I did read Cat Person back when it went viral, and since I'm into short stories, I added this to my list. Unfortunately, I feel like a lot of the stories have their technicalities in place but the heart is just somewhere else. There were a lot of parts where I could get at what Roupenian was going for, but it really didn't land right or left a bad taste in my mouth. In the nicest way possible, you can tell that she got this deal because her story went viral, rather than because she was ready to publish.

Bad Boy, 1.5 stars: This story was the total definition of "thanks, I hate it." It's well-written and put together but it made me feel so skeevy that I really wish I hadn't read it at all. I wanted to acknowledge that it is well written and that I appreciate that, but I really, really disliked this.

Look at Your Game, Girl, 3 stars: In my opinion, this was the strongest story in the collection. It reminded me a lot of Joyce Carol Oates' Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? with the mysterious and potentially threatening man coming to a teenage girl. I felt like everything came full circle which wasn't the case for a lot of the stories.

Sardines, 1 star: I really hated the stories in this collection that took a turn for the fantastical at the end, and this was one of them (the other is The Matchbox Sign - Scarred was fantastical all the way throughout and I liked that a little more). I hated how this story kept you on your toes like it was going to tell you something and it was smarter than you and it wasn't. The ending was a real let-down considering how much the story built up.

The Night Runner, 1 star: This was the only story not set in an obviously not-western setting, and I don't think Roupenian did a very good job. This was another story where I felt like she was building things up and my enjoyment of the story was based on the ending, which didn't land.

The Mirror, the Bucket, and the Old Thigh Bone, 1 star: I kind of get what Roupenian was going for here with a twist on fairy tales, but all of the actions felt hollow. It felt like the story made sense but she just kind of threw a lot of things together instead of making a clear point.

Cat Person, 2.5 stars: Like everybody else, I read this when it went viral. I liked it enough, but reading it again made me realize that I liked it in that passing article sort of way, where I didn't think about it a lot afterwards. I do like what it says in a sense about dating culture but it is also super problematic (in just one sense, the fatphobia).

The Good Guy, 2 stars: This started off like a reverse 500 Days of Summer, and then it just got weird. I felt like the ideas it started with got really muddled and jumped more into the mentality of the character's eroticism, rather than the story.

The Boy in the Pool, 2 stars: This was really the only story that involved any LGBT rep and it was still really disappointing. This entire story read like a summer memory that you can't fully remember, because so much of it is based on the nostalgia of the characters. I felt like these characters could have gone somewhere interesting with their past, but the story ends on a weird conclusion.

Scarred, 2 stars: This reminded me a lot of a short story I wrote in middle school. It was really basic and I feel like the themes it touched on were super superficial and it also made me think that if this could get published, maybe I could get my 8th grade short story published too.

The Matchbox Sign, 1 star: At the start, I thought this was going to be like The Husband Stitch, especially once the story started delving into the gender medical dynamics. The ending caught me so off guard, though, and I feel like it derailed everything it had built up. This was another one that took a huge tonal twist at the end that felt like it undermined the rest of the story.

Death Wish, 1 star: This is like a Tinder nightmare gone wrong, but not in the way you'd expect. So much of this felt like it was for shock value and didn't leave a lot to take away.

Biter, 2 stars: This could have been a nice feminist piece, but it was way too out there for me. It did kind of come together, but I felt like it was so sloppy and the focus was all over the place.

Highlights are "Cat Person", "The Good Guy" and maybe "Matchbox Sign".

I don't understand a lot of these stories. Mostly they end at a reasonable point in the plot, but rarely with a satisfying or thematic resolution. Mostly I think the author wants these characters to suffer. There's one scene where a woman with a debilitating (painfully euphemistic term) itch goes to a doctor and receives nothing but some over the counter antihistamines and an admonishment not to scratch, so you know she's quite good at it.

It doesn't quite reach the point of grotesque or outright horror (maybe I'm jaded), but definitely it explores complex and uncomfortable and dark places and emotions which I think you do need to be in a certain headspace for.