by Aimee Bender
ISBN: 0385492162
I love weird stories. When I read Willful Creatures back in January, I knew I’d need to track down the rest of Bender’s work.
This story collection came first. There are plastic lips and buried sweaters, a lover’s de-evolution, an imp and a mermaid, thieves and magic (or is it cursed?) rings. The sort of stuff you quickly get the feeling is usual for Aimee Bender. I like them for not seeming impossible, for still managing to be about feelings and the human condition. It can be quite hard to recognize the human condition from the inside at times, and her twisted stories make absolute sense if you keep this in mind.
Recommended. If you are new to Bender you can start here and know you have another wonderfully freakish collection, alive with language, oddity throbbing through it, to look forward to.
