I really enjoyed The Girls, so i was looking forward to reading this! In the end i was a bit disappointed. I really enjoyed the writing, but I can only read so many stories about awful men. I would read more of her work though because i think that this was a plot problem for me, not a writing issue!

A collection of short stories looking at family, relationships, friendships and human experience. I really enjoy Emma Cline's writing - I don't think this was a stand out short story collection for me but I still enjoyed my time reading this story. Ever since The Girls, I've loved Emma Cline's writing and her style always resonates with me in different ways. She has a brilliant way of writing scenes or atmospheres that feel a bit seedy and sticky whether it's because of what the characters are doing or saying, or the literal heat and environment in the story - it makes you want a shower and I felt the same way about The Girls as I did with certain stories in this book. There was one story in particular that felt like it may have, at one point, been a short story that developed into The Girls novel as it has a similar feel and theme (aka cult vibes).

Emma Cline writes with great precision and her stories cut straight to the bone. This one can be a little emotionally exhausting but it’s a solid collection.

I highlighted this book on my Booktube channel. The video can be accessed here: https://youtu.be/0UGiE3mbWOs

Another thoughtful, complex, nuanced story from Cline, dissecting relationships and problems of the modern age.

I'm a fan of Emma Cline, but I'm not sure this short story collection worked for me. I viewed many of these stories as being ones that would be stronger fleshed out as novels or novellas, rather than short stories.

Short Story collection from the Author of The Girls, a novel I loved. Overall a decent set of stories, but I found I prefer the author's longer form novels better.

3. This book didn’t do the best job of creating concise short stories that really pack a punch—they mostly wound up falling flat. I would give Emma Cline another chance but I am not super impressed

Emma Cline is an absolute star and it seems that she can do no wrong. This collection of short stories is just further proof of an impressive talent. Dark, upsetting, and often bordering on creepy, these are not nice stories but they explore important themes that are fundamental to being human. Maybe not a nice book, but an important one. Highly recommended.

I really enjoyed Emma Cline's book, The Girls so I was excited to read something else from her. These stories, however, didn't work for me. I felt like they were just little glimpses into people's lives who are unhappy and it left me in a depressing place. I didn't feel good reading it and felt that each story didn't have any type of conclusion. Overall, I didn't really get the point of it.

I wasn't a huge fan of The Girls-- it was kind of boring to me, to be honest. So was this collection, as much as I wanted to love it. I liked the darkness of all of the stories but I didn't connect to any of them.

The stories here are well written; some of them even have a certain flair. Yet, why bother? Cline's middle-class white characters don't have exciting lifestyles. All the same anxiety and boredom. The inevitable sexual shenanigans. Have we not had the same menu options since the 1960s at the earliest? Okay, so there's a twist there since these folks are from up in Northern California. Still. This same old schtick about problematic privilege doesn't fly in a country where the lives of immigrants and people of color, who have dealt with more than their fair share of love problems, have made America so much more intriguing.

I really liked Emma Cline's debut novel, but Daddy fell flat for me. I had to force myself to pick it back up, because the characters did not spark interest for me. The writing was great, and Emma Cline is clearly talented. But each story was so sorrowful that I just did not want to keep reading. They just put me in a sad mood. Like I said, the writing was clever and refreshing. I just did not click with the stories or characters in this one.

I enjoyed this book when I read it, however I did not get to submit full review in time as unfortunately I lost my devices when my house was burgled and it took me a long time to replace my belongings and just get back on track. I have an ereader again (and a laptop, although I am not reactivating my blog and have started a bookstagram instead) and I hope to review again in the future.

I liked The Girls, but over all I found this collection lacking. My favorite was probably the first, the symbolism and imagery worked very well. In most of the stories, I didn't feel connected to the characters.
However, I will still check out whatever Cline publishes next.

An interesting collection of short stories. I didn’t enjoy this as much as the author’s first book The Girls but I am glad that I read it and look forward to reading what she writes in the future.

I have never been engaged with Cline's writing. I found the Girls to be fine but nothing to gush over. Similarly here, some decent short stories, but like many collections, the uneveness usually leaves me nonplused

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book! Once again Cline’s writing blew me away. What a fantastic read.

I was a big fan of Emma Cline's first novel and while I enjoyed these stories, some felt a little incomplete or rushed. I enjoyed the premises and ideas of many of the stories but was hoping for a bit more fromm many of them. I still look forward to whatever Cline does next!

I requested this book because I was very drawn in by Emma Cline's The Girls and its dark tone. These short stories had a similarly dark and unsettling feel, with each of the main characters battling a specific demon, but I had a hard time connecting with and enjoying the story. I always had more questions, and felt a bit deprived of more information. However, Cline is clearly a talented writer and I will definitely be picking up her books in the future.