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Bret is such a complex main character. He’s frustrating, relatable, paranoid, and passionate. The story so far is also building in an interesting way. The ambiguity of the storytelling so far, and the way Bret’s finality as a result of hindsight contrasts with it is veryyy good. Bret and Ryan’s relationship as well… very sweet. Their interactions are so endearing and give Bret’s character a lot of depth.

Thin Air: Painfully mediocre… I find absolutely no appeal to this story to be honest. No thoughts.

Canterville and Cock: I guess I was still reeling from No Ghost Ghost Story and The Undiscovered Country while reading this because I have such little recollection of the plot. I don’t even remember sitting down to read this. Those two stories really had me floating through life in the week after reading them. Idk.

No Ghost Ghost Story & The Undiscovered Country: The reason I stopped updating for a while… this one fully broke me. Nothing to say really. Easily the best story in the entire collection… no contest. Beautifully touching story about living through grief in which the love between two people doesn’t go anywhere after the death of one. Love written so tangibly you could bask in it. I want to cry so bad.

The Door: This story was so so sweet… as a lesbian with gender dysphoria the scene of the main couple watching the memory of the past lovers be separated in such a brutal way was intimate and devastating. However, I’m a sucker for a happy ending that leaves me feeling floaty after reading.

Boots: I loved how much you got from the change in perspective. I enjoyed this version of the story a bit more than A Fur Coat, but that may just be because of the knowledge I already had from Max’s perspective going into it. Definitely enhanced the story a lot. Honestly, the themes didn’t appeal to me a ton, but it was undeniably well-written.

A Fur Coat: Still reeling from this one... I find stories in which characters undergo transformations without them being able to stop, or even recognize it, so deeply unsettling.
Max's character is so well written. I didn't even realize how much of her characterization lied in the narration until I read 'Boots,' and the difference between her narration and Jonny's is so skillful. Winterson the woman you are...

The Spare Room: I loved this one so much, I thought the ending was very sweet and satisfied the emotions I was feeling throughout the story. It doesn't have the world-building or the complexities of some of the other stories, but I honestly prefer a simple ghost story about change and letting go. A haunted house motif will always get me going... Shirley Jackson the impact you had on me...

Ghost in the Machine: This story was much more thought-provoking and unique than the last two, but I'm still glad to be done with this part of the book. I think I gave this section a fair chance despite my distaste for this sub-category of horror, but I immediately started having way more fun once I got the the "Places" set of stories. GitM itself is alright, kind of a drag, but does pose some interesting questions..

Two short stories in, my main issue is the preachiness of the "Devices" section. Maybe it's because of my extremely different experience with technology as an 18 year old compared to Winterson, a middle-aged woman, but her critiques of social media feel very played out. Not to say there's no critiques to be made, I've gotten rid of almost all social medias I've ever had. I hope this issue goes away in the next part.

The Old House at Home: This story would be so much better if the VR part was left out completely in favor of the MC reaching the in-between state through an analog séance. It added nothing besides cheapening the messaging about isolation. Other than that I enjoyed it. It was a bit of a headache to understand, but that was definitely intentional in an effort to emulate the MC's perspective. Very Henry James in a way.

App-arition: Bad start to the collection. The writing is good, if a bit plain, but the messaging is very played out. When writing a dystopian commentary tech-focused ghost story in a post-Black Mirror world one must be sure they're saying something at least a little original. I've honestly never even watched Black Mirror and yet I feel like I've heard this story five times before.

We need to talk about pacing. Brownstein will be telling a story that takes place during the Dig Me Out era, then go on a tangent about an anecdote from The Woods, then allude to a relationship she had during an unspecified time, then back to the original story she was telling without any indication of where she's at in the timeline or what reason there is for these timejumps. Many instances of confusing storytelling

It gives me an ego boost whenever I'm able to recognize any names or bands that are mentioned. There are some you'd expect to see, being fairly familiar with the Pacific Northwest scene at the time and knowing the other projects of SK members (Team Dresch, Excuse 17, Heavens to Betsy, Helium, etc.) but also ones I was pleasantly surprised to see (Unwound, Cat Power, Tiger Trap, etc.)!

I'm realizing how much I relate to Brownstein, both in our shared personal experiences with tumultuous family dynamics and the feeling of intruding on things you love and are passionate about. But also as a baby-faced, anxious person with a surprisingly apathetic inner dialogue, something I don't particularly like about myself. I'm in the thick of the drama right now (post-Dig Me Out era), and hungry for more to come

Definitely wouldn't be so interesting if I weren't already invested in 90's girl band rpf. However, I am, so this is pretty good so far. I also really love how complex and sometimes apathetic Brownstein's inner monologue is and that she doesn't sugarcoat anything at all. Makes for a very layered emotional experience.