Qualcuno che ti ami in tutta la tua gloria devastata

by Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Marco Rossari (Translator)

Un uomo e una donna che saltano tutte le fermate della metropolitana della loro vita in attesa dell’occasione giusta. Due sposi costretti dai parenti a sacrificare caproni per assicurarsi la felicità futura. Uno scienziato che fa avanti e indietro da un universo parallelo in cui ha fatto solo le scelte giuste. E altri quindici racconti dal creatore di BoJack Horseman pieni di umorismo e sincerità sul sentimento più bello e su quello più terribile: l’amore. Quindici racconti in cui l’ironia più amara diventa un bisturi affilatissimo che taglia i nodi delle relazioni umane, che seziona le nostre fragilità, il desiderio di essere amati, di essere riconosciuti dall’altro, la nostra ricerca di qualcosa che illumini le ombre che ci portiamo dentro.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Contemporary, Romance, Humor, Audiobook, Comedy

280 pages, Paperback

First published June 11, 2019

About the author

Raphael Matthew Bob-Waksberg is an American comedian, writer, producer, actor, and voice actor. He is known as the creator and showrunner of the animated comedy series BoJack Horseman. He is also an executive producer on the animated series Tuca & Bertie.

Reviews

[Cindy Pham]

8/4/2024: reread because my friend was reading it. still a very solid audiobook. some of the stories are kinda "i'm a millennial and think this is deep" BUT for the most part it's still creative and thoughtful. would rec to anyone who enjoys bojack horseman.

---

I really enjoyed listening to all the voice actors narrate the stories via audiobook. Although not all the stories hit the mark, it’s clear that Bob-Waksberg has a vast imagination and is able to put together some really creative, funny, and thoughtful short tales. I appreciate his willingness to experiment with different types of narratives and surrealism.

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

i snatched this arc up because Raphael Bob-Waksberg is the creator of bojack horseman. i like my entertainment to be on the sadder side of the emotional spectrum, and bojack is the saddest show on television. do not come at me waving your this is us/million little things banners, because you’re not winning this one - between the writing, the vocal talents, and whatever the tragic analogue to comedic timing is, bojack's got the trophy for 'saddest' sewn up. and i know it takes several villages to create a teevee show, and sometimes their creators’ll create a thing and then wander off to go create another thing, leaving the showrunners in charge of all that follows, but i was confident that this guy's sensibilities would make for some short stories that would kick me in my feelingparts.

and i was not disappointed.

no, wait, actually, at first, i WAS disappointed. here’s the thing - my looking-back sense of this book as a whole is very positive. however, the second half of the collection was stronger than the first, and it took me a while to start digging it.

i am telling you this because i always feel compelled to review short story collections piece by piece because my life is full of poor time-management decisions, so, if you are reading this (because YOUR life is full of poor time-management decisions), you may read my mini-reviews of the early stories and too-hastily conclude, “oh, so this is a collection of meh stories,” but you would be as wrong in thinking this as you would be in thinking that this is us compares to a bojack in terms of its searing heartblistering devastation -- i.e. very wrong.

so to begin:

the first two are pretty much throwaway pieces. not that they aren't enjoyable, but they are very brief ( < 2 pages) nonstories

Salted Circus Cashews, Swear to God
★★★★☆

this isn't really a story so much as it is a thematic introduction; the risk v. reward of romantic relationships factor heavily in this collection, in which vulnerability is a recurring factor.



love is one of those trust falls that will most certainly make a fool out of you, but what if, comes the whisper, the slick devil persuasion, what if it’s different this time?

the symbolism is kind of fucking genius - using the olde snake in a can gag to invoke those tremulous ‘once bitten, twice shy’ beginning stages of any relationship; all the promises - This time there is no snake waiting, but there’s also an insidious underlayer of salesmanship to the pitch - a “you know you want to” invitation to open that can that invokes a different snake - the one whose persuasive talents led to that very first couple’s very first discord and therefore responsible for every breakup ever.

all in under 2 pages.

so - will you or won’t you? do you dare?



SIDENOTE - i also really like the playfulness with fonts that occurs in this story and several others throughout the collection. it’s weird and wonky and fun.



short stories
★★★★☆

a series of ten... what to call these? too long to be epigrams, not didactic enough to be aphorisms, too interconnected to be flash fiction, too bleak to be greeting cards.

let's call them bojack outtakes, because this:

7. "I don't even think about you," he couldn't wait to tell her, just as soon as she called him back.

calls to mind the sulking huff of a very drunk horse, and

6. "I never thought I could be this happy," she imagined one day saying to someone.

gives me the same sobbing-heart feelings as most of princess caroline’s storylines.



okay, and now the "real" stories begin. i very much liked those first two pieces, but they were too short to really stick in my reader-craw. i spent much more time writing those words and looking for those pictures just now than i did reading the stories in the first place, once again proving that all my time management decisions are bad ones. no more pictures!

A Most Blessed and Auspicious Occasion
★★★☆☆

unfortunately, this one didn't wow me. it’s a fine story, but as the first long piece in the book, i needed a bigger hook to land me. it's a solid three star; it's well-constructed and the lampooning of wedding culture is probably really enjoyable for readers who have gone through the experience themselves or have been to more than two weddings in the past 15 years. it just didn't inspire any strong feelings in me one way or another, even though i do appreciate all the splattery goat-slaughter parts. is it weird that i relate to that more than i relate to a wedding ceremony? should i bother unpacking that or would that be another one of those wastes of time? self-scrutiny = always a waste! moving on!

Missed Connections--m4w
★★★☆☆

i promise you, my feelings for this book WILL skew positive. just not yet. this one seemed like another little throwaway piece and in fact it originally appeared on craigslist in the missed connections section. coming across it there, i think i would have been more delighted. its placement here, at the start of what is already a fairly shaky collection, is less so. it's a cute modern prufrockian urban love story about a love that coulda been, but again - it’s very brief (a full FOUR pages this time) and i haven't been landed yet. but i’m going to be landed - you’ll see.

The Serial Monogamist's Guide to Important New York City Landmarks ★★★☆☆

okay, it’s not this one, but again, this is a good story - it’s sweet and nostalgic and perfectly fine and relatable - especially for someone who has lived and loved all over NYFC and understands perfectly how many places are past-haunted and inspire flashback montages of happy and crappy romances. it just didn’t give me anything i hadn’t encountered elsewhere in my reading life. decent story, no fireworks.

We Men of Science
★★★☆☆

this is the one i liked the least. i know - so far this review is a drag, but right now we are only on page 45 and there are more than 200 pages to go and soon you’ll forget all about these iffy ones just like i did. this one has fun doodles, including CATS! but it’s also a sci-fi-lite story with alternate realities and, i guess, multiple ways to screw up your relationships. perfectly acceptable as a story, just not my thing. you will probably like it more than i did because we are different people. however, this one does have one of the most bojack-y* ruminations:

Perhaps a better me would have done the right thing and left, or a worse me wouldn’t have worried about it, just indulged in the transgression, but I am only as good as I am, and I could only do what the person as good as I am could do.

A statue isn't built from the ground up—it's chiseled out of a block of marble—and I often wonder if we aren't likewise shaped by the qualities we lack, outlined by the empty space where the marble used to be. I'll be sitting on a train. I'll be lying awake in bed. I'll be watching a movie; I'll be laughing. And then, all of a sudden, I'll be struck by the paralyzing truth: It's not what we do that makes us who we are. It's what we don't do that defines us.

Lies We Told Each Other (a partial list)
★★★★☆

a bitterbleak comedy, in outline form, bullet-pointing a couple’s relationship arc—all the empty reassurances, promises, self-delusions, and gaslighting that goes into maintaining a healthy modern relationship. another brief one, but it’s astute and funny, plus it gets points for successfully suggesting the entire body of a relationship using only these skeletal snippets.

These Are Facts
★★★★☆

i don’t know what the hell i think about this one. this is the problem with reviewing each and every story when NOBODY ASKED YOU TO. on the one hand, i’m interested enough in the characters and the situation to want to read more - like, i think i could read a whole novel with these characters, or maybe a salinger-style story cycle. on the other hand, isn’t that supposed to be one of the hallmarks of a “good” short story - that it leaves you wanting more? WWRCD (in which RC is raymond carver, duh) i don’t know - i still feel like a short story dummy in many ways, as far as what they are “supposed” to “do” and what i, as a reader, am meant to “get” out of them. i liked a lot of moments in this story, i folded over a few pages because of an especially lovely turn of phrase or insight, but i’m not sure what, if anything, it left me with. for a story that ends with the words Yeah. I know, i really really don’t.

Lunch with the Person Who Dumped You
★★★★☆

another little bitty comedic interlude of a story. it’s that thing when you’re meeting someone for dinner but you’re hungry NOW and you shove whatever’s handy into your face to tide you over and it’s not that you don’t enjoy the eating of it but you’re really ready for dinner to happen.

RUFUS
★★★★★

this is dinner happening. this is the story that started turning it around for me. fun fact: i don't usually love dog-voiced stories, but this one made me smile and got me all soft in the heart. in a book filled with love stories, this one--about the waxing and waning of a human romance seen through the fuzzy filter of doggy-understanding -- this is the one that got me a little choked up.

ManMonster scratches my back and he makes a noise like, "Rufus rufus rufus." And I know that noise "Rufus" can mean many things. Sometimes "Rufus" means "I am happy to see you" and sometimes it means "I am upset," and this time I discern that it means both things at once.

he is Goodog.

Rules for Taboo
★★★★☆

another tiny (3-page) story, but coming as it did after a GREAT story, i was more pleasantly disposed towards it. on the one hand, this story is an instruction-booklet for how to play the board game taboo. on the other hand, it's an instruction-booklet for why couples shouldn't play games, in mixed company, that encourage the sharing of personal history because what begins as an innocent night of fun can quickly turn into an airing of grievances and too much insight into a relationship's stress fractures.

also: title-sighting!

Up-and-Comers
★★★★★

this one is the one. my favorite. it has so much energy and is so much fun. it’s one of the longest ones in the collection (it might even be the longest - it’s either this or the penultimate story, but i REFUSE to do any math/research into the matter because i am LEARNING how to be more judicious about my time expenditures - have you even NOTICED the lack of pictures?)

if you know me, you might think it is strange that my favorite story in this collection is about the exploits of a rock band who are also superheroes. i know me and i think it is strange, but it is more about the very small and ordinary human things that are happening underneath all the flash and glamor of being in a rock band and being superheroes and it is deeply moving and sweet in its most quietly uneventful moments and it got me all over. this isn’t true spoiler, but it is a maybe-spoiler to someone because it is the end of the story. it doesn’t, you know, reveal the name of the murderer or anything. also, spoiler alert, there isn’t a murderer.

i just liked it. so i typed it.

I remember one time I asked Iris if she was afraid to die. This was when we were trapped in the Man-Pig Pit of Dimension K and it really looked like we might not make it home. Iris said, afraid or not, it didn't really matter. That the thing about death is that it's terrifying and overwhelming and it can happen at any moment. And when we're confronted with death we can either be cowardly or we can be brave, but either way we're going to die, so...

And I thought, Whoa, that's dark.

But here I was, sitting in my childhood bedroom with a guitar. The Up-and-comers were over and done with and it was just Lizzy and me and it was the afternoon and it was summer in Tulsa and Lizzy was lying on my bed, looking as calm and beautiful as I had ever seen her, and she was asking me to play her something I had written.

And I thought about how, actually, if you wanted to, you could say the same thing about life. That life is terrifying and overwhelming and it can happen at any moment. And when you're confronted with life you can either be cowardly or you can be brave, but either way you're going to live.

So you might as well be brave.

Move across the country
★★★★☆

another l’il shorty: 2 pages, second-person, a short sad circle about the self-defeating patterns of behavior in a depressive cycle - recognizing the ways in which it causes relationships to end but unable to avoid it happening again and again - but maybe it will be different this time.

snakes rattling in a can.

You Want to Know What Plays Are Like?
★★★★★

i did not think i was going to like this one. it seemed gimmicky - ANOTHER second person pov, right on the heels of the ministory preceding it, plus a theater-focus, but then it really expanded into something… else and became a funny-sad little powerbomb of a story, one of the strongest in the collection.

I TOLD YOU IT WAS GOING TO GET BETTER! are you still here? probably not, but that’s fine, now i can just talk about you behind your back.

the poem
★★★☆☆

i don’t have any feelings about this one, but i will say that he manages his rhyme scheme and scansion much better than lang leav ever has.

The Average of All Possible Things
��★★★★

yes, this one YEEEEESSSSSSSS!! sooo, this one maybe hit a little too close to home. not necessarily the details, but the feels. like lucinda, i am regular, and average, and boring, and fine. and my life and opportunities and expectations?

Everything was beige, and stucco, and fine.

and all the other stuff?

The truth was Lucinda never even wanted to work there in the first place; she just kind of fell into the position, the same way she seemed to always just kind of fall into everything. A person as unexceptional as Lucinda doesn't live a life as much as a life just floods in around her, filling up whatever empty space a life should be occupying.

that’s me in a nutshell these days. i’m not proud of this wallow, but things in my life are still trending sour. (since you’re not here anymore, i feel okay about being a little confessional and self-pitying) this story described so many of my moods, i just had to love it.

More of the You That You Already Are
★★★★☆

FRANKLIN PIERCE IS MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.
that is all.

We will be close on Friday 18 July
★★★★☆

aaaaand the book closes with a one-page downer of a story. which is the perfect way to end a book. this book, any book.

so you see - (not that you are still here to see) - now that i have finished reviewing this, i’ve already forgotten reviewing, let alone reading the earlier, less-satisfying stories, and i’m left with an overall glow of appreciation for this book.

and maybe you have saved a life or birthed a baby or prevented a crime and made a more lasting contribution to the world in the time it took me to self-indulgently prattle on about all of my thoughts and feels about some short stories, but iiiii did all this while wearing a onesie with a monkey on it, so i win the cozy trophy.


* bojack the show. this feel more like a diane moment. HOLY SHIT I JUST REALIZED WHAT A NERD I AM!!!

come to my blog!

[emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

charmer alert.

the stories varied widely in quality for me...some were like a 1 page dream and some were 45 page snoozefests...but they were all at least low level amusing.

that is more than most books can say. or youtube videos. or meals. or social events. or a lot of life, i guess.

something to think about.

bottom line: fun!!!

--------------------
tbr review

you've got my attention!!!

[Sophia Judice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'M OBSESSED!!!!! I knew I had to read this when I saw that it was written by the creator of Bojack Horseman, and I can confidently say that this book exceeded my expectations by leaps and bounds. Raphael Bob-Waksberg's writing is painfully and beautifully vulnerable, engaging, raw, complex, and evocative. Every story perfectly mimicked a stream of consciousness, drawing me in further to every character. The stories are melancholic, bizarre, oddly relatable, and honest with expertly crafted outlandish metaphors and and poignant anecdotes about love and humanity. I can't wait to see what else Bob-Waksberg has in store :)

[Emily B · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a little hit and miss for me but I liked the originality, variety of stories and the range of formats. However it wasn't as emotional or ground breaking as I was hoping for.

[Kathryn S (Metaphors and Miscellanea) · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I heard the creator of BoJack Horseman had published a book, I knew three things for certain:

1. I had to read it.
2. It would destroy me.
3. I would love it.

Now, I will confess that I also initially had some reservations. Obviously, Raphael Bob-Waksberg writes well for television. BoJack Horseman is a brilliant show that makes you cackle with laughter but also brings you to tears (for me, those tears are figurative, but some of my friends have literally sobbed over it, so yeah, it gets heavy). Could his signature wit translate just as well to the page? Would the monologues and ruminations that make BoJack so compelling fall flat when not spoken aloud by an anthropomorphic horse in Will Arnett’s voice?

I needn’t have worried. This is an absolute gem, and just in time for the end of the year, it has skated onto my list of best-reads-of-2019. Actually, it’s more of a fancy necklace, made up entirely of stories that are polished gems in and of themselves. By turns side-splitting and gut-wrenching, Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory is a kaleidoscopic view of love in all its forms, fractals and colors shifting from dating to marriage, friendship to family, joy to despair. Though thematically unified, the individual stories never feel repetitive or redundant, each taking a slightly different take on what it means to love in this day and age (though not necessarily always in this world).

The writing here is top-notch, and the author really shows off his linguistic virtuosity here in a way that a single novel, or even a single TV show, could. His characters range from teens to adults (and one dog), and while many stories are in the typical first- or third-person, Bob-Waksberg also takes some stylistic risks, with multiple stories told in second-person (either as narratives or as imperatives), as well as some lists and a poem. I was thoroughly impressed at how easily he was able to shift to different tones and voices for his varied characters, even going so far as to alter his page alignment (justified or not) in certain sections, or to choose when sentences would ramble and when to make them elegant. He casually buries philosophical brilliance in paragraphs of sarcastic sniping, but it always feels entirely fitting, not jarring or pretentious. It just…works.

By way of summary, let’s just say that this book includes:

- Practical jokes
- Depressing reflections
- Goat sacrifices
- ManMonster
- A literal game of Taboo
- Bad choices
- Spooky hexagons
- Lots of fun playing with font style and size on chapter titles
- Parallel dimensions
- Greeting cards
- Awkward dates
- “SPIN! THAT! WHEEL!”
- A Frankenstein-esque monster that is a genetically reconstructed hybrid of the first ten US presidents, all rolled into one

…and so much more! The rest of this review, for the sake of my sanity and yours alike, will be a rundown of the individual stories, followed by a lengthy section of my favorite quotes from the book, because I flagged quite a few of them, and I think they might give you a better idea of what actually happens in this one. With all that said…let’s go.

THE STORIES
Salted Circus Cashews, Swear to God – a short but oddly brilliant reflection on the difficulty and complexity of trusting someone when entering a new relationship…told through the metaphor of a can of cashews that may or may not have a spring-snake-toy inside. This was a perfect start to the collection and basically dissolved any uncertainty I felt about whether this would be a good read.

short stories – vignettes that point out all the inherent contradictions in the complex world of love and dating (For example: 3. “You’re not like other girls,'” he said to every girl.)

A Most Blessed and Auspicious Occasion – a hilarious hyperbolic satire of wedding culture, complete with goat sacrifices and a Shrieking Chorus

Missed Connection–m4w – a trippy, sad sort of story about hesitating to act and the possible painful results thereof

The Serial Monogamist’s Guide to Important New York City Landmarks – meditative, very real exploration of the way that, the longer you stay in a place, the more you come to associate specific memories (especially negative ones) with specific locations, leaving ghosts on every street

We Men of Science – sci-fi, parallel universes, and a billion ways to screw up your own life when you start to make assumptions about “your” world and the other lives you intersect with

Lies We Told Each Other (a partial list) – a sketch of a relationship, from beginning to painful end, rendered in single brushstroke phrases that paint a sparse-yet-totally-specific picture of the way things can deteriorate over time.

These Are Facts – probably the one I liked least in the collection, following a teenage girl’s reunion with her estranged half-brother on a family vacation. I liked the writing, but the story itself didn’t hook me quite enough.

Lunch with the Person Who Dumped You – a short, fun take on what to do when you have that awkward request for a reunion lunch, and how to navigate every possible outcome. The flippant, gameshow-like narration lets this one really sing.

Rufus – oh my god, this story both broke and warmed my heart. It’s told entirely through a dog’s point of view, as he sees his owner enter and fall out of a relationship…and how his unflinching loyalty makes him unmistakably Goodog.

Rules for Taboo – when game night is both a literal poor choice and a metaphor for poor real-life choices

Up-and-Comers – superheroes in a band, lots of drinking, dysfunctional friendships, poor relationship choices…in other words, a bizarre and fascinating story that takes a totally absurd premise to explore a wide variety of important ideas

Move across the country – or, how sadness and poor choices will continue to follow you, no matter how far you go

You Want to Know What Plays Are Like? – my other favorite, this blurs together expectations about theater and how difficult parts of family history can’t be escaped, in art or in real life

the poem – okay, I’ve read and written a lot of poetry, but I’ve got to say, the rhyming and meter and inflection in this piece are among the best I’ve read in a very long time. (Not ever, but contemporary poets seem to struggle with this, so, you know, I'm impressed.) And on top of it, this wacky poem manages to tell an entire story as well, in a sort of sing-song that even further heightens the story

The Average of All Possible Things – when an average girl with an average life and an average job has a rough breakup, but admitting things aren’t quite average is a little too hard

More of the You That You Already Are – another case of the absurd premise with serious underpinnings: a guy who plays Chester A. Arthur at a theme park based on US presidents, whose park is being taken over by some misguided scientists, but who also has a sister with cancer who he cares very deeply about

We will be close on Friday 18 July – takes a typo on a sign and turns it into a sort of wistful musing on what could have been. A fittingly melancholy conclusion to this collection.

FAVORITE QUOTES

“A statue isn’t built from the ground up–it’s chiseled out of a block of marble–and I often wonder if we aren’t likewise shaped by the qualities we lack, outlined by the empty space where the marble used to be. I’ll be sitting on a train. I’ll be lying awake in bed. I’ll be watching a movie; I’ll be laughing. And then, all of a sudden, I’ll be struck by the paralyzing truth: It’s not what we do that makes us who we are. It’s what we don’t do that defines us.”

“You did it kind of as a joke and kind of for real, the way eighteen-year-olds do everything.”

“FACT: The things that are the most important aren’t shared; they are important only to us…No one can ever really understand the tangle of experiences and passions that make you who you are. It’s a secret collection, a private language, a pebble in your pocket that you play with when you’re anxious, hard as geometry, smooth as soap.”

“‘Fine!’ she said. ‘Enjoy your fucking married life with your fucking husband and your fucking house in the fucking suburbs with your fucking white fucking picket fucking fence fucking fucking.'”

“I loved Mutt, in that way that you love something when you’re at a place in your life when you’re ready to love something and there’s a thing there that you can love.”

“If ends are encoded in every beginning, we wonder,
then what is the point?”

“One night at a bar, you pick up a hobby of a person that somehow grows into a habit–a person whose flaws sparkle off yours in glorious coruscating patterns; a person who gets to know not just the you you sometimes show, but the you you truly are; a person who–when you weren’t looking–slipped a naked, wounded heart into the pocket of your jacket with a bow and a note that said, ‘handle with care.'”

“It turns out making an asshole a president just means you end up with an asshole president. Probably could’ve guessed that–being president doesn’t change you, not really; it just brings out more of the you that you already are.”

“He used to call her a koala because of the way she wrapped herself around him in bed, like a koala on a branch. She had wrapped her whole life around him, like a koala on a branch. And now the branch was gone and Lucinda had to deal with the fact that her life was now wrapped around nothing–which of course was all perfectly normal. All the pain Lucinda now felt was normal. The emptiness was normal. The harsh incinerating b boring awful raw barren obsessive numb five-hundred-volt nothingness now completely consuming her was so totally average.”

“A poem’s a thing that is hard to pin down, though the words
pile up in your head.
A person’s a thing that is tricky to read, but it’s trickier
yet to feel read.”

Tl;dr – shut up, drop what you’re doing, and read this book right now.

It’s just that good. If you’re single and content, if you’re stressed about dating, if you’re in a happy relationship, if you’re struggling with family issues, if you love dogs…this book has something relatable for everyone, no matter how happy or sad or loveless or in love you are. Just go ahead and dive in. And don't forget to have some tissues on hand.

[Al · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read an Atlantic article about this book, and it was laudatory enough to make me think about reading this collection. I then saw the author in person at a publicity event. Raphael Bob-Waksberg came across as emotionally intelligent and funny, and peers of his (Jonny Sun and others) lauded him too, so I bought the book.

Perhaps my expectations for this particular book were too high -- in his publicity event, Bob-Waksberg talked confidently (if sarcastically) about how he was a good writer. And I'd already read a lot of nice things about it.

Perhaps, also, my standards are too high. I love short stories, and I read a lot of them. I particularly love Keret, Kishon, and Murakami's various collections of shorts.

Regardless, I was surprised that this book was largely terrible. I'm sorry to say it, because Bob-Waksberg really came off as a nice person. But most of the stories in this collection are trite, over-contrived, and cliche. Bob-Waksberg uses over-detailed absurdity in some of the short stories -- in the first two stories, it was funny. But he did it in short story after short story, making it an annoying hack, a cheap trick to replace substance. To his credit, Bob-Waksberg is creative; a lot of the story ideas are inventive and fun. But his execution of these ideas is mediocre and uncompelling. People have lauded his book as emotionally resonant, but I personally don't find this to be true -- at least, not compared with masters of subtle emotional evocativeness like Keret and Murakami. In terms of comedy, I guess I have also been spoiled by the causal satirical brilliance of Kishon.

I am surprised this book has had such a good reception thus far, and I am honestly confused by it. For readers yearning for what this book, in those many positive reviews, claims to be, I suggest reading one of the three guys I mentioned above. Keret's stories accurately depict emotions that cannot easily be said, while Bob-Waksberg's leave me disappointed.

[Bella · Rating 3 out of 5]

actual rating: 3.5 stars

[liv ❁ · Rating 5 out of 5]

psa: Listen to me when I say listen to the audiobook. My experience was significantly enhanced by listening to the narrators – all actor friends of his (or the author himself for a couple really short ones). The audiobook is seriously one of the best I’ve listened to and this is was an absolute joy to listen to on my daily walks.

As seen in Bojack Horseman, Rafael Bob-Waksberg has a talent for writing absurd stories that delve deep into what it is to be human and have these – usually heartbreaking – relationships. This short story collection is no different. This collection is surreal and a bit silly yet incredibly poignant and thoughtful. Some of these stories are incredibly cynical about love, while others are hopeful. Bob-Waksberg ends his acknowledgments with a thanks to his wife saying, “About half of these stories are from before I met her and half since, and I’m convinced if you lined them all up in the order they were written, you could pinpoint the moment where my heart became whole.” I think he’s right as I could already guess what was written before and after while I was reading.

Not all the short stories have to be 5-stars for a story collection to get 5 stars from me. This is a prime example. While I don’t love every story, this collection was done so well and really grows well, so 5 stars. I think I may love anything this man puts out. The narration also makes every story entertaining, even if some were not for me.

Salted Circus Cashews, Swear to God (read by Raphael Bob-Waksberg) – 5 stars
“Perhaps every can of cashews has a fake snake lurking, but you keep opening them, stupidly, because in your heart of hearts you still believe in cashews.”
Yeah, I am 5-staring the two-page long story that serves in part as an introduction to everything else. It’s clever, it’s funny, and it shows exactly what you’re getting into when you continue this book. So yeah, 5 stars.

short stories (read by a lot of people) – 3.5 stars
“There are two kinds of people, he thought: the people you don’t want to touch because you’re afraid you’re going to break them, and the people you don’t want to touch because you’re afraid they’ll break you.”
Serving as another mini-introduction, this short story consists of ten one-liners about relationships. They’re short and sweet and a bit forgettable, but they get the job done. In the audiobook, they’re also a great introduction to some of the narrators.

A Most BLESSED and AUSPICIOUS OCCASION (read by Raúl Esparza) – 5 stars
“And it kills me that this is all the normal, typical people-in-love stuff, because I want to believe our love is special – that it’s bigger and more interesting than any love that anyone else has had before – but the heartbreaking truth is my love for you is so consistent and predictable and boring.”
This is like Welcome to Nightvale but wedding edition and I ate it up. Bob-Waksberg has a lot of quips about wedding culture and expectations from other people and does it in a very surreal and funny way. I know this one is hit or miss, but I love the surreal aspect and it’s probably my favorite in the entire collection.

Missed Connection – m4w (read by Colman Domingo) – 5 stars
“I wondered if you were crying about anything specific or just the general passage of time, so unnoticeable until suddenly noticeable”
In this story we watch as two people get on the Subway and travel up and down the Q line, debating whether or not they want to talk to each other. It’s a quite sad look at how often connections and opportunities pass us by because of fear to act. These two pass their life by being too scared to act, stuck in some sort of limbo.
Colman Domingo is the MVP of narrators in this book. Both of the stories he does are so enhanced by him narrating them that they were bumped up from 4 to 5 stars.

The Serial Monogamist’s Guide to Important New York City Landmarks (read by Natalie Morales – 3.5 stars
“Was ever a city so ruined by history, so smothered in the blood of past conflagration?”
A baseline entertaining read about how places hold memory.

We Men of Science (read by James Urbaniak) – 5 stars
“Or, worst of all, what if the world on the other side of the door was no better or worse than our own, just different? What if it was just as heavy with war and famine and inequity and cowardice?”
A professor is given the chance to work on a very interesting door that connects opposite worlds. There are a lot of quips about being a professor (like how no student would ever go to office hours for his gen ed requirement of a class) and how the students react towards him which I found to be funny. The relationship between him and his wife was also just incredibly well done. It also is the most quotable and the most Bojackesque one (in my opinion).
I don’t think I liked this short story when I first read it. In fact, it stood out as one of my least favorites when I was thinking about rereading this. There were a few factors that made me change my mind, but none were greater than the absolute perfect narration by James Urbaniak. All of the narrations were excellent, but this was a huge stand out for me and really showed me how well done these narrations were.

Lies We Told Each Other (a partial list) (read by Kimiko Glenn and Raúl Esparza) – 3 stars
“I’m fine.”
Funny and quick one liners from the beginning to the end of a relationship.

These Are Facts (read by Will Brill) – 4 stars
“FACT: The things that are most important aren’t shared; they are important only to us. … You can write it all down, you can put it in your book of facts, but the truth is no one can ever really understand the tangle of experiences and passions that make you who you are. It’s a secret collection, a private language, a pebble in your pocket that you play with when you’re anxious, hard as geometry, smooth as soap.”
A bit of a slice of life family vacation from the point of view of the 18-year-old daughter as she tries to connect with her older half-brother who has been burned quite a lot by her family. It’s slice-of-life-y, but a very fun story to listen to, especially because Will Brill does such a great job playing that older frat bro type. This one also gets better the further you get into it.

Lunch with the Person Who Dumped You (read by Stephanie Beatriz) –3 stars
“This was no great affair, this thing. This was no tragic heartbreak. This was just another thing that happened in a long series of things that happened.”
A quick look at all the types of lunches you could have with someone you just broke up with. Fine, just didn’t do anything for me personally.

Rufus (read by Baron Vaughn) – 4 stars
ManMonster makes noise like, ‘Rufus rufus rufus,’ and he scratches my back and I love him. I love him with everything I am. I love him like he’s a part of myself.”
Animal POVs can be a bit hit or miss for me, but this one was a complete hit. A look at the length of a relationship through the eyes of one of the participant’s dogs (Rufus). This is charming and sad and sweet and made me want to hug my pets.

Rules for Taboo (read by Emma Galvin and Will Brill) – 4 stars
“To us, the future seemed an endless web of possibilities, like the many-branched line of the Long Island Rail Road.”
The epitome of playing party games with a couple that is very obviously going through a rough patch. I just know everyone left their place and talked about this for so long. One of my favorites of the short ones.

up-and-comers (read by Stephanie Beatriz) – 4.5 stars
“That life is terrifying and overwhelming and it can happen at any moment. And when you’re confronted with life you can either be cowardly or you can be brave, but either way you’re going to live. So you might as well be brave.”
A small band looking for gigs and ends up finding superpowers. The catch? They can only use their powers when they are incredibly drunk. While they are saving the world, it’s mainly a background thing as we delve into all kinds of relationships and struggles.
This was another stand-out narration. Stephanie Beatriz is a national treasure.

Move Across the Country (read by Colman Domingo) – 5 stars
“Move across the country and hope the Sadness won’t find you, won’t follow you like a stray dog from coast to coast. Hope the Sadness isn’t just a fog on a leash, shadowing you always. Hope the Sadness can’t be as fleet as you are, hope the Sadness is more rooted.”
What if Colman Domingo just narrated everything ever from now on? Seriously. Everything he speaks is perfection. This one is for all of us who think that moving will solve our problems when deep down we know that the Sadness will always follow and we will always have to confront it. Sad, beautiful, wonderful. A definite favorite.

You Want to Know What Plays Are Like? (read by Emma Galvin) – 5 stars
“And it’s not like that was some big family secret or something, the way she kicked off her shoes, but it feels to you that the act of re-creating it somehow degrades it.”
A woman who hates plays goes to see the play that her brother wrote (you can guess how that goes). This is the embodiment of “Is this fucking play about us??” This is heartbreaking in so many ways and shows how people who experience the same incredibly sad event can process grief in different ways.

the poem (read by Nicholas Gonzalez) – 4 stars
“If ends are encoded in every beginning, we wonder, then what is the point?”
A Valentine’s poem and the aftermath of giving it to someone you’re in a messy, undefined relationship with all told in rhyme.

The Average of All Possible Things (read by Kimiko Glenn) – 2.5 stars
“ ‘For most things, really, the only thing to do is just let there be time.’ “
It is ironic that this is called “The Average of All Possible Things” as this was by far the most average of the bunch. An office romance breakup that I was a bit bored by. This gets the most average rating.

More of the You That You Already Are (read by Nicholas Gonzalez) – 5 stars
"And I think about how loving someone is kind of like being president, in that it doesn't change you, not really. But it brings out more of the you that you already are."
We’ve ended with an absolute banger as this contends with “A Most Blessed and Auspicious Occasion” in terms of my favorite. We follow the man under the Chester A Arthur head at Presidentland as he deals with a terminal illness in the family, bosses not being accommodating/understanding, and a very odd and urgent situation at work. There is a commentary here about how technology advances that aren’t actually better than humans in situations still replace humans and having to choose between being there for your sister or working the job that literally pays all of the bills and I could really feel the stress with this one. Ultimately though, this is a story about a brother and a sister and being there for someone even though it’s the scariest thing in the world. I cried.

We will be close on Friday 18 July – Sorry for any inconvinience (read by Rafael Bob-Waksberg) – 4.5 stars
“And we will realize that Friday 18 July, like every day in history before it, was a moment, a twenty-four-hour trick of the light, a thing that happened once and never again. And that sad truth will just about swallow us whole.”
A fantastic ending written based on a very stupid sign that Bob-Waksberg saw.

__________________
11/01/2022: This is the best short story collection I have ever read - it is heartbreaking and beautiful and slightly absurd in exactly all the ways Bojack is heartbreaking and beautiful and slightly absurd which makes sense because the creator wrote this book but I have never read something that encapsulates human love so many of its forms so well
this will be my personality for at least a few weeks and I apologize in advance

[not my high · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nie jestem tym samym człowiekiem po przeczytaniu tej książki.

Zasługujecie na kogoś, kto pokocha Was w całej Waszej nędznej glorii.

[Joachim Stoop · Rating 2 out of 5]

It seemed right up my alley, but the alley was too shallow and narrow to get throught.
I love Bojack Horseman, but writing TV scripts clearly is an utterly different skill than writing fiction on paper.
It is often silly, superficial, childish, simple and almost never funny- despite it's aim and claim.
Why all the cheering by BJ Novak ans Kelly Link? I guess it has more to do with the Bojack Horseman- reputation than with this not even close-debut.

[po's dad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Someone Who Will Read This Whole Book And Not Like It

[Madeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Catch-22 of Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory is this: the ideal reader for this collection of short stories is someone who has never seen BoJack Horseman, because this book serves as a great intro course to Raphael Bob-Waksberg's particular storytelling style, without ever reaching the incredible heights he achieved with his Netflix show. But the only people who will seek out this book are the ones who are already familiar with the show (which, it cannot be stressed enough, is a cartoon about a talking horse that will make you cry real actual tears).

So maybe there's a chance that this review pops up in the update feed of someone who has never seen the show, but has maybe heard of it, and needs a reason to dip their toe into Bob-Waksberg's writing. If that's the case, and it managed to find you, I encourage you to give this a shot. Some of the stories are silly, some are sad, and some manage to come close to something truly heart-shattering. And then you can go watch BoJack Horseman.

Here, have an overly-long excerpt from "You Want to Know What Plays Are Like?", which I absolutely read in Will Arnett's voice before I realized the speaker was a woman:

"Here is my impression of a play:
Okay, so first you gotta imagine it's a hotel room, right? Just a normal, boring-looking hotel room, on the nice end of things, as far as hotel rooms go. And the audience is coming in, and they're taking their seats in this dinky little theater in lower Manhattan, barely bigger than a Winnebago, this theater with seats that feel like someone just glued down some thin fabric over a block of hard metal. The main thing of a theater - like the whole point of it - is that there's going to be a lot of sitting in it, so you'd think they would at least consider investing in some comfortable chairs. Word to the wise: if they can't even get that part right, which absolutely most of the time they cannot, then buckle the fuck up, because I can tell you right now you are in for an ordeal of an evening.
...So then the play starts and the first thing that happens is two ladies burst into the hotel room, one after another. These ladies are supposed to be sisters, probably, because when plays aren't about hookers, ninety percent of the time they're about sisters. But, of course, because it's a play, these sisters look nothing alike. For starters, one of them's like fifty and the other one's like twenty, because apparently when you're hiring people for plays, it's impossible to find two women who are about the same age.
The older one goes right for the minifridge and pulls out a bottle of white wine, even though since it's a play, the white wine is actually water, if there's even something in the bottle at all, which - spoiler alert for all plays - there probably isn't. The younger lady kicks off her shoes and jumps onto the bed. And they start talking in that very fast, stutter-y I'm-a-character-in-a-play way that guys who write plays think is naturalistic, even though nobody actually talks that way except for people who just tried cocaine for the first time."

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

The things that are the most important aren't shared; they are important only to us. The way your mother rolls her eyes at you, your sudden decision to stop eating red meat, the immediate unexplainable sadness you felt when you saw your father's shirt draped over the back of a chair. You can write it all down, you can put it in your book of facts, but the truth is no one can ever really understand the tangle of experiences and passions that makes you who you are. It's a secret collection, a private language, a pebble in your pocket that you play with when you're anxious, hard as geometry, smooth as soap.

(from "these are facts")

i have deep, complicated love for bojack horseman in all its flawed beauty, so i really wanted to love this short story collection penned by its creator!

someone who will love you in all your damaged glory is super accessible: longer tales are interspersed with lil two-page shorties, which make it easy to keep turning the pages.

like bojack, sometimes it's tender and sad and terribly real. sometimes it's clever and funny, and i often chuckled. but sometimes it tries too hard to be clever and funny, and it comes across as contrived.

since it's bob-waksberg's first book, this is forgivable and not totally surprising... but sometimes the book feels like a collection of writing exercises. there are a few forays into the second person past tense, and there's a story from the POV of a dog. they're fun, and each story contains some nuggets of painful truth. but sometimes it feels a bit gimmicky.

certainly not perfect, but it's an enjoyable book. i particularly liked:

"the serial monogamist's guide to important new york city landmarks," which is about our exes as ghosts who haunt the places we went with them.

"you want to know what plays are like?" which is a bittersweet story about a family mess. bitter because it's terribly sad. sweet because it's beautifully written.

"the average of all possible things" - probably my favorite. it's a breakup story, and all the emotions within are painfully real.

"more of the you that you already are," which took me a while to get into; which takes place at a themepark of dead presidents; and which is weird and funny and sad.

everything is kind of weird and funny and sad.

[Pietrino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ho sempre delle emozioni contrastanti sulle raccolte di racconti. Eh che azzeccarle è difficile, è dura trovare delle raccolte equilibrate. Quelle secondo me che riescono meglio sono quelle che condividono un immaginario comune, o comunque ci portano in un universo condiviso da tutte le storie, ma che allo stesso tempo non ci sia troppa discrepanza tra queste (magari qualcuna molto bella, e altre molto semplici o di poco conto). Per darvi un’idea, per me la Boutique del Mistero e Storie Della Tua Vita di Ted Chiang sono in questo senso delle ottime opere.

Questa raccolta purtoppo non è equilibrata, nel senso che seppur scritta tutta in evidente modo maturo, è anche chiaro che sia stata riservata una cura diversa alle varie storie. Storie scritte dal creatore di Bojack Horseman, e questa cosa sapendola a priori si percepisce anche. Non sapendolo non ci avrei mai pensato, nel senso che è sì presente quell’umorismo cinico che a me piace molto, ma molto piu’ moderato rispetto alla serie.

Ad ogni modo, fatte queste premesse, ci sono 3 storie che valgono da sole i soldi del libro, e sono rispettivamente quella del Matrimonio (fantastica) – quella di Rufus, dove tutto viene visto dal punto di vista di un cane, e infine l’ultima storia sul parco a tema e i presidenti degli Stati Uniti. Quest’ultima è forse quella che mischia meglio male di vivere con il black humor.
Le altre sono o storie simil Lundini, oppure articolate bene ma che finiscono in una specie di "vorrei ma non posso".

Forse non per tutti, ma se vi ho un minimo incuriosito significa allora che vi ho anche convinto.

Ciao Belli,
Peace Off

[Althea ☾ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I just felt my heart swell and fall out.

This is a collection of unconventional short love stories that's perfect for those who love the absurdity, hopeless romanticism, and the off-beat dark humor of it all. (Which makes sense given that this is written by the creator of Bojack Horseman). Each story is so unique whether it's the format that it's written or what it's actually about. Some of these stories went from the most mundane events to something incredibly fantastical (think, Daisy Jones & the Six characters in the plot of Eternals by Marvel) but it all boils down to the same revolving themes around reality, complicated relationships, societal expectations, and going through life with someone you love.

“a person who gets to know not just the you you sometimes show, but the you you truly are; a person who—when you weren’t looking—slipped a naked, wounded heart into the pocket of your jacket with a bow and a note that said, “handle with care”.”

I do think this takes the absurdity up a notch and gives a casual tone to otherwise sensitive topics so I think that you should be prepared for that going in but I loved every bit of it. The different writing formats and style for each story that somehow all had different themes or a distinct aspect to it or “quirky thing” was working so well for me. If you get the humor and the nuance it brings, I think you'll really love this.

↣ This is better read than explained so I just suggest you read this if you like romance and dark humor that makes you believe a little more in the real type of love and everything that comes with loving people. Very highly recommended. ↢

“Better question: What happened to our society to make it so we view damaged things as somehow incomplete?”

— 4.25 —
⇢ content warnings// Cheating, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Overdose (mentioned), Suicide

[lexluvsb00ks · Rating 5 out of 5]

so beautiful and profound and engaging and unique and wonderful. there are books that are objectively wonderful (which this book is) but there are also books that are so wonderful for you, that feel like they were written for you, that remind you how beautiful it is that a complete stranger could write something you feel so connected to. that’s what this book did for me.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spectacular. Bob-Waksberg debuts with a delightfully strange and darkly funny collection. While reading "love stories" about drunk superheroes, sacrificial weddings, inverted universes, and theme parks of dead presidents, a lump caught in my throat, a smile crept across my face, and I gasped, "I know exactly what that feels like!"

[☆LaurA☆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tutti meriteremmo qualcuno che ci ama in tutta la nostra gloria devastata.

"... mentre eri distratto – ti ha fatto scivolare un cuore nudo e ferito nella tasca della giacca insieme a un biglietto con su scritto: «Fragile»."

Eh si, spezzami il cuore e ricomponilo in qualche modo. Fammi ridere, fammi divertire e mentre descrivi una società assurda, che detta regole sull'amore, fammi desiderare quella persona che è qualcosa a metà. Ma è qualcosa? Forse nel senso piú lato della parola «qualcosa». Non è proprio qualcosa ma è qualcosa di piú di niente.

Perché alle volte ci si innamora dell'idea di quella persona, ci si innamora così profondamente che pur di stare insieme si resta sulla metro per sessant'anni, ci si innamora così tanto che al tuo matrimonio finisci per sacrificare caproni al Dio della Pietra e comprare un uovo d’argento Felix Wojnowski, adornato con gemme pregiate e icone religiose.
Sei così triste che vuoi creare una Anti-porta che ti spedisca in un mondo dove il tuo opposto è felice e combinare un casino.
Una raccolta di racconti ironici, cinici ma profondi e riflessivi.
Ognuno leggendo proverà sensazioni diverse da quelle che ho provato io, ma questo è il libro che arriva al qmomento giusto

Ho fatto su un casino con questo commento? Oh beh, questa sono io, ho il potere di incasinare tutto, anche la vita degli altri.

[Sotiria Lazaridou · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 stars for the legendary title, 4 stars for the actual book

this was incredibly funny, amusing and, surprisingly, relatable!!

[fatma · Rating 2 out of 5]

like a 2.5 stars?

i wanted to like this a lot more than i actually did. i think the only story i genuinely enjoyed was the last one. other than that, the stories were okay. they had their standout moments, but as a whole, they werent particularly standout in themselves.

ps: the audiobook is excellent!!! stephanie beatriz is in it!!! and a whole lot of other really excellent narrators!!

[casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

audiobooks the way to go w this one! loved hearing different people reading each story and how animated they got with it. i will admit i went into this expecting it to hit harder than i t does but it was still a fun read w some heartpang-y moments :)

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The truth is, the whole place is just a bunch of assholes. And it turns out making an asshole a president, just means you end up with an asshole-president. Probably could have guessed that. Being president doesn't change you, not really. Just brings out more of the You that you already are.

This is a tough one. I really liked pretty much all these stories... but the thing is that they're not really stories, each feels more like a joke in a stand-up routine... we take something absurd about life and extend it to it's extreme position ("A Most Blessed" is a great example - riffing on the inanity of the wedding industry) and laugh about how silly it is. Even when the story is addressing missed opportunities, lost relationships, or the difficulty in communicating with each other, they feel wry rather than heartfelt. "Missed Connections" for instance spoofs an "I Saw You..." where a couple let their entire lives go by (60ish years catalogued) literally sitting across from each other on the subway and neither starting a conversation nor moving on with their lives. It should be tragic but it reads more as 'aren't these folks idiots?'

Bob-Waksberg writes a great joke (I havent seen Bojack Horseman so don't @me), has a great sense of rhythm, is innovative ("Rufus," the story from the perspective of a dog is incredibly creative), and is a great wordsmith... the narration of these tales was phenomenal, not least because his verbage is hyper with adjectives, alliteration and other wordplay. But nothing here could be made into a (good) long-form story and even the many stories that I truly liked are already fading from memory because they hit their target (a laugh from me) and the aim wasn't for meaningful connection.

Audio is the way to go on this one.

One great line that ended a story that doesn't live up to it's depth:

Life is terrifying and overwhelming, and it can happen at any moment. And when you're confronted with life, you can either be cowardly or you can be brave. But either way you're going to live. So, you might as well be brave.

[michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

started and finished in one sitting at bookpeople ... wow this hit me hard. oof.

"Finally, I would like to thank my wife. About half of these stories are from before I met her and half since, and I'm convinced if you lined them all up in the order they were written, you could pinpoint the moment where my heart became whole." 🥺🥺🥺

[Nadine in California · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was going to give this 4 stars, but after looking at the back cover and seeing that BOTH Grandma Waksberg AND Nana Bob blurbed it so positively, how could I not bump it up to 5? The title is such a perfect introduction to the stories - it's like a little note of encouragement to all the characters in the book not to give up on love, no matter what. I even like the cutely weird cover - a tickled pink background and some little 18th century guy (George Washington? George III? Samuel Johnson?) holding a sign with the title written in Donald J. Trump sharpie.

The stories are clever and fun but always with lots of heart, and sometimes with some lovely writing:

You have friends now, a routine, a coffee shop where someone, as you saunter in, smiles and says, "The usual?" One night at a bar, late, you pick up a hobby of a person that somehow grows into a habit - a person whose flaws sparkle off yours in glorious coruscating patterns; a person who gets to know not just the you you sometimes show, but the you you truly are; a person who - when you weren't looking - slipped a naked, wounded heart into the pocket of your jacket with a bow and a note that said, "handle with care."

Not every story was a 5, but most of them were. The first story, Salted Cashews, Swear to God was two pages of perfection, and I was all in from there. Other favorites: A Most Blessed and Auspicious Occasion; We Men of Science; Rufus; Up-and-Comers; Move across the country (above quote is from this one); and the poem.

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

After hearing great things about this book from Karen and then seeing it on the longlist for the Tournament of Books, I decided to try this one in audio. It was a great decision, what a fun read (I even liked the satire, a rarity for me.) Different actors read different stories, sometimes in teams.

My favorites:
"Most Blessed and Auspicious Occasion" read by Raúl Esparza
"We Men of Science" read by James Urbaniak
"Rufus." read by Baron Vaughn
"Rules for Taboo" read by Will Brill and Emma Galvin

[spillingthematcha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ciekawa koncepcja oraz forma, ale poza tym nie zachwyciła mnie niczym szczególnym.

[Yulia Maleta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Це книжка, яку ти береш у руки з очікуванням чогось дотепного й дивного, а натомість отримуєш ще й добру дозу смутку, ніжності й рефлексії про людське — надто людське.

Мені близький рівень уяви автора. Він не обмежується побутом чи звичними сюжетами, історії розгортаються у дивакуватих декораціях, за якими криється дуже впізнавана правда про кохання, стосунки, біль, розчарування і багато іншого. Тому деякі історії звучать значно правдивіше і відвертіше за традиційні реалістичні оповідання.

Не всі історії зі збірки — мої. Деякі залишилися у зоні «це добре», деякі промайнули повз, а деякі — зависли десь у грудях і не відпускають. Вони дуже різні: від гротеску до справжньої ніжності. Але майже всі — про той маятник, на якому ми гойдаємося, коли любимо: то вперед, до довіри, відвертості й тепла, то назад — до страху, роздратування, втечі.

Іронія тут — як спеція. Без неї було б приторно. Але автор точно знає, коли дати сарказму зіскочити з язика, а коли — просто посидіти поруч із читачем і трохи помовчати про сумне.

Це збірка для тих, хто не шукає «правильних» історій. Для тих, кому цікаво побачити себе у кривому дзеркалі й посміхнутись — крізь сльози чи ні, вже як вийде.

[Iryna K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Мені сподобалось читати цю книжку - вона дотепна, дуже життєва (аж занадто, історії про кохання треба читати з обережністю), і хороша (місцями, місцями робить боляче), а також дуже швидко і просто читається. Не feel good книга, але знаєте, така, що може витягти вас з нечитуна.

[Toni Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

So weird and wonderful. Laugh-in-public funny. Always remember to hire a professional goat slaughterer.