What do you think?
Rate this book
All We Want is Everything
All We Want is Everything, Andrew F. Sullivan’s exceptional debut collection of short stories, finds the misused and forgotten, the places in between, the borderlands on the edge of town where dead fields alternate with empty warehouses—places where men and women clutch tightly at whatever fragments remain. Motels are packed with human cargo, while parole is just another state of being. Christmas dinners become battlegrounds; truck cabs and bathroom stalls transform into warped confessionals; and stories are told and retold, held out by people stumbling towards one another in the dark. Frightening, hilarious, filled with raging impotence and moments of embattled grace, All We Want is Everything is the advent of a tremendous new literary voice.
196 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 30, 2013
4 people are currently reading
394 people want to read
About the author
Andrew F. Sullivan
12 books203 followersAndrew F. Sullivan is from Oshawa, Ontario. He is the author of The Marigold, a novel about a city eating itself, and The Handyman Method, cowritten with Nick Cutter. Sullivan is also the author of the novel WASTE and the short story collection All We Want is Everything. Sullivan's fiction and criticism have appeared in places like the National Post, Hazlitt, The Globe & Mail, The New Quarterly, PRISM, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Longform, and other publications. He lives in Hamilton, Ontario.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
February 14, 2022
This collection is under 200 pages, and contains approximately 20 stories. It is a comparatively thin book, too, unassumingly gray-spined on the shelf, with just a tinge of red at the top. The color is fitting, as each one of these stories are grimy, tragic little knives, bound to leave an infection long after the slice.
The spine might draw your attention—not because of the colors, but because of the title, which is a jarring, arresting accusation:
All We Want is Everything
The "we" is inclusive. It includes you, the potential reader. It includes the author. You feel a sense of welcoming, almost, from the title. But at the same time, your mind rebels. There's an intrinsic sort of conflict there. How can "we" ever have "everything"? Inevitably, someone will be left with nothing.
It's in this way that the collection proceeds: with a promise, and a threat.
To speak of the writing: Sullivan's prose is crystalline. He conveys stark imagery that sears the mind's eye, depicting dire landscapes of trauma and loss. The collection almost reads like a pile of police-evidence photographs, scattered on the floor. Bodies and limbs litter the pages. Blood spatters the walls. Other liquids go so far as to blanket an entire town and eat away at its infrastructure.
If I had one complaint, I would say that I wanted more stories from speculative angles. The strongest of these was "Cloud," which uses an eerie, not-impossible event that frames the lives of the poor saps that inhabit it, giving added weight and depth to their struggles. Many of these stories were vivid, Carver-esque excerpts that, when read all at once, could put a serious damper on your day: they're that immersive. There are very few spots of humor, and when they arrive, they are delivered wryly, through clenched teeth.
A few of these really stood out to me, and will linger, I suspect. "Pumpkinheads," a vicious, sad story about the lives of those who work in limb-threatening industries, has such a satisfying and unsuspected (yet wholly inevitable) ending that I almost dropped the book. "The Lesser Half of Sir John A. MacDonald" is about a man whose body is coming apart due to drugs and poverty, using an extended metaphor of maps and history/politics to do it. Floored me how skillfully Sullivan was able to thread the needle on this one: the portrait of Greg the Golden Goose will stay with me for a LONG time. "Wrestling With Jacob" was another stunning entry of anger and threat: I loved the Biblical and modern-day references, and the constant internal tension within the story kept me turning pages quickly despite the flood of monologue/demagoguery coming from the second character. It was a battering ram of a story, and I felt uniquely claustrophobic while reading it.
I find myself wanting to speak on every story, as every time I think of one, I think of another. "In a Car in a River Outside of Peoria, Illinois," a unique portrait and excerpt of a man's life near to the end, a stunning portrayal of what it means to lie and to be a hypocrite, of punishment and penance, all framed by Sullivan's arresting prose. "Hatchetman," a quick study of what it means to be the child of Juggalos (lifetime Insane Clown Posse fans), another instant favorite. "Simcoe Furriers," which ends with one of the most stunning images I've read in a very long time, yet another.
There's a sense of floating in these stories, too, despite their heaviness, like treading water when you know you're gonna drown anyway. Sullivan hovers over these lives so briefly, and the ensuing flash of his camera freezes them in place. Their eyes are wide and feral, startled by the interruption, suspicious of the intent of the cameraman, and yet he's gone already, become invisible, and they resume their tragic lives.
It's not until after I finished the final story, "Kingston Road," that I let out the breath I'd been holding for the weeks while I'd been reading. I cannot recommend this collection without hesitation, but if you're the kind of person, like me, who enjoys the feeling of dread and can marvel at the syntactic beauty of a phrase, you'll find a treasure trove of that here. It is a lot to consume, despite its brevity, and rather than escape from the chaos of life (as so many readers wish to do, and I wish them well), Sullivan burrows deeper into it, and dares to record what he sees.
For that, the author has my immense respect. It takes a lot of steel in one's nerves to be able to create something as unflinchingly brutal and honest as these stories. It takes a lot of long nights, staring into the abyss...and we all know what happens when someone does that.
If you're curious, you can find a slice of that feeling for yourself, here, in these pages.
The spine might draw your attention—not because of the colors, but because of the title, which is a jarring, arresting accusation:
All We Want is Everything
The "we" is inclusive. It includes you, the potential reader. It includes the author. You feel a sense of welcoming, almost, from the title. But at the same time, your mind rebels. There's an intrinsic sort of conflict there. How can "we" ever have "everything"? Inevitably, someone will be left with nothing.
It's in this way that the collection proceeds: with a promise, and a threat.
To speak of the writing: Sullivan's prose is crystalline. He conveys stark imagery that sears the mind's eye, depicting dire landscapes of trauma and loss. The collection almost reads like a pile of police-evidence photographs, scattered on the floor. Bodies and limbs litter the pages. Blood spatters the walls. Other liquids go so far as to blanket an entire town and eat away at its infrastructure.
If I had one complaint, I would say that I wanted more stories from speculative angles. The strongest of these was "Cloud," which uses an eerie, not-impossible event that frames the lives of the poor saps that inhabit it, giving added weight and depth to their struggles. Many of these stories were vivid, Carver-esque excerpts that, when read all at once, could put a serious damper on your day: they're that immersive. There are very few spots of humor, and when they arrive, they are delivered wryly, through clenched teeth.
A few of these really stood out to me, and will linger, I suspect. "Pumpkinheads," a vicious, sad story about the lives of those who work in limb-threatening industries, has such a satisfying and unsuspected (yet wholly inevitable) ending that I almost dropped the book. "The Lesser Half of Sir John A. MacDonald" is about a man whose body is coming apart due to drugs and poverty, using an extended metaphor of maps and history/politics to do it. Floored me how skillfully Sullivan was able to thread the needle on this one: the portrait of Greg the Golden Goose will stay with me for a LONG time. "Wrestling With Jacob" was another stunning entry of anger and threat: I loved the Biblical and modern-day references, and the constant internal tension within the story kept me turning pages quickly despite the flood of monologue/demagoguery coming from the second character. It was a battering ram of a story, and I felt uniquely claustrophobic while reading it.
I find myself wanting to speak on every story, as every time I think of one, I think of another. "In a Car in a River Outside of Peoria, Illinois," a unique portrait and excerpt of a man's life near to the end, a stunning portrayal of what it means to lie and to be a hypocrite, of punishment and penance, all framed by Sullivan's arresting prose. "Hatchetman," a quick study of what it means to be the child of Juggalos (lifetime Insane Clown Posse fans), another instant favorite. "Simcoe Furriers," which ends with one of the most stunning images I've read in a very long time, yet another.
There's a sense of floating in these stories, too, despite their heaviness, like treading water when you know you're gonna drown anyway. Sullivan hovers over these lives so briefly, and the ensuing flash of his camera freezes them in place. Their eyes are wide and feral, startled by the interruption, suspicious of the intent of the cameraman, and yet he's gone already, become invisible, and they resume their tragic lives.
It's not until after I finished the final story, "Kingston Road," that I let out the breath I'd been holding for the weeks while I'd been reading. I cannot recommend this collection without hesitation, but if you're the kind of person, like me, who enjoys the feeling of dread and can marvel at the syntactic beauty of a phrase, you'll find a treasure trove of that here. It is a lot to consume, despite its brevity, and rather than escape from the chaos of life (as so many readers wish to do, and I wish them well), Sullivan burrows deeper into it, and dares to record what he sees.
For that, the author has my immense respect. It takes a lot of steel in one's nerves to be able to create something as unflinchingly brutal and honest as these stories. It takes a lot of long nights, staring into the abyss...and we all know what happens when someone does that.
If you're curious, you can find a slice of that feeling for yourself, here, in these pages.
May 7, 2022
Built with weighted language that all but drips with emotion, All We Want is Everything isn't a collection that can easily be sped through or digested in a few days, but with each story packed with power and images as well as situations that might easily break a few hearts, the book is absolutely worth sinking into and spending some time with. Sullivan's language and themes are so careful, and the stories' situations and characters so realistic, it's difficult to remember that you're reading fiction. Everything simply feels too real, too vibrant...and just slightly absurd, in the way of those real-life stories that we're horrified by and yet can't help relating to others, whether to self-sooth or share the everyday horrors people experience every day.
It's also worth noting that this is an extremely varied collection. So often, a single-author collection gets so bogged down in similar characters, themes, or situations that it becomes repetitive by the end. Sullivan's short stories never allow that feeling to set in, and with so many of the stories being on the short side, that's all the more impressive.
For readers like myself, I have to offer a warning that there are a lot of images and moments related to dead/dying animals, and I admit those made it especially tough for me to get through some of the stories. BUT--and this is a big 'but' that I don't think I've ever felt such a need for--those images and moments serve a purpose. So much of the collection is built around a need and desire to escape what is inescapable, whether what can't be escaped is a situation, person, event, or even a feeling. There's a feeling of entrapment that comes on if you read through the stories too quickly, because the collection is just that real, and while Sullivan never goes overboard or reaches for the shock value that so many writers would be tempted to employ, his careful use of graphic imagery and death aid those feelings of entrapment and escapism, highlighting how much humans are, at least in his stories, just so trapped as a helpless animal left to deal with a situation it cannot or will not be allowed to understand.
In another writers' hands, these images would have chased me away from a collection. In Sullivan's hands, the images were so pointed, so careful and respectful, that they only made me push forward--even if I did sometimes need a break between stories.
Some of my favorites in the collection included "In a Car in a River Outside Peoria, Illinois," "Thaw," and "Mutations."
I'd absolutely recommend this short story collection. Take your time with it, sink into the stories one by one, and you'll be a better writer and reader for it. I know I am.
It's also worth noting that this is an extremely varied collection. So often, a single-author collection gets so bogged down in similar characters, themes, or situations that it becomes repetitive by the end. Sullivan's short stories never allow that feeling to set in, and with so many of the stories being on the short side, that's all the more impressive.
For readers like myself, I have to offer a warning that there are a lot of images and moments related to dead/dying animals, and I admit those made it especially tough for me to get through some of the stories. BUT--and this is a big 'but' that I don't think I've ever felt such a need for--those images and moments serve a purpose. So much of the collection is built around a need and desire to escape what is inescapable, whether what can't be escaped is a situation, person, event, or even a feeling. There's a feeling of entrapment that comes on if you read through the stories too quickly, because the collection is just that real, and while Sullivan never goes overboard or reaches for the shock value that so many writers would be tempted to employ, his careful use of graphic imagery and death aid those feelings of entrapment and escapism, highlighting how much humans are, at least in his stories, just so trapped as a helpless animal left to deal with a situation it cannot or will not be allowed to understand.
In another writers' hands, these images would have chased me away from a collection. In Sullivan's hands, the images were so pointed, so careful and respectful, that they only made me push forward--even if I did sometimes need a break between stories.
Some of my favorites in the collection included "In a Car in a River Outside Peoria, Illinois," "Thaw," and "Mutations."
I'd absolutely recommend this short story collection. Take your time with it, sink into the stories one by one, and you'll be a better writer and reader for it. I know I am.
December 15, 2013
I first discovered Sullivan’s short stories in the pages of GRAIN, and THE NEW QUARTERLY. They left an impression. Those stories are included in his debut collection ALL WE WANT IS EVERYTHING. With characters drawn from the dregs of society, they are vividly rendered at their worst, desperately clinging to the last thread: wounded, detestable and self-destructive. Disturbing and unpleasant subjects and situations. A strong voice with prose that are consistently lean and fluid. Twenty stories that are as sharp and lingering as paper cuts. I would suggest individual doses. Not to be consumed all at once. Recommended for fans of literary fiction who appreciate a cleverly crafted short story.
September 2, 2023
After devouring Andrew’s novel, ‘The Marigold’ and his co-authored novel ‘The Handyman Method’ (with Nick Cutter), I had the fortune of actually meeting Andrew when I was out in Toronto this past May. It’s always great when you connect with someone and that connection continues in person and it was fantastic spending some time with him.
Also, after having read those two novels, I wanted to go back and read his previous output, which consists of this, his debut collection, as well as another novel (‘Waste,’ which came out back in 2016 and one I’ll be reading soon). Unfortunately, this collection isn’t currently available as a digital book on the Zon, where I’d have bought it and read it on my Kindle, BUT! Andrew fantastically shared on his Twitter account not long ago that the publisher was having a sale and the ebook was there! So, I grabbed it and got to it on the double.
What I liked: Much like ‘The Marigold,’ this group of stories is covered in grime and festering pond water. Nothing shines, everything feels dirty and you know that the good ones will die young. From top to bottom this one feels like you’re desperately hanging onto a rope, dangling from a cliff, as you watch the rope slowly fray and prepare to snap and send you plummeting to your death below. The cover should have a little fake sticker on it that says ‘Warning: No Hope In Sight.’
We start off with the ‘Good King,’ a story about Big Red, a labourer who ends up revisiting a particular Christmas from his youth. No good comes from that. This occurs while he attempts to save a coworker and we get a claustrophobic ‘A Christmas Story’ retelling where there are no good players and the reader will need a long shower after to clean the sorrow away.
From there, nothing gets warmer, there are no smiles on the character’s faces. Andrew can do more in a flash fiction piece than some authors can do in an entire novel, both in character development and in emotional damage. Take ‘God is a Place.’ Actually, scratch that. I wish I hadn’t read that story. It’s like reading ‘Red X’ from David Demchuk. It follows Caleb, who takes Twink’s baby while she’s at work and ruminates on how life will be better when they’re found in the morning. Heartbreaking.
‘Crows Eat Well’ is another masterful portrait of Canadiana, where a man returns home from prison to have ‘words’ with his father.
‘Towers’ comes at you like a precursor for ‘The Marigold,’ a story about a sinkhole, people living in the buildings and just what might actually be down below.
The story ‘Cloud’ is a unique take on dystopian, apocalyptic occurrence where birds arrive and invade a small town and two friends come up with a plan to take their homes back. This one walked the line of coming-of-age and can’t-trust-anyone themes.
‘Pumpkinheads’ felt like a small town diary, where Juan dies at the factory, and George forces his way into Anita’s life, Juan’s widow. It covers a lot of ground in a short page count.
Of all the stories, I think my favorite was ‘In A Car In A River Outside Peoria, Illinois.’ To sum it up in a single line, this is about a man at the end of his life. But it’s so much more. It’s shame, regret, gaslighting, acceptance, fear of the unknown and understanding. And it all happens as the water slowly fills up the inside of the car. Wonderful story even if the subject matter is very far from that adjective.
What I didn’t like: Like all short story collections, some just didn’t connect. Each story had an energy, a pulse to it and some shared the same wavelength as my reading brain did while reading it and some didn’t.
Why you should buy this: If you liked ‘The Marigold’ or ‘The Handyman Method’ you’ll definitely want to dive into this collection. A solid cross-section of everyday people struggling with the ramifications of the decisions they’ve made and where they’ve ended up because of it. Sullivan’s managed to create characters you immediately know, situations you understand and in each story, an ending that will have you catching your breath.
Truly, a solid solid collection.
Also, after having read those two novels, I wanted to go back and read his previous output, which consists of this, his debut collection, as well as another novel (‘Waste,’ which came out back in 2016 and one I’ll be reading soon). Unfortunately, this collection isn’t currently available as a digital book on the Zon, where I’d have bought it and read it on my Kindle, BUT! Andrew fantastically shared on his Twitter account not long ago that the publisher was having a sale and the ebook was there! So, I grabbed it and got to it on the double.
What I liked: Much like ‘The Marigold,’ this group of stories is covered in grime and festering pond water. Nothing shines, everything feels dirty and you know that the good ones will die young. From top to bottom this one feels like you’re desperately hanging onto a rope, dangling from a cliff, as you watch the rope slowly fray and prepare to snap and send you plummeting to your death below. The cover should have a little fake sticker on it that says ‘Warning: No Hope In Sight.’
We start off with the ‘Good King,’ a story about Big Red, a labourer who ends up revisiting a particular Christmas from his youth. No good comes from that. This occurs while he attempts to save a coworker and we get a claustrophobic ‘A Christmas Story’ retelling where there are no good players and the reader will need a long shower after to clean the sorrow away.
From there, nothing gets warmer, there are no smiles on the character’s faces. Andrew can do more in a flash fiction piece than some authors can do in an entire novel, both in character development and in emotional damage. Take ‘God is a Place.’ Actually, scratch that. I wish I hadn’t read that story. It’s like reading ‘Red X’ from David Demchuk. It follows Caleb, who takes Twink’s baby while she’s at work and ruminates on how life will be better when they’re found in the morning. Heartbreaking.
‘Crows Eat Well’ is another masterful portrait of Canadiana, where a man returns home from prison to have ‘words’ with his father.
‘Towers’ comes at you like a precursor for ‘The Marigold,’ a story about a sinkhole, people living in the buildings and just what might actually be down below.
The story ‘Cloud’ is a unique take on dystopian, apocalyptic occurrence where birds arrive and invade a small town and two friends come up with a plan to take their homes back. This one walked the line of coming-of-age and can’t-trust-anyone themes.
‘Pumpkinheads’ felt like a small town diary, where Juan dies at the factory, and George forces his way into Anita’s life, Juan’s widow. It covers a lot of ground in a short page count.
Of all the stories, I think my favorite was ‘In A Car In A River Outside Peoria, Illinois.’ To sum it up in a single line, this is about a man at the end of his life. But it’s so much more. It’s shame, regret, gaslighting, acceptance, fear of the unknown and understanding. And it all happens as the water slowly fills up the inside of the car. Wonderful story even if the subject matter is very far from that adjective.
What I didn’t like: Like all short story collections, some just didn’t connect. Each story had an energy, a pulse to it and some shared the same wavelength as my reading brain did while reading it and some didn’t.
Why you should buy this: If you liked ‘The Marigold’ or ‘The Handyman Method’ you’ll definitely want to dive into this collection. A solid cross-section of everyday people struggling with the ramifications of the decisions they’ve made and where they’ve ended up because of it. Sullivan’s managed to create characters you immediately know, situations you understand and in each story, an ending that will have you catching your breath.
Truly, a solid solid collection.
September 1, 2016
Sullivan here has written a slice of reality of our society here that everybody claims to know about yet nobody has truly considered. He vividly describes scenes of desperation, of lost hopes, and even the rise of apathy that is so apparent in many peoples lives today. There is a sense of sense of something deep and personal with each exploration in each of the stories yet the characters seem to be almost detached, alone and apathetic to their status in life. There is some well-thought out and crafted lines in these stories even if the words are simple and concise.
http://tinyurl.com/z4fewox
http://tinyurl.com/z4fewox
Currently reading
June 29, 2013You can read a story from this collection here: http://www.joylandmagazine.com/storie...
September 3, 2015
This was good in small doses, but in one go it was all a bit humourless.
August 26, 2023
Throughout reading this, I was thinking I would sit at 4 stars on it. Once I finished, I couldn't come up with a solid reason why it wasn't 5. I think I was expecting to not fully embrace it, because the subject matter and tone are so, so bleak. But it is phenomenally crafted; the only criticism I have at all is a publication error.
Sullivan is my newest favorite author, I think. After having read The Marigold and Waste, I dove into this and was just torn asunder. Whereas those novels take their full page length to devastate you with one story, this collection is just blow after blow, each one knocking your teeth out. And they don't stop. This is NOT for the faint of heart. This is NOT an easy read, as far as the content. But each story lands its punch and devastates with remarkable economy and impact. Andrew F. Sullivan writes with knives.
As much as the stories are themselves hard to swallow, Sullivan's writing is incredibly easy to stick with. He has a deft hand for characterization and POV narration, for the flow of voice. His characters draw the reader in and then, with no wasted time or verbage, he just ruins their lives and guts you in the process. And good gracious does he know how to end a story; his ending lines are fantastic. What a tremendous collection. And as an added bonus, having read his two novels first, it was fun to read the stories that they clearly are expanding. I hope that means more of these characters will find extended life, that he has more to say about them. I'll read it, that's for sure.
My only quibble, as I said, is that the copy I had has several pages blank near the end. They just didn't get printed. This affected 2-3 stories, so overall not a huge impact, but unfortunate just the same. I hope the publisher corrected this and I just got unlucky.
Anyway : read this collection, if you've the stomach for it. But if you don't, don't feel bad. It's a lot to take.
Sullivan is my newest favorite author, I think. After having read The Marigold and Waste, I dove into this and was just torn asunder. Whereas those novels take their full page length to devastate you with one story, this collection is just blow after blow, each one knocking your teeth out. And they don't stop. This is NOT for the faint of heart. This is NOT an easy read, as far as the content. But each story lands its punch and devastates with remarkable economy and impact. Andrew F. Sullivan writes with knives.
As much as the stories are themselves hard to swallow, Sullivan's writing is incredibly easy to stick with. He has a deft hand for characterization and POV narration, for the flow of voice. His characters draw the reader in and then, with no wasted time or verbage, he just ruins their lives and guts you in the process. And good gracious does he know how to end a story; his ending lines are fantastic. What a tremendous collection. And as an added bonus, having read his two novels first, it was fun to read the stories that they clearly are expanding. I hope that means more of these characters will find extended life, that he has more to say about them. I'll read it, that's for sure.
My only quibble, as I said, is that the copy I had has several pages blank near the end. They just didn't get printed. This affected 2-3 stories, so overall not a huge impact, but unfortunate just the same. I hope the publisher corrected this and I just got unlucky.
Anyway : read this collection, if you've the stomach for it. But if you don't, don't feel bad. It's a lot to take.
January 11, 2023
These stories are not very long but they don't need to be. Not a single word is wasted. The imagery is deeply cinematic, the scenes and characters gritty as hell. It reminded me a lot of the neighbourhood I grew up in, which was a weird, bleak, sometimes unsettling place.
This book is not for readers who want to be comforted, and it's definitely not something to pick up if you want a light, breezy beach read. Which is why I thought it was so perfect. It made me feel uncomfortable and unsettled, and gave me strange dreams when I read it right before bed.
If you love writing that uses the most gorgeous language to illustrate the creepiest shit, this book is for you.
This book is not for readers who want to be comforted, and it's definitely not something to pick up if you want a light, breezy beach read. Which is why I thought it was so perfect. It made me feel uncomfortable and unsettled, and gave me strange dreams when I read it right before bed.
If you love writing that uses the most gorgeous language to illustrate the creepiest shit, this book is for you.
May 4, 2025
There are some books I finish and immediately want to be a better writer. Bunny by Mona Awad was one, Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders was another, and now I can say definitively that the collection All We Want is Everything by Andrew F. Sullivan is another.
Reminiscent of Shirley Jackson and Stephen King in its characterization, there is so much depth to every story here. It's definitely going to be one I revisit.
Reminiscent of Shirley Jackson and Stephen King in its characterization, there is so much depth to every story here. It's definitely going to be one I revisit.
September 9, 2022
My favourites:
Pumpkinheads
Cloud
Thaw
Towers
Suction
Satin Lives!
Honestly all 20 short stories stunning, such as amazing collection! Dark, speculative, gritty, brutal, clever, vivid, and disturbing. Sullivan's writing reminded me a bit of Brian Evenson mixed with Cormac McCarthy. I just devoured this book. Gonna re-visit again in the future.
Highly Recommend!
Pumpkinheads
Cloud
Thaw
Towers
Suction
Satin Lives!
Honestly all 20 short stories stunning, such as amazing collection! Dark, speculative, gritty, brutal, clever, vivid, and disturbing. Sullivan's writing reminded me a bit of Brian Evenson mixed with Cormac McCarthy. I just devoured this book. Gonna re-visit again in the future.
Highly Recommend!
June 7, 2023
I like the book. It begins to repeat the same themes but that’s not unexpected in a story collection. It is a collection of tales of woe, a genre that can make me shrug with indifference, but the violence and crudity of the desperate people in this collection make it memorable
February 22, 2020
Stunning short stories.
March 26, 2025
Gritty human experience displayed in every short story here.
July 31, 2015
The prose is poetic while remaining accessible. The stories here are easy to become engulfed in. While most of the work here features characters who are the down-and-out sort, underrepresented or frequently misrepresented, Sullivan does a beautiful job of exposing them for what they are: people -- like you and I. Highly original, fearless, entertaining, compassionate. A very good read all around and worthy of revisiting again in the future. Being a debut, I can't wait to see what else Sullivan has in store for the future.
March 31, 2016
impressively dark imagination—the one about the factory worker's wife is particularly um memorable. and the juggalos. partially reinforces my suspicion that once you get an hour out of toronto things get bleak—the rays of hope or humanity that peak through almost just teases making it all bleaker.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/b...
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/b...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 1, 2017
I often forget how refreshing it is reading a Toronto-based author. All We Want Is Everything was a spontaneous grab during a quick pitstop at the library; I had no clue who the author was nor what the book was about. This emphasizes the beauty of the read: Sullivan grew up in my backyard, went to UofT just as I did, and his writing just echoes hauntingly vivid narratives. Definitely keeping an eye out for more of Sullivan's work.
February 6, 2015
This was a fantastic collection of short stories. My favorite being Pumpkinhead. Each story drew me in and kept me interested. They were all slightly on the side of disturbed and it was fascinating. I was first introduced to this author in my schools literary publication when I read his story Towers. Andrew Sullivan is really an excellent writer and I can't wait to read more of his work.
July 9, 2013
These are pretty dark stories.
November 22, 2013
Harsh, gritty, wonderful. I'd forgotten how good short stories can be!
February 19, 2015
Love that's it's a Canadian author! Stories are very dark but author writes from many different perspectives! Each story left me wanting to read more about these characters
October 17, 2014
Example of the beauty of short stories: less time filling fluff, more time on details that matter. Great voice, perspective, details, and pace.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews