Coexistence is a collection of stories from the incredible writer Billy-Ray Belcourt. Some chapters/stories link to others in the collection, while others are standalone, but each character we meet grapples with the concept of coexistence. Many of the stories take place in Northern Alberta, and many characters grapple with the unique experience of being queer in the Prairies, which also intersects with their Indigenous identities. Belcourt beautifully displays a wide range of human emotion that invokes feelings in the reader in such a meaningful way.
In my opinion, Belcourt is one of the most intriguing writers out there, and I will gladly read anything he writes. As someone who grew up in Alberta this book also made me appreciate the beauty and discomfort that comes with becoming a person there.
There is something for everyone in this book. Belcourt is a powerhouse that we should all continue to pay attention to.
Thank you to Billy-Ray Belcourt, Penguin, and NetGalley for this free ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review!

This is a short story collection where the main character in each is an Indigenous man. Often queer. Often an artist. When specified, usually Cree from Northern Alberta. Often relocated to Vancouver at least temporarily.

Even when the biographical details were different, each character's voice felt familiar. It seemed a bit like I was reading a collection of possible lives of one person.

The themes ranged from relationships with parents to marriage to having children to choosing not to have children. Some decided to live on the rez and some lived in cities. Some delved into casual sex facilitated by apps while others consciously, anxiously avoided it.

I usually have a hard time getting into short story collections, as it's such an investment to learn new characters and new locations. The similarities between these stories made this effortless.

Every time a story ended it was like a punch in the gut. I needed to know what happened next and I now wouldn't. I want these stories to be the start of just as many full-length novels.

This book was incredibly easy for me to connect with despite being a having little in common with the characters. The book also didn't feel like it was written with a White settler like me in mind, in the best possible way. It didn't overexplain anything about being Indigenous or queer. The author just told his stories and I was swept along.

What a stunning collection. Belcourt's writing is both beautiful and gripping. I was invested from the first story to the last. The collection is perfectly bookended with Louise's stories. Upon finishing the last story, I immediately returned to the first and reread it.

I enjoyed Belcourt's writing in his first book A Minor Chorus. However, something was missing for me and I couldn't identify it. Then, during the story "Summer Research", I realized what it was when I read the following line: "I wanted desperately to be an intellectual, but all my curiosities were personal." I had found his first book to be very intellectual. The writing was beautiful but I felt no connection to it. In contrast, each of these stories, regardless of the nature of the main character, was so personal and rarely did I not have some kind of emotional reaction to the character's circumstances.

Included in this collection is a story that is simply terrifying; made more so by the fact that I was not expecting it. Unexpected but completely believable. Who puts a horror story in the middle of a collection of literary stories? Billy-Ray Belcourt, that's who.

A stunning new collection from Billy-Ray Belcourt. I have devoured everything he has ever written and will continue to do so. His mastery of language and ability to squeeze the depth and bredth of the human condition into such stark and tender prose is a gift.

I rationed these stories out over a number of days but almost wish I hadn't - they connect with each other more than I had anticipated, and I ended up going straight back to the start to reread. I loved Louise's full circle moment, although the standout for me was Lived Experience. I look forward to reexploring these stories in a physical format.

A beautiful collection of interconnected short stories about love, connection, loneliness and identity: the author's prose is tender and delicate and lends itself gorgeously to the stories' themes.

As with every collection of this kind, some stories resonated more with me than others, but I can’t say that any of them lacked emotion and not a page of this felt wasted.

absolutely brilliant and incredibly well written. every story has a soul and we connect with it. this was my first book by Billy-Ray Belcourt and now I have to read them all.
(full review to come on bookstagram)