These stories really question how our lives would have been different if we'd chosen a different path. Joyce Carol Oates just has a level of skill that most authors don't have. She knows exactly what she wants to say and how she wants to say it. Which just makes the experience for the reader that much better. I just want to read her short stories forever until I die. I also loved the nods to other stories throughout and the reoccurrence of the 'purple onion' cafe, which ended up feeling like a point where alternate universes met. I really enjoyed the last story, which felt very autobiographical, Joyce is so self-aware, and I love it.