so i didn’t even have to come up with a creative title for this post, because the above is the title of the short fiction collection i just finished, and it’s pretty much creative enough to stand on it’s own.

#24. St Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised By Wolves. Short Fiction Collection by Karen Russel. 4 stars

this was a completely creative and enjoyable read. so off the charts creative, and experimental in its own way, but at the same time completely involving. a few of these pieces have been published elsewhere including a piece that i had already read in The New Yorker (Accident Brief, Occurrence #00/422).

this was a really even collection, so much so that i found it difficult to pick stories that were stronger than others, i’d say they were all about equally strong. perhaps the best was the title story of the collection, but all strong. the only fault i find with the collection at all is that the endings seemed a bit abrupt. not that there was anything overly wrong with them, but that they seemed kind of arbitrary. also while i felt that most of them started very strongly, i didn’t feel they came around quite as powerfully. otherwise a really strong collection, and since Ms. Russell is only like a ridiculous 25 yeas old, i suspect we’ll be hearing (reading?) a lot from her in the future.

as a sidenote: she’s yet another Columbia MFA grad, making me even more wistful that i too was attending…