This post was written for Short Story Wednesday hosted at Patti Abbott's blog, and Short Story September, hosted by Lisa at ANZ LitLovers LitBlog.
I knew very little about Kelly Link or her writing before I read this book, but this is what I gleaned from my recent reading about this book and her short stories.
This short story collection, Get in Trouble, was published in 2015 and was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Per Wikipedia, this collection "contains nine short stories, five of which were previously published. The stories contain elements of fantasy, magical realism, and light horror." Usually I avoid horror, but light horror seemed doable. So I read the first story in the book, "The Summer People," and reviewed it in August of this year.
I liked that story a lot, so I decided to finish reading the stories in this book in September. In general, the stories are pretty long. I think the shortest one was 20 pages, the longest close to 50 pages.
Here are my thoughts on the remaining stories.
"I Can See Right Through You"
This is the story of two celebrities who have had an off and on relationship for years, ever since they made their only movie together when they were very young, and they both became stars overnight. The story hints at some supernatural elements but mostly it is a straightforward story about Meggie and the "demon lover." He is referred to only by that name throughout the story. The story starts in the 1990s and brings the couple up to around 2012, when Meggie is hosting a ghost-hunting show. A very strange story and I enjoyed it. I would have liked a more concrete ending, but still it was very effective.
"Secret Identity"
A 15-year old girl goes to New York to meet an older man (34 years old) at a hotel. She met him online and represented herself as about his age. At the same time as she arrives at the hotel there are two conventions there, one for superheroes and sidekicks and one for dentists. I liked this story a lot. It is told from the young girl's point of view, in a letter she is writing to Paul Zell, the older man. She is way more mature than I was at 15, and a very interesting character.
"Valley of the Girls"
The characters in this story are teenagers who are very rich and can do just about anything they like. It is set in a universe where pyramids are built for teenagers and they can have alternate identities so that they experiment and play around without ruining their futures. A very creepy story, and fortunately one of the shorter stories.
I thought this was a very clever story but it was hard for me to follow. So I read it a second time. On that read I saw clues that pointed to the end of the story from the very beginning. So other readers may find this a more satisfying read than I did. I am not sure I like it when I need to read a story twice to get it.
"Origin Story"
This story is set in a world where superheroes and sidekicks are taken for granted. More than one reviewer noticed that it could be set in the same world as "Secret Identity," but with different characters and locations. The story is kind of sad but still a decent story.
"The Lesson"
This was my favorite story. It was the only one with no element of the supernatural or weird. It did surprise me and I kept waiting for the supernatural element to show up.
A gay couple are expecting a baby, who will be delivered by a surrogate mother. The couple plan to go off to a wedding at a remote spot and worry about the baby being born early.
"The New Boyfriend"
This is another story about a set of rich teenagers. The most popular girl in the group, Ainslie, has three "boyfriends" but they are toys, sort of like robots. They can be set to different modes and programmed in some ways. Ainslie's best friend Immy is jealous, and finds a way to spend some time with one of the boyfriends. This was not my favorite story; reading about rich, selfish teens is not especially interesting to me. However, there was a great conversation between Immy and her father about the nature of love, so I rate it highly anyway.
"Two Houses"
This is a blending of a ghost story and science fiction. The characters are astronauts on a long spaceflight to a faraway star. They sometimes sleep for years but now and then they are awakened for celebrations and this time it is a birthday party, where they tell each other ghost stories. Another weird story where I would have appreciated a more concrete ending.
"Light"
This longer story is set in the Florida Keys after some strange events have caused significant "changes" in the world and opened up pocket universes where possibilities are endless. People can be born with no shadow or with two shadows. Those with two shadows may have a twin. Lindsey is one of the people with two shadows and she and her twin have a troubled relationship. She has a job where she oversees a warehouse of sleeping bodies which have appeared since the "changes" took place.
There were several things I liked about this story. When my son was in preschool, we used to bring hibiscus flowers to the school to feed the iguana. In this story, iguanas were all over the place and were eating up all the hibiscus bushes. In addition to that small piece of nostalgia, I like that the story centered more on adults. The character development in this story was very good, especially that of the main character.
I don't usually write so much all about the stories in a short story book, and I think that I did for this one is a reflection on how much I was impressed with Kelly Link's writing. Even when the stories had elements that I did not like, I still felt like they were good reads, well worth my time.
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