This book falls somewhere between a 2 and a 2.5 for me. I've read Florida by Christine Schutt and liked Pure Hollywood much better. The stories all center around relationships, but because some of the stories are so short (even by short story standards) there's very little character development. It was easy to confuse both plot and characters between stories because their traits and their relationships all blended together.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic who provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Weirdly stylized writing but uninteresting content - one good story about a couples child dying on vacation, but told in a weird uninteresting way? Don’t recommend.

Rounding up. I loved the writing here but there was something a bit off with the structure. I pretty much wanted every story to be longer. I wish she had picked one and actually written a novel.

"The permanence of his absence is a noise she hears when she listens to how quiet. How he did and he did and he did for her."

This short story collection is distinctively uneven. Standouts include "Species of Special Concern" and "The Duchess of Albany," both stories about the loss of a spouse and gardening, two subjects Schutt takes up frequently in this collection. The rest of the stories suffer from being overlong, dull, or unreadably opaque.

It simply felt too manic to be read all at once - which is my fault. When there is a collection of short stories by the same author, my personal preference, is for there to be a present thread that runs throughout. This thread frayed and picked out early.

book club selection... I liked "The duchess of Albany", "Where You Live? When You Need Me?", and "The Lady from Connecticut", though the other stories in the compilation didn't jive for me as a reader.

It’s John Ashbery who says it best (on the back cover of the collection): Christine Schutt’s Pure Hollywood is “pared down but rich”. Schutt doesn’t waste a word; no lengthy character descriptions or long rambles about the taste of the air, the feel of the wind, the colour of the sky. Only what’s relevant is depicted, creating an intimate, tight space for each of her protagonists. And yet as Ashbery says the stories are rich. In every piece there’s something left unsaid, a question that lingers – who did kill those children, what did happen to Pie, why did Lolly and Dick take their son to a resort ill-suited to children? – each one provoking discussion, a debate about Schutt’s intent (if such a thing exists).

Schutt has delivered a slim collection of uncomfortable, dark pieces that often suggest, hint and sometimes describe a moment of danger and violence. No-one ever seems safe in these stories, even when everyone survives, even when the piece is barely three pages long.

Highly recommended.

This was OK for me. I'm not a fan of the short stories, generally, but that is my issue not that of the writer.

I was given only a few short pages to get to know the character/s, but get to know them I did. If you are a short story fan, than this is a book you will be happy that you pick up.

My thanks to netgalley and Grove Atlantic for this advanced readers copy.

I really enjoyed the writing style of these stories. Unique and well done.