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A BEST BOOK OF THE Library Journal, Electric Literature, The New York Public Library, PopMatters
A Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Story Prize
National Book Award finalist Sarah Shun-lien Bynum’s highly anticipated return weaves together like and unlike, mythic and modern
In nine stories that range from the real to the unreal, strange to familiar, funny to frightening, Sarah Shun-lien Bynum reminds us why her wildly original debut, Madeleine Is Sleeping, and her masterful Ms. Hempel Chronicles have become contemporary classics--celebrated and beloved.
In a nimble dance of lightness and gravity, Likes explores the full range and contradictions of our contemporary moment. Through unexpected visitors, Waldorf school fairs, aging indie-film stars, the struggle to gain a foothold in the capitalist shell-game of work, the Instagram posts of a twelve-year-old—these stories of friendship and parenthood, celebrity and obsession, race and class and the passage of time, form an engrossing collection that is both otherworldly and suffused with the deceitful humdrum of everyday life.
For readers of Joy Williams, George Saunders, Lauren Groff, and Deborah Eisenberg, Likes helps us see into our unacknowledged desires and, in quick, artful, nearly invisible cuts, exposes the roots of our abiding terrors and delights.
A Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Story Prize
National Book Award finalist Sarah Shun-lien Bynum’s highly anticipated return weaves together like and unlike, mythic and modern
In nine stories that range from the real to the unreal, strange to familiar, funny to frightening, Sarah Shun-lien Bynum reminds us why her wildly original debut, Madeleine Is Sleeping, and her masterful Ms. Hempel Chronicles have become contemporary classics--celebrated and beloved.
In a nimble dance of lightness and gravity, Likes explores the full range and contradictions of our contemporary moment. Through unexpected visitors, Waldorf school fairs, aging indie-film stars, the struggle to gain a foothold in the capitalist shell-game of work, the Instagram posts of a twelve-year-old—these stories of friendship and parenthood, celebrity and obsession, race and class and the passage of time, form an engrossing collection that is both otherworldly and suffused with the deceitful humdrum of everyday life.
For readers of Joy Williams, George Saunders, Lauren Groff, and Deborah Eisenberg, Likes helps us see into our unacknowledged desires and, in quick, artful, nearly invisible cuts, exposes the roots of our abiding terrors and delights.
240 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2020
102 people are currently reading
2615 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
14 books129 followersSarah Shun-lien Bynum is an American writer. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter and teaches writing and literature at UC San Diego.
Bynum is a graduate of Brown University and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. Madeleine is Sleeping was published by Harcourt in 2004 and was a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize. Her short stories, including excerpts from her new novel, have appeared in The New Yorker, Tin House, Triquarterly, The Georgia Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, and in Best American Short Stories. Her novel, Ms. Hempel Chronicles, was published in September 2008 and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award in 2009.
In 2010, Bynum was named one of the New Yorker Magazine's top "20 Under 40" fiction writers.
Bynum is a graduate of Brown University and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. Madeleine is Sleeping was published by Harcourt in 2004 and was a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize. Her short stories, including excerpts from her new novel, have appeared in The New Yorker, Tin House, Triquarterly, The Georgia Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, and in Best American Short Stories. Her novel, Ms. Hempel Chronicles, was published in September 2008 and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award in 2009.
In 2010, Bynum was named one of the New Yorker Magazine's top "20 Under 40" fiction writers.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 133 reviews
abandoned
July 17, 2023DNF: Got a few pages into the sixth story and stumbled across the r-word. It wasn't in dialogue, and it wasn't used to make a point; apparently the author simply felt it was the best adjective available to describe the decision to take comic books out of their boxes. *rolls eyes* And this book was published in 2020, and the story in question was first published in 2016. So yeah, I don't feel the need to finish it. (Which is a shame because the previous story, "Many A Little Makes," had been my favorite of the collection so far and I was hoping the rest would be just as good or better. Before "Many a Little Makes" I found the collection to be pretty so-so.)
01.13.21: Bumping this one up on the TBR, as it's a finalist for The Story Prize (and I LOVED the other two finalists).
01.13.21: Bumping this one up on the TBR, as it's a finalist for The Story Prize (and I LOVED the other two finalists).
March 2, 2022
Likes is a collection of 9 short stories of varying styles. I have the feeling that Bynum is experimenting with form as she writes these stories.
A few of the stories stood out for me.
"The Young Wife's Tale" - Bynum uses the device of a fairy tale to explore the tugs and pulls of a long term relationship. The tale is about an exiled king who returns from the wars and enchants the young wives of the land. This wide view narrows down to Eva as the every wife; over time familiarity blinds her to her husband's goodness and beauty and she longs for others.
"Many a Little Makes" - Like a fairy tale, adolescence is about transformation. Bodies change shapes, attachments to parents fade and friends fill the gaps, new ways of living are discovered in other peoples' homes. This tale is told from Mari's perspective as an adult looking back on her relationship with her 2 best girlfriends in middle school. Bree at 14 is "active, desiring, uncautious," things a 14 yr old girl is rarely allowed to be in real life. There is a dark happening (fairy tales have their dark aspects), and Mari gains insights from her new viewpoint.
This story is not at all nostalgic, yet it brought up a lot of memories of this time period for me. I also had two best friends and spent many a night not sleeping at their houses. Those were special times spent laughing and sharing our deepest secrets. I have no desire to go through it again, yet there are times that are wonderful to remember.
"Julia and Sunny" - This story is unusual in that it is narrated by two people, an unnamed couple. They have a crush on a med school classmate, Sunny, who becomes their friend through dating and then marrying their friend Julia. Some years later Julia and Sunny's [they though perfect] marriage dissolves, and the couple is left wondering why.
"The Burglar" - While I don't love this story, I am fascinated with the technique of rapidly shifting points of view between 4 characters. Bynum writes overlapping and contradicting scenes within these points of view.
"The Erlking" - This story is worth a mention for its craft. Here Bynum gives voice to parental anxieties and by the end evokes a delicious feeling of unease.
"Bedtime Stories" - Bynum makes an unusual choice to use a third person peripheral narrator. The wife considers herself an unseen onlooker, yet she seems to be the focus of the piece. In an interview, Bynum said of this story that the "extended act of imagination is an act of reconciliation, undertaken out of love." And I do not see it.
"Likes - This story didn't seem to offer anything fresh on the anxieties of parenting an adolescent female except pairing it with the 2016 election.
"The Bears" did not land for me. The Goldilocks allusion, the William James thesis, and the recent miscarriage trauma did not gel into a cohesive whole.
"Tell Me My Name" - I didn't get the point.
Overall, this is an interesting read to see how Bynum chooses to tell each story. For me, how the stories are told is sometimes more important than what the author is trying to say. And in a few cases the stories were so opaque that I couldn't find a meaning.
A few of the stories stood out for me.
"The Young Wife's Tale" - Bynum uses the device of a fairy tale to explore the tugs and pulls of a long term relationship. The tale is about an exiled king who returns from the wars and enchants the young wives of the land. This wide view narrows down to Eva as the every wife; over time familiarity blinds her to her husband's goodness and beauty and she longs for others.
"Many a Little Makes" - Like a fairy tale, adolescence is about transformation. Bodies change shapes, attachments to parents fade and friends fill the gaps, new ways of living are discovered in other peoples' homes. This tale is told from Mari's perspective as an adult looking back on her relationship with her 2 best girlfriends in middle school. Bree at 14 is "active, desiring, uncautious," things a 14 yr old girl is rarely allowed to be in real life. There is a dark happening (fairy tales have their dark aspects), and Mari gains insights from her new viewpoint.
This story is not at all nostalgic, yet it brought up a lot of memories of this time period for me. I also had two best friends and spent many a night not sleeping at their houses. Those were special times spent laughing and sharing our deepest secrets. I have no desire to go through it again, yet there are times that are wonderful to remember.
"Julia and Sunny" - This story is unusual in that it is narrated by two people, an unnamed couple. They have a crush on a med school classmate, Sunny, who becomes their friend through dating and then marrying their friend Julia. Some years later Julia and Sunny's [they though perfect] marriage dissolves, and the couple is left wondering why.
"The Burglar" - While I don't love this story, I am fascinated with the technique of rapidly shifting points of view between 4 characters. Bynum writes overlapping and contradicting scenes within these points of view.
"The Erlking" - This story is worth a mention for its craft. Here Bynum gives voice to parental anxieties and by the end evokes a delicious feeling of unease.
"Bedtime Stories" - Bynum makes an unusual choice to use a third person peripheral narrator. The wife considers herself an unseen onlooker, yet she seems to be the focus of the piece. In an interview, Bynum said of this story that the "extended act of imagination is an act of reconciliation, undertaken out of love." And I do not see it.
"Likes - This story didn't seem to offer anything fresh on the anxieties of parenting an adolescent female except pairing it with the 2016 election.
"The Bears" did not land for me. The Goldilocks allusion, the William James thesis, and the recent miscarriage trauma did not gel into a cohesive whole.
"Tell Me My Name" - I didn't get the point.
Overall, this is an interesting read to see how Bynum chooses to tell each story. For me, how the stories are told is sometimes more important than what the author is trying to say. And in a few cases the stories were so opaque that I couldn't find a meaning.
June 30, 2020
I’ve never read anything by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum before Likes, her first short-story collection after two novels. Brandon Taylor on twitter commented how much he loved the writing, and that praise and the gorgeous cover was more than enough for me to send the NetGalley request. After how much I enjoyed Taylor’s debut novel Real Life I figured his recommendation couldn’t steer me too wrong, and I was right. Likes is absolutely excellent; every single story is a hit.
The collection opens with a story called “The Erlking,” a story about a mother named Kate who takes her daughter Ruthie to a local fairy day, put on by the local Waldorf. All at once, Bynum manages to evoke both Kate’s anxieties and hopes about motherhood and giving her daughter all of the advantages she can, and Ruthie, who loses herself in her own imagined reality where an old man she sees is a magical wizard who is going to choose her because she is special and good. This story would have been compelling from just one point of view— Katie in the adult reality, Ruthie in hers— but the way Bynum layers their realities and anxieties over one another even when they’re not communicating is masterfully done.
Bynum’s writing is snappy, economical without any wasted words but also unhurried, where she spends a page or a paragraph describing the wildflowers a character sees on the side of the road in a way that makes you, the reader, understand that, yes, this should be here. This is the story, even when “nothing” is happening.
Often, the stories in Likes focus on girlhood, parenthood, or a combination of the two. The story “Many A Little Makes,” is maybe my favorite of the collection. A woman named Mari is reflecting back on her two best friends from middle school, and Bynum so perfectly captured the overwhelming feelings of longing and fear and joy of that particular stage of tween adolescence without getting lost in sentimentality or cliche that it made my heart ache. Children, even when secondary characters, are equally well-drawn as the adults, neither overly precious nor cartoons. The title story was published in The New Yorker a few years back, and it is a really vivid and moving story about a dad trying to connect with his reticent twelve-year-old daughter, partly by examining her Instagram posts, and which also takes place during and captures the gut-punch of the 2016 election. I was reminded of Emma Cline's Daddy, which used a similar technique of misdirection, framing a story from a male main character but pointing us all along to the woman or girl. Even though “Likes” isn’t told by Ivy herself, we still see her struggles and character written with frankness and compassion.
Bynum’s writing is the kind of writing that inspires me to write. By that, I mean partly that I wish I had written these stories because of how good they are, but also that I was so moved by her obvious skill that I was inspired to sit back down at a word document and try harder.
Thank you to FSG and NetGalley for this e-book in exchange for a review. I will be reading Bynum’s other work as soon as I can, and I highly recommend pre-ordering Likes from your local bookstore today.
The collection opens with a story called “The Erlking,” a story about a mother named Kate who takes her daughter Ruthie to a local fairy day, put on by the local Waldorf. All at once, Bynum manages to evoke both Kate’s anxieties and hopes about motherhood and giving her daughter all of the advantages she can, and Ruthie, who loses herself in her own imagined reality where an old man she sees is a magical wizard who is going to choose her because she is special and good. This story would have been compelling from just one point of view— Katie in the adult reality, Ruthie in hers— but the way Bynum layers their realities and anxieties over one another even when they’re not communicating is masterfully done.
Bynum’s writing is snappy, economical without any wasted words but also unhurried, where she spends a page or a paragraph describing the wildflowers a character sees on the side of the road in a way that makes you, the reader, understand that, yes, this should be here. This is the story, even when “nothing” is happening.
Often, the stories in Likes focus on girlhood, parenthood, or a combination of the two. The story “Many A Little Makes,” is maybe my favorite of the collection. A woman named Mari is reflecting back on her two best friends from middle school, and Bynum so perfectly captured the overwhelming feelings of longing and fear and joy of that particular stage of tween adolescence without getting lost in sentimentality or cliche that it made my heart ache. Children, even when secondary characters, are equally well-drawn as the adults, neither overly precious nor cartoons. The title story was published in The New Yorker a few years back, and it is a really vivid and moving story about a dad trying to connect with his reticent twelve-year-old daughter, partly by examining her Instagram posts, and which also takes place during and captures the gut-punch of the 2016 election. I was reminded of Emma Cline's Daddy, which used a similar technique of misdirection, framing a story from a male main character but pointing us all along to the woman or girl. Even though “Likes” isn’t told by Ivy herself, we still see her struggles and character written with frankness and compassion.
Bynum’s writing is the kind of writing that inspires me to write. By that, I mean partly that I wish I had written these stories because of how good they are, but also that I was so moved by her obvious skill that I was inspired to sit back down at a word document and try harder.
Thank you to FSG and NetGalley for this e-book in exchange for a review. I will be reading Bynum’s other work as soon as I can, and I highly recommend pre-ordering Likes from your local bookstore today.
August 10, 2020
This was a hit and miss collection for me: I only loved one of the stories, and enjoyed another three; touches of magic realism à la Aimee Bender produce the two weakest stories, and there are a few that simply tail off without having made a point.
My favorite was “Many a Little Makes,” about a trio of childhood best friends whose silly sleepover days come to an end as they develop separate interests and one girl sleeps with another one’s brother. In “Tell Me My Name,” set in a post-economic collapse California, an actress who was a gay icon back in New York City pitches a TV show to the narrator’s wife, who makes kids’ shows.
“Julia and Sunny,” about two couples – one that makes it and one that doesn’t – who all met in medical school, reminded me of a Wallace Stegner plot. “The Bears” has a wispy resemblance to Goldilocks and the Three Bears and stars a woman convalescing from a miscarriage at a retreat center while writing a chapter on William James. (In James’s famous metaphor involving a bear, bodily action precedes emotion – we are afraid because we flee; not vice versa.) The touch of magic in this story is light enough to not be off-putting, whereas “The Erlking” and “The Young Wife’s Tale” take their fairy tale similarities too far.
The title story, about a father trying to understand his 12-year-old through her Instagram posts either side of the Trump election, is promising but doesn’t go anywhere, and “The Burglar” and “Bedtime Story” struck me as equally insubstantial, making nothing of their setups.
Seven of these nine stories had been previously published in other publications in some form.
My favorite was “Many a Little Makes,” about a trio of childhood best friends whose silly sleepover days come to an end as they develop separate interests and one girl sleeps with another one’s brother. In “Tell Me My Name,” set in a post-economic collapse California, an actress who was a gay icon back in New York City pitches a TV show to the narrator’s wife, who makes kids’ shows.
“Julia and Sunny,” about two couples – one that makes it and one that doesn’t – who all met in medical school, reminded me of a Wallace Stegner plot. “The Bears” has a wispy resemblance to Goldilocks and the Three Bears and stars a woman convalescing from a miscarriage at a retreat center while writing a chapter on William James. (In James’s famous metaphor involving a bear, bodily action precedes emotion – we are afraid because we flee; not vice versa.) The touch of magic in this story is light enough to not be off-putting, whereas “The Erlking” and “The Young Wife’s Tale” take their fairy tale similarities too far.
The title story, about a father trying to understand his 12-year-old through her Instagram posts either side of the Trump election, is promising but doesn’t go anywhere, and “The Burglar” and “Bedtime Story” struck me as equally insubstantial, making nothing of their setups.
Seven of these nine stories had been previously published in other publications in some form.
July 11, 2021
I was not particularly moved by these rather trite short stories. At first, they seemed to want to focus on one particular benefit for a kid's charity or something, but then they quickly diverged on other topics. Perhaps it is just the newer generation of writers and their concerns which put me off, but I honestly did not enjoy these stories all that much, particularly with other IMHO better collections available (Scattered Lights: Stories, The Secret Lives of Church LadiesThe Office of Historical Corrections).
December 10, 2020
I basically refuse to read short stories these days—most feel like MFA program churn-outs, and as a result the stories all run together and I can’t seem to remember a single one after I’m done—but I made an exception here since I loved Ms. Hempel Chronicles. I’m glad I did. Many of these are the platonic ideal of a story you’d tell your closest friend. They’re about moments of internal crisis, formative moments, moments when “everything changed.” The small decisions that had lasting, snowballing impacts, though those decisions or impacts may be invisible to outsiders. Moments of shame. Confessions. Growing pains. She has a knack for reflecting the adolescent psyche, especially, and for presenting the reader with stakes that feel organic and emotionally intelligible, not workshopped. Intimate and psychologically astute.
September 8, 2021
Wow. Um. Okay let me try to get my thoughts straight on this.
This book varies wildly in quality. Some short stories were so, erm, bad. They were faux-literary, wandering from point to point without really advancing anything at all. I have to admit, some were so boring that I sort of skimmed them without reading.
Characters: 4/10 stars
Even in the good stories, the characters were boring. I see this a lot in literary fiction especially--that despite its claim to hah-we're-the-character-genre, the characters are often too eerily similar to the reader. Not in a good way, but in a bland, unremarkable way. This isn't necessarily a fault with this book in particular, but with literary fiction as a whole. In most sub-par literary short stories, the narrator is wiped clean of any defining traits, except for maybe something simple, like "father" or "wife." Beyond that, the narrator serves as a stand-in for the reader, a sort of vessel to investigate the author's thoughts and feelings. Which is fine, but honestly at that point, maybe you're better off writing a nonfiction essay. An undistinguishable narrator is often a boring narrator.
Plot/pacing: 3/10 stars
The pacing was dull. I'd say that the majority of the stories moved slowly and then just stopped on a random, insignificant scene. Most had the same plotting formula, either following the sequence I just described or jumping from tiny paragraph scene to tiny paragraph scene. This lack of diversity was all the more pronounced because all of the stories from the first plotting formula were at the beginning, and all of the stories from the second plotting formula were at the end.
Writing/structure: 5/10 stars
The writing was fine. It wasn't spectacular, but it was fine.
Enjoyability: 2/10 stars
Needless to say, I didn't really enjoy this book. It was boring and annoyed me at times--there was no ironic enjoyment in it either.
Literary: 3/10 stars
The first half of this collection exemplifies the reason why I used to think I hated literary fiction. It's incredibly pretentious and precious--the characters are moody and reflective, the plot is wandering (cough cough, nonexistent), the world is somewhat interesting but only as an aesthetic... it's just bad. In my opinion, stories that have no plot can only be so good. A masterfully written, plot-driven story will be better than a masterfully written, non-plot story nine times out of ten. So there's already a ceiling on writing like this. It's risky business, choosing to discard plot like a used, stinky pair of socks. And for most of these, it does not work.
(4+3+5+2+3)/50 =
1.7 stars, rounded up
This book varies wildly in quality. Some short stories were so, erm, bad. They were faux-literary, wandering from point to point without really advancing anything at all. I have to admit, some were so boring that I sort of skimmed them without reading.
Characters: 4/10 stars
Even in the good stories, the characters were boring. I see this a lot in literary fiction especially--that despite its claim to hah-we're-the-character-genre, the characters are often too eerily similar to the reader. Not in a good way, but in a bland, unremarkable way. This isn't necessarily a fault with this book in particular, but with literary fiction as a whole. In most sub-par literary short stories, the narrator is wiped clean of any defining traits, except for maybe something simple, like "father" or "wife." Beyond that, the narrator serves as a stand-in for the reader, a sort of vessel to investigate the author's thoughts and feelings. Which is fine, but honestly at that point, maybe you're better off writing a nonfiction essay. An undistinguishable narrator is often a boring narrator.
Plot/pacing: 3/10 stars
The pacing was dull. I'd say that the majority of the stories moved slowly and then just stopped on a random, insignificant scene. Most had the same plotting formula, either following the sequence I just described or jumping from tiny paragraph scene to tiny paragraph scene. This lack of diversity was all the more pronounced because all of the stories from the first plotting formula were at the beginning, and all of the stories from the second plotting formula were at the end.
Writing/structure: 5/10 stars
The writing was fine. It wasn't spectacular, but it was fine.
Enjoyability: 2/10 stars
Needless to say, I didn't really enjoy this book. It was boring and annoyed me at times--there was no ironic enjoyment in it either.
Literary: 3/10 stars
The first half of this collection exemplifies the reason why I used to think I hated literary fiction. It's incredibly pretentious and precious--the characters are moody and reflective, the plot is wandering (cough cough, nonexistent), the world is somewhat interesting but only as an aesthetic... it's just bad. In my opinion, stories that have no plot can only be so good. A masterfully written, plot-driven story will be better than a masterfully written, non-plot story nine times out of ten. So there's already a ceiling on writing like this. It's risky business, choosing to discard plot like a used, stinky pair of socks. And for most of these, it does not work.
(4+3+5+2+3)/50 =
1.7 stars, rounded up
July 9, 2022
Really fun to read these short stories as the author has such a gift for inhabiting completely different characters. You get swept up into the world of an imaginative little girl, a socially climbing med student, an estranged dad, and more - each one is completely immersive. I am trying to preserve the integrity of my ratings and want to emphasize that 4 stars is high praise. I got it off the Staff Picks shelf at City Lights bookstore in SF and definitely recommend it as well.
March 1, 2021
Not quite sure why I picked this up off my public library's new fiction shelf.....had not read about it or put it on my to read list.
Thought, as I glanced at the flyleaf copy, that it was a series of short stories that sort of fell together enough to be a novel.
Nope.
So, No. 1: YOU HAVE WRITTEN FLYLEAF COPY, KRISTI. QUIT BELIEVING IN FLYLEAF COPY, KRISTI, YOU KNOW IT IS JUST LEADING YOU DOWN THE PATH!!
No. 2: I'm trying, I swear to God & Heaven Above that I'm trying, to be less snotty about short stories this year. I am, I really am. I've read two from past issues of New Yorkers and enjoyed them, even though they were bleak as fuck and made me want to hang myself with my own hair.***
So, why didn't I enjoy these more than I did, even though they were extremely well-written and absolutely evocative of real life?
Well, I guess because in the end they felt like a combination of a cake of just too much real life iced with a whole bunch of pretentiousness.
But, you know, hey. Ms Shun-lien Bynum wrote not just this book, but a few, and I'm thankful there are people like her on my planet, even if I am not the world's biggest fan of MFA-Important Literature.
***Thanks to the worldwide Covid pandemic, I have not had my hair done since almost 12 months ago. Which means that not only could I figuratively hang myself with my own hair, I'm coming quite close to being able to do so in the literal sense. Let's hope I find something a bit more uplifting to read as I go forward.
Thought, as I glanced at the flyleaf copy, that it was a series of short stories that sort of fell together enough to be a novel.
Nope.
So, No. 1: YOU HAVE WRITTEN FLYLEAF COPY, KRISTI. QUIT BELIEVING IN FLYLEAF COPY, KRISTI, YOU KNOW IT IS JUST LEADING YOU DOWN THE PATH!!
No. 2: I'm trying, I swear to God & Heaven Above that I'm trying, to be less snotty about short stories this year. I am, I really am. I've read two from past issues of New Yorkers and enjoyed them, even though they were bleak as fuck and made me want to hang myself with my own hair.***
So, why didn't I enjoy these more than I did, even though they were extremely well-written and absolutely evocative of real life?
Well, I guess because in the end they felt like a combination of a cake of just too much real life iced with a whole bunch of pretentiousness.
But, you know, hey. Ms Shun-lien Bynum wrote not just this book, but a few, and I'm thankful there are people like her on my planet, even if I am not the world's biggest fan of MFA-Important Literature.
***Thanks to the worldwide Covid pandemic, I have not had my hair done since almost 12 months ago. Which means that not only could I figuratively hang myself with my own hair, I'm coming quite close to being able to do so in the literal sense. Let's hope I find something a bit more uplifting to read as I go forward.
June 28, 2020
This is an eclectic and entertaining collection of short stories. Bynum has a gift with developing characters and scenes that, although in a short story format, contain enough substance and depth to make it feel like you are reading a full novel. This is a well-rounded collection with stories that span a wide range including tales with fairy tale qualities, to realistic stories of parenting in the modern age, to the psychological aspects of recovery. Bynum plays with perspective and timing in truly successful ways and the standout stories of this collection are "Bedtime Stories" and the titular story.
I recommend this book to people who like complex, yet concise storytelling as well as people who appreciate a wide span of genres.
I recommend this book to people who like complex, yet concise storytelling as well as people who appreciate a wide span of genres.
June 18, 2020
3.5 stars overall - I wasn’t a huge fan of the weird time jumping in some of these stories and the organization could have been better. But there was something about them that was gripping and unusual.
September 24, 2020
These are lovely, well plotted and well told human-scale stories, all of them with little kernels of hard truths at their centers to be discovered. Pacing varies, but not a true dud in the bunch.
January 13, 2023
This was so sweet 🥹
August 21, 2021
On the evidence, I prefer Bynum in her longer paced novels - in the short form, there's too much twee for me to really enjoy.
June 25, 2024
If it’s not abundantly clear by both the sheer amount and general high (3+) ratings, I tend to really like short story collections, but there always a few that just don’t land for me. This one started off veering toward the latter experience, and after the first few stories felt lackluster, I had already been drafting a two or three star review in my head. Luckily, things turned around for the better around the “Many a Little Makes” mark. The aforementioned story felt like viewing girlhood through a microscope, and it just perfectly encapsulated the confusion and distress and love of adolescence. “The Burglar” was what I found to be the most interesting story at its core with the different narrator’s perspectives (husband, wife, burglar, tv character) merging through increasingly frantic paragraphs. Truly was stressed out—both on an “oh my gosh she’s getting robbed” level and a “the political and racial implications of this are so horrifying”—and could not put the story down. The penultimate and titular story, however, was my absolute, absolute favorite (maybe my favorite short story ever? probably not and recency bias / personal familiarity is making a strong play here) story of the collection. “Likes” is what I can only describe as a period piece set in 2016. It follows a father struggling to connect to his young daughter and the earnestness and seriousness of being a girl. From the VERY topical Instagram photos on her account (pink drink anyone?), to the emotional breakdown after election night, and the #relatability of YouTubers, every single page of that story felt so personal and was written in such a delicate and respectful way that despite the fathers lack of connection to his daughter’s interests, she is never belittled. The other stories here were also pretty decent, ranging from a Goldilocks retelling from a woman dealing with the grief of a miscarriage, to a retired actress trying to break into the children’s show scene, and beyond. Sarah Shun-lien Bynum’s style really clicked for me, even if the content of the stories sometimes didn’t, and I’ll definitely be exploring her novels in the future.
October 25, 2020
Each short story was so different, yet I found myself fully invested in each one. Was the Burglar's Emmett an allusion to Emmett Till? Many A Little Makes was reminiscent of the show Pen 15 for me, probably cause I'm currently watching it. Each of these stories was so satsifying to me. Powerful endings.
December 24, 2022
Most of these stories are competent enough, and one (“Julia and Sunny”) I even found to be exceptional, but overall I wasn’t left with a strong impression of what Bynum’s style is. I also think a few of these stories suffered from being arranged and built somewhat poorly, or at least circuitously.
May 5, 2021
Enjoyed these stories. The first one is, IMHO, the best and creepiest in the collection.
September 20, 2021
Like all short story collections, this volume had some hits and some misses for me. But the ones I liked, I *really* liked.
October 7, 2021
Loved this diverse range of stories. The style really jumped off the page in each one, unique to its own story and characters. And the character voices!!!
November 17, 2023
favorite book i’ve read for class yet, loved the fantasy feel of the first couple stories
December 29, 2023
Short stories are lost on me and I thought they would be connected but was disappointed
January 13, 2021
so atmospheric.
March 21, 2021
Brilliant!!
September 12, 2020
Special thanks to FSG for the egalley for review.
The collection opens with the story, “The Erkling” which follows a mother and daughter as they wander around the local fairy fair. Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum’s writing seamlessly weaves between the realities and expectations of this pair, along with their hopes for and disappointments in each other. The casual slippage between characters is a pleasure to read and gave the story an ephemeral air that I found so compelling. After this first story, I knew I was in for a treat.
When going back over the stories in the contents in order to write my review, there was only one that was ‘meh’ for me—“Tell Me My Name”—but I think something was happening there that I just wasn’t quite understanding. Every other story in the collection made me audibly gasp and whisper “wow” at some point. Bynum’s prose is quick, succinct, and so so beautiful, but also deeply familiar. Many of her stories focus on girlhood, coming of age, and refuting that process. I found myself reflected in little corners of her stories through mirrors I didn’t know I needed, the catharsis and recognition there so inviting. “The Young Wife’s Tale” and “Many A Little Makes” in particular were both deeply affecting for me in ways that I’m having a hard time articulating. Essentially, it feels like Bynum tore off a corner of my soul and sculpted a story out of it. Below, I've included a mini-review for each of the individual stories, but suffice to say, I loved the collection and am adding all of Bynum's backlist titles to my TBR.
THE ERKLING
As mentioned above, this story was an absolute delight. Weaving the realities and expectations of mother and daughter, this story explores our hopes and disappointments in one another.
TELL ME MY NAME
Revolving around an obsession with their neighbor celebrity, this is the only story of the collection that was a bit lackluster for me.
THE YOUNG WIFE'S TALE
Part fairytale allegory, part real-world exploration of a strained relationship, this story is absolute perfection. Bynum infuses such ephemeral exchanges with such raw emotion that at the end, I felt like I needed to come up for air. That last sentence—just wow.
THE BEARS
This one took me a little while to get into, but once I got my bearings (da dum ch) I found the story to be wise and melancholy.
MANY A LITTLE MAKES
This one is an incredible exploration of female friendships and is both nostalgic and disturbing. There is essentially a rape scene with cake, but Bynum sticks the landing and ends on a beautiful note.
THE BURGLAR
Yet another story with seamless changes in POV, this story really feels like Bynum is showing off (and I'm totally here for it). So many small moments in this story were entirely relatable in a not so flattering way.
JULIA AND SUNNY
I might be moved to say I found this the most important story in the entire collection, focussing on our narcissistic tendency to make other people's traumas about us. Much of the writing seems to hinge on a single sentence, that once read allows everything to fall into place, revealing a shocking and wise vignette that's still subtle and beautiful.
LIKES (titular story)
I always tend to pay special attention to the titular story of a collection, and while I found this one enjoyable, it definitely wasn't my favorite. It reminded me of the A24 movie Eighth Grade, but from the dad's perspective. An exploration of the unknowable world of teenage girls and all of the ways we fail them.
BEDTIME STORY
Ending on a slightly disturbing note, this one left me feeling off-balance as the character comes to terms with her husband editorializing their shared memories as he recounts them to their son. She mentions having the "pleasure of being seen" even when her husband clearly doesn't see her, and living in that cognitive dissonance was a hell of a way to end the collection.
The collection opens with the story, “The Erkling” which follows a mother and daughter as they wander around the local fairy fair. Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum’s writing seamlessly weaves between the realities and expectations of this pair, along with their hopes for and disappointments in each other. The casual slippage between characters is a pleasure to read and gave the story an ephemeral air that I found so compelling. After this first story, I knew I was in for a treat.
When going back over the stories in the contents in order to write my review, there was only one that was ‘meh’ for me—“Tell Me My Name”—but I think something was happening there that I just wasn’t quite understanding. Every other story in the collection made me audibly gasp and whisper “wow” at some point. Bynum’s prose is quick, succinct, and so so beautiful, but also deeply familiar. Many of her stories focus on girlhood, coming of age, and refuting that process. I found myself reflected in little corners of her stories through mirrors I didn’t know I needed, the catharsis and recognition there so inviting. “The Young Wife’s Tale” and “Many A Little Makes” in particular were both deeply affecting for me in ways that I’m having a hard time articulating. Essentially, it feels like Bynum tore off a corner of my soul and sculpted a story out of it. Below, I've included a mini-review for each of the individual stories, but suffice to say, I loved the collection and am adding all of Bynum's backlist titles to my TBR.
THE ERKLING
As mentioned above, this story was an absolute delight. Weaving the realities and expectations of mother and daughter, this story explores our hopes and disappointments in one another.
TELL ME MY NAME
Revolving around an obsession with their neighbor celebrity, this is the only story of the collection that was a bit lackluster for me.
THE YOUNG WIFE'S TALE
Part fairytale allegory, part real-world exploration of a strained relationship, this story is absolute perfection. Bynum infuses such ephemeral exchanges with such raw emotion that at the end, I felt like I needed to come up for air. That last sentence—just wow.
THE BEARS
This one took me a little while to get into, but once I got my bearings (da dum ch) I found the story to be wise and melancholy.
MANY A LITTLE MAKES
This one is an incredible exploration of female friendships and is both nostalgic and disturbing. There is essentially a rape scene with cake, but Bynum sticks the landing and ends on a beautiful note.
THE BURGLAR
Yet another story with seamless changes in POV, this story really feels like Bynum is showing off (and I'm totally here for it). So many small moments in this story were entirely relatable in a not so flattering way.
JULIA AND SUNNY
I might be moved to say I found this the most important story in the entire collection, focussing on our narcissistic tendency to make other people's traumas about us. Much of the writing seems to hinge on a single sentence, that once read allows everything to fall into place, revealing a shocking and wise vignette that's still subtle and beautiful.
LIKES (titular story)
I always tend to pay special attention to the titular story of a collection, and while I found this one enjoyable, it definitely wasn't my favorite. It reminded me of the A24 movie Eighth Grade, but from the dad's perspective. An exploration of the unknowable world of teenage girls and all of the ways we fail them.
BEDTIME STORY
Ending on a slightly disturbing note, this one left me feeling off-balance as the character comes to terms with her husband editorializing their shared memories as he recounts them to their son. She mentions having the "pleasure of being seen" even when her husband clearly doesn't see her, and living in that cognitive dissonance was a hell of a way to end the collection.
October 4, 2021
If you enjoy short stories (and if you do not like them as a genre, maybe consider not reviewing them on Goodreads?) this collection will offer great satisfaction. My favorite story is "The Erlking," which is about a mother who romanticizes a particular childhood aesthetic (think wooden toys, Waldorf, wings) while also feeling it excludes herself and her daughter because they are not rich or white. Yet in the process of idealizing the Waldorf aesthetic (and honestly, what mother raising a child in the digital age has not?), she misses something very important right in front of her: namely, her daughter, who does not want to wear wings or be named Ondine and who is in danger of being lured away by a strange man at the Elves Fair. This man could be fantastical (Wikipedia tells me that “Erlking” is the German Romantic name for “king of the fairies”) but he also has a very real world counterpart, and Bynum does an incredible job forging a connection between the two, implying children are not necessarily safer in a world of private school and wooden toys. This story combines two of Bynum’s strengths: gracefully blending realism with fairytales and poking fun at our modern American approach to education (for more of the latter, also check out her wonderful Ms Hempel Chronicles).
Other standouts in the collection include the gorgeous novella “Many A Little Makes,” which treats the friendships of adolescent girls with seriousness and sensitivity while reflecting on past interactions through the lens of modern feminism and the MeToo movement, “Julia and Sunny” where a couple reveals their own biases and blindspots through their insights (or lack thereof) into their friends’ divorce, “Likes” where a father tries to understand his daughter through her Instagram account around the time of the 2016 election (the connection this story makes between teen influencer speak and 45’s bombast is simply brilliant), and “Bedtime Story” where a father’s bedtime anecdote sets off a wife’s interior journey through the darkest moments of their relationship (the way time moves here and in “Many A Little Makes” reminds me a lot of Alice Munro). So many standouts in this collection, all funny, human, and wise.
Other standouts in the collection include the gorgeous novella “Many A Little Makes,” which treats the friendships of adolescent girls with seriousness and sensitivity while reflecting on past interactions through the lens of modern feminism and the MeToo movement, “Julia and Sunny” where a couple reveals their own biases and blindspots through their insights (or lack thereof) into their friends’ divorce, “Likes” where a father tries to understand his daughter through her Instagram account around the time of the 2016 election (the connection this story makes between teen influencer speak and 45’s bombast is simply brilliant), and “Bedtime Story” where a father’s bedtime anecdote sets off a wife’s interior journey through the darkest moments of their relationship (the way time moves here and in “Many A Little Makes” reminds me a lot of Alice Munro). So many standouts in this collection, all funny, human, and wise.
June 28, 2021
Liked Not Loved ...
This collection of short stories has been sitting on my TBR for awhile. I usually don’t read too many short story collections because I like to fully immerse myself into one singular narrative, BUT when you’re having a busy week, short stories feel like less of a commitment. You can enjoy a snackable story each day!
There isn’t one central theme in Likes, each story really is its own thing. Bynum’s writing is so direct and fluid I could just sop up her words off the page. She has a rare ability to place you in the middle of someone’s life and instantly you know who this person is and what they are feeling. I could connect with each character’s story right away.
There are nine stories in the collection and the characters range from indie actresses, a burglar, a writer, tween girls, married couples and parents. My favourite story was Many A Little Makes, which was about 3 tween girls and that awkward age when you aren’t sure who you are but somehow your friendships define it for you.
There are quite a few stories that connect what you once thought you knew about a given situation or yourself and how you reconcile with it now. I found the stories that centred on one main character’s POV more successful. I think it’s very challenging to write multiple POVs in a 20-30 page story so that’s why I wasn’t in love with Likes.
These are slow burning, character pieces that aren’t for readers looking for action-packed page turners. BUT if you love to dip into subtle complexity you might give this one a thumbs up.
This collection of short stories has been sitting on my TBR for awhile. I usually don’t read too many short story collections because I like to fully immerse myself into one singular narrative, BUT when you’re having a busy week, short stories feel like less of a commitment. You can enjoy a snackable story each day!
There isn’t one central theme in Likes, each story really is its own thing. Bynum’s writing is so direct and fluid I could just sop up her words off the page. She has a rare ability to place you in the middle of someone’s life and instantly you know who this person is and what they are feeling. I could connect with each character’s story right away.
There are nine stories in the collection and the characters range from indie actresses, a burglar, a writer, tween girls, married couples and parents. My favourite story was Many A Little Makes, which was about 3 tween girls and that awkward age when you aren’t sure who you are but somehow your friendships define it for you.
There are quite a few stories that connect what you once thought you knew about a given situation or yourself and how you reconcile with it now. I found the stories that centred on one main character’s POV more successful. I think it’s very challenging to write multiple POVs in a 20-30 page story so that’s why I wasn’t in love with Likes.
These are slow burning, character pieces that aren’t for readers looking for action-packed page turners. BUT if you love to dip into subtle complexity you might give this one a thumbs up.
January 22, 2021
Rather than sharply defined short stories, these are all fuzzy around the edges. I felt as though I had wandered into and occasionally out of someone else’s life with all their daily, tedious chores to observe and the occasional bit of action. If anything, that’s what unites these tales: the author’s eye for the mundane in relationships. For each of these stories is, at its heart, about a relationship: mother and daughter; childhood best friends; father and daughter; neighbors; someone you might get to know through your job; a med school coterie; etc. Not quite “slices” of relationships but heaping tablespoons of them in a bowl, running together on my tongue so that I had trouble afterwards identifying the essential flavor or strength of any one in particular. And that is the main problem I have with an audiobook of short stories. If I had the print edition or ebook, I could dip into it between novels or when I wanted to complete something in one sitting. Then I may have had the space to fully digest and savor each story individually. Consumed one after the other as an audiobook, they were too similar.
December 24, 2019
Is an interesting use of technique, using just fragments to tell what matters on the story and the Instagram addendums as points to both show change and push forward the story.
June 12, 2022
A variety of interesting stories.
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