I enjoyed each story in this collection. I found the book to be entertaining from the beginning. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

{ ARC REVIEW }

• Sad Grownups by Amy Stuber
• Short Stories, Literary Fiction, Women’s Fiction

Description:
A debut collection that explores American life in the shadow of climate crisis and late-stage capitalism. For those who’ve been sad and tried not to be, seventeen stories about the absurdity of searching for joy in a dying world.

My Thoughts:
Wow, did this make me feel weighted down, heavy with sadness and angst. But in a good way!

You know, like, you’re just trying to live your life, do all the right things in the right way at the right time, but don’t you feel sometimes like you could just slightly push your finger into someone talking to you and hope they might slip over a cliff’s edge??

Yeah…that’s this book. Intrusive thoughts, odd behavior, sadness, but also loads of empathy and wanting to understand the world, and those in it, better.

Stuber’s writing style is phenomenally unique and poetic. I thoroughly enjoyed it all. Short sentences contrast against long winded sentences that showcase the mind of a really messy and conflicted human stuck in thought and decision. Each short story reflects a different issue, putting life on display, utterly appalling and visceral.

I can’t look away. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!

• Anticipated Pub Day: 10.08.24

Thank you to @stillhousepress and @NetGalley for sending an Advance Reader’s Copy for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Full disclaimer, I’m in the hospital right now, (unplanned stay,) so I have to read on my phone and my god that’s a tiny screen. Thank you to Stillhouse press for approving my arcs requests and keeping my mind busy, it’s priceless at the moment.
Obviously the title was the main draw to me, as I am indeed a very sad grownup (who isn’t in this economy?), I also love short stories cause they’re low commitment (especially if you like to read before bed), and I don’t read enough of them.

All the stories are individual but they do have a lot in common. Alice, Renee,
Frida, Heather and all the others, are at a point in their lives where they look back and reflect. Lots of talk about motherhood and wether to become a mother or not. Or how a relationship with a complicated mother can impact someone’s life years beyond childhood. Many of the stories also talk about girlhood and womanhood, what it means to be and become a woman (and we also go back to the motherhood theme). There are also men involved but there were not my focus, sorry lads.
Little women was probably my favourite, mostly because of this quote

This is what it means to be a woman in this world. Put a lot of justs in your sentences when talking to boys, to men, even if your idea is better; you don’t want. to look shrill or undermining. Say I’m sorry. Say it again while you’re looking down and then laughing but under your breath because not too loud, ever.

Amy Stuber’s Sad Grownups is a brilliant collection. Each story—each page—surprises with detail both intriguing and unsparing. Stuber’s characters are complex and presented whole, which is a tough thing to do when you are writing short fiction. She examines loss, death, grief, parenthood, without sentimentality. It is that rare book which, when you come to the last page, makes you want to go back to the beginning and experience it once more. Sad Grownups deserves a wide readership.

book is listed 2x on NetGalley, will provide review on the other listing once completed :)
just updating one listing accordingly so my feedback ratio isn't lessened by my accidentally requesting the same book 2x!