!
This is a weird collection and I love weird collections. Some were great and some were okay which is what makes a collection so amazing since there's a little bit of everything thrown in.
My favourite of the lot had to be the title story Near Flesh. I found this just right up my alley and could have read a longer version of it to be honest.
The collection holds all sorts of themes such as death, hope, desire, emotional/mental health, love and loss etc.
3.5 stars! Rounded up!
This is a weird collection and I love weird collections. Some were great and some were okay which is what makes a collection so amazing since there's a little bit of everything thrown in.
My favourite of the lot had to be the title story Near Flesh. I found this just right up my alley and could have read a longer version of it to be honest.
The collection holds all sorts of themes such as death, hope, desire, emotional/mental health, love and loss etc.
March 4, 2026
ARC || Like all short story collections, there were stories that hit and there were stories that were miss. It was very family themed, with a focus on the matriarchal figure. I actually really enjoyed this aspect of it as someone who grew up with strong women around.
September 28, 2025
Some strong stories in here
April 13, 2026
it’s so hard to rate short story collections. liked some, disliked some. well-written but rather depressing, thus tough to read sometimes.
January 3, 2026
Beautiful prose breathes intrigue into the minutiae of life. Dunn captures the sneaky glances, thoughts, and feelings we have but don’t always articulate, creating captivating stories out of everyday scenes. However, the mundanity of the stories was also my biggest gripe - many of the stories were either too short to feel meaningful or too boring to hook me. Will have to check out her novels one day.
March 12, 2025
My first time reading Katherine Dunn even though I've had Geek Love on my shelf for years.
The first thing I admire about this book is its inclusion of truly short fiction: stories that are only a few pages long but present a clear vision or scene, conveyed through crisp imagery and description, and that leave you with a distinct impression before moving on and changing gears. "Fanno Creek" and "The Flautist" were like this, and I really enjoyed them both. There are several longer stories, too, that are urgent and compelling from the get-go; my favorites are "In Transit," "Rhonda Discovers Art," and the title story "Near Flesh."
These five stories are the biggest takeaways from the collection for me. The stories gain traction and momentum as readers progress through them; they really start to take off toward the middle, and I appreciate this thoughtful attention to curating the reading experience.
Dunn navigates many different styles and subjects through these stories and I appreciate the range of ideas exhibited here. Not every story worked for me and that's OK because the ones that did will stick with me. I think this collection stands as a great introduction to Katherine Dunn, and it's inspired me to finally read Geek Love.
The first thing I admire about this book is its inclusion of truly short fiction: stories that are only a few pages long but present a clear vision or scene, conveyed through crisp imagery and description, and that leave you with a distinct impression before moving on and changing gears. "Fanno Creek" and "The Flautist" were like this, and I really enjoyed them both. There are several longer stories, too, that are urgent and compelling from the get-go; my favorites are "In Transit," "Rhonda Discovers Art," and the title story "Near Flesh."
These five stories are the biggest takeaways from the collection for me. The stories gain traction and momentum as readers progress through them; they really start to take off toward the middle, and I appreciate this thoughtful attention to curating the reading experience.
Dunn navigates many different styles and subjects through these stories and I appreciate the range of ideas exhibited here. Not every story worked for me and that's OK because the ones that did will stick with me. I think this collection stands as a great introduction to Katherine Dunn, and it's inspired me to finally read Geek Love.
February 2, 2026
Man, was I excited to see this title on my favorite local bookstore's shelf! Geek Love is one of my top 5 favorite reads. I have been lucky enough to get my hands on other novels and collections penned by the late Ms Dunn. (Thank you, Jennie. 💜) This collection of short stories is no Geek Love and more akin to her other novels. At first, I only allowed myself to read one story from Near Flesh a day but then the holidays kept me busy and I welcomed the break from her examples of how bleak being female can be. No lover or god comes to the rescue her subjects. Their struggles are their's alone, or perhaps, wrenching renderings from the author's life experiences. I had to force myself to finish and am grateful to report her beautifully tragic prose did not drive me to utter despair. I need a fluffy read STAT!
May 30, 2025
The writing style showcases undeniable talent for language and psychological insight. The writing is sharp, vivid, and emotionally evocative. However, the collection leans heavily into unsettling territory. The stories are often dark and disquieting, leaving a bitter aftertaste that lingers. While thought-provoking, they cast a stark light on the imperfections of the world and the more troubling facets of human nature. Not a comforting read.
November 25, 2025
via my blog:https://bookstalkerblog.wordpress.com/
𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧. 𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚, 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙙. 𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙩, 𝙞𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙣𝙤 𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙢 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨.
I am so happy this was published; I was underlining passages like crazy and chomping at the bit to post my review but the month slipped through my fingers. Geek Love was my introduction to Katherine Dunn years and years ago and I loved its darkness. Where Geek Love grabbed me by the throat, this collection is closer to my heart. The writing is beautiful, the people who populate it are a mirror to reality. This is a small taste, “His quiet childhood had accustomed him to small excitements, and perhaps he was physically inclined to interior intensity with little outward display.” The writer understood people and their emotional undercurrents. These short stories were written throughout her career, now published posthumously. It’s incredibly hard for me to put into words the feeling the tales invoke within me, it is the way the characters think and interact. It makes me think of growing up in the 80’s, not because of any event, but more in the way we lived, moved through each day. Fanno Creek I was humored by the “phase” our narrator has in regard to Henry David Thoreau. The antics down by the creek, sacrificing herself to the elements, as close to nature as she can find within proximity to her own house. Behold, the agonies of youth! Playing at both gloom and wittiness, do the young act this dramatic these days?
In The Allies, Edie waits for greatness, despite the ugly things she thinks of herself, because her mother sees something more in her. Something maybe even UFOS are looking for. The Well was one of my favorites, a woman named Gilly is fighting her own cowardice, “She had married Devin in an energetic month of unfamiliar bravado and crouched shivering in his shadow ever since.” Living in a “silent, solitary place miles from another neighbor,” she cares for her little girl Cory (age four) while her husband is at work, and one day there is an emergency. They have only each other at this moment, it seems bleak, and I had a lump in my throat, over such a short story. It’s funny the things that move us most. It is a victory, in a sense.
An angry wife in Blowtorch has had it with her husband’s tests of faith and her children lacking because of it. She has her own plan fired up. In Transit Jim Hubert and his daughter Amanda move into a small valley farm town, everyone is intrigued but no one more than the narrator who hopes to befriend her. Despite her efforts, she knows Amanda has no use for her. Everything about the family of two is mysterious, especially their plans for the thirty-eight-foot ketch they buy. The House Call a husband gives his wife bad news and then things just get darker. Process is a strange story, this is not your ordinary passion the quiet, orphaned Joseph Jaikins lives for, but perfection on the canvas. Near Flesh Thelma Volve wonders what sane thing could love her? She keeps company with her MALE robots. Is this far-fetched these days? There are other tales too. Each story kept me entertained, as Katherine Dunn’s characters are often oddballs, the ones with the most story but without pretty packaging. Pretty packaging draws a bigger crowd, and such stories begin to feel like imitation, and I think that is why Dunn’s writing was always felt fresh, original. She wrote about strange moments and people that were just a bit out of step. Yes, a solid read.
Published October 7, 2025
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
MCD
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𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧. 𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚, 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙙. 𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙩, 𝙞𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙣𝙤 𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙢 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨.
I am so happy this was published; I was underlining passages like crazy and chomping at the bit to post my review but the month slipped through my fingers. Geek Love was my introduction to Katherine Dunn years and years ago and I loved its darkness. Where Geek Love grabbed me by the throat, this collection is closer to my heart. The writing is beautiful, the people who populate it are a mirror to reality. This is a small taste, “His quiet childhood had accustomed him to small excitements, and perhaps he was physically inclined to interior intensity with little outward display.” The writer understood people and their emotional undercurrents. These short stories were written throughout her career, now published posthumously. It’s incredibly hard for me to put into words the feeling the tales invoke within me, it is the way the characters think and interact. It makes me think of growing up in the 80’s, not because of any event, but more in the way we lived, moved through each day. Fanno Creek I was humored by the “phase” our narrator has in regard to Henry David Thoreau. The antics down by the creek, sacrificing herself to the elements, as close to nature as she can find within proximity to her own house. Behold, the agonies of youth! Playing at both gloom and wittiness, do the young act this dramatic these days?
In The Allies, Edie waits for greatness, despite the ugly things she thinks of herself, because her mother sees something more in her. Something maybe even UFOS are looking for. The Well was one of my favorites, a woman named Gilly is fighting her own cowardice, “She had married Devin in an energetic month of unfamiliar bravado and crouched shivering in his shadow ever since.” Living in a “silent, solitary place miles from another neighbor,” she cares for her little girl Cory (age four) while her husband is at work, and one day there is an emergency. They have only each other at this moment, it seems bleak, and I had a lump in my throat, over such a short story. It’s funny the things that move us most. It is a victory, in a sense.
An angry wife in Blowtorch has had it with her husband’s tests of faith and her children lacking because of it. She has her own plan fired up. In Transit Jim Hubert and his daughter Amanda move into a small valley farm town, everyone is intrigued but no one more than the narrator who hopes to befriend her. Despite her efforts, she knows Amanda has no use for her. Everything about the family of two is mysterious, especially their plans for the thirty-eight-foot ketch they buy. The House Call a husband gives his wife bad news and then things just get darker. Process is a strange story, this is not your ordinary passion the quiet, orphaned Joseph Jaikins lives for, but perfection on the canvas. Near Flesh Thelma Volve wonders what sane thing could love her? She keeps company with her MALE robots. Is this far-fetched these days? There are other tales too. Each story kept me entertained, as Katherine Dunn’s characters are often oddballs, the ones with the most story but without pretty packaging. Pretty packaging draws a bigger crowd, and such stories begin to feel like imitation, and I think that is why Dunn’s writing was always felt fresh, original. She wrote about strange moments and people that were just a bit out of step. Yes, a solid read.
Published October 7, 2025
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
MCD
Advertisements
March 26, 2025
I wanted to like this collection soooo bad. Dunn, the legend behind Geek Love, left behind this trove of short fiction, a mix of unreleased and previously unpublished stories that explore desire, violence, and survival -- mostly through the lens of women struggling to maintain control over their lives. It should have been mesmerizing. But mostly, I was frustrated.
Now maybe this is a me problem, but I spent most of this book searching for a throughline connecting these 19 stories that never quite materialized (I sincerely hope that someone smarter than me writes a review explaining what connects these stories so I can understand the error of my ways). As a whole, the collection felt scattered-- occasionally intriguing in isolation, but ultimately failing to cohere. A few pieces stood out-- "Fanno Creek" and "The Flautist" had an odd magnetism that I really can't explain-- but the rest blurred together in a way that felt more like a slog than a revelation. e stories felt a little scattered. Sometimes intriguing in isolation, but failing to cohere as a whole. I kept waiting for a moment where everything would snap into focus, where the collection as a whole would make sense, but it never did.
That said, Dunn's talent is unmistakeable. "The Resident Poet" made my skin crawl (in the best way), while "Near Flesh", the collection's namesake, is an absolute masterclass-- one of the bleakest, most devastating explorations of intimacy and the limits of automated companionship I've ever read. Dunn knows how to unsettle, how to make the grotesque meaningful, but taken as a whole, Near Flesh never came together for me as a fully realized work.
This makes me sad. I wish I felt differently. I wanted to be swept up in what I think could have been Dunn's singular, feral vision, but this collection just didn't land.
Thank you to MCD and NetGalley for the advance copy.
Now maybe this is a me problem, but I spent most of this book searching for a throughline connecting these 19 stories that never quite materialized (I sincerely hope that someone smarter than me writes a review explaining what connects these stories so I can understand the error of my ways). As a whole, the collection felt scattered-- occasionally intriguing in isolation, but ultimately failing to cohere. A few pieces stood out-- "Fanno Creek" and "The Flautist" had an odd magnetism that I really can't explain-- but the rest blurred together in a way that felt more like a slog than a revelation. e stories felt a little scattered. Sometimes intriguing in isolation, but failing to cohere as a whole. I kept waiting for a moment where everything would snap into focus, where the collection as a whole would make sense, but it never did.
That said, Dunn's talent is unmistakeable. "The Resident Poet" made my skin crawl (in the best way), while "Near Flesh", the collection's namesake, is an absolute masterclass-- one of the bleakest, most devastating explorations of intimacy and the limits of automated companionship I've ever read. Dunn knows how to unsettle, how to make the grotesque meaningful, but taken as a whole, Near Flesh never came together for me as a fully realized work.
This makes me sad. I wish I felt differently. I wanted to be swept up in what I think could have been Dunn's singular, feral vision, but this collection just didn't land.
Thank you to MCD and NetGalley for the advance copy.
April 25, 2025
These stories have teeth.
Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love slammed into me in my twenties. I read Attic and Truck shortly thereafter.
Discovering Near Flesh stopped my mind for a moment.
Something I hoped for many times over the years turned out to exist: Another book by Katherine Dunn.*
Dunn took me over all over again. She's unclassifiable. Her strength, fierceness, and raw tenderness shine. Her perceptions–cutting, uncanny, and at times humorous at the edge of pain–give me the kind of kinship I longed for from childhood onward.
In Near Flesh, I find a world achingly close to the one that formed me, with its mysteries, uncertain love, violence, and inexplicable events.
It contains one of the most horrifying brief stories I’ve read. ‘Carrying My Baby on My Hip’ hit me in the chest so hard, I’ll remember it forever.
The first five stories tempted me to continue my heady dive into this rush of resonant images and heart-tugging characters non-stop.
Along with the crisp, sharp language, there's the seductive unspooling of memories and the rare communion with someone speaking things that had to stay in the shadows. Gifts of the mind as well as the wounds carried in the body.
This is a place I want to live for awhile, with all its wonders, pain, and bone-deep truths.
There are things we survive that change us. When you get pain and surviving on the page and transmute it beyond personal experience–that’s an alchemy that lasts.
This might be as close as I can get to why she matters so much.
*I haven't encountered Frog. It's the only other book published in her lifetime–aside from one on boxing.
I am deeply grateful to Macmillan| MCD for the review copy for consideration and for bringing Dunn to the attention of more readers. These opinions are solely my own.
Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love slammed into me in my twenties. I read Attic and Truck shortly thereafter.
Discovering Near Flesh stopped my mind for a moment.
Something I hoped for many times over the years turned out to exist: Another book by Katherine Dunn.*
Dunn took me over all over again. She's unclassifiable. Her strength, fierceness, and raw tenderness shine. Her perceptions–cutting, uncanny, and at times humorous at the edge of pain–give me the kind of kinship I longed for from childhood onward.
In Near Flesh, I find a world achingly close to the one that formed me, with its mysteries, uncertain love, violence, and inexplicable events.
It contains one of the most horrifying brief stories I’ve read. ‘Carrying My Baby on My Hip’ hit me in the chest so hard, I’ll remember it forever.
The first five stories tempted me to continue my heady dive into this rush of resonant images and heart-tugging characters non-stop.
Along with the crisp, sharp language, there's the seductive unspooling of memories and the rare communion with someone speaking things that had to stay in the shadows. Gifts of the mind as well as the wounds carried in the body.
This is a place I want to live for awhile, with all its wonders, pain, and bone-deep truths.
There are things we survive that change us. When you get pain and surviving on the page and transmute it beyond personal experience–that’s an alchemy that lasts.
This might be as close as I can get to why she matters so much.
*I haven't encountered Frog. It's the only other book published in her lifetime–aside from one on boxing.
I am deeply grateful to Macmillan| MCD for the review copy for consideration and for bringing Dunn to the attention of more readers. These opinions are solely my own.
March 30, 2026
Katherine Dunn is most definitely one of the OG weird girl lit authors. I've been a fan since stumbling on a copy of Geek Love in high school and was pretty shocked to see this in the new releases. Her style fits right in the middle of Shirley Jackson and Ottessa Moshfegh, intertwining horrors of the average and domestic with strange, borderline repulsive narrators.
Near Flesh is a posthumously-released collection of Dunn's seemingly strangest short stories and for that I can't judge the selection too harshly. The stories settings and styles vary greatly, from horror (I Had the Baby on My Left Hip) to folktale (Sweeney, or the Madness of Suibhne) straight into sci-fi (Near Flesh), although most ended up veering more into psychological horror if anything else. Despite a lot of different styles there was this common line of having unreliable yet extremely raw characters whose viewpoint made you question their motives, honesty, and the reality of the world they live in.
Realistically my only low point was the insanely common fatphobic comments. Maybe if Dunn had written such similar scathing words about different body sizes of characters it wouldn't have felt as charged as it currently comes off but there's nothing really to be done about it now, all things taken into consideration, and I don't believe in censoring media just because it's uncomfortable to see how someone in a different decade viewed something (a la Breakfast at Tiffany's in all its discussion).
Overall there's a very clear, beautiful talent for prose that gives a raw look into these character's psyche that singularly pushes each story forward. If you enjoyed Geek Love this is absolutely worth a look into.
Near Flesh is a posthumously-released collection of Dunn's seemingly strangest short stories and for that I can't judge the selection too harshly. The stories settings and styles vary greatly, from horror (I Had the Baby on My Left Hip) to folktale (Sweeney, or the Madness of Suibhne) straight into sci-fi (Near Flesh), although most ended up veering more into psychological horror if anything else. Despite a lot of different styles there was this common line of having unreliable yet extremely raw characters whose viewpoint made you question their motives, honesty, and the reality of the world they live in.
Realistically my only low point was the insanely common fatphobic comments. Maybe if Dunn had written such similar scathing words about different body sizes of characters it wouldn't have felt as charged as it currently comes off but there's nothing really to be done about it now, all things taken into consideration, and I don't believe in censoring media just because it's uncomfortable to see how someone in a different decade viewed something (a la Breakfast at Tiffany's in all its discussion).
Overall there's a very clear, beautiful talent for prose that gives a raw look into these character's psyche that singularly pushes each story forward. If you enjoyed Geek Love this is absolutely worth a look into.
January 14, 2026
The struggle is real for most of the characters (mostly women) in this posthumously published short story collection. And these struggles--situational, internal, external--are always showcased with Dunn's bracing, atmospheric prose. There's always something a little off in these worlds--something terrible that tickles the spine, as one character puts it here. And isn't that what we love about Dunn? Characters that creep you out, shadowy settings laid bare, characters who hate themselves almost as much as they hate the world.
Almost all of these stories have those creepy undercurrents, generally ending with a punch in the face to the reader. From a young mother stuck in a deep well, to a wife who has to get rid of a garage full of roosters to a tough as nails middle manager who seeks solace and kink with "near flesh" robots (one called "The Brain," one simply called, pointedly, "Lips"). There's a very short one early on that alludes to an explosion and a baby shoe that will probably stay with me forever.
One thing that's hard to miss and is pretty off-putting is Dunn's distaste for fat people. So many characters are fat and she scrutinizes their "bulk" and bellies and cow faces way too much. It doesn't help that these characters are often the most pitiable or terrible or both. Like, what the hell?
There were also a couple of stories that felt out of place or (maybe) unfinished. One retelling of an Irish folktale missed me entirely. But overall it was good, if a bit uneasy, to be in Dunn's worlds again.
Almost all of these stories have those creepy undercurrents, generally ending with a punch in the face to the reader. From a young mother stuck in a deep well, to a wife who has to get rid of a garage full of roosters to a tough as nails middle manager who seeks solace and kink with "near flesh" robots (one called "The Brain," one simply called, pointedly, "Lips"). There's a very short one early on that alludes to an explosion and a baby shoe that will probably stay with me forever.
One thing that's hard to miss and is pretty off-putting is Dunn's distaste for fat people. So many characters are fat and she scrutinizes their "bulk" and bellies and cow faces way too much. It doesn't help that these characters are often the most pitiable or terrible or both. Like, what the hell?
There were also a couple of stories that felt out of place or (maybe) unfinished. One retelling of an Irish folktale missed me entirely. But overall it was good, if a bit uneasy, to be in Dunn's worlds again.
January 2, 2026
K. Dunn died in 2016, "Near Flesh" is a collection of short stories which were published posthumously. "Near Flesh" is a combination of stories which had previously been published in various magazines plus several stories which had never been previously published.
A number of the stories which are included in "Near Flesh" are modern feminist fiction, the style which Katherine Dunn is famous for having been one of the pioneers of.
And while Katherine Dunn is famous for having been one of the pioneers of a specific style of modern feminist fiction, she was a very versatile writer. In "Near Flesh," we see one story which is about boxing- a topic which K. Dunn also used to write about frequently, and "Near Flesh" also includes one story which is science fiction/ future fantasy- distopia themed, and "Near Flesh" also includes one story which is a rewriting of a famous medieval Irish folk story.
if you've read any of the stories or books which K. Dunn had published during her lifetime, you'll enjoy reading "Near Flesh"- in "Near Flesh," we see K. Dunn's versatility as an author, this collection illustrates the numerous different subgenres of fiction that K. Dunn used to write.
A number of the stories which are included in "Near Flesh" are modern feminist fiction, the style which Katherine Dunn is famous for having been one of the pioneers of.
And while Katherine Dunn is famous for having been one of the pioneers of a specific style of modern feminist fiction, she was a very versatile writer. In "Near Flesh," we see one story which is about boxing- a topic which K. Dunn also used to write about frequently, and "Near Flesh" also includes one story which is science fiction/ future fantasy- distopia themed, and "Near Flesh" also includes one story which is a rewriting of a famous medieval Irish folk story.
if you've read any of the stories or books which K. Dunn had published during her lifetime, you'll enjoy reading "Near Flesh"- in "Near Flesh," we see K. Dunn's versatility as an author, this collection illustrates the numerous different subgenres of fiction that K. Dunn used to write.
May 13, 2026
Really 3.5 but rounding up because... Katherine Dunn. This book suffers a bit the fate of other posthumous short story collections. It feels a little scattered at times. I didn't hate the Irish saga "Sweeney, or the Madness of Suibhne" as much as other readers, but I agree that it was, at best, out of place here. I sometimes liked the rhyme between stories with similar ideas, as in "The House Call" and "Screaming Angel," but sometimes I found the overlap a bit redundant, as with the final two stories, which seemed like two versions of the same story. Were I a Dunn completist (as I guess I'm slowly becoming), I might have found it interesting to get into the preoccupations of the author and see how she has played with and tweaked components across the two stories, but I just didn't love either of those final stories enough to do so. With that said, there are some real standouts here. "The Well" will, I suspect, stay with me always. As in her other works, Dunn has a way with misfits, and a way with words. So, inconsistent as Near Flesh is, it's still well worthwhile.
June 17, 2025
The late great Katherine Dunn is mostly known for her brilliant novel, Geek Love. I hadn't read any of her other writing until now.
Her short stories, as it turns out, showcase her talent amply. She needs less brushstrokes than most to create most starkly engaging imagery and portraits. With writing that's almost deceptively simplistic--but never simple!--Dunn fleshes out character by character with striking vividness.
The way she can turn a phrase is masterful.
The only drawback here (for me) is the similarity of themes and characters. It's mostly all women, usually downtrodden, lonely, and weighed down by children they can scarcely afford to raise. The men are almost uniformly terrible and/or absent. There's a lot of struggling to make ends meet, and it stands to mention how powerfully visceral Dunn writes poverty.
All in all, a very good collection from a gifted writer. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.
This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/
Her short stories, as it turns out, showcase her talent amply. She needs less brushstrokes than most to create most starkly engaging imagery and portraits. With writing that's almost deceptively simplistic--but never simple!--Dunn fleshes out character by character with striking vividness.
The way she can turn a phrase is masterful.
The only drawback here (for me) is the similarity of themes and characters. It's mostly all women, usually downtrodden, lonely, and weighed down by children they can scarcely afford to raise. The men are almost uniformly terrible and/or absent. There's a lot of struggling to make ends meet, and it stands to mention how powerfully visceral Dunn writes poverty.
All in all, a very good collection from a gifted writer. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.
This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/
April 6, 2025
This is a collection of short stories, centered around people who do ordinary people stuff. I guess, or in some cases maybe it veers into a sci fi-type story.
I thought the writing masterful. It’s not easy to write short, succinct stories that leave an impression, but Dunn manages to do so. What is really remarkable is her ability to make something interesting out of the mundane. The stories digs into the psyche of people — people who are mostly the way that people are. They are flawed and kind of uninteresting, but with rich internal lives, fears and coping mechanisms. These are not stories of hope, but of living.
It’s quite a unique way of writing, of looking into people’s deepest corners. I enjoyed it very much.
Thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for letting me read this ARC.
I thought the writing masterful. It’s not easy to write short, succinct stories that leave an impression, but Dunn manages to do so. What is really remarkable is her ability to make something interesting out of the mundane. The stories digs into the psyche of people — people who are mostly the way that people are. They are flawed and kind of uninteresting, but with rich internal lives, fears and coping mechanisms. These are not stories of hope, but of living.
It’s quite a unique way of writing, of looking into people’s deepest corners. I enjoyed it very much.
Thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for letting me read this ARC.
October 15, 2025
Dunn explores the desires and yearnings typically left unsaid in this collection of short stories. Some of the stories are loosely connected (a woman seen hanging laundry becomes a character in a separate story), all are unsettling. Women attached to various, undeserving men - alcoholics, cheaters, misogynists, a bad poet. There are often children involved, mostly nameless, as the women go through their tedious, mind-numbing daily routines. We know, we're in their heads. Many have a gore factor.
They were all unexpected. Dark. The humor is dry, bitter. The writing flows beautifully, and many of the short stories do what they're supposed to do - leave the reader wanting more.
My thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux | MCD for the Advance Reader Copy. (pub. date 10/7/2025)
They were all unexpected. Dark. The humor is dry, bitter. The writing flows beautifully, and many of the short stories do what they're supposed to do - leave the reader wanting more.
My thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux | MCD for the Advance Reader Copy. (pub. date 10/7/2025)
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