Roxane Gay describes the striking contradictions and stark realities of being female in the world today. These stories are all very different, but they all illustrate the irony of the title of this collection, as each woman describes the difficulties of being a woman. I’m not usually a fan of short stories, but these are worth the read both in terms of subject matter and the precise, evocative prose that they contain. I have Gay’s An Untamed State waiting unread on my shelf, and I now cannot wait to read it.

This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The first story in this collection, I Will Follow You, hits you with a wallop. It Lets you know this is not a collection of happy, go lucky stories to provide you an escape. However, this is a collection of truth, everyone one of these stories digs deep into real life and the complexities we find there. These are real women and men, warts and all. Some of these stories have a fantastical element, but Gay is able to still have them relay the true life essence underneath. Be warned this is not a collection to read if you have any kind of triggers, but if you are like me and like to read stories that connect you to the characters and feel, I highly recommend this book. (I received a copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review.)

This collection of short stories is raw and unfiltered, at times beautifully poignant and at other times oddly bizarre. All stories about or told by women, Dangerous Women unflinchingly describes themes of love, hat, guilt, violence, sexuality, race, and motherhood in the voices of distinctly different women. They are brutally honest and serve as sharp insights into everything that makes women dangerous, challenging stereotypes and assumptions. Some were emotional to read, others so painful I could barely breathe.

The collection is a masterful accomplishment that provides insight into some of the most violent and sexual aspects of humanity as well as some of the brightest. It lauds women, even as they are broken or being broken and down on their luck. Some stories are set in a recognizable setting and others take place in futuristic worlds.

I would highly recommend this for mature audiences, although please be aware there are topics of non consensual sex and violence that are described. The stories are very well-written and beautifully engineered.

Thanks to the publishers for an ARC in exchange for a fair review!

around 5 stories in I decided to put this down and while the stories themselves are okay and roxane gay's writing is wonderful it wasn't enough to keep me reading.

Gay's collection of short stories covers several themes, especially about relationships between men and women, relationships between sisters, and the effects of the cold and the dark on relationships. There is occasionally a bit of repetition between the stories, but for the most part they are effective and moving.

I Will Follow You - 3.5 stars.
Water, All Its Weight - 3.5 stars.
The Mark of Cain - 4.5 stars.
Difficult Woman - 4 stars.
Florida - 3.5 stars.
La Negra Blanca - 4.5 stars.
Baby Arm - 2.5 stars.
North Country - 5 stars.
How - 4.25 stars.
Requiem for a Glass Heart - DNFed.
In the Event of My Father's Death - 2 stars.
Break All the Way Down - DNFed.
Bad Priest - 3.5 stars.
Open Marriage - 4 stars.
Pat - 2.5 stars.
Best Features - 2 stars.
Bone Density - 3.5 stars.
I Am a Knife - 1.5 stars.
The Sacrifice of Darkness - DNFed.
Noble Things - 2 stars.
Strange Gods - 4.25 stars.

A gutsy, bare-all short story collection, that it could have been titled "It's Hard to Be A Woman".

As it's the case with most short story collections, I enjoyed some stories more than others, but overall, this is a well-worth your time.

After reading this, I"m really keen to read other books by Gay.

Recommended.

From the Sacramento News & Review:

The feminine complex
Difficult Women

By Kel Munger
kelm@newsreview.com

This article was published on 01.26.17.

Roxane Gay (An Untamed State: A Novel and Bad Feminist: Essays) knows a thing or two about difficult women, which makes her new collection of short stories very aptly titled. In Difficult Women (Grove Press, $25), we get the scoop from the perspective of women who may not be easygoing—and they’re certainly not “ladies” in any sense of the word. Instead, we have a professor of materials engineering who finds herself not only the sole woman on faculty, but the sole African-American; she finds an unapologetic place for herself on her own terms. Then, there’s the opening tale of survival and love, “I Will Follow You,” in which two sisters, abducted and raped as children, find their way forward together. The dangers for these women are real, but they are about as far from cowering as it is possible to get.

Difficult Women is a treasure trove of stories varying in length and tone all peopled with women who are multi-layered. The scope of issues raised by Gay is staggering, but what was most surprising (to me at least) is the compassion and hopefulness with which they are addressed. For as many horrific experiences that these women have encountered, there is an equally stunning number of everyday miracles which make life blessedly bearable and even beautiful.

I had the privilege of hearing Roxane Gay speak at York College of Pennsylvania after the release of her book Bad Feminist. She was witty and empowering. I learned quite a bit that evening. When Netgalley offered her new book Difficult Women to review, I jumped on it. I am so glad I did.

Difficult Women by Roxane Gay was terrifying, wonderful, confusing, eye opening, lyrical, compelling, and damn good story telling. Difficult Women is a collection of twenty-one stories.

I Will Follow You - heartbreaking but hopeful in the incredible strength of twin girls together. It left me wondering could they survived if they were separated totally? I felt as though there was a message here that women are stronger when they have each other’s backs regardless of the difference in their circumstances.

Water, All Its Weight - contained beautiful prose but had an abrupt end which left me unsure of the meaning.

The Mark of Cain - was really creepy in a stephen king kind of way. You have to read it for yourself.

Difficult Women - contains the following sections: Loose Women, Frigid Women, Crazy Women, Mothers, Dead Girls. Each section helps view the women in a non-judgemental way. It gave me a lot to think about.

Florida - Looks at a gated community from all levels, the rich residents, the service personnel, and the maids. One of the residents is newly moved in and is set apart because she is a first wife and also not a size 4. Seeing the community from all the different perspectives is eye opening and interesting.

La Negra Blanca - this story infuriated and educated me.

North Country - is set at the Michigan Institute of Technology where Ms. Gay did do her graduate work. she talks about how being one of the few black faculty she is asked, “Are you from Detroit”. Her answer is a damning comment on the college’s culture.

The other stories are:
Baby Arm
How
Requiem for a Glass Heart
In the Event of my Father’s Death
Break All the Way Down
Bad Priest
Open Marriage
A Pat
Best Features
Bone Density
I am a Knife
The Sacrifice of Darkness
Noble Things
Strange Gods

Difficult Women is a book I will read over and over. I would like to read it with someone and be able to discuss it. I feel as though I have more to learn from it. I recommend Difficult Women to anyone who wants excellent stories as well as stories that touch your soul.

I'm glad I took my time with this because most of these stories were really gut-wrenching, but such worthy reads. Roxane Gay captures the complexity of women perfectly, which surprises no one because her writing is always so honest and real.

10/10 would recommend! (Prepare to feel very uncomfortable and sad and happy and at peace...)

Difficult Women falls into a weird category for me. Short stories, all about difficult women. Women who have difficulties. Women who are difficult or deal with difficult men? Well, every story has a woman in it. That's not the weird part. The weird part is this: I am, overall, really liking this collection. However. Who on earth would I recommend it to? That list is fairly limited. There is a lot of mean sex, a lot of ugly stuff. I wouldn't EVER recommend this to someone whose reading preferences I did not know. I'd lump it with Tampa (a novel I loved but had trouble finding the right person to sell it to - a female teacher with a penchant for younger boys (think students)). Here are some of the stories I have totally loved: A woman struggling to find her place in a predominantly male work environment meets and falls in love with a swoonworthy guy who really just loves her. Because of some tragedy in her past, she struggles with accepting his love (North Country). In Requiem for a Glass Heart, a man falls in love with and marries a glass woman. The title story, Difficult Women, was also great - a segmented story defining a crazy woman, a loose woman, a frigid one. The Mark of Cain, another I really loved, about a woman married to an identical twin. Even the stories that made me feel like I needed a shower, that unnerved or embarrassed me, were really well written. A PhD student who works as a stripper at night deals with an appalling and completely horrible client. A female version of fight club. Two sisters who are abducted. Made my skin crawl, some of them, but that was the point. 4.5 stars.

I couldn't stop reading this collection of short stories. Some stories resonated with me more than others but every story was important. I would definitely recommend reading this if you haven't already.

I'm such a fan of Roxane Gay. She writes like no one else. This short story collection is searing, beautiful, terrifying and frankly brilliant. You should know up front that this is a very difficult collection to read - the need for trigger warnings abounds. Almost every story explores a woman's life in searing detail and unflinching honesty. The women in this collection are shown in raw and real ways that you will feel in ways that make you uncomfortable and break your heart at all the same time.

Although not an easy read emotionally, it's worth every single moment of reading time. It's a tough read and not for everyone. I think my favorite story is the first which centers around two children who were abducted and held captive during which they were sexually abused. It tells the story of how that experience affects them for the years to come. Heartbreaking and haunting. I'd say that probably does a good job of describing much of this collection.

This collection isn't for everyone ... it's one that will not work for a lot of readers. So beware if you have delicate sensibilities. This may not be for you. However, if you can tolerate the content ... it's such a worthwhile read. It's beautifully written and so complex. I highly recommend it!

I don't generally read feminist writing and I've never read anything by Roxane Gay before. However, I once heard her take part in a TV panel discussion and she was such an erudite, smart and interesting speaker that I was drawn to read this book of her short stories.
The women in her stories are not so much 'difficult' but real and tough and sometimes tender and loving. Many of them have difficult lives or difficult starts to life and have had to endure or overcome poverty, abuse and even abduction. Some of them use physical pain or rough sex to numb emotional pain and those stories can be hard to read. What they share is that they are all strong and passionate and empowered to overcome their setbacks in life. This is a powerful collection of stories. Gay's language is lean and direct but somehow conveys depth and emotion as she takes us to some dark places. This is not to say the stories are all doom and gloom; there is much humour and hope to be found and even a little speculative fiction.

Grove Press and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Difficult Women. This is my honest opinion of the book.

Difficult Women is a series of small vignettes about women in differing and troubling circumstances. They are women who have been used, abused, and sometimes spit out by the system. These women have been victimized, most of the time more than once. Each has a story to tell and they are clustered together in Difficult Women.

I had trouble seeing the point to these stories. The author explains what happened, but there is no real solution in many of the vignettes. These realistic stories show the depravity of society, but I really never felt a powerful connection to any of the characters that are depicted in Difficult Women. The novel, as a whole, is too repetitive and loses the reader's focus as a result. I was not a fan of Difficult Women and would not recommend it to other readers.

Well I don't normally go for short stories as I'm not usually a fan, and I liked but did not love Bad Feminist (that is to say, I loved some essays but some did not like all that much so overall it was an ok read but not what I had originally hoped for). Despite this, every time Roxane Gay has a new book I automatically add it to the TBR. I always hear such great things about her books and I think she has important things to say.

I actually liked this book quite a bit. It was not an easy read though, and I alternated between tearing through the stories and having to take a breather to master my emotions and the heavy feeling in my gut after reading many of them.

Absolutely worth a look.

Gay is a star, as always, this time using her power to tackle power, gender, race, and womanhood - all through the stories of difficult women and the rape, violence, and shame they're subjected to.

This was a difficult book to rate. On the one hand, there is no denying that Roxane Gay is a powerful, evocative, extremely talented writer who does not shy away from difficult, complex topics. Some of the stories in this collection are just a few paragraphs, but not one is forgettable. She writes about rich women, poor women, single women, abused women, hurt women, and strong women. Gay particularly shines when describing the bonds between women.

Nevertheless, the overall dark tone and some graphic descriptions left me unsettled. Perhaps that is the point, but at this point in my life, I don't care to immerse myself in the darkness. I respect this collection, but I didn't enjoy reading it.

Amazing, difficult book. Roxane Gay is one of the finest voice writing today.