Short story collections are never easy to sum up in a review because they have varying degrees of interest for each reader, and this one is no different. Delicate Men follows stories of men who are trying to do what they think they are supposed to do because of who they are, where they are or simply because they are men. Almost none of these men live up the standards they feel are imposed upon them.

What was interesting to me about this collection isn't that the stories all follow a similar theme, but that the main characters seem so much alike that it almost seemed like you were reading about the same guy screwing up his own life over and over again. There was little distinction between the main characters, so it wasn't as varied in terms of character growth as it could have been.

The author of this book did a great job of writing stories that conveyed the struggle between boyhood and manhood. The insecurities of these men was well-written. I cannot wait to read more work from this author.

Continuing striking out and, unlike some of the characters in this book, don’t even know baseball enough to make a clever allegory. Latest Netgalley find, a collection of short stories about men from distinctly male perspectives, much acclaimed and fairly underwhelming book. Small enough, start to finish maybe 95 minutes, one sitting read, but nothing really special about it. Best stories are from the middle to the end, excluding the last one. I prefer short stories that are actual stories, just told in a more succinct fashion, these are more like slices of life. No profound insights into male psyche. Perfectly decent way to pass some time, but not overly engaging and just ordinary and quiet enough to be completely forgotten almost immediately. Thanks Netgalley.