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One Sun Only: Stories
A stunning collection of stories exploring love and art, luck and loss, from the “invaluable” (George Saunders) author of How to Behave in a Crowd and The Material
A young woman takes stock after the burglary of her apartment. A teenager becomes obsessed with the obituaries in a weekly magazine. Grandchildren mourn the grandparents who loved them and the grandparents who didn’t. Painters and almost-painters try to distinguish Good Art from Bad Art. People grapple with life-altering illness, unrequited love, and promises they have every intention of keeping. Some win the lottery. Others don’t.
In these sinewy, thoughtful stories, celebrated New Yorker contributor Camille Bordas delves into the mysteries of life, death, and all that happens in between. At once darkly funny and poignantly self-aware, Bordas’s writing offers a window into our shared, flawed humanity without insisting on a perfect understanding of our experiences.
With her first collection, which gathers previously unpublished stories alongside work originally featured in The New Yorker and The Paris Review, Bordas cements her reputation as a master of the form.
A young woman takes stock after the burglary of her apartment. A teenager becomes obsessed with the obituaries in a weekly magazine. Grandchildren mourn the grandparents who loved them and the grandparents who didn’t. Painters and almost-painters try to distinguish Good Art from Bad Art. People grapple with life-altering illness, unrequited love, and promises they have every intention of keeping. Some win the lottery. Others don’t.
In these sinewy, thoughtful stories, celebrated New Yorker contributor Camille Bordas delves into the mysteries of life, death, and all that happens in between. At once darkly funny and poignantly self-aware, Bordas’s writing offers a window into our shared, flawed humanity without insisting on a perfect understanding of our experiences.
With her first collection, which gathers previously unpublished stories alongside work originally featured in The New Yorker and The Paris Review, Bordas cements her reputation as a master of the form.
304 pages, Hardcover
Published January 27, 2026
52 people are currently reading
8041 people want to read
About the author
Camille Bordas
12 books235 followersCamille Bordas est née à Lyon, en 1987. Elle a passé son enfance au Mexique et vit maintenant à Paris. Elle est étudiante en anthropologie.
En 2009, elle a été remarquée par la critique avec la parution de son premier roman, Les treize desserts, pour lequel elle a reçu la Bourse Thyde Monnier de la SGDL et le Prix du Livre du département du Rhône.
En 2009, elle a été remarquée par la critique avec la parution de son premier roman, Les treize desserts, pour lequel elle a reçu la Bourse Thyde Monnier de la SGDL et le Prix du Livre du département du Rhône.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 62 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Pre-Read Notes: I love short fiction collections and this title appealed.
Final Review
"There are posters of famous, good-looking women over some beds, to give the girls who pinned them courage, Eugene assumes. They go to sleep telling themselves they’ll look like this one day, maybe at the end of camp. In Eugene’s dorm, some boys have taped pictures of the same famous, good-looking women over their beds, and they fall asleep thinking maybe one day they’ll look good enough that a similar girl will like them. It strikes Eugene that no one dreams of boys." p120, "Beyond"
A word about the essays:
1. "One Sun Only" - A story about how family systems absorb grief. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
2. "Most Die Young" - "A foreign language having a single word to define something that they would need a whole sentence to express in their mother tongue would also be, conversely, a pleasure -giving piece of information. Highly quotable. That’s why everyone knows about Schadenfreude and how the Inuit have forty-something words for snow. That’s why, even though I don’t know much about Japan, I do know that the Japanese have a word for one of my habits, which is to buy books, pile them up, and never read them (tsundoku)." p31 I love a really good story about words. ⭐⭐⭐
3. "The Lottery in Almeria" - Really interesting character development in this one. "Andrés ...wasn’t even mad that the money had gone to ... a guy who’d seemed to have been happy even before winning. He almost felt relieved that it hadn’t been him, that he hadn’t had to explain to anyone that he had no one to spend the money on, really, that he’d never had a wife, children, that his parents had died before he could buy them anything nice, let alone a house, that he was in fact letting his own father’s house crumble over his head." p58 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
4. "The State of Nature" - "Catapult" is the best name for a cat. ⭐⭐⭐.5
5. "The Presentation on Egypt" - A pieces about grief, but a little flat. ⭐⭐.5
6. "Only Orange" - "I knew that she’d been adopted, of course, which made me envious. To be able to look at the people who love you the most and not have to worry that you’ll turn out exactly like them must be amazing, I thought. An endlessly renewable source of relief." p94 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
7. "Beyond" - Mmm...there are issues here. For (one, tiny) example, there would be no raisins in a sugar-free cookie. More generally, the story makes its point on the bones of some awful fat phobic ideas. "Maybe Eugene himself is already dead, Eugene thinks, a ghost. Maybe everyone here is dead and that’s why it’s called Beyond." p108 ⭐.5
8. "Chicago on the Seine" - "The lady at the Chanel counter had made the girl look much older and her mother years younger, enhancing a feeling I’d had before, after staying too long in department stores, that these places were like busted time portals, that time moved differently there. Only the father had come out unchanged." p141 ⭐⭐
9. "Offside Contantly" - It comes at normalizing disability from a weird angle, but I'm there for it. "...[T]his was how Thomas had interpreted his words: being blue eyed in ancient Rome was kind of like having a mullet today, he’d said." p152 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
10. "Understanding the Science" - "She couldn’t understand why such a documentary would exist in the first place, why someone would bother filming idiots displaying their idiocy. There was something aesthetically repulsive about it, wasn’t there? About ridiculing people, amplifying their dumb beliefs, so that upper-middle-class Chicagoans like herself and her friends could feel alarmed and superior." p159 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
11. "Graceless" - "In the changing room, so close to the graceful girls, I feel double ugly. I try not to stare, but I study them, the way they move. I don’t realize yet that a person can’t fake grace. I still think I can learn it." p174 ⭐⭐⭐
12. "Colorin Colorado" - "“Novels always want to simplify,” J. went on. “Here’s another example : because of novels, we pretend to agree people think in whole sentences. She thought, I thought … and then a perfectly shaped observation. But, like, if I’m on a date and I say something stupid, I just want to disappear, right? I don’t actually think the words I want to disappear.”" p185 ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
Content Notes: grief, loss of loved ones, death, terrorism, bombing, animal neglect, abandonment, euthenasia, animal death, seizure, bullying, fatphobia, dieting, calorie restrictions, group punishment, public shaming,
Thank you to Camille Bordas, Random House, and NetGalley for an accessible digital arc of ONE SUN ONLY. All views are mine.
Final Review
"There are posters of famous, good-looking women over some beds, to give the girls who pinned them courage, Eugene assumes. They go to sleep telling themselves they’ll look like this one day, maybe at the end of camp. In Eugene’s dorm, some boys have taped pictures of the same famous, good-looking women over their beds, and they fall asleep thinking maybe one day they’ll look good enough that a similar girl will like them. It strikes Eugene that no one dreams of boys." p120, "Beyond"
A word about the essays:
1. "One Sun Only" - A story about how family systems absorb grief. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
2. "Most Die Young" - "A foreign language having a single word to define something that they would need a whole sentence to express in their mother tongue would also be, conversely, a pleasure -giving piece of information. Highly quotable. That’s why everyone knows about Schadenfreude and how the Inuit have forty-something words for snow. That’s why, even though I don’t know much about Japan, I do know that the Japanese have a word for one of my habits, which is to buy books, pile them up, and never read them (tsundoku)." p31 I love a really good story about words. ⭐⭐⭐
3. "The Lottery in Almeria" - Really interesting character development in this one. "Andrés ...wasn’t even mad that the money had gone to ... a guy who’d seemed to have been happy even before winning. He almost felt relieved that it hadn’t been him, that he hadn’t had to explain to anyone that he had no one to spend the money on, really, that he’d never had a wife, children, that his parents had died before he could buy them anything nice, let alone a house, that he was in fact letting his own father’s house crumble over his head." p58 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
4. "The State of Nature" - "Catapult" is the best name for a cat. ⭐⭐⭐.5
5. "The Presentation on Egypt" - A pieces about grief, but a little flat. ⭐⭐.5
6. "Only Orange" - "I knew that she’d been adopted, of course, which made me envious. To be able to look at the people who love you the most and not have to worry that you’ll turn out exactly like them must be amazing, I thought. An endlessly renewable source of relief." p94 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
7. "Beyond" - Mmm...there are issues here. For (one, tiny) example, there would be no raisins in a sugar-free cookie. More generally, the story makes its point on the bones of some awful fat phobic ideas. "Maybe Eugene himself is already dead, Eugene thinks, a ghost. Maybe everyone here is dead and that’s why it’s called Beyond." p108 ⭐.5
8. "Chicago on the Seine" - "The lady at the Chanel counter had made the girl look much older and her mother years younger, enhancing a feeling I’d had before, after staying too long in department stores, that these places were like busted time portals, that time moved differently there. Only the father had come out unchanged." p141 ⭐⭐
9. "Offside Contantly" - It comes at normalizing disability from a weird angle, but I'm there for it. "...[T]his was how Thomas had interpreted his words: being blue eyed in ancient Rome was kind of like having a mullet today, he’d said." p152 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
10. "Understanding the Science" - "She couldn’t understand why such a documentary would exist in the first place, why someone would bother filming idiots displaying their idiocy. There was something aesthetically repulsive about it, wasn’t there? About ridiculing people, amplifying their dumb beliefs, so that upper-middle-class Chicagoans like herself and her friends could feel alarmed and superior." p159 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
11. "Graceless" - "In the changing room, so close to the graceful girls, I feel double ugly. I try not to stare, but I study them, the way they move. I don’t realize yet that a person can’t fake grace. I still think I can learn it." p174 ⭐⭐⭐
12. "Colorin Colorado" - "“Novels always want to simplify,” J. went on. “Here’s another example : because of novels, we pretend to agree people think in whole sentences. She thought, I thought … and then a perfectly shaped observation. But, like, if I’m on a date and I say something stupid, I just want to disappear, right? I don’t actually think the words I want to disappear.”" p185 ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
Content Notes: grief, loss of loved ones, death, terrorism, bombing, animal neglect, abandonment, euthenasia, animal death, seizure, bullying, fatphobia, dieting, calorie restrictions, group punishment, public shaming,
Thank you to Camille Bordas, Random House, and NetGalley for an accessible digital arc of ONE SUN ONLY. All views are mine.
December 10, 2025
Every story was very well-written and developed. I appreciated the direct writing style. My favorite story was Beyond. I was laughing out loud while I read it, and honestly would have read another 300 pages of it! I like how every story is relatively simple in terms of plot, but has depth and mild twists that make the story unique. These short stories feel much longer than they are (in a good way) because of the depth to them. You feel like you get to know the characters, their motivations, their perspectives. This was a very good collection and I really enjoyed it.
Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC.
Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC.
Did not finish
January 29, 2026I have decided not to finish this book (and will not rate it). I completed almost a third of the book and the stories I read all had the same issue for me: the characters seemed to exist primarily to think about their lives, and a bit about others while obsessing on certain events. But they don’t seem to change or act or even worsen. I needed something to happen. It didn’t. I realize that this collection has garnered some very positive reviews but somehow these stories just don’t seem to be for me. Therefore I decided not to continue. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to try a writer new to me.
February 8, 2026
Camille Bordas really does have a way with words.
I love a collection of short stories and this one I enjoyed reading. I will say, some of the stories were really good and the other fell flat but overall enjoyable.
I love a collection of short stories and this one I enjoyed reading. I will say, some of the stories were really good and the other fell flat but overall enjoyable.
November 18, 2025
this is a collection of introspective, emotionally perceptive short stories that felt refreshingly different from most collections i’ve read recently. camille bordas writes with a calm, observant tone that lingers on the small shifts, disappointments, realisations, and quiet absurdities that shape a life. there’s no dramatic twist or shock factor here; but rather, the power comes from human thought, memory, and self-awareness.
the stories explore different ways people try to make meaning out of ordinary experiences. almost every story offered something to take away, which is rare for me when it comes to short story collections. my personal standouts were One Sun Only, Most Die Young, The Lottery in Almería, Chicago on the Seine, Offside Constantly, and Understanding the Science.
if you enjoy character-driven, reflective storytelling that feels truthful, this is a gorgeous, quietly powerful read. it's the kind that sits with you afterwards, even if nothing shocking happens.
-------
to-read:
how to distinguish good art from bad art? this amateur who works in an art museum is dying to know.
*thank you to Random House for the ARC*
the stories explore different ways people try to make meaning out of ordinary experiences. almost every story offered something to take away, which is rare for me when it comes to short story collections. my personal standouts were One Sun Only, Most Die Young, The Lottery in Almería, Chicago on the Seine, Offside Constantly, and Understanding the Science.
if you enjoy character-driven, reflective storytelling that feels truthful, this is a gorgeous, quietly powerful read. it's the kind that sits with you afterwards, even if nothing shocking happens.
-------
to-read:
how to distinguish good art from bad art? this amateur who works in an art museum is dying to know.
*thank you to Random House for the ARC*
November 29, 2025
4 stars
I read short stories frequently and teach them constantly. I have a strong appreciation for the genre and for convincing reluctant readers that they should give a short story a chance here and there. Since I find increasingly that modern readers are not really digging into this genre as much, I'll start by noting that folks who enjoy the genre will find a lot to like here. The same is true for novice short story readers, but they should approach the collection with expectations that meet the genre, not with the idea that this will be just like reading a novel but faster.
Bordas has a direct style that I find approachable and connected to conditions and circumstances that many readers will relate to. These stories are not particularly esoteric, drenched in ultra 'literary' symbolism, or confined to individuals with very niche experiences. The focus is on elements of the human condition, and the overarching style, for me, tends toward understated. Since the very first entry begins with a reference to one of my all-time favorite short stories, I bought in almost instantly. This is a solid collection, and it's one I'd consider pulling examples from for teaching purposes (really a high compliment in my world). Minimally, I'll recommend the collection to students who are looking for approachable, modern examples of the genre.
*Special thanks to NetGalley and Will Lyman at Random House, Hogarth, and Dial for this widget, which I received in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
I read short stories frequently and teach them constantly. I have a strong appreciation for the genre and for convincing reluctant readers that they should give a short story a chance here and there. Since I find increasingly that modern readers are not really digging into this genre as much, I'll start by noting that folks who enjoy the genre will find a lot to like here. The same is true for novice short story readers, but they should approach the collection with expectations that meet the genre, not with the idea that this will be just like reading a novel but faster.
Bordas has a direct style that I find approachable and connected to conditions and circumstances that many readers will relate to. These stories are not particularly esoteric, drenched in ultra 'literary' symbolism, or confined to individuals with very niche experiences. The focus is on elements of the human condition, and the overarching style, for me, tends toward understated. Since the very first entry begins with a reference to one of my all-time favorite short stories, I bought in almost instantly. This is a solid collection, and it's one I'd consider pulling examples from for teaching purposes (really a high compliment in my world). Minimally, I'll recommend the collection to students who are looking for approachable, modern examples of the genre.
*Special thanks to NetGalley and Will Lyman at Random House, Hogarth, and Dial for this widget, which I received in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
January 22, 2026
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House for an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.
🌞 preface
I am a lover of short fiction. I recently read three short story collections and an anthology, but One Sun Only blew those other books out of the water. I was actually really scared to get to this collection, thinking I was just going to be burnt out from my previous short fiction reads, but nope—this book gave me hope!
🌞 feeling seen
The way I have reviewed short story collections in the past has been to rate each individual story and then take the average rating for the whole book. I did do that, and I was giving every story a 4 or 4.5, with the exception of one story, Chicago on the Seine, which was my least favorite—that one got a 3 star from me. But the last story...I gave the last story, Colorín Colorado, 5 stars. The last story made me reevaluate the entire book. Things got a little meta, and it's as if Bordas could read my mind, because she addressed the reason I was hesitant to give 10/12 stories 5 stars. I won't mention this detail, because I wouldn't want to put anyone off to reading this with fresh eyes, but let's just say this was a common thread throughout Borda's stories—it really felt like she was catering these stories for me. Like she was speaking directly to me, as if she knew me. That sounds dramatic, but it's the biggest reason as to why I really enjoyed being inside each of these 12 stories. Each story felt so insanely human that I began to ask myself if any of the books I have read recently had managed to capture our essence so effortlessly. Obviously, I don't actually think Bordas and I are the same person that she therefore managed to speak to me in such an intimate way. No, I think most (if not all) will resonate with the meek, but no less glorious, humanness Bordas has sewn into the text.
🌞 mirror, mirror...
“Every man carries with him through life a mirror, as unique and impossible to get rid of as his shadow.” - W.H. Auden
As I mentioned, this book got meta, even before the last story. There was something so aware about all of Borda's characters—like they knew someone was reading their story. All the characters felt in control of the narrative, holding up a mirror, unabashed. Pointing at their reflections, showing us what made them unique, and at the same time, showing us why they are, indeed, me and you, and him, and her—us.
I could not recommend this book enough! I am thinking of purchasing a physical copy for myself just to own and read again someday. Camille Bordas is a talent I want to read more from.
🌞 preface
I am a lover of short fiction. I recently read three short story collections and an anthology, but One Sun Only blew those other books out of the water. I was actually really scared to get to this collection, thinking I was just going to be burnt out from my previous short fiction reads, but nope—this book gave me hope!
🌞 feeling seen
The way I have reviewed short story collections in the past has been to rate each individual story and then take the average rating for the whole book. I did do that, and I was giving every story a 4 or 4.5, with the exception of one story, Chicago on the Seine, which was my least favorite—that one got a 3 star from me. But the last story...I gave the last story, Colorín Colorado, 5 stars. The last story made me reevaluate the entire book. Things got a little meta, and it's as if Bordas could read my mind, because she addressed the reason I was hesitant to give 10/12 stories 5 stars. I won't mention this detail, because I wouldn't want to put anyone off to reading this with fresh eyes, but let's just say this was a common thread throughout Borda's stories—it really felt like she was catering these stories for me. Like she was speaking directly to me, as if she knew me. That sounds dramatic, but it's the biggest reason as to why I really enjoyed being inside each of these 12 stories. Each story felt so insanely human that I began to ask myself if any of the books I have read recently had managed to capture our essence so effortlessly. Obviously, I don't actually think Bordas and I are the same person that she therefore managed to speak to me in such an intimate way. No, I think most (if not all) will resonate with the meek, but no less glorious, humanness Bordas has sewn into the text.
🌞 mirror, mirror...
“Every man carries with him through life a mirror, as unique and impossible to get rid of as his shadow.” - W.H. Auden
As I mentioned, this book got meta, even before the last story. There was something so aware about all of Borda's characters—like they knew someone was reading their story. All the characters felt in control of the narrative, holding up a mirror, unabashed. Pointing at their reflections, showing us what made them unique, and at the same time, showing us why they are, indeed, me and you, and him, and her—us.
I could not recommend this book enough! I am thinking of purchasing a physical copy for myself just to own and read again someday. Camille Bordas is a talent I want to read more from.
January 27, 2026
Each story is a gem, and once again I'll repeat -- a collection of well written short stories is more challenging than a novel of equal length, especially one as richly developed as this. My only reservation is that the stories just end Like that. Abruptly with no warning, each and every one of them. At first I thought there were pages missing, that the story I was reading surely had more to give me. But, no. That is Bordas's style, her quirk. It emphasizes the fact that you are peering into these lives for a specific time and then you are gone.
Want to read
August 13, 2025oh this cover... she's gorgeous
December 24, 2025
I enjoyed this story collection. A lot of slice of life moments that had me wishing there was more resolution to each tale. Just as I was getting settled in with the characters the story ended. It’s amazing that such a short piece can leave such a lasting impact and it had me thinking about the characters long after I finished.
Thank you for the advanced reader copy Netgalley and Random House.
Thank you for the advanced reader copy Netgalley and Random House.
Read
January 16, 2026A quiet exploration of the everyday.
One Sun Only is collection of 12 character-driven, reflective short stories that find beauty in the most unexpected places.
Camille Bordas writes with a direct and relatable, capturing the magic within the quotidian minutiae of life. Each story lingers on the quiet absurdities we often dismiss or forget in the daily struggle to keep moving forward.
If you enjoy contemporary fiction for its subtle portrayals of human existence, you will find alot to love here. These stories are largely plotless and meandering, choosing instead to focus on the deeply internal lives of the characters. It is the kind of writing that doesn't shout to get your attention, it simply observes.
While the entire collection is cohesive, a few stories stayed with me long after I finished:
One Sun Only
Only Orange
Colorin Colorado
This is a gorgeous read for anyone who appreciates a "slice of life" style that feels grounded and slightly hypnotic.
Expected publication date: Jan 27, 2026
Thank you to Random House for providing an advanced reader's copy of One Sun Only
One Sun Only is collection of 12 character-driven, reflective short stories that find beauty in the most unexpected places.
Camille Bordas writes with a direct and relatable, capturing the magic within the quotidian minutiae of life. Each story lingers on the quiet absurdities we often dismiss or forget in the daily struggle to keep moving forward.
If you enjoy contemporary fiction for its subtle portrayals of human existence, you will find alot to love here. These stories are largely plotless and meandering, choosing instead to focus on the deeply internal lives of the characters. It is the kind of writing that doesn't shout to get your attention, it simply observes.
While the entire collection is cohesive, a few stories stayed with me long after I finished:
One Sun Only
Only Orange
Colorin Colorado
This is a gorgeous read for anyone who appreciates a "slice of life" style that feels grounded and slightly hypnotic.
Expected publication date: Jan 27, 2026
Thank you to Random House for providing an advanced reader's copy of One Sun Only
March 9, 2026
It’s rare for a short story collection to engage me like this one did, but (almost) every story felt filled with real people with stories that mattered to them. I wasn’t a huge fan of Graceless, but every other story had a clear message and some strong sentence writing.
March 25, 2026
This was a real pleasure to read. I never really wanted to put it down. Once you hit A Presentation on Egypt, though, it becomes apparent that that story is the sun around which all of the others orbit. It's the emotional and technical apex of the book and none of the others really come close.
March 24, 2026
Loved it
December 17, 2025
Camille Bordas has been a regular contributor to the New Yorker (and several other similarly regarded publications) for quite a few years. If you're already a fan of hers, you'll be pleased with this collection of her short stories. You may have read a few of them before, as most have appeared in previous issues of The New Yorker or The Paris Review.
Mostly similar in length, the short stories in Bordas' One Sun Only: Stories are very singularly her own voice. I wasn't familiar with her writing before this collection, but as soon as I started the second story, it was clear Bordas has a distinct style. The risk you run with a distinct voice is that it isn't always for everyone. In this case, I fall into that category.
At first, there was something captivating about the normalcy of Bordas' stories. Each is a small slice of a someone's day, entrenched in a specific situation and blooming outward to encompass a few additional characters. As soon as I'd find myself investing in the characters, Bordas seemed to have moved on. Rather than being a result of the short story format, this seemed to be a stylistic choice. Bordas even addresses this in Colorín Colorado, where a student criticizes a professor's writing for its lack of plot.
I love experimental writing, but rather than diving into an experiment, Bordas' collection just dips in a toe and backs off before finding out what might happen.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Mostly similar in length, the short stories in Bordas' One Sun Only: Stories are very singularly her own voice. I wasn't familiar with her writing before this collection, but as soon as I started the second story, it was clear Bordas has a distinct style. The risk you run with a distinct voice is that it isn't always for everyone. In this case, I fall into that category.
At first, there was something captivating about the normalcy of Bordas' stories. Each is a small slice of a someone's day, entrenched in a specific situation and blooming outward to encompass a few additional characters. As soon as I'd find myself investing in the characters, Bordas seemed to have moved on. Rather than being a result of the short story format, this seemed to be a stylistic choice. Bordas even addresses this in Colorín Colorado, where a student criticizes a professor's writing for its lack of plot.
I love experimental writing, but rather than diving into an experiment, Bordas' collection just dips in a toe and backs off before finding out what might happen.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
October 6, 2025
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the ebook. These stories, which were mostly published in the New Yorker, are from a mature writer who is able to see life from all angles. There’s a real fire in these stories, but not a blind anger, because these characters understand life. Towards the end of book, a long time professor who writes novels, is asked to be interviewed about a former student who gained fame with short films on YouTube and then became a proper filmmaker, but has died young. The professor remembers the student as provocative, but without depth or discipline, but the professor, years later, stole a part of one of the many stories that the student dashed off for the class, and stuck it in one of her novels. And that’s what so many of these stories try to show: I see who you are, but am I really any better than you when I’m really being honest with myself?
December 10, 2025
A collection of twelve short stories, each a perfect encapsulation of literary characters stood up living and breathing, with seemingly effortless grace, and the space of a mere few pages. In each case, young and old, and brimming with dry humor, the reader is invited in to share lives populated by ordinary people, in situations ordinary and otherwise, who leave us as quickly as they are revealed.
Between these pages we will meet a woman somewhat unsuccessfully released from colorblindness; an overweight thirteen-year-old fan of the Sopranos, banished to summer “fat camp”; a grief-stricken fourteen year old whose “sleeping attacks” may not be narcolepsy; an unusually helpful American embassy worker in Paris, stationed overnight at a morgue.
Flawed and vulnerable, survivors and sufferers, our narrators are humans just trying to figure life out, or just the opposite — alone, hiding behind weird beliefs, avoidant or anxious, shamed or superior, going about their days.
A treat for any reader of short stories, I loved meeting every one of these fascinating characters, — absorbing, experiencing, and then, reluctantly, setting them free.
A great big thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.
Between these pages we will meet a woman somewhat unsuccessfully released from colorblindness; an overweight thirteen-year-old fan of the Sopranos, banished to summer “fat camp”; a grief-stricken fourteen year old whose “sleeping attacks” may not be narcolepsy; an unusually helpful American embassy worker in Paris, stationed overnight at a morgue.
Flawed and vulnerable, survivors and sufferers, our narrators are humans just trying to figure life out, or just the opposite — alone, hiding behind weird beliefs, avoidant or anxious, shamed or superior, going about their days.
A treat for any reader of short stories, I loved meeting every one of these fascinating characters, — absorbing, experiencing, and then, reluctantly, setting them free.
A great big thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.
December 8, 2025
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House (Will Lyman) for the ARC of One Sun Only by Camille Bordas.
I know there are readers that do not enjoy short stories. As readers, they don't get to spend enough time with the characters, or just as the situation in the story gets interesting, it ends. The experience is just so...short. Or worse yet, nothing happens in the story at all. It's all observations and reflections that start and go nowhere. What was the point? For those readers, the thought of reading a collection of these narrative forms must almost feel like literary torture, whippings with plotless pages, pointless dialogue like fingernails on a chalkboard.
I understand somewhat. I have read short stories that I just did not "get," stories where I just could not make an intellectual or emotional connection. I've read stories where I was not satisfied with the ending, that left me wanting one more page, one more paragraph. We want stories we like to continue forever. But I have also read short stories that in their length just floored me with their impact, stories that I couldn't imagine being one word longer because they were perfect. In their brevity, they contain all that is essential.
One Sun Only is an impressive collection of stories that I really enjoyed. As I read the ebook, I would highlight different sentences and passages that I found either beautifully descriptive or insightful or emotionally true. I had not read any of the stories by Camille Bordas before, so with every story I read my admiration just increased. Bordas creates these specific, unique, quirky characters that are confronted by or embroiled in situations that test them, and in doing so reveal much more of themselves than perhaps they would like. Her characters aren't necessarily nice or mean, well-intentioned or conniving, spirited or timid; they are both at the same time. They are flawed, questioning, unsure, yet somehow manage to make it through the situation, not necessarily to their satisfaction. Her characters are incredibly relatable because they are like us, kind of muddling through life, trying to understand our own motivations and questioning those of others. It is at this point of friction--understanding/misunderstanding--that Bordas excels at: The tiny moments of antagonism between characters, the passive-aggressive replies, the unsaid but thought remarks of reprobation. The uncivility that exists beneath most relationships is apparently where the action happens.
If there's one thing that Bordas's characters share, it is a wicked sense of humor. Throughout One Sun Only I found myself laughing out loud at some of the observations a character would make about another character in a story. Most of the stories in One Sun Only crackle with the subtly dark, near black humor that the characters employ almost as a defense against the absurdity of their situation.
One Sun Only is a fantastic collection of stories by a writer who has something to say about life, about relationships, about how we live. Individually, the stories are great, but the collection as a whole illuminates a definite perspective or view of human relationships. And this is the value of short story collections like One Sun Only, because they are perfect examples of the saying "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." Think of one of George Saunders's collections. There's a kind of magic that happens when stories are brought together in one book, and this is what you get in One Sun Only.
I know there are readers that do not enjoy short stories. As readers, they don't get to spend enough time with the characters, or just as the situation in the story gets interesting, it ends. The experience is just so...short. Or worse yet, nothing happens in the story at all. It's all observations and reflections that start and go nowhere. What was the point? For those readers, the thought of reading a collection of these narrative forms must almost feel like literary torture, whippings with plotless pages, pointless dialogue like fingernails on a chalkboard.
I understand somewhat. I have read short stories that I just did not "get," stories where I just could not make an intellectual or emotional connection. I've read stories where I was not satisfied with the ending, that left me wanting one more page, one more paragraph. We want stories we like to continue forever. But I have also read short stories that in their length just floored me with their impact, stories that I couldn't imagine being one word longer because they were perfect. In their brevity, they contain all that is essential.
One Sun Only is an impressive collection of stories that I really enjoyed. As I read the ebook, I would highlight different sentences and passages that I found either beautifully descriptive or insightful or emotionally true. I had not read any of the stories by Camille Bordas before, so with every story I read my admiration just increased. Bordas creates these specific, unique, quirky characters that are confronted by or embroiled in situations that test them, and in doing so reveal much more of themselves than perhaps they would like. Her characters aren't necessarily nice or mean, well-intentioned or conniving, spirited or timid; they are both at the same time. They are flawed, questioning, unsure, yet somehow manage to make it through the situation, not necessarily to their satisfaction. Her characters are incredibly relatable because they are like us, kind of muddling through life, trying to understand our own motivations and questioning those of others. It is at this point of friction--understanding/misunderstanding--that Bordas excels at: The tiny moments of antagonism between characters, the passive-aggressive replies, the unsaid but thought remarks of reprobation. The uncivility that exists beneath most relationships is apparently where the action happens.
If there's one thing that Bordas's characters share, it is a wicked sense of humor. Throughout One Sun Only I found myself laughing out loud at some of the observations a character would make about another character in a story. Most of the stories in One Sun Only crackle with the subtly dark, near black humor that the characters employ almost as a defense against the absurdity of their situation.
One Sun Only is a fantastic collection of stories by a writer who has something to say about life, about relationships, about how we live. Individually, the stories are great, but the collection as a whole illuminates a definite perspective or view of human relationships. And this is the value of short story collections like One Sun Only, because they are perfect examples of the saying "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." Think of one of George Saunders's collections. There's a kind of magic that happens when stories are brought together in one book, and this is what you get in One Sun Only.
February 17, 2026
There’s something about smart writing, about short, pithy and yet clearly well thought out lines, that necessitates their appearance in a short story for one to consider the said short story to be well written. I can only claim to have had sporadic success when it comes to finding - and getting to read - good short stories.
Luckily for me, this one is a clear winner. The stories in this collection are not just well written with endearing characters, they also convey that most human of traits for fiction - that of coming across as real and believable.
Reading these stories feels about as rough as swirling a spoon through melted butter. The author introduces characters and their ideas into the narrative and you feel like you’re watching a vista from a slow-moving car, as it is crossing Main Street. The stories encapsulate not just how the characters are living but what they are thinking, what they are doing, and - most importantly - why.
The title story starts off as a somewhat morbid yet beautifully written piece, that soon allows you to become familiar with the few characters it has, even as you get a quick walkthrough of their lives, a vignette that seems more real than some full length novels I sadly still remember having read. All stories have a well defined humorous undercurrent that bobs up every now and then, and makes for some fun reading.
There’s a smorgasbord of characters too. There’s the “apartment therapist” (!), who apparently helps the “newly burglarized” navigate a flea market notorious as being where burglarized goods are likely to surface. Then there’s a smattering of Spanish speaking ethnicities listed as a “who’s who” but for “who hates who” and “who is hated by who”.
There’s the ophthalmologist whose “go bag”, in case of a catastrophe, would include underwear, pens (?) and eye drops. “A very sad bag”, in the ophthalmologist’s own words.
BTW, an apartment therapist is just an interior designer, but for people who’ve been living in their apartment and have begun to feel trapped and hate the things filling it; it is the therapist’s job to make them like it again.
Lest one might consider levity as the defining characteristic of this collection, it bears mentioning that there’s a definite, not quite invisible, undercurrent of death or dying in most of these tales. There is no morbid curiosity or macabre humor, rather a gentle inclusivity of that most primal of human life events - the end of a life. It shows up in a wide variety of forms, from an elder family member’s passing, to that of the school janitor’s sudden demise, and from a suicide at home (in the laundry, if you must know!) to an unexpected death while visiting Paris. And while most of these tales are not even halfway tragic or sorrowful, there’s a true melancholy in many.
As one character knowingly points out, according to Victor Hugo, melancholy was the happiness of being sad.
Don’t go looking for some grand, deeper meaning in these stories; instead, look for glimpses of humanity, in all its blatant naivety, expressed with breathtaking brevity and glimmers of hope.
Thanks to NetGalley and the author for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest and original review.
Luckily for me, this one is a clear winner. The stories in this collection are not just well written with endearing characters, they also convey that most human of traits for fiction - that of coming across as real and believable.
Reading these stories feels about as rough as swirling a spoon through melted butter. The author introduces characters and their ideas into the narrative and you feel like you’re watching a vista from a slow-moving car, as it is crossing Main Street. The stories encapsulate not just how the characters are living but what they are thinking, what they are doing, and - most importantly - why.
The title story starts off as a somewhat morbid yet beautifully written piece, that soon allows you to become familiar with the few characters it has, even as you get a quick walkthrough of their lives, a vignette that seems more real than some full length novels I sadly still remember having read. All stories have a well defined humorous undercurrent that bobs up every now and then, and makes for some fun reading.
“She was in a bar right now, in fact, not having a great time. But it so happened that someone had just walked over and told her that she looked like Lionel Messi, and it wasn’t exactly a great line, she said, but at least it was one she’d never heard before.”
There’s a smorgasbord of characters too. There’s the “apartment therapist” (!), who apparently helps the “newly burglarized” navigate a flea market notorious as being where burglarized goods are likely to surface. Then there’s a smattering of Spanish speaking ethnicities listed as a “who’s who” but for “who hates who” and “who is hated by who”.
There’s the ophthalmologist whose “go bag”, in case of a catastrophe, would include underwear, pens (?) and eye drops. “A very sad bag”, in the ophthalmologist’s own words.
BTW, an apartment therapist is just an interior designer, but for people who’ve been living in their apartment and have begun to feel trapped and hate the things filling it; it is the therapist’s job to make them like it again.
Lest one might consider levity as the defining characteristic of this collection, it bears mentioning that there’s a definite, not quite invisible, undercurrent of death or dying in most of these tales. There is no morbid curiosity or macabre humor, rather a gentle inclusivity of that most primal of human life events - the end of a life. It shows up in a wide variety of forms, from an elder family member’s passing, to that of the school janitor’s sudden demise, and from a suicide at home (in the laundry, if you must know!) to an unexpected death while visiting Paris. And while most of these tales are not even halfway tragic or sorrowful, there’s a true melancholy in many.
As one character knowingly points out, according to Victor Hugo, melancholy was the happiness of being sad.
Don’t go looking for some grand, deeper meaning in these stories; instead, look for glimpses of humanity, in all its blatant naivety, expressed with breathtaking brevity and glimmers of hope.
Thanks to NetGalley and the author for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest and original review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Disclosure: I received an advance review copy of One Sun Only from Random House via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I am consistently drawn to short story collections, particularly those that focus on everyday experiences and emotional nuance rather than overt plot. Books like After the Quake, Afterparties, and Inheritors are longtime favorites of mine, so I approached One Sun Only with interest and a clear sense of what I value in the form. Camille Bordas delivers a thoughtful and often quietly funny collection that pays close attention to interior lives and small, telling moments.
Many of these stories explore grief, childhood trauma, obsession, and the lingering desire for approval. Several pieces focus on children or teenagers with darker or more unusual fixations, including a teenager preoccupied with obituaries. These characters felt believable and carefully observed, and their perspectives often added both humor and emotional weight. I especially appreciated how Bordas allows her characters to be complicated without overexplaining them.
The writing style is spare and sometimes slow, but intentionally so. The pacing encourages reflection and allows the humor to surface naturally rather than forcefully. Some stories resonated more strongly than others, but the collection felt cohesive overall. The endings are frequently unexpected and unresolved, which reminded me of Murakami’s approach, though Bordas remains firmly grounded in realism. This lack of closure worked for me, but it may not appeal to readers who prefer clear conclusions.
By the end of the collection, I felt amused and reflective, with certain images and emotional beats lingering more than individual plot points. This is a book that invites attention rather than urgency, and it rewards readers who are comfortable sitting with ambiguity.
I would recommend One Sun Only to literary fiction fans and readers who enjoy short story collections, with the note that the open-ended endings are a defining feature. Readers who need resolution may want to skip it, but those who appreciate subtlety and character-driven work will likely find much to admire.
I am consistently drawn to short story collections, particularly those that focus on everyday experiences and emotional nuance rather than overt plot. Books like After the Quake, Afterparties, and Inheritors are longtime favorites of mine, so I approached One Sun Only with interest and a clear sense of what I value in the form. Camille Bordas delivers a thoughtful and often quietly funny collection that pays close attention to interior lives and small, telling moments.
Many of these stories explore grief, childhood trauma, obsession, and the lingering desire for approval. Several pieces focus on children or teenagers with darker or more unusual fixations, including a teenager preoccupied with obituaries. These characters felt believable and carefully observed, and their perspectives often added both humor and emotional weight. I especially appreciated how Bordas allows her characters to be complicated without overexplaining them.
The writing style is spare and sometimes slow, but intentionally so. The pacing encourages reflection and allows the humor to surface naturally rather than forcefully. Some stories resonated more strongly than others, but the collection felt cohesive overall. The endings are frequently unexpected and unresolved, which reminded me of Murakami’s approach, though Bordas remains firmly grounded in realism. This lack of closure worked for me, but it may not appeal to readers who prefer clear conclusions.
By the end of the collection, I felt amused and reflective, with certain images and emotional beats lingering more than individual plot points. This is a book that invites attention rather than urgency, and it rewards readers who are comfortable sitting with ambiguity.
I would recommend One Sun Only to literary fiction fans and readers who enjoy short story collections, with the note that the open-ended endings are a defining feature. Readers who need resolution may want to skip it, but those who appreciate subtlety and character-driven work will likely find much to admire.
March 3, 2026
The titular story in this charming collection is about death and its impact on children. The narrator explains that things keep dying — his father, the puppy his ex-wife got their kids to get over the death of grandpa, and then the kids’ school janitor. After a teacher raises concerns about his son’s drawings, the narrator scrutinizes them for trauma. “The Presentation on Egypt” also deals with death when a mother does not disclose to her teenage daughter that her surgeon father had died by hanging; instead, telling her that he had suffered a heart attack. Consequently, as an adult, the daughter has her heart checked more often than she admitted to her mother because, as far as she knew, a bad heart was what killed her father. Her mother felt some guilt about the heart scares, but rationalized that it was “better that her child worried about a nonexistent genetic condition than about the real one. . . .”
Other stories address the human condition. “Most Die Young” tells the tale of a journalist and hypochondriac who is writing an article on the Pawong, a Malaysian tribe, who live in constant fear of their enemies, but take no precautions. Her boyfriend had introduced her to the Pawong, but then had broken up with her because she was afraid of everything which she found unfair since the two had met a a group for people suffering from generalized anxiety disorder. In “the State of Nature,” an opthamologist who slept through a burglary is introduced to Rita — an “apartment therapist” — to see if they could recover her things at a local outdoor market. Rita recognizes that they’re losers: “We’re all here looking to pay a second time for stuff we already owned, I mean, we can’t let go of things — things! — that it took a stranger a minute to take away from us and profit from. They’re the winners.” “Beyond” is set at a camp for overweight kids where aspiring actor and “The Sopranos” aficionado Eugene, believes that he is fat and ugly. Eugene receives daily letters from his younger brother Max, “the child his parents had to taunt him: joyful and thin. Everyone loves Max. Eugene maybe more than anyone else.” This is an accomplished collection by a master of the short form. Thank you Will Lyman at Random House for an advance copy.
Other stories address the human condition. “Most Die Young” tells the tale of a journalist and hypochondriac who is writing an article on the Pawong, a Malaysian tribe, who live in constant fear of their enemies, but take no precautions. Her boyfriend had introduced her to the Pawong, but then had broken up with her because she was afraid of everything which she found unfair since the two had met a a group for people suffering from generalized anxiety disorder. In “the State of Nature,” an opthamologist who slept through a burglary is introduced to Rita — an “apartment therapist” — to see if they could recover her things at a local outdoor market. Rita recognizes that they’re losers: “We’re all here looking to pay a second time for stuff we already owned, I mean, we can’t let go of things — things! — that it took a stranger a minute to take away from us and profit from. They’re the winners.” “Beyond” is set at a camp for overweight kids where aspiring actor and “The Sopranos” aficionado Eugene, believes that he is fat and ugly. Eugene receives daily letters from his younger brother Max, “the child his parents had to taunt him: joyful and thin. Everyone loves Max. Eugene maybe more than anyone else.” This is an accomplished collection by a master of the short form. Thank you Will Lyman at Random House for an advance copy.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Life’s not supposed to be exciting…Only certain things are, like a good soccer game, or wen you fall in love and stuff. from One Sun Only by Camille Bordas
First off, I want to call out the book’s great cover art. It caught my eye and interest.
What great stories! Odd, singular, funny, sharp, and relatable.
The author sums her own stories up in the story Color in Colorado. A writing teacher is asked what they write about. “About made-up, normal people,” she responds. “I love it, she is told; “nobodies are the best kind of people.” The writer’s student comments, “but your stories, they’re always just about people talking and thinking.”
One Sun Only begins with a series of deaths and a child who wishes the dead stayed dead, that people would move on past grief. A man sleeps while his house is burgled, while his mother was glad because “she got to use all the knowledge that she’d gleaned from reading crime novels for the past forty years.” He is taken to a “thieves’ market” to search for his missing things. A woman wins the lottery on the night her husband kills himself. A boy at a ‘fat camp’ is obsessed with The Sopranos and imagines he is an actor.
Eugene says he doesn’t understand why a person would challenge herself. Isn’t life itself challenging enough as it is? From One Sun Only by Camille Bordas
So many quotable passages!
Self-discovery?…What a joke. Life’s too short to find out who we really are. from One Sun Only by Camille Bordas
Isn’t this the twenty-first century? Who wants thoughts expressed clearly? Who wants clarity? Who wants thoughts? from One Suny Only by Camille Bordas
I loved the boy at ‘fat camp’ who imagines he is an actor, distancing himself from his own life. The woman who stopped watching tv shows because they were too long and you never knew how many seasons they would be renewed. The woman who puzzles over how species felt when they survived the asteroid that destroyed the dinosaurs: did they regret what the world could’ve been?
Masterful.
Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley.
First off, I want to call out the book’s great cover art. It caught my eye and interest.
What great stories! Odd, singular, funny, sharp, and relatable.
The author sums her own stories up in the story Color in Colorado. A writing teacher is asked what they write about. “About made-up, normal people,” she responds. “I love it, she is told; “nobodies are the best kind of people.” The writer’s student comments, “but your stories, they’re always just about people talking and thinking.”
One Sun Only begins with a series of deaths and a child who wishes the dead stayed dead, that people would move on past grief. A man sleeps while his house is burgled, while his mother was glad because “she got to use all the knowledge that she’d gleaned from reading crime novels for the past forty years.” He is taken to a “thieves’ market” to search for his missing things. A woman wins the lottery on the night her husband kills himself. A boy at a ‘fat camp’ is obsessed with The Sopranos and imagines he is an actor.
Eugene says he doesn’t understand why a person would challenge herself. Isn’t life itself challenging enough as it is? From One Sun Only by Camille Bordas
So many quotable passages!
Self-discovery?…What a joke. Life’s too short to find out who we really are. from One Sun Only by Camille Bordas
Isn’t this the twenty-first century? Who wants thoughts expressed clearly? Who wants clarity? Who wants thoughts? from One Suny Only by Camille Bordas
I loved the boy at ‘fat camp’ who imagines he is an actor, distancing himself from his own life. The woman who stopped watching tv shows because they were too long and you never knew how many seasons they would be renewed. The woman who puzzles over how species felt when they survived the asteroid that destroyed the dinosaurs: did they regret what the world could’ve been?
Masterful.
Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
The author reviews for this set the bar real high but Camille Bordas delivered! I loved One Sun Only so much that I went and pre-ordered a copy because I know it's the kind of book I am going to revisit again and again. Short story collections are so hit or miss but I loved every one of these.
Each story in One Sun Only is character study exploring ordinary people living their ordinary lives. Bordas is exquisitely precise in describing the human condition; a thoughtful and deliberate observer of every day life. That so many other reviews wanted for any of these stories to be turned into a full length novel is such a testament to the way Bordas wrote them, but I felt that part of the sweetness of each character study was in its brevity.
Similarities weave in and out from story to story: the lottery, suicide, neurosurgeons, the movie Grease. Along the way, there are momentary (profound?) observations that gave me pause, and stuck with me for long after I'd completed the particular story, "How could you even like Grease if you can't see the color pink?", pondered one character. Another thought, "All humans fantasize that their generation will be the last."
Many stories explore themes of loss and death but I would not call One Sun Only a book about the end of life or grief, nor was it an overtly sad collection. In fact, there were a number of the stories that I found to be very funny, including 'Graceless' as well as 'Beyond'. I loved the title story as well.
So excited to have found this collection and to return to it soon to read some of these stories again and again. Would highly recommend for fans of Raymond Carver though Camille Bordas' voice is distinctly her own.
Thank you to Camille Bordas, Random House, and NetGalley for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Each story in One Sun Only is character study exploring ordinary people living their ordinary lives. Bordas is exquisitely precise in describing the human condition; a thoughtful and deliberate observer of every day life. That so many other reviews wanted for any of these stories to be turned into a full length novel is such a testament to the way Bordas wrote them, but I felt that part of the sweetness of each character study was in its brevity.
Similarities weave in and out from story to story: the lottery, suicide, neurosurgeons, the movie Grease. Along the way, there are momentary (profound?) observations that gave me pause, and stuck with me for long after I'd completed the particular story, "How could you even like Grease if you can't see the color pink?", pondered one character. Another thought, "All humans fantasize that their generation will be the last."
Many stories explore themes of loss and death but I would not call One Sun Only a book about the end of life or grief, nor was it an overtly sad collection. In fact, there were a number of the stories that I found to be very funny, including 'Graceless' as well as 'Beyond'. I loved the title story as well.
So excited to have found this collection and to return to it soon to read some of these stories again and again. Would highly recommend for fans of Raymond Carver though Camille Bordas' voice is distinctly her own.
Thank you to Camille Bordas, Random House, and NetGalley for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
3.9 ☆
slice-of-life lovers, rejoice! camille bordas wrote this collection for you, specifically.
one sun only is a transatlantic series of twelve short stories taking place primarily in the united states and france. while her narrative voice and perspective shifts between stories, sometimes delving into an introspective first person, at others an omniscient third person that snakes between characters, each story is concerned primarily with the monotony of life and the quiet, complex relationships we form with those around us. no story stands out on its own as particularly exciting, but the overall impression is one of quiet reflection, and the collection is filled with characters that feel alive, as if their stories continue long after the pages run out.
but there are only so many slow, introspective stories about the relationships between friends, siblings, and parents and children that i can read before my eyes glaze over, and while each story in the collection has a sort of satisfying, open-ended conclusion, they do start to blend together a bit. my favorite stories in the collection were often those that i read after putting down the book for a while, which signals to me that this might best be read a single story at a time, giving the reader time to really savor the weight of each piece on its own.
the absolute standout for me was the final story, colorín colorado, which is a compelling and metafictional little jaunt through the life of an author and her memories of a former student. many of the characters that bordas has dreamed up here will remain with me for a while yet, and i’m overall very pleased to have been sent this title.
thank you to penguin random house and netgalley for an e-ARC of this collection in exchange for my honest review.
slice-of-life lovers, rejoice! camille bordas wrote this collection for you, specifically.
one sun only is a transatlantic series of twelve short stories taking place primarily in the united states and france. while her narrative voice and perspective shifts between stories, sometimes delving into an introspective first person, at others an omniscient third person that snakes between characters, each story is concerned primarily with the monotony of life and the quiet, complex relationships we form with those around us. no story stands out on its own as particularly exciting, but the overall impression is one of quiet reflection, and the collection is filled with characters that feel alive, as if their stories continue long after the pages run out.
but there are only so many slow, introspective stories about the relationships between friends, siblings, and parents and children that i can read before my eyes glaze over, and while each story in the collection has a sort of satisfying, open-ended conclusion, they do start to blend together a bit. my favorite stories in the collection were often those that i read after putting down the book for a while, which signals to me that this might best be read a single story at a time, giving the reader time to really savor the weight of each piece on its own.
the absolute standout for me was the final story, colorín colorado, which is a compelling and metafictional little jaunt through the life of an author and her memories of a former student. many of the characters that bordas has dreamed up here will remain with me for a while yet, and i’m overall very pleased to have been sent this title.
thank you to penguin random house and netgalley for an e-ARC of this collection in exchange for my honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I do not know who to recommend this book to. It is fast paced in what may be on the surface seem like random events, thoughts and concerning behavior from various deeply flawed character perspectives. A father who doesn't really want to be a father, a writer who struggles with the subject her is commissioned to publish, a child at fat camp who can't act, a child who wants a more attractive desease; all of this really being unresolved daddy issues using their children as a buffer to facing reality, autism forced to explore social rituals, fear of being seen for who we are inside and a cry for attention.
Dry humor permeates the stories in these hilarious moments that caught me so off guard, I found myself cackling out loud. But if dry humor isn't your thing, then this may not be for you. Bordas forced me to use ALL of my brain because this is a collection of stories where the stories really live in between the lines. This is not one where you skim. Skim and you will miss an important moment of introspection.
If existential crises were a 3-dimensional object, Bordas is a scientist dissecting it and placing it under a microscope at every angle. I can't believe that I just read so many characters all grappling with existentialism at varying depths and somehow it was beautiful to me. If you like books where you don't have to do much heavy lifting and the intent is written clearly on page, don't pick this up. I appreciated the fact that art played such an integral role within the collection. Thank you so much to the publisher for sending me a digital copy in exhange for an honest review.
Dry humor permeates the stories in these hilarious moments that caught me so off guard, I found myself cackling out loud. But if dry humor isn't your thing, then this may not be for you. Bordas forced me to use ALL of my brain because this is a collection of stories where the stories really live in between the lines. This is not one where you skim. Skim and you will miss an important moment of introspection.
If existential crises were a 3-dimensional object, Bordas is a scientist dissecting it and placing it under a microscope at every angle. I can't believe that I just read so many characters all grappling with existentialism at varying depths and somehow it was beautiful to me. If you like books where you don't have to do much heavy lifting and the intent is written clearly on page, don't pick this up. I appreciated the fact that art played such an integral role within the collection. Thank you so much to the publisher for sending me a digital copy in exhange for an honest review.
November 27, 2025
Thank you to #NetGalley and to #RandomHouse Publishers for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy of Camille Bordas' awesome collection of short stories -- "One Sun Only." The title story was just one of a number of exceptional pieces which comprised the collection and left me ready to read all of her prior work.
Emotionally moving, laugh out loud funny, and poignantly observant, there was not a single story I did not find interesting. Some were outright captivating and won't soon be forgotten. I have a list of amazing quotes that I will add to my review on platforms like GoodReads once the book is released in late January.
Being an avid reader and lover of language and metaphor, to be solidly rocked by so many scenes and scenarios was a true pleasure. The author is sharp and truly insightful - providing some memorably relatable situations and mental conundrums -- moments I have personally felt or experienced in my life (maybe not in the same circumstances but certainly with the same worries and concerns). These are very human and relatable stories in so many ways.
The characters were lovingly drawn (whether inwardly likable or not) and children, in particular, were brilliantly depicted. I loved the "camp" story "Beyond" and its main characters and have thought about it often since finishing it.
I highly recommend this collection - definitely for anyone who enjoys well-told short stories - but simply for readers who love great writing. Again, I thank you and congrats to Camille Bordas on a gorgeous collection!! #brava #OneSunOnly
Emotionally moving, laugh out loud funny, and poignantly observant, there was not a single story I did not find interesting. Some were outright captivating and won't soon be forgotten. I have a list of amazing quotes that I will add to my review on platforms like GoodReads once the book is released in late January.
Being an avid reader and lover of language and metaphor, to be solidly rocked by so many scenes and scenarios was a true pleasure. The author is sharp and truly insightful - providing some memorably relatable situations and mental conundrums -- moments I have personally felt or experienced in my life (maybe not in the same circumstances but certainly with the same worries and concerns). These are very human and relatable stories in so many ways.
The characters were lovingly drawn (whether inwardly likable or not) and children, in particular, were brilliantly depicted. I loved the "camp" story "Beyond" and its main characters and have thought about it often since finishing it.
I highly recommend this collection - definitely for anyone who enjoys well-told short stories - but simply for readers who love great writing. Again, I thank you and congrats to Camille Bordas on a gorgeous collection!! #brava #OneSunOnly
December 1, 2025
One Sun Only: Stories by Camille Bordas is a highly recommended collection of twelve literary short stories which explore the human condition. The majority of these were originally published in The New Yorker with the rest either from The Paris Review or original stories.
All of the stories are thoughtful character studies and present a slice of life of life rather than a conventional plot. They are perceptive, attentive, and reflective while following characters through a specific situation or while dealing with an occurrence. The characters can be acutely soul-searching and flawed as their lives are portrayed from multiple faucets while they deal with various situations.
The quality of the writing and use of language is what elevates these stories above the ordinary, even while they frequently portray ordinary events in the lives of their characters. The characters all react in understandable, ordinary ways to the events that they are experiencing. Admittedly, because the stories are more a slice of life with no real final resolution, I did feel a loss of closure for some of the stories. On the other hand they really represent a perfectly presented slice of life.
One Sun Only: Stories is a wonderful choice for anyone who enjoys literary short stories. Thanks to Random House for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2025/1...
All of the stories are thoughtful character studies and present a slice of life of life rather than a conventional plot. They are perceptive, attentive, and reflective while following characters through a specific situation or while dealing with an occurrence. The characters can be acutely soul-searching and flawed as their lives are portrayed from multiple faucets while they deal with various situations.
The quality of the writing and use of language is what elevates these stories above the ordinary, even while they frequently portray ordinary events in the lives of their characters. The characters all react in understandable, ordinary ways to the events that they are experiencing. Admittedly, because the stories are more a slice of life with no real final resolution, I did feel a loss of closure for some of the stories. On the other hand they really represent a perfectly presented slice of life.
One Sun Only: Stories is a wonderful choice for anyone who enjoys literary short stories. Thanks to Random House for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2025/1...
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I first encountered Camille Bordas' writing in the March 7, 2022 issue of The New Yorker. Back then, I was captivated by her writing style. So, when I was approved for an ARC of One Sun Only, I couldn't wait to dive into her collection of short stories! Bordas' writing is mesmerizing, to say the least; it is complex, yet graceful. Each story felt complete, like a perfectly crafted world, yet left me wanting more! These stories are so evocative that I would honestly read entire novels based on them.
Her talent in weaving in themes of love, loss, and the intricacies of life into such concise narratives is remarkable. Each piece carries an emotional weight and depth that is both engaging and thought-provoking. One of the things I love most about her work is the way she presents these universal human experiences in such a direct, relatable way to the reader, making them feel intimate and impactful.
This collection is poignant, and her characters linger beyond the pages. They’ve stayed with me, challenged me, and evoked deep personal reflection. It’s a reminder about what short stories do best; they transform a fleeting moment into an experience so much larger. If I were to pick a favorite from this collection (which is tough), it would be “The State of Nature.” I will certainly be revisiting Bordas’ work as her collection of stories have left a lasting impression on me.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Her talent in weaving in themes of love, loss, and the intricacies of life into such concise narratives is remarkable. Each piece carries an emotional weight and depth that is both engaging and thought-provoking. One of the things I love most about her work is the way she presents these universal human experiences in such a direct, relatable way to the reader, making them feel intimate and impactful.
This collection is poignant, and her characters linger beyond the pages. They’ve stayed with me, challenged me, and evoked deep personal reflection. It’s a reminder about what short stories do best; they transform a fleeting moment into an experience so much larger. If I were to pick a favorite from this collection (which is tough), it would be “The State of Nature.” I will certainly be revisiting Bordas’ work as her collection of stories have left a lasting impression on me.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
November 26, 2025
This is my first introduction to Camille Bordas's writing and upon first look, this would have been an anthology I loved - I've long appreciated the subtle, poignant works that bring new light and perspectives to the mundane and overlooked struggles of day-to-day life. At first blush, "One Sun Only" seems to do just that; Bordas takes on a number of different characters across genders, age, locations, and life situations weaving brief but cohesive backstories and plots around them.
From a novelist father who watches his two young children approach the topic of death and the afterlife and drastically different ways, a community that gathers as a life-changing lottery is drawn, an opthalmist who gets her apartment burglarized while she was sleeping - there is an impressive range of stories and settings that are covered in this short work. Some of these short stories were more personally impactful for me than others, but many I found myself wondering if I had completely missed the underlying message or theme. Bordas's writing was also difficult for me to adjust to; her tone and prose feels regimented and structured in a way that doesn't convey much emotion, and there was little variety or change in this from story to story.
Unfortunately this was not the anthology for me and my preferences.
From a novelist father who watches his two young children approach the topic of death and the afterlife and drastically different ways, a community that gathers as a life-changing lottery is drawn, an opthalmist who gets her apartment burglarized while she was sleeping - there is an impressive range of stories and settings that are covered in this short work. Some of these short stories were more personally impactful for me than others, but many I found myself wondering if I had completely missed the underlying message or theme. Bordas's writing was also difficult for me to adjust to; her tone and prose feels regimented and structured in a way that doesn't convey much emotion, and there was little variety or change in this from story to story.
Unfortunately this was not the anthology for me and my preferences.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
One Sun Only by Camille Bordas is her first collection of short stories, comprised of previoulsy unpublished stories and those published in the New Yorker and The Paris Review. I was unfamiliar with her writing before starting this collection but was pleasantly surprised by the meatiness and variety of the stories within. Her characters explore what it means to be human through a variety of mundane experiences that are sure to strike a chord with readers. This celebration of ordinary people was extraordianry, there was not a weak story in the bunch and I was surprised by how invested I was in the lives of these people I encountered so fleetingly. Readers who enjoy character driven fiction and do not mind open/ambiguous endings will find much to enjoy here and I would also recommend the collection to readers looking to dip a toe into the literary ficton genre, there are some deft turns of phrase and a thread of humour throughout the collection that make it a nice gateway to the genre in my opinion.
As a tasting platter this collection has inspired me to seek out more of Bordas' work.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.
As a tasting platter this collection has inspired me to seek out more of Bordas' work.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.
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