This collection of short stories frequently touches on the true and depressing aspects of life without hope for anything better. Intended to be realist, it is, but in ways that depressed, anxious, stressed, or lonely readers could easily become suicidal by reading it. I'm not looking for happy endings or happy stories, necessarily, but these bludgeon you.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley!!

This is a collection of interesting and unique short stories. Some of the stories caught my attention and held it, while otehrs just fell flat.

i'd read another book of the author for sure.

In 'False Bingo', Jac Jemc is able to bring readers a collection of short stories that weave sinister forces into everyday life. There were some really amazing stories that stood out from the others in this collection but I found myself wanting more from a lot of the stories. I felt that so many of them caught my attention right away, started to build up (whether through character development, storytelling, or through the environment Jemc built), and then ended on an uncompleted note (at least to me). I would have loved to see more of these short stories as a longer novella, but I suppose that defeats the purpose of a short story. Jac Jemc's writing is wonderful and I will be looking forward to more of her work.

Much thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the ARC.

I love reading short story collections but I always struggle to write reviews for them. It’s like when I look at works of art: I can tell you that I like or dislike something but I can’t necessarily explain why. As I am neither an art critic nor a short story critic, please enjoy this brief, floundering review of a short story collection that I neither liked nor disliked. And hey, lucky for you, I also haven’t figured out how to review books I feel lukewarm about!

The longer stories in False Bingo were the most enjoyable—Jemc infused them effortlessly with moody atmosphere and impressive character depth, though these stories inevitably ended abruptly. (Again, do not ask me what makes a satisfying short story ending—I do not know. I just feel it when I see it!)

I didn’t care for many of the shorter stories, especially compared to the quality of the lengthier offerings. They felt shallow, and too methodical, in a way. But I think we all know that I’m picky and short stories read different to everyone and at different times etc. so of course, take this with a grain of salt.

I’m sure a lot of readers will really enjoy this collection. If you’re a fan of Jemc’s previous work, or of stories like those by Samanta Schweblin, Mariana Enríquez, and Ottessa Moshfegh, give False Bingo a go!

(Hit me up if you’d like a copy of my essay on why Remedios Varo is my favorite painter. It is one sentence and it goes like this: “idk she’s spooky and weird lol?”)

Inn Jac Jemc’s dislocating second story collection, False Bingo, we watch as sinister forces—some supernatural, some of this earth, some real and some not—work their ways into the mundanity of everyday life.

In “Strange Loop,” an outcast attempting to escape an unnamed mistake spends his day's taxidermied animals, while in “Delivery,” a family watches as their dementia-addled, basement-dwelling father succumbs to an online shopping addiction. “Don’t Let’s” finds a woman, recently freed from an abusive relationship, living in an isolated vacation home in the South that might be haunted by breath-stealing ghosts.

Fueled by paranoia and visceral suspense, and crafted with masterful restraint, these seventeen stories explore what happens when our fears cross over into the real, if only for a fleeting moment. Identities are stolen, alternate universes are revealed, and innocence is lost as the consequences of minor, seemingly harmless decisions erupt to sabotage a false sense of stability. “This is not a morality tale about the goodness of one character triumphing over the bad of another,” the sadistic narrator of “Pastoral” announces. Rather, False Bingo is a collection of realist fables exploring how conflicting moralities can coexist: the good, the bad, the indecipherable.


Thank you, NetGalley for the advance copy of Falso Bingo. This was a pretty good book for me. Short stories. Some were though filled, other dark and disturbing.I could finish one story and think of the last bit before rushing through.
I was fan.