PATRICK > Recent Status Updates

There are books you want to read slowly to savor it. It’s rare but it’s this one. Throughout the day, I think about each person’s life documented here, all their pains and tribulations. Maybe I’ll slow down.

The titular story issssssss..... has too many lumberjack jargons..... it's not cool, i'm feeling offffff

litrally i hate this, i want to dnf so bad but ive got like 30 pages

I always do this: when I write pages of notes in my notebook but as the pages fly by, I do it less and less until I don't anymore. Scrimmages was good, reminds me of unconventional coaches/ teacher stories but with a small town Guatemalan feel (IDK how to explain it) but I love the way that Lemus never exoticize GT but you still feel GT. 4/5 Nothing earth-shattering or mind-blowing but still some good writing.

I usually get through short story collections a lot slower but I'm just enamored by like living with the characters of Lemus: a womanizing driver, a caretaker of a river, a robber, tattoo artist... some affected me more than others. So far, my favorite, is the 2nd one--I wrote the most notes on it about morality and how it's more than who's right or who's wrong.

In Ofrenda, such a strong start to a collection, is such an ominous and wild story. Just the title itself is so eeriee. I really connected with the descriptions and the construction of Guatemala. It feels like I'm expreriencing GT. Because I've seen also firsthand witchdoctors and 'unique' belief systems in the Philippines, I identify with the story a lot. It's one of those feelings I get: is this reprsentation? 5/5

my gosh horrendous what happened to the protagonist

Just beautiful

"you are not lucky, you are blessed"
"i didn't hate who i was, i hated that others hated it"

Thanks to my good judy, Kindle Unlimited

i think i lost the book...............................................

Will I finish this in one hour? At 5am? Yes??? Yes. Come on, Ms Rooney, give me the a good ending

In the middle of a long one (70 page short story! this feels like the stories my uni professors assign), I do feel some redemption. I also read the last "story" which is a critique of his own work and saw what he was trying to do with all the stories. He's maybe a genius. I'm teetering between four and five stars.

Okay, by the middle of this fourth, it felt too gimmicky for me or maybe repetitive. We have this character... maybe something's off with them, and then slowly reveal how much of a scumbags they are, and then just keep shocking everyone as each page, they get worse. I love him but it's getting too one-note. I like that it makes sense that the entire collection is cohesive.

Tulathimutte is absolutely depraved! I love him!!! The third short story gets crazy!!!! While consistent with his theme of absolute losers imploding their own lives, this one’s gay and repressed. The first one desires attention, second intimacy, and third one power through sex.

Not as fun as the first story in this collection because of how similar they are in essence, “Pics” is unhinged and depressing. I’m feeling a thread here for Tulathimutte—his characters are all sad and online.

THE FEMINIST feels fresh, exhilarating, and hilarious. These are the types of short stories I imagine 2024 fiction represents. Not a single sentence is wasted. I’m excited to read the next story.

i feel like i know who the killer is since page 30 hopefully im right