I was drawn to this book the librarian in a small rural town, and since the description seemed promising I figured I would give it a whirl. Sadly I really struggled with this one. As I read it I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop so to speak, and it never did. I wanted to know more about each of the characters and about their stories. I'm not usually a reader of short stories and I guess now I know why.

Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town, by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

I am an enthusiastic fan of BSH’s first book The Smell of Other People’s Houses, and was anticipating that Everyone Dies Famous would be equally insightful and engaging. Though I did enjoy reading the stories, I found it to be a bit lackluster in comparison. Though, as a short story collection, Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town is a compelling read.

I cannot help but wish that there had been more character development, and I was disappointed that the book ended so soon. (These are short stories after all-- I just wanted more.) Though I did not have time to really connect with any of the characters, the challenges they each were facing were very real. The author does not shy away from exposing the small town eccentricities and secrets that often become a teenager's own personal hero's journey.

In thinking of how I could use this book: my middle school students often struggle with writing short vignette assignments-- the kind of story where you start right in the middle. EDFST would be an excellent collection to use in conjunction with overcoming the struggle. The author drops us into a scene and we ride along and slowly uncover the challenge that each protagonist is dealing with. Since there is no map or family tree connecting the characters, this would be an engaging visual to create-as a group or individually.

I don't read a lot of short stories, but the title of this book and the cover both caught my eye, and I'm so glad that I downloaded it, because this might be one of my favorite books that I've read this year.

Hitchcock excels at the sense of place in the west and pacific northwest where these stories are set. It's clear that she knows this place well. The stories start out with one set of characters, and a few stories in you begin to realize that there are connecting points between all of these stories. Each story contains at least one character - sometimes more - that is connected to events in other stories. This interconnectedness, shows the strange ways our lives can overlap with others and how we're all connected to other people.

The stories themselves deal with identity, loss, love, sexuality and other aspects of young adult life. There is a content warning for sexual abuse at the beginning of the book, and one story deals with this significantly.

Would highly recommend this book for older teens, and am grateful to the publisher for having a chance to read it.