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Viral
"Alluring" - The New York Times Book Review
A dazzling collection of stories about how the familiar can suddenly turn strange.
A guidebook introduces foreign visitors to a recognizable but dreamlike America, where mirrors are haunted and the Statue of Liberty wears a bowler hat. A department-store supervisor must discipline employees who don't smile enough at customers, but finds himself unexpectedly drawn to the saddest of them all. A woman reluctantly agrees to buy her daughter a robot pet, then is horrified when her little girl chooses an enormous mechanical spider for a companion. The characters in these stories find that the world they thought they knew has shifted and changed, become bizarre and disorienting, and, occasionally, miraculous. Told with absurdist humor and sweet sadness, Viral is about being lost in places that are supposed to feel like home.
A dazzling collection of stories about how the familiar can suddenly turn strange.
A guidebook introduces foreign visitors to a recognizable but dreamlike America, where mirrors are haunted and the Statue of Liberty wears a bowler hat. A department-store supervisor must discipline employees who don't smile enough at customers, but finds himself unexpectedly drawn to the saddest of them all. A woman reluctantly agrees to buy her daughter a robot pet, then is horrified when her little girl chooses an enormous mechanical spider for a companion. The characters in these stories find that the world they thought they knew has shifted and changed, become bizarre and disorienting, and, occasionally, miraculous. Told with absurdist humor and sweet sadness, Viral is about being lost in places that are supposed to feel like home.
208 pages, Paperback
First published June 22, 2015
8 people are currently reading
605 people want to read
About the author
Emily Mitchell
47 books27 followersEmily Mitchell's stories have been published in Harper’s, Ploughshares, New England Review, and elsewhere. She teaches at the University of Maryland and is the author of the novel The Last Summer of the World.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
May 20, 2016
Viral is one of the best (if not the best) collections of short stories I have read in a very long time. Every story in the collection was ever so slightly dream-like, a tiny bit surreal, a beautiful look into an almost-here. This is the sort of work that needs the term "speculative fiction". It is certainly not fantasy (at least not in the sword-and-sorcery, magic kind of way), and it isn't quite science-fiction--it takes place in the present day, with technology we could have, maybe, and the point is certainly not the technology and science in the way that sci-fi seems to mean. Instead, these stories are just a little bit off-center, in a world that is almost ours, an America that is recognizable but is not what many people experience and is what few if any people want. The stories of Viral are, then, speculations; they are wonderings and explorations of possibilities, of what could be, might be, may have been. These stories are powerful and elegant and fit together into a beautiful larger unit that is the collection.
From this point the review deals with each individual story:
The collection gets off to a great start with "Smile Report". This story is chilling and gorgeous, opening with "Cashier #43 was not smiling enough. I called her into my office" and then progressing though a "routine" meeting about a problem with demeanor towards customers before wrapping up with an icy hymn to emotional repression and maintenance of placidity at all costs.
"On Friendship" is in the form of a series of shorter sections, as if taken from a collection of very short essays by different people or from radio interviews. One section, "War" captures this tone:
"Lucille's House" is a tender story about growing old and growing lonely. It tells of the life of Lucille and Loius Armstrong through the lens of Lucille and her life in their house, what she does even after he died. This story is one of the less "speculative" in its world, but it still partakes of the same near-otherworldly-ness that fills the book, the same sense of longing and off-center existence that characterizes some of the stranger stories.
"States: An Itinerary" is a guidebook to the US for foreign travelers, another story in sections, but the America described is at once very real and very much impossible. The Statue of Liberty with a bowler hat reading a book of every slur for every group conceivable, past and present. Pennsylvania is filled with a strange sadness that is (perhaps) more real than we would admit. Louisiana is a hoax; Montana approximates a sleeping lion; California is unreal even to those who have been there once they return. This is another spectacular triumph of a story, one of the best in the collection.
"Three Marriages" explores the falling apart of an elderly couple, the ghostly regularity of their daughter's marriage to her husband and how it got there, and an online romance of the other daughter that blossoms out. Each section is a well-constructed character study and the inter-locking narratives strengthen the effect of the whole.
"A Boy My Sister Dated in High School" was, for me, perhaps the most frightening. It is very brief, but it illustrates the mind of someone who may let things happen to them: "She came to feel, especially as she got a little older, that she had let herself down by the way she had reacted. That was the feeling that grew incrementally inside her. She should not have tried to make him feel better by telling him it was no big deal. She should not have kept it from her friends just so they could all continue to get along." This story deals with a different kind of loss than many of the others, here the loss of a version of yourself. Seeing the sister realize that she would let things happen to her, things she could (maybe) do something about, makes this a difficult, but worthwhile story.
"My Daughter and Her Spider" is a chilling tale of dependency and jealousy and alienation. It develops as the mother watches her daughter get more and more attached to the large mechanical spider that frightens the mother and the corresponding distance that expands between the narrator and her daughter as this goes on.
"If You Cannot Go to Sleep" is probably the weakest story in the collection, although it is still impressive. The protagonist deals with her loneliness and her insomnia and the linkages between them. While a strong tale of isolation, it did not pull me in in the same way as the rest of the collection.
"No-No" draws, once again, on history, this time on the narratives of Japanese-Americans during the Second World War in the interment camps in the United States. It deals with many of the same themes as other stories, the questions of justice and injustice, of how to deal with unfair treatment, of the horrors visited upon those unjustly imprisoned. But it also deals with the ideas of guidance, of consequence, and (most importantly) of witness and what it means to have seen as much as to have experienced.
"Guided Meditation" is, in a dark sort of way, somewhat funny. It takes the form of a meditation tape that the reader is listening to, given by a slightly irritable and unhelpful guide. This guide has some abrupt, often counter-productive, commentary that oscillates between being humorous in its failure and providing insight into the character of the guide and their own struggles with tension, with memory, and with loneliness. This makes the story a very interesting read from a structural standpoint as well as from a topical one.
The title story "Viral" is also difficult, about a (seemingly fictional) mass suicide of teenagers and the grief that ensues. This look at grief and at denial and at confusion is at once fascinating and painful--it is hard to tell if it is tender or flippant and I think it somehow manages to include both within itself without coming apart at the seams.
The final story, "Biographies" is a highly fictionalized account of the author (or someone with the same name as the author)'s own life. This may be the most surreal of the stories in the collection, with passages like, "The bold red-and-white design of the Coca-Cola can in particular seems to have inspired these adaptations, and several of the plants began to select for a mutation of brilliant scarlet and white curlicues,"
A highly enjoyable and thought-provoking collection of short fiction.
From this point the review deals with each individual story:
The collection gets off to a great start with "Smile Report". This story is chilling and gorgeous, opening with "Cashier #43 was not smiling enough. I called her into my office" and then progressing though a "routine" meeting about a problem with demeanor towards customers before wrapping up with an icy hymn to emotional repression and maintenance of placidity at all costs.
"On Friendship" is in the form of a series of shorter sections, as if taken from a collection of very short essays by different people or from radio interviews. One section, "War" captures this tone:
When preparations for the war began, we still agreed about a lot of things. For example we agreed that the terrorist attacks of 9/11 were a disaster of terrible proportions that nothing could excuse or mitigate. We agreed that while a certain radical element of fundamentalist Islam was pernicious, it was important to differentiate between the vast majority of Muslim people, who might not agree with the West about everything and might even dislike the United States, but should not be confused with their militant co-religionists any more than we should be confused with Pat Robertson. . . .This sense gives the story an interesting immediacy that appears throughout the collection. Such an immediacy contributes to its exploration of loss, of falling apart, of the end of relationships and makes it more effective.
In principle we agreed that it was fine for us to disagree as long as we respected each other's reasons for thinking as we did. The problem was that after a little while, every conversation that we had seemed to circle back to this topic whether we meant it to or not(ellipsis mine).
"Lucille's House" is a tender story about growing old and growing lonely. It tells of the life of Lucille and Loius Armstrong through the lens of Lucille and her life in their house, what she does even after he died. This story is one of the less "speculative" in its world, but it still partakes of the same near-otherworldly-ness that fills the book, the same sense of longing and off-center existence that characterizes some of the stranger stories.
"States: An Itinerary" is a guidebook to the US for foreign travelers, another story in sections, but the America described is at once very real and very much impossible. The Statue of Liberty with a bowler hat reading a book of every slur for every group conceivable, past and present. Pennsylvania is filled with a strange sadness that is (perhaps) more real than we would admit. Louisiana is a hoax; Montana approximates a sleeping lion; California is unreal even to those who have been there once they return. This is another spectacular triumph of a story, one of the best in the collection.
"Three Marriages" explores the falling apart of an elderly couple, the ghostly regularity of their daughter's marriage to her husband and how it got there, and an online romance of the other daughter that blossoms out. Each section is a well-constructed character study and the inter-locking narratives strengthen the effect of the whole.
"A Boy My Sister Dated in High School" was, for me, perhaps the most frightening. It is very brief, but it illustrates the mind of someone who may let things happen to them: "She came to feel, especially as she got a little older, that she had let herself down by the way she had reacted. That was the feeling that grew incrementally inside her. She should not have tried to make him feel better by telling him it was no big deal. She should not have kept it from her friends just so they could all continue to get along." This story deals with a different kind of loss than many of the others, here the loss of a version of yourself. Seeing the sister realize that she would let things happen to her, things she could (maybe) do something about, makes this a difficult, but worthwhile story.
"My Daughter and Her Spider" is a chilling tale of dependency and jealousy and alienation. It develops as the mother watches her daughter get more and more attached to the large mechanical spider that frightens the mother and the corresponding distance that expands between the narrator and her daughter as this goes on.
"If You Cannot Go to Sleep" is probably the weakest story in the collection, although it is still impressive. The protagonist deals with her loneliness and her insomnia and the linkages between them. While a strong tale of isolation, it did not pull me in in the same way as the rest of the collection.
"No-No" draws, once again, on history, this time on the narratives of Japanese-Americans during the Second World War in the interment camps in the United States. It deals with many of the same themes as other stories, the questions of justice and injustice, of how to deal with unfair treatment, of the horrors visited upon those unjustly imprisoned. But it also deals with the ideas of guidance, of consequence, and (most importantly) of witness and what it means to have seen as much as to have experienced.
"Guided Meditation" is, in a dark sort of way, somewhat funny. It takes the form of a meditation tape that the reader is listening to, given by a slightly irritable and unhelpful guide. This guide has some abrupt, often counter-productive, commentary that oscillates between being humorous in its failure and providing insight into the character of the guide and their own struggles with tension, with memory, and with loneliness. This makes the story a very interesting read from a structural standpoint as well as from a topical one.
The title story "Viral" is also difficult, about a (seemingly fictional) mass suicide of teenagers and the grief that ensues. This look at grief and at denial and at confusion is at once fascinating and painful--it is hard to tell if it is tender or flippant and I think it somehow manages to include both within itself without coming apart at the seams.
The final story, "Biographies" is a highly fictionalized account of the author (or someone with the same name as the author)'s own life. This may be the most surreal of the stories in the collection, with passages like, "The bold red-and-white design of the Coca-Cola can in particular seems to have inspired these adaptations, and several of the plants began to select for a mutation of brilliant scarlet and white curlicues,"
Emily Mitchell has worked as a waitress, a receptionist at a bakery/tanning salon, a short-order cook, a snowmobile driver, a crime-scene cleanup technician, an exotic animal trainer, a war correspondent, a phone dispatcher, a secretary, an environmental campaigner, a freelance journalist, a bean counter, and a holistic pediatric oncologist.and "Her short fiction has appeared in various publications and then disappeared. This is unusual and seems to be attributable to a peculiar warp in the space-time continuum, which her work has caught like a virus and which makes it vanish shortly after publication never to be seen again." This is a strange but interesting story and the verisimilitude given by seeming to be a biography of the author helps it hold the reader in its strange claims.
She has never worked as an exotic dancer.
A highly enjoyable and thought-provoking collection of short fiction.
October 10, 2015
Most of the stories of this book were exceptional! It has been awhile since I enjoyed a collection of short stories. The main thing that impressed me about this book was how relatable the stories were, it was almost like the author really researched how different people react to different situations. In other words, these stories were so authentic and did not seem as fiction books at all. The last story really had me intrigued, it was a really nice way of ending it.
It is hard to pick a favorite, but my favorites were: Smile Report, On Friendship, A Boy My Sister Dated in High school, My Daughter and Her Spider, Lucille's House and If you Cannot Go to Sleep.
These 12 concise stories really captured the beauty and wonder of this novel. Some stories were very dark,but it was so memorable!
6 out of 12 stories stuck out the most, but all of those stories were very well written.
Short stories are so hard to rate, but this book really bought back the reason why I have a soft side for short stories.
It is hard to pick a favorite, but my favorites were: Smile Report, On Friendship, A Boy My Sister Dated in High school, My Daughter and Her Spider, Lucille's House and If you Cannot Go to Sleep.
These 12 concise stories really captured the beauty and wonder of this novel. Some stories were very dark,but it was so memorable!
6 out of 12 stories stuck out the most, but all of those stories were very well written.
Short stories are so hard to rate, but this book really bought back the reason why I have a soft side for short stories.
June 20, 2015
(I picked this up in Books & Books in Miami).
Now here's a very pleasant surprise. Subtle and macabre, with some fine set pieces (the internet relationship for example in 'Three Marriages' is superb). I can see the influence of a SF reader here too (she thanks her dad in the credits for introducing her to SF). That has the effect of adding an eeriness and distance to domesticity - and it works very well.
It's all very well poised too. The settings, dilemmas and (fragile, super self-conscious) relationships feel very contemporary. Characters are distracted, sleep deprived and drifting. 'Viral' indeed.
Now here's a very pleasant surprise. Subtle and macabre, with some fine set pieces (the internet relationship for example in 'Three Marriages' is superb). I can see the influence of a SF reader here too (she thanks her dad in the credits for introducing her to SF). That has the effect of adding an eeriness and distance to domesticity - and it works very well.
It's all very well poised too. The settings, dilemmas and (fragile, super self-conscious) relationships feel very contemporary. Characters are distracted, sleep deprived and drifting. 'Viral' indeed.
January 17, 2019
Some really wonderful, surreal stories here, coupled with some that didn't quite pack the same punch. Mitchell's style is deceptively simple, which works well when she goes full tilt into a weird premise, like in stories such as "Biographies" and the title story. Mixed bag for me, but some stories were terrific.
September 3, 2016
wonderful, charming, reminded me a lot of george saunders, but distinctively itself
September 8, 2015
I'm always impressed when I come across a writer with a unique perspective. Light, playful, cerebral and remarkably imaginative, Mitchell has compiled a collection of short fiction that demonstrates a singular voice in storytelling. These aren't stories that anyone else would have written. Each of her pieces presents an innovative, high-concept premise, such as the woman who buys an artificial pet for her daughter, only to find herself living with a robotic spider with an overly intimate bond with her child. Or my favorite, "Guided Meditation," which starts off as a spoof of new age meditation recordings, and ends with a revelation on the true nature of spirituality.
This collection runs the gamut between a fake tour guide of the United States to a confrontation between two co-workers on the corporate standards for smiling. Mitchell combines a keen sense of humor and a knack for emotional depth to create a collection that is a true pleasure to read. I highly recommend to anyone looking for something completely original.
This collection runs the gamut between a fake tour guide of the United States to a confrontation between two co-workers on the corporate standards for smiling. Mitchell combines a keen sense of humor and a knack for emotional depth to create a collection that is a true pleasure to read. I highly recommend to anyone looking for something completely original.
April 27, 2015
I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
This book is a unique collection of zany, original short stories. Some of them are absurd, others are farcical or fantastic or satirical, and still others are commentaries or fictions about life. Despite their variations, all of the stories left me feeling mildly disconcerted and uncomfortable...and a couple of them had me feeling pretty creeped out. It is my opinion that the discomfort they brought out in me is exactly what makes them so GREAT. I loved this collection. Emily Mitchell is a talented writer with a lot of original ideas and I hope I get to read more short stories from her in the future.
This book is a unique collection of zany, original short stories. Some of them are absurd, others are farcical or fantastic or satirical, and still others are commentaries or fictions about life. Despite their variations, all of the stories left me feeling mildly disconcerted and uncomfortable...and a couple of them had me feeling pretty creeped out. It is my opinion that the discomfort they brought out in me is exactly what makes them so GREAT. I loved this collection. Emily Mitchell is a talented writer with a lot of original ideas and I hope I get to read more short stories from her in the future.
February 3, 2016
This series of stories are brilliantly written and are thoroughly enjoyed. From a story about Louis Armstrong to an Japanese-American during World War II, these stories a both based on real life events but are fictionalized. I do recommend this book if you are strapped on time but have enough of a break to read a 20 page story.
I was given this book free for reviewing purposes by Goodreads and was not required to give a positive review. Any views expressed are those of the reviewer and not the publisher.
I was given this book free for reviewing purposes by Goodreads and was not required to give a positive review. Any views expressed are those of the reviewer and not the publisher.
August 9, 2015
I really like how this collection of short stories blurs the line between literary and speculative fiction. Even more, I like how the straightforward, mainstream stories are presented right alongside those with fantasy or science fiction elements, without any effort to distinguish between the two. The collection does what the best speculative fiction was meant to do: offer a venue for ideas, no matter how unconventional or outlandish.
April 24, 2015
These stories run the gamut of emotions from the Hysterically funny "Guided Meditation" to the bitingly accurate satire of "States an Itinerary" to the touchingly beautiful "Three Weddings" to the fear and despair of "No-No" and the horrible pain of loss in "Viral". These stories are all end in a twist and are a joy to read.
September 20, 2015
This book I won from Goodreads was pretty interesting. I had to think pretty hard to be able to wrap my brain around some of these stories..they are very odd,but it definitely held my interest & kept me turning the pages!
December 22, 2016
Great Collection of short stories. Some I really disliked because the resolutions felt shallow or in my opinion, ridiculous. I really enjoyed "no-no".
July 29, 2024
On the other hand, my sister isn't more than twice as friendly as 1 am. I would say that she's maybe 20 percent friendlier than me, maybe as much as 30 percent more fun overall. I can be aloof and difficult to reach out to; I tend to simmer and withdraw into myself when I'm upset; I can sometimes make harsh judgments about people too quickly or because I feel threatened by someone's behavior or personality or way of talking. But my sister can be explosive. She gets into fights and tells people what she really thinks of them, no holds barred, no punches pulled. She breaks off friendships abruptly, dramatically, while I let them wither through studied inattention. So really, those things should balance each other out and we should have about the same number of friends or maybe she should have a few more than me. But not twice as many. I put the disparity down to the fact that I'm a person who has high standards for friendship. I don't count just anyone as a friend. For example, I don't pretend that I'm friends with someone whom I just spent time around getting stoned in college. I don't count as a friend someone with whom I just share mutual friends and acquaintances. I don't know if my sister has these high standards.
- On Friendship : Viral Stories by Emily Mitchell
.
.
These are my thoughts after i read each story.
2. Smile Report : This is like a credit score for a person except they rated your smile while you are doing your job. It has the black mirror vibe.
3. On Friendship : There are many POVs in this story. One whereby the frienship was not committed on the same level, One whereby the ideology is too vast to even reconcile and One where it was tested by love. Side note : Being 30s taught me that if a friend did not commit to a friendship as much as i did, i am not gonna stay around. Its Quality over quantity yall.
4. Lucille's House : The main character find closure after the death of her loved ones.
5. States : USA was never in my travel list so its quite nice to read some sort of itinerary that author described each states and their specialty in it.
6. Three Marriages : Love the first one, Quite shooketh with the second one, The third story was just okay for me
7. A Boy My Sister Dated in High School : Girl, go to therapy - you cannot change the past but you can heal from it (do it for you).
8. My Daughter and Her Spider : This is not for me - i dont like spider so its a big No - No for me.
9. If You Cannot Go to Sleep : Abandonment Issue plus Hallucination and add on self aware, then we got this story.
10. No-No : The story highlighted how many Japanese Americans faced Discrimination and forced relocation during the World War 2. It was subtly written.
11. Guided Meditation : I can easily said meditation is not for me after i finished this story.
12. Viral : This could have been a full fledged novel - the story is about some sort of cult suicidal movement that attract teenagers via internet.
13. Biographies : What is the point of this story? its almost obnoxiously narcissistic at this point to insert yourself in this though i know the title is ‘Biographies’.
- On Friendship : Viral Stories by Emily Mitchell
.
.
These are my thoughts after i read each story.
2. Smile Report : This is like a credit score for a person except they rated your smile while you are doing your job. It has the black mirror vibe.
3. On Friendship : There are many POVs in this story. One whereby the frienship was not committed on the same level, One whereby the ideology is too vast to even reconcile and One where it was tested by love. Side note : Being 30s taught me that if a friend did not commit to a friendship as much as i did, i am not gonna stay around. Its Quality over quantity yall.
4. Lucille's House : The main character find closure after the death of her loved ones.
5. States : USA was never in my travel list so its quite nice to read some sort of itinerary that author described each states and their specialty in it.
6. Three Marriages : Love the first one, Quite shooketh with the second one, The third story was just okay for me
7. A Boy My Sister Dated in High School : Girl, go to therapy - you cannot change the past but you can heal from it (do it for you).
8. My Daughter and Her Spider : This is not for me - i dont like spider so its a big No - No for me.
9. If You Cannot Go to Sleep : Abandonment Issue plus Hallucination and add on self aware, then we got this story.
10. No-No : The story highlighted how many Japanese Americans faced Discrimination and forced relocation during the World War 2. It was subtly written.
11. Guided Meditation : I can easily said meditation is not for me after i finished this story.
12. Viral : This could have been a full fledged novel - the story is about some sort of cult suicidal movement that attract teenagers via internet.
13. Biographies : What is the point of this story? its almost obnoxiously narcissistic at this point to insert yourself in this though i know the title is ‘Biographies’.
August 1, 2017
I don't usually find myself liking a female authors, but she's an execption. This book is the first book I've read from Mitchell and I love it!
I love how some of the stories depict the about female's struggles and strongwill. It may sounds feminist but it does not sound condescending to male readers. I also love how some stories are related to others.
Also, in some stories, she sounds like she's a female version of Palahniuk. So witty and dark at the same time (prolly this is why I love her works). I would definitely recommend this book to my friends and I'm loving all the female characters in this book. So strong, but still feminine, and gentle, and witty all at the same time.
I love how some of the stories depict the about female's struggles and strongwill. It may sounds feminist but it does not sound condescending to male readers. I also love how some stories are related to others.
Also, in some stories, she sounds like she's a female version of Palahniuk. So witty and dark at the same time (prolly this is why I love her works). I would definitely recommend this book to my friends and I'm loving all the female characters in this book. So strong, but still feminine, and gentle, and witty all at the same time.
Read
December 31, 2019I really tried to get through this but I just can't. It doesn't interest me enough and the stories seem a bit pretentious as if I'm supposed to get this deep meaning from them and I'm dumb because I'm just not seeing it. Overall, not my cup of tea and I'm not going to try to finish this book. (Got about half-way through).
November 27, 2017
I won an advanced reading copy of this book during a Goodreads giveaway. I am under no obligation to leave a review or rating and do so voluntarily. So that others may also enjoy this book, I am paying it forward by donating it a local library.
January 9, 2019
Some very interesting short stories here, odd and quietly disturbing. 3.5 stars if only that were possible!
December 31, 2021
Great collection of stories. My Daughter and Her Spider was my favorite!
September 8, 2022
Short story collection with Black Mirror vibes except smarter and more acerbic.
November 29, 2015
To qualify that two-star rating: it isn't so much a reflection of the quality of the writing (they're well-written and very readable stories); simply that for whatever reason they didn't particularly engage me, and the writing wasn't so distinctive or brilliant that it became one of those books that I could admire regardless of whether I liked it or not. The deadpan voice used throughout and the characters who often seemed unaware of the tragedy of their own lives, became rather monotonous, and there were no real moments of revelation or insight. The speculative/absurd nature of some stories added interest, but none of them is likely to linger long in my memory.
Perversely, this collection has made me keener to read Emily Mitchell's earlier novel. I've had it on my shelves for a few years and hadn't got around to it because the cover and blurb had led me to make certain assumptions about it, assumptions that 'Viral' have blown out of the water - if Mitchell has approached a first world war story in a similar style to these stories then that could be something quite fresh and interesting.
Perversely, this collection has made me keener to read Emily Mitchell's earlier novel. I've had it on my shelves for a few years and hadn't got around to it because the cover and blurb had led me to make certain assumptions about it, assumptions that 'Viral' have blown out of the water - if Mitchell has approached a first world war story in a similar style to these stories then that could be something quite fresh and interesting.
June 4, 2015
I received an advanced reading copy of Viral by Emily Mitchell through a Goodreads Giveaway and I read all of the intriguing and complex stories found in this volume in just a couple of days (quite a feat considering I had final exams to grade as well)! I have to say I found all of Mitchell's stories to be thought provoking and I found I often could relate to the characters even when the stories got quite bizarre. I am definitely going to read Emily Mitchell's other work and I find myself wondering what the classes she teaches at the University of Maryland are like. These stories were thought provoking and intriguing. I honestly thoroughly enjoyed most of the stories; others were somewhat disquieting, but each and every one of them was captivating. I definitely recommend this book!
January 18, 2016
Okay, I admit that these stories were universally creative and imaginative. I also admire the skill, technique, and nice easy sentences.
But I was sad the whole time. Was it too much reality? Does nobody ever have a happy marriage or even a nice day? By the end I found it tedious, always waiting for the next shoe to drop.
My favorite was the first story, about a small business where the staff are measured, marked, ranked and made miserable because they aren’t smiling enough. I enjoyed the dream vacation, too. Probably I’m being stingy with the three stars because there is plenty to like. But I was also ready for it to end.
But I was sad the whole time. Was it too much reality? Does nobody ever have a happy marriage or even a nice day? By the end I found it tedious, always waiting for the next shoe to drop.
My favorite was the first story, about a small business where the staff are measured, marked, ranked and made miserable because they aren’t smiling enough. I enjoyed the dream vacation, too. Probably I’m being stingy with the three stars because there is plenty to like. But I was also ready for it to end.
December 16, 2015
Short stories are always hard for me to really enjoy because they don't feel complete. But I really enjoyed these stories and the characters within, although i still think they ended too early. Most of them are highly relatable, but with small, bizarre elements that make you question your own perspective of the world.
**I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**
**I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**
July 15, 2015
This short delightful set of short stories is the perfect vacation read! Though they cover a wide variety of topics and genres, each story deals with some everyday problem most of us have had at one time, and each problem is described gracefully and without perceived judgment.
For a light read, check this book out!
I received this book as an ARC through Goodreads First Reads.
For a light read, check this book out!
I received this book as an ARC through Goodreads First Reads.
Read
July 22, 2015My favorites were Smile Report, States and My Daughter and Her Spider. If you liked George Saunders' Tenth of December or Kelly Link's Get in Trouble you will find stories that fit your groove in here.
July 24, 2015
it was ok. Liked smile report, Lucille's house,my daughter and her spider,and viral. reminded me very much of the twilight zone : )had to skip read through most of the stories because they just weren't that interesting to me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 15, 2016
This might be the first 2 star review I've given a book! She's a fine writer, but ALL of her stories felt like weak copies of other authors I like better. George Saunders (Smile Report), Steven Millhauser (States), Kelly Link (My Daughter and Her Spider)...skip this book, and read the originals...
May 22, 2021
Surreal and stunning stories written in a sparse style that only makes them more impactful, mostly about the ways in which we cope (and fail to cope) with the anxieties of living in a digital age.
Content warning: Xenophobia, grief, child death, infidelity
Content warning: Xenophobia, grief, child death, infidelity
March 29, 2016
What a wonderful mix of the humorous and the heart-wrenching. Immediately after reading, "Lucille's House" stands out as my favorite.
June 1, 2015
I won this book on Goodreads!
Beautifully written. Stories range from sad, funny. tragic. slice-of-life...They resonate long after reading.
Recommend!
Beautifully written. Stories range from sad, funny. tragic. slice-of-life...They resonate long after reading.
Recommend!
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