I did not enjoy this book. I though that I Will like this book ‘cause I’m a big fan of sinister and terror stories, but this one is kind of dissapointed, not disturbing enought.

In its defense, this kind of genre is really hard to wrote, even more when you do a small versión ‘cause you have Little space to development the story and characters.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of 55 Slightly Sinister Stories.

Sadly, I couldn't open the protected PDF so I waited until I could get a copy from Amazon.

I love anything scary, horrifying, and definitely sinister, and coupled with the author's diabolical twist to write these stories using only 55 words, well, I had to read it!

Like a box of chocolates, short stories (no matter how many words they are) are a mixed bag, and I felt the same way here.

Some of the stories had darkly humorous endings, a few bordering on sinister, mostly with a tinge of black humor; others weren't amusing at all and lacked that 'twisty' punch.

The author did a great job crafting stories with only 55 words.

I look forward to reading more of her work.

I tried to edit a biting, scolding, insightful retort of a loved one and the heart got in the way. The premise of this irreverent,fresh take on life in 55 words or less was eye opening. I loved it . I suggest it. I recommend it. It makes for great reading in the car on a road trip. In the pool on a float on a hot day. Ice breaker any time. Parlor game if they still existed. Time out assignment to quell an argument. Happy reading

I really enjoyed this collection of flash fiction. For one thing, the illustrations were great, I appreciated each story having an accompanying bit of art to go with it. And the stories- such an accomplishment! To make a full, engaging tale out of 55 words is no easy feat, and these delivered. Not a stinker in the bunch. A fun, quick read!

#55SlightlySinisterStories #NetGalley

This story collection was definitely different from anything I've come across but I enjoyed it a lot. Slightly Sinister is a pretty accurate description IMO. A nice mental getaway read.

As a former teacher of writing, I found self-imposed restrictions such as the limits Mourtada places on herself for this flash fiction to be a key to unlocking a fresh perspective and approach to writing. It can shake up a bout of writer’s block and jolt you out of the doldrums. However, I’ve rarely been a fan of reading such exercises for pleasure. Many of the stories in this collection are intriguing, and I’m a sucker for anything “slightly sinister”, but I want more to chew on when I sit down to read fiction.

While a solidly written and illustrated book of flash fiction, many of the stories were too one-note to have any lasting impact.

Racha Mourtada has created a sinister batch of 55 short stories that are each exactly 55 words. First of all, I love the concept in which she forces herself to craft words carefully while conveying a complete story. Each story is finely tuned like a sharp knife, offering witty, suprising or shocking endings. Think small installments of Alfred Hitchcock style tales.

It's a quick read, making it the perfect bathroom reader or accompaniment to appointments, allowing you to grab a quick snatch at one of the stories. Aspiring writers may want to read one a day and try to expand on the story or fill in the back story. Or use as a model to challenge oneself to create a short story of a specified number of words (maybe even in a specified number of minutes!).

All in all, it's an interesting concept and a quirky book. Mixed throughout are some black and white drawings that readers may choose to color. I would recommend this for teens due to some mature or macabre content.

Disclaimer: I received a free digital copy of Slightly Sinister Stories from NetGalley for the purpose of review. No other compensation was received.

I think it must be incredibly difficult to encapsulate so much meaning, and an entire story, in 55 words. Racha Mourtada does this very well.

This collection is darkly comic and very well written. I definitely understood so much from so little in many cases. The bonus was that I sniggered and chuckled at a lot of them.

The illustrations at the start of each story are also fantastic - very amusing and right up my street.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC from this talented writer.

Book 36 of my 2020 Reading Challenge
read from May 4 - 8

Note: I read an ARC provided by NetGalley (full disclaimer in my review)

55 Slightly Sinister Stories
by Racha Mourtada

Summary (excerpted from Goodreads)
published 2020

55 stories. 55 words. No more. No less. Enjoy this collection of flash fiction with a sinister twist.

My Opinion
4 stars

**I received an electronic copy of this book via NetGalley and would like to thank the author and/or publisher for the opportunity to read and honestly review this book**

The author's note at the beginning said this book came about from a New Year's resolution to write one 55 word story a day until May 5 (5/5). She also recommends reading two or three stories a day and while I did force myself not to read them all in one sitting, I definitely exceeded that recommendation.

This was just a little treat. I really like microfiction as a concept and have read a few books of six-word memoirs. The sinister twists show you don't need a long buildup to still get a little shiver at the end and the illustrations were a nice touch. I read multiple ones aloud to my family as well.

I saw there is an audio version and I know I'm biased since I don't use audiobooks at all but this is the kind of book, between the illustrations and sometimes needing to read it more than once to see what you missed, that I think is better suited for print.

Very short stories, perfect for when you have a short time available for leisure reading (during lunch break, for example. Very enjoyable read.

This was a really cool book. It was different from anything I had read before. There was a real variety in the subjects of the stories. Loved exploring the concept of micro literature. It was fun to dip in and out of this.

'Black stories' meets poetry in an interesting 55-word format. It was an enjoyable, snappy read that also happens to be beautifully illustrated. Unlike other reviewers who suggested that the stories are not sinister enough, I found that even if not all of them have the accident-about-to-happen suspense, they are nevertheless quite dark on an emotional, reflective one. Happy to have chosen this one since it's not something I'd normally pick up at the bookstore, judging from the format alone.

Unfortunately, I attempted to “READ NOW” on the archive date, and this failed to download, so I am unable to review!! The preview of stories, I saw looked thought provoking!

What an interesting format! I will say that I thought the stories would be darker since the title includes sinister, but they aren't as dark as one would think. I thought most were really well done and I'd love to share a few with my students to use as examples and see if they can do the same. The writing structure is really amazing and the imagination expounds with what is actually going on due to the limited word count. Really compelling.

First of all, I have to say that the title is a little bit misleading. Since I hardly found any of these stories sinister. Maybe creepy or unexpected but not sinister. So I was majorly disappointed by this.

When it comes to the stories themselves they were OK at best, but some of them did make me want to know more. I liked the simple lineart illustrations that came with each story.

I would recommend this book as light reading if you like short stories or microfiction.
I find it best to read one story or three a day. Because reading them all in one day is sure to leave you disappointed.

I think that this book is so creative, because writing 55 stories with 55 words is a hard word, and the author did this so well, so I enjoyed this idea.
I like some stories, another I will have to read again to have a concise opinion about them and some stories I didn't like.
At all, I recommended this one, it is so fast to read and it is really enjoyable to have this experience.

I wasn’t going to review this because initially I could not open it in the format provided. Then, a breakthrough. And now, happily, I have read it.

I enjoyed this quirky assortment of very short stories. As someone who used to write for a living (policy and discussion papers and the like) I know how hard it is to write succinctly, to get your message across within a limit of words or pages. And Racha Mourtada did this extremely well. The stories were a real mixed bag, mostly about relationships. Some were poignant, some were funny and some were downright slightly sinister with a number of possible outcomes but where the reader is left to draw their own conclusions. In the spirit of this book I will keep the review brief. I liked the cover a lot and each story was accompanied by a clever illustration, most of which were also quirky. A fun little book that could be a conversation starter or make a lovely gift. You could even buy it for yourself!

I thought I was going to love this but I sadly did not. I did think it was okay but it was a little disappointing to me.

This was an interesting and slightly weird mix of stories and poetry with twists. It wasn't exactly sinister, but they felt like they were trying to be dark. I'm not saying they were bad at all, it was a unique collection and quite cute, just not for me. I can see how someone would enjoy these stories very much. A few of them I loved, but I many I found to be just okay.