Member Reviews

After reading so much bad sex, I was really looking forward to this anthology. There are some notable names, so I had high hopes that this would actually be a pleasant experience (unlike some I’ve had recently- ahem, Den of Vipers). However, I was mostly let down.

The collection is very literary. Even in a book about kinky sex, there isn’t actually a lot of sex- at all- in many of the stories. The stories aren’t so much about the kinks or the sex but about some other, deeper emotion or moment that the characters are either trying to understand or live up to or just forget. They’re really trying to process those emotions through sex and sometimes that’s interesting. Most of the time it’s just…excessive. And kind of boring; the last piece is a literal essay and let me just say that’s the disappointing cherry on top of my melted sundae.

I will admit that when there is sex, most of it’s not disappointing, from a writing stand point. It’s well written and it doesn’t sugar coat anything, body parts or actions. That, and the fact this is a very diverse anthology is why it gets two stars instead of one. I appreciate the fact that it covers a plethora of sex between various genders and sexualities.

I really wanted to like this collection, I really, really did. I was so excited when I saw Roxane Gay and Carmen Maria Machado’s names, but even their stories let me down more than they resonated, like much of their other writings I’ve read.

I just wanted more from this anthology. I also expected it to be way more kinkier than it was! I think the kinkiest things were a kink con and a couple visiting a dominatrix even if they stayed amongst the con-goers for all of about 15 minutes and nothing came about in the couple’s relationship. Also, trigger warning: one story culminates in rape, which is not something I thought this anthology would publish considering it’s espousing kink as a way to reclaim oneself as opposed to being seen as something practiced exclusively by criminals. That’s the literal exact opposite! That story started off fairly well but devolved quickly. It really came out of nowhere and I was totally taken aback. This collection really didn’t need it and I think it’s presence is, overall, ironic and antithetical to the greater message and goals of that anthology.

Overall, I like the fact that this anthology reads in a similar vein of Fat & Queer, but it takes the “literary” part of its genre way too literal.

Was this review helpful?

Kink was definitely different from my usual style of reading, but I like to step outside my normal boundaries sometimes and see what I'm missing. The writing is certainly top-notch, if the content was not exactly to my personal taste.

Was this review helpful?

A very interesting and diverse group of authors getting down and dirty with this anthology, "Kink". I think the best stories were from authors: Roxane Gay, Melissa Febos, Brandon Taylor, and Carmen Maria Machado. Some of the other stories fell short. Others were just average. This book won't be for everyone. Might be disturbing to some, but overall the majority of the stories were sexy and hilarious.

Was this review helpful?

If you wanted a Fifty Shades that was bite-sized episodes, queer, and well-written, your desires have been answered. Several authors, some quite well known, turn their attention to a side of intimacy still just on the outskirts of mainstream culture. These stories will challenge, inform, and excite.

Was this review helpful?

I thought this was a very interesting collection of stories that really looked at the emotional aspects of human sexuality. I really enjoyed the stories by some of my favorite authors (I will read anything Carmen Maria Machado writes) and I also really enjoyed The Cure, which was the opening story. I’ll admit I didn’t really understand the last 2 stories and it was sort of an underwhelming note to end on.

Was this review helpful?

These stories were sensuous, touching, and thought-provoking. A fascinating collection, unlike any I’ve come across before.

Was this review helpful?

They say variety is the spice of life. Perhaps variety is the kink of life as well? A spicy read with a story for everyone. It's always interesting to have my "norms" challenged and seeing real people interact in real ways was a delight!

Was this review helpful?

This is a short story collection I was super intrigued by when I first heard about it—I love the subject matter boundaries this is pushing in literary fiction and the range of content explored. Stylistically, it’s a collection where most stories worked for me—they are moment driven or deep dives into small windows of the characters depicted. My favorites are stories that used language in as sensory and sensual a way as the content they depicted, the tensions and edge palpable particularly in SCISSORS by Kim Fu and THE LOST PERFORMANCE OF THE HIGH PRIESTESS OF THE TEMPLE OF HORROR by Carmen Maria Machado.
.
Another story that stood out on my read was IMPACT PLAY by Peter Mountford, perhaps for its ability plot wise to take me in a completely different direction than that which I’d first felt I was headed as a reader. I always enjoy when a writer can do that in short story form given the limitations of time!
.
While I think readers picking this up will be as captivated by what these stories cover (given the content I’d think the pearl-clutches would steer well clear), I also think there’s a real joy in the way language is used and how complexly themes like desire and shame are explored across the collection.
.
Many thanks to the publisher for a review copy via netgalley.

Was this review helpful?

A lovely, well written collection of stories about an aspect of sexuality that is rarely discussed. However, the intro to the book set it up as a means of finding and celebrating community, and yet most of the stories felt joyless and lonely. Characters who could not find lasting community or were stuck with partners who did not understand (or were openly hostile). Brandon Taylor's story was by far the standout of the collection; I'd have read a whole book with those characters.

Was this review helpful?

Most of the stories in this anthology were a miss for me. I felt like the characters and the point of these stories weren’t three-dimensional or have much depth to it. I think a big thing for me was how unclear the line was in some of the stories. I think in any type of relationship, whether it’s sexual, romantic, platonic, etc., communication should always be at the forefront to make sure everything is consensual.

For example, in Reach by Roxanne Gay, the narrator clearly knows and says that their wife does not like oral sex and yet, they do it anyways. The last time they did it, their wife didn’t talk to them for a week. And still, they do it to try to push her to open up about a part of herself she clearly does not want to open up about. This, to me, pushes that line between consensual and non-consensual.

My favorite story was The Lost Performance of the High Priestess of the Temple of Horror by Carmen Maria Machado. I think this story really had an interesting perspective and really explored human sexuality. This one had a complexity and depth to it that the other stories didn’t really have.

All in all, I enjoyed The Cure by Melissa Febos, Safeword by RO Kwon, Oh, Youth by Brandon Taylor, and The Lost Performance of the High Priestess of the Temple of Horror by Carmen Maria Machado.

Was this review helpful?

Anthologies are always hard to review because it is to be expected that some stories are stronger than others- but they also give the opportunity to read a wide variety of takes on a topic- or in this case a variety of stories on different types kink. I went into this pretty blind as to what to expect. I think overall there were some interesting stories- the writing was good- but the actual stories were not for me. I found a lot of the stories to be sad to be honest. And I was not expecting that. But it could be that at the time, after suffering through an entire 2020, that I personally should be focusing on more romance and maybe less on other reads. Because of that I'm going to rate this a 3. It was a good read, with a variety of topics covered, but overall not for me.

Was this review helpful?

Very diverse interesting read. The book is many different stories and different kinks and by different authors. This is definitely not a read for a close minded prudish person. I’m not any of those things and some made me uncomfortable and pushed past my boundaries. Not a vanilla read at all.

Was this review helpful?

I wanted to love this, I wanted this to be a book that would let me discover something new.
Unfortunately this wasn’t it.

Was this review helpful?

*Thanks to Simon & Schuster + NetGalley for the ARC!*

Anthologies are so hard to rate - some of the stories I really enjoyed, others weren't for me but objectively were totally fine and I'd recommend them to people I think would like them, and then a couple I wouldn't recommend. I do believe many of the pieces featured could use a content warning before the piece, rather than just the content warning placed at the beginning of the book.

Was this review helpful?

I saw Roxane Gay and Carmen Maria Machado on this and IMMEDITELY was in.

Kink is described as an “anthology of literary short fiction exploring love and desire, BDSM, and interests across the sexual spectrum.” This collection of short stories was an invitation to stand in the shadows of lascivious romps, relational exploration and varied touch.

What was most compelling to me was this sort of kaleidescopic view of what it means to be human at its innermost core. Sure, there was this tug and pull of pleasure and power in these stories, but beyond that, there was this pulse of vulnerability. In a lot of these stories, broken and wounded things were held to the light. It felt like a chronicle of the mending we seek, and how sometimes we reach for that mending with legs peeled open (or tied up and bent over).

Kink was a conversation in undercurrents. Some of the stories I enjoyed more than others, and there was a point where I had to take a pause from this book because it sort of toed the line for me. But the stories in this anthology did the work of examining and unearthing the twisting dynamics in the spaces of intimacy. This one comes out on February 9th, so keep your eyes peeled!

Was this review helpful?

A somewhat uneven connection that explores the wide world of sexuality and kink. At its best, the stories are interesting and sexy because they connect with something interior to the narrator--even if that's just their experience of the particular kink being explored. However, many stories missed the mark for me in terms of connecting with the situation and/or characters. I found that this collection leaned heavily into BDSM in particular, so it is perhaps not the most wide-ranging in terms of kink.

Was this review helpful?

If I hadn’t seen Roxane Gay’s name attached, I probably never would have requested this ARC. It’s not erotica like the title may imply, but rather literary fiction about the psychology of kink. I rarely read short story collections because they can be so hit and miss, as this collection was. Some of the stories were really interesting, some I skimmed through because I just couldn’t get into them, and one story, Gospodar by Garth Greebwell should not have been included in this collection at all as it very clearly crossed a line and was not at all consensual. The premise of this collection was interesting but it definitely won’t be a re-read.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
******
Once again I say that anthologies a weird for me. Some stories are hit and some are definitely miss.

Overall, though, this anthology was kinda a miss for me. The title, I feel, leads to more of an explanation or delving into the entire world of Kink, when instead, this felt rather focused on the world of BDSM. That’s not bad at all, I just didn’t really see much exploration. I also felt that many of the stories read as more conversational, than an actual exploration or explanation of these lifestyles. They felt very much like slices of the daily lives of the people involved, with the occasional tossing in off buzzwords and ideas.

Overall, it was more light reading than anything, and somewhat enjoyable, but I wouldn’t really come back to it. An interesting take, but not engrossing like any kind of book should be.

Was this review helpful?

Kink is a short story anthology covering a host of sex stories. They are woven through different types of sex and identities of people It was eye-opening to other worlds and allowed me to see life through different lens. Some stories were easy to read, others harder due to either the way the story was written or hard to follow.

Was this review helpful?

2.75 stars.

Most of the stories in this collection were a miss for me, unfortunately. I found a lot of them to not have much depth when considered as a short story and the more explicit aspects of most of the stories did not really engage me or feel unique when compared to the collection as a whole. There were a few stories I really enjoyed, in part because they had more meat in terms of a narrative or ideas presented, which include Melissa Febos’s “The Cure,” “Safeword” by R. O. Kwon, “Oh Youth” by Brandon Taylor (the main reason I requested a copy of this and it did not disappoint), and “The Lost Performance of the High Priestess of The Temple of Horror” by Carmen Maria Machado.

I will also mention that I thought Garth Greenwell’s story “Gospodar” pretty clearly crossed the line for me between a consensual interaction with strong power dynamics and rape, which I was not expecting. While I do think it’s important to recognize these nuances, I think perhaps this anthology was not the place to do that given the anthology’s primary goal appears to be to highlight and legitimize BDSM as a sexual practice (which should not include non-consensual sex). I hadn’t seen other reviewers mention it, so I thought it would put in my two sense about that, particularly given that Greenwell is one of the editors of this anthology.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster for providing me with an early copy of this work through Netgalley. Kink: Stories is scheduled to be released on February 9, 2021.

Was this review helpful?