Skip to Main ContentI 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.
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
Laura Hawkins, Math
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