This was actually my first read of a short story collection and so I'm not sure if short stories aren't for me or this book of short stories wasn't for me. The stories were just too short for me to get involved in, just as they seemed to get going they ended.

Pure Hollywood is a collection of short stories. It is well-written. It explores different relationships. I enjoyed it even if I'm not into short stories - I always feel like I want to have more.

DNF. I couldn't even get into the first story. The characters seemed flat and shallow, the story was choppy, and I had a hard time keeping up with the head hopping. The plot seemed like it would be an intriguing one, so I was sorry to put it down.

I could not follow along well in this book. I was confused and it did not flow very well. I DNF this book about 13% in. I will give it another shot sometime, but for now, this one definitely wasn't my favorite. I appreciate the opportunity to read and review this book. Thanks again to the publisher.

This book did not captivate me from the start. It was very messy and hard to follow. I would not recommend it nor seek out other titles from this author.

But who could blame the girl Cecilia? Cecilia was a girl, and Jonathan was a restless, fully mended little boy. One minute he was in the bedroom watching tv, and the next, he was gone to the terrace.

I wasn’t always a fan of short stories, though having stumbled upon the brilliance of several writers, I am much more likely to pick them up and devour them now. Pure Hollywood is a well written collection but I really wanted to feel closer to the characters, which is strange considering I really enjoyed The Hedges, where it seems the reader is not meant to be that close to the young couple. It’s a strange experience for those of us with unusual names to find our name in a story, as the character Lolly shares mine. Lolly is miserable, exasperated with her sickly son Jonathan, bored by her beautiful surroundings, superior to the other vacationers (so it seems) and just one moment away from disaster. Maybe she has slipped away before, into sleep, into the distance, but this time she will be punished. The reader never dives too deeply in Lolly’s nind, yet it actually works in this story to have the cold distance, you feel just like the other vacationers trying to understand the young couple.

Where You Live, When You Need Me is so weird and short, I love it. Ella, a child care worker of unknown origins, during a time when mothers should be extra cautious of strangers around their children, appears as if from nowhere. But everyone wants her, so great with the kids. Why aren’t the mothers worried? Why is it the opposite reaction can be born in moments of danger? The last sentence in the story expresses such a beautiful defense for the carelessness of letting Ella in, which I won’t write here because it gives away the tale.

Some of the stories are short but hit me between the eyes, others I wasn’t really feeling but as a collection, the writing is solid. Schutt is one to watch,

Publication Date: March 18, 2018

Grove Atlantic, Grove Press

This book falls somewhere between a 2 and a 2.5 for me. I've read <i>Florida</i> by Christine Schutt and liked <i>Pure Hollywood</i> much better. The stories all center around relationships, but because some of the stories are so short (even by short story standards) there's very little character development. It was easy to confuse both plot and characters between stories because their traits and their relationships all blended together.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic who provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review.

I really enjoy short stories. This was a good collection!

This book tried way too hard to be ironic. I gave it three stories before I just gave up. I really wanted to like this book based on the description, but I just didn't find any of the stories relatable and didn't really like any of the characters

The blurb on this book’s home page on Netgalley described Christine Schutt as an original and exciting voice, and that she is returning to the format that catapulted her to worldwide fame.

I was intrigued. I requested the book, and it was very kindly made available.

The style of Schutt’s prose made it a little hard for me to follow, too many interruptions and segues make it a difficult read.

It took me a while to truly get in synch with her style, and once that was accomplished, I loved, with a capital ‘L’, the first two of the stories that deal with the overarching theme of loss.

Told from a woman’s perspective, the first story is about an aspiring actress dealing with the loss of her husband, her lifestyle, her mother (from when she was younger), while another story deals with a woman’s loss of independence and quality ‘me time’, the result of which is shocking.

The next story deals with a man living in denial over the passing of his wife.

The novelty of the writing style and the theme wore off as I went deeper into the book. After a point, it was a source of annoyance to have to go back every few lines to re-read an entire paragraph. Now I’m someone who reads for pleasure, and this book is anything but.

That said, I’m sure this style of prose has its share of admirers, and for them, I’d recommend this.

But it’s not for me.

A serviceable 3/5

Pure Hollywood is a collection of stories that explores different relationships, including siblings, parents and children, husbands and wives, set everywhere from the California desert to a train station in Connecticut. The stories vary in length, from the long title story to shorter glimpse of life, more like character sketches than actual stories.

What this story collection doesn't contain is a real way of getting the reader connected with the main characters in each story. Although the descriptions of places and things are fluid and sometimes vibrant, if I can't connect to a character's motivations or hindrances for having any motivation, I feel like I'm wasting my time. These characters just didn't interest me, and it seemed like the characters themselves don't really want the readers to be interested in them, either. I doubt readers who truly love the short story form will find anything they like in this collection.

I didn't finish Pure Hollywood, because it suffers from something some people enjoy, but I do not: Debut Author Lingua-Preciosa. This doesn't mean Pure Hollywood isn't a great book, it just means I don't have the patience for it. (Other books I set aside due to lingua-preciosa include Patty Smith's Just Kids, so you see what I mean.) I would recommend this book to literary grad students, which the millenial-pink Didion-esque cover suggests.

It's ironic that one of the reasons I never used to like short stories, the fact that I had only a short time to build relationships with the characters, is one of the things I like most now. When stories are done right, it's amazing how complex characters can be, how complicated their journeys, and how deeply you can feel about them, in just a small number of pages.

I didn't really feel that way about Christine Schutt's new collection, Pure Hollywood: And Other Stories. she's definitely a talented writer, and her use of imagery is tremendously poetic. But I found her writing style a bit evasive, so it was difficult for me to understand the characters' motivations, what was happening to them and why, and, at times, whether or not I should sympathize with them.

In the title story, a brother and a sister with a rather complicated (and perhaps inappropriately close) relationship come together after the death of the sister's much-older husband, once a renowned comedian. As often happens in this type of relationship, her husband's adult children quickly ensure she is left with virtually nothing, so she needs to figure out where her life went wrong, and how to get it back on the right path, while ensuring her brother is nearby. (Or at least I think that's what the story was trying to say, because it meandered between their childhood, her relationship with her husband, an incident that happened after he died, and present time, sometime without any real signal as to when the scene or reminiscence took place.)

In "The Hedges," an unlikable and unhappy couple goes on vacation with their sick and cranky toddler. Very little is told about them except that they are unhappy with each other yet they still are trying to enjoy their vacation despite the demands of their child, and so they employ numerous coping strategies. The entire story foreshadows an incident, so when it occurs, you're unsure of how to feel, and given what happened, I felt badly that I didn't care enough about the characters to care.

"Species of Special Concern" tells of a man and his ill wife, and the man who seems to be infatuated with her, and definitely feels like he would be a better and more responsive (and responsible) husband to her. Yet the story is so short, there is not enough time to understand why the man thinks that way beyond jealousy, and whether the man cares for his wife, or whether the besotted man has reason to be covetous.

As the collection winds to a close, many of the stories get even shorter, so I found it even more difficult to get hold of them emotionally. I had a great deal of hope for this collection, but it just didn't work for me, so I hope it does for others.

NetGalley and Grove Atlantic provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

What I enjoyed:

Writing Style- I quite liked Schutt's writing style, it was both accessible and had some beautiful prose. In particular I enjoyed the second story in the collection, which raised interesting questions about a connection between a mother and child and had the perfect sense of foreboding.

Unique - Each short story had a unique and original tone , that kept me reading on and made me think about them long after I finished reading. As is the nature of short stories, a reader is thrown into a tale with no prior knowledge of the characters and their situation, but I felt like Schutt did a good job of keeping the tales engaging and was certainly provocative.

Thought provoking - The stories left me with so many questions and I feel like many of them would make great stand alone, full length novels too. The tales span so many different subjects from marriage, family, desire, childhood and bereavement to name a few. Most of the stories felt quite sad or melancholy which I also liked, it really reflected the intricacies of life.

What could have been improved: 

Vagueness - Whilst I did enjoy her writing style overall, the use of euphemism led to a lack of clarity and left me wishing certain things were more clearly expressed. Some sentences were vague and I feel like some word choices were a bit unnecessary but this is a relatively small critique.

Some weaker tales - Whilst a majority of the tales were quite strong and immersive, there were a few of them which I found it hard to connect with or be interested in such as: The Dot Sisters and Family Man. Out of 11 stories, I suppose it is natural to have your personal preference though.

Overall, I'd definitely consider reading Pure Hollywood if you're into particularly dreamy prose and want to feel an odd sense of nostalgia and be immersed into the lives of others. It definitely reflects a vast array of emotions and situations.

Honestly, I couldn't finish this. I thought the writing was terrible and I just could not get into the story. I had such high hopes for this book!