Geek Love is one of my favorite books by this author and this one is also very good. There are nineteen stories, some are only a few pages long but you would not think that, the story is conveyed very well in a short period. Most touch on female, desire, motherhood and violence. I enjoyed all of them, and I can't really name one that stood out more than the others, the story of the woman who purchases various sex robots to pleasure her, was interesting, a warning I suppose of letting your desires get ahead of your smarts. I would certainly recommend this and Geek Love (if you haven't read it). Thanks to #Netgalley and #MCD for the ARC.

While I appreciate the creativity that was required for this book, I don’t think it’s for me. The short stories felt confusing, and I didn’t really understand the point or the message. I can see why some readers would like it, I just don’t think it’s my style.

I just wasn’t feeling this. I appreciated how short some of these stories were, but I found each time I moved on to the next, I’d forgotten what the previous was about. So I figure this book and I are just not compatible.

My first time reading Katherine Dunn even though I've had Geek Love on my shelf for years.

The first thing I admire about this book is its inclusion of truly short fiction: stories that are only a few pages long but present a clear vision or scene, conveyed through crisp imagery and description, and that leave you with a distinct impression before moving on and changing gears. "Fanno Creek" and "The Flautist" were like this, and I really enjoyed them both. There are several longer stories, too, that are urgent and compelling from the get-go; my favorites are "In Transit," "Rhonda Discovers Art," and the title story "Near Flesh."

These five stories are the biggest takeaways from the collection for me. The stories gain traction and momentum as readers progress through them; they really start to take off toward the middle, and I appreciate this thoughtful attention to curating the reading experience.

Dunn navigates many different styles and subjects through these stories and I appreciate the range of ideas exhibited here. Not every story worked for me and that's OK because the ones that did will stick with me. I think this collection stands as a great introduction to Katherine Dunn, and it's inspired me to finally read Geek Love.