Jessie (Zombie_likes_cake)'s Reviews > Stag

I'm not a digital reader at all, physical books all the way. Only in rare situations I opt for the kindle book, usually for the convenience of having something on my phone on the go. But when I saw advertisement for this new amazon Trespass collection (I know, how pathetic: drawn in by an add!) and realized that it includes some of my absolute favorite writers of the moment (and of all time) I knew I had to incorporate them into my reading, and it didn't hurt that I could download them for free at the time. They describe this series as "a collection of wild stories about animal instincts, human folly, and survival from award-winning, bestselling authors" and that sounds pretty good to me, too. Shooting for one story a month but we will see, so far so good.

Karen Russell and especially her short fiction is some of my most beloved fiction ever. I have read everything she has published to date and will pick up any new publication of hers, she is in my top ten of authors if I were to make such a list (and please don't ask me to make that list because maybe it would be more than 10?). Thing is in her story collections I have read pieces before that I didn't love, I guess that is the plight with short stories. Particularly "Vampires in the Lemon Grove" had a few that weren't my cup of tea, however and just for the record, that collection also contains my absolute favorite story by her, "Reeling for the Empire", if you want a sample check that one out.
But to get to the point, "Stag" didn't really do it for me. I don't think its elements come together well, additionally I feel like the tone is not what I hope for when I pick up Russell. I mean there is this divorce party and the commentary on the culture surrounding it, our main character crashing it with the date he met last night and for a while it reads just like this mid-life crisis dude story. And as if Russell realizes that something is missing she suddenly enters the turtle and the flower girl and tries to swing it into a piece of mild magical realism after all but for me it didn't come into something. Especially the flower girl and what she represents reads like this afterthought to make the tale more meaningful and the turtle seems to be from this completely different story. A lot of what was said in earlier pages about the party and the MC's new girlfriend also seems to be of no consequence considering how the story ends. It remains this story about this dude, just now he had some trauma in the past that he can't get over. I dunno, good chance this went over my head, as much as I love Russell: that has happened before to me.

Obviously, I was excited to read this and Russell's flow makes reading something that doesn't work for me still better than many other writers weaker pieces. But yeah, to me this was a weak one.