Here's why Laura suggests Willful Creatures...
I find this collection of short stories delightful! Some are totally bizarre and more 'magical' than 'realism'. Some are totally realistic. All dive into what makes us human - loss, love, pain, vulnerability, wickedness, etc - with a quirky sense of humor and a tenderness for the often very flawed characters.
About the book
Willful Creatures
by Aimee Bender
"Contemporary fairy tales, cushioned by goofy humor and a deep tenderness for her characters, that aren't always as dark or as sinister as they initially appear." --The New York Times Book Review
Aimee Bender s Willful Creatures conjures a fantastical world in which authentic love blooms. This is a place where a boy with keys for fingers is a hero, a woman's children are potatoes, and a little boy with an iron for a head is born to a family of pumpkin heads. With her singular mix of surrealism, musical prose, and keenly felt emotion, Bender once again proves herself to be a masterful chronicler of the human condition. --Goodreads.com
“Contemporary fairy tales, cushioned by goofy humor and a deep tenderness for her characters, that aren’t always as dark or as sinister as they initially appear.” —The New York Times Book Review
"[Bender] is Hemingway on an acid trip; her choices are twisted, both ethereal and surprisingly weighty. . . . Terrifyingly lovely." –Los Angeles Times
About the reader
Laura Hawkins, Math
Laura previously recommended:
- Thinking in Numbers by Daniel Tammet
- Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
- The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth
- Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
- An Invisible Sign of My Own by Aimee Bender