Haunting, surreal stories that were a nice change of pace to read. A few weren't my favorite, but I found it refreshing overall. Look forward to seeing what Lima puts out next.

Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil is a unique literary collection with paranormal elements that follows the life of a Brazilian-American immigrant writer who encounters the Devil at a young age and continues to see him throughout her life.

Craft is structured in alternating chapters: Stories written by the protagonist that includes- Rapture, Ghost Story, Tropicália, Antropógaga, Idle Hands, Rent, Porcelain, Heaven Hell and Purgatory, and Hasselblad- while Alt Chapters in between these stories depict events and situations in her life at different stages when she meets/sees the Devil. The Devil is a captivating character, and I particularly enjoyed the chapters featuring him, but other stories were hard for me to grasp.

The stories in Craft explore the struggles of immigrants and political issues from an immigrant’s perspective, illustrating how the writer’s real life and the fiction she creates intertwine. Although labeled as horror, I wouldn’t categorize it as such; it’s more paranormal due to the presence of the Devil and the bizarre events in some stories.

Of all these stories, I think Rapture, Ghost Story, Antropofaga, and Hasselblad made sense to me rest of the stories were just super weird and I couldn’t figure out the real meaning behind them. The final critique in Idle Hands mirrored my own feelings about the entire book.

While many readers appreciated the writing, concept, and stories, I often found myself struggling to stay engaged and wished I had DNFed the book due to the lack of connection and emotional impact.

Overall, Craft is a unique collection of stories that fans of literary fiction might appreciate. However, it wasn’t for me.

i personally had some difficulty with this one, and part of it could have been because of translation but i think the majority of it stemmed from the fact that i was anticipating something a lot more rooted in horror. i felt a bit misled by the marketing. however, i do think this collection of stories has some glimmers, even if they're not super scary.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of Craft by Ananda Lima!

While short story collections don’t always work for me, having the stories be interconnected always increases my enjoyment. The horror in this one is subtle, leaving you with unease about everyday life and experiences. Between the stories that are written for the devil, there are glimpses of the unnamed writer’s life. I enjoyed the metaness of this one and the way it was built a lot. It’s really easy for me to relate to stories about going back home and immigrant experiences. There is so much stress involved in that and Lima managed to capture that shift it into something else in a very strong way.

Craft is unlike any other short story collection I have read. At times, it felt less like an anthology of tales, than a continuous narrative. This is because of “the writer”, an unnamed character at the centre of it all who happens upon the devil at a party in her twenties and sleeps with him. After their encounter, he periodically haunts her life, and she writes stories for the devil that purport to be about other people, but feel more like thinly veiled pieces of the writer’s life.

Writing stories for the devil sounds dark, but this book is anything but. The devil in this story, is not the fire and brimstone monster torturing souls forever, nor is he a completely misunderstood angel, a victim of a vengeful god. This devil is more of an elusive idea, or phantom, guiding the writer through her life, and who may even be nothing more than a figment of the writer’s imagination. And although too much ambiguity can leave me frustrated, here it is welcome and fits the style of the book well.

The book may not be dark in and of itself, but the themes tackled aren’t always lighthearted. Craft addresses unrequited love, moving far from home, watching a loved one being seduced by a cult, favouritism among siblings, love, loss and the difficulties of being an immigrant in another culture. The author is a Brazilian immigrant to America, who lives in Chicago and one of the major themes throughout is navigating those disparate identities in Trump’s America. The peak of this comes in the story, “Ghost Story,” where the main character heads home to Brazil for the first time in a long time because her mother is haunted by the ghost of her future daughter. The ghost is likely a manifestation of the mother’s guilt over favouring her son, and the daughter tries to navigate the complexities of that.

Inbetween the stories are “alt-chapters” where The Writer returns to centre-stage to describe their life and further meetings with the devil. Through the stories she tells and the encounters with the devil, the world of the writer expands offering insights not just on her character, but life itself.

Nestled somewhere between novel and collection, Lima’s book will linger within me for a long time to come.

The author has a serious case of TDS. Trump was referenced like 1700 at least once as the devil, as he was wearing 'an orange wig and bad foundation' and 'was the future.' Eye roll. If it was any liberal president this probably wouldn't have been published. Blocking, unfriending and just not being friends with someone anymore because they didn't vote the same way as you? Ew. This lady needs to grow up. If you are so immature that you can't be friends with someone who has different political views as you, oooff. Then likens Trump supporters to psychopaths. It's a no from me. Wish I could give it negative stars; such closed mindedness. Huge irony that she was Nancy Reagan to the Halloween party, considering it was her husband's Reaganomics that got us into this financial bs mess we're in now, lol.

Short story collections are a hit or miss for me. Unfortunetly this was a miss. I hope it finds t he audience it is intended for.

DNF at 20%
There is a lot to like here. The writing is beautiful and I’m sure if I was in the mood for a mediating novel on life this would hit. Unfortunately I wanted horror and that’s not what this is.
I was waiting to review to see if my mood change but I can’t see picking this back up anytime soon to review on my socials.

Craft was an excellent collection of stories. I liked the name stories, but liked the interludes even more. It was smart and funny and really well written.

"The closer you looked at something, the harder it was to see simple clear lines."

CRAFT: STORIES I WROTE FOR THE DEVIL by @anandalima. Thank you to the author, @netgalley and the publisher @torbooks for the e-ARC and the finished physical copy.

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These stories start out with a writer sleeping with the devil in her 20s at a popup art show in 1981. From there they explore identity, politics and social structures including the very political nature of our bodies and lives, especially as immigrants, queer folks, women and other minorities.

The stories take place in both Brazil and the U.S. and while I enjoyed much of the stories themselves, I think I had a harder time deciding if they all fit together or not as they felt somewhat disjointed to me. My two favorite stories in here were the one regarding the writer and the story about the Brazilian woman obsessed with eating bite-sized Americans out of a vending machine at her work. LOL.

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If you like bizarre yet poignant short story collections, this is one to consider!

If you read short story collections or anthologies, what is your most recent fave collection? Or if you don't, what are you reading this week?

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This was such a fun read. I love the constant appearance of the Devil in the writer's life. Especially because the reader isn't entirely sure whether they're meant to be real or not. I think it was a really inventive way to write about a writer writing. It took a tired cliché and made it into something new and enticing.

This is a challenging one to rate because I think the cleverness, the uniqueness and authentic take on this book is lost on me. I can see why it would be revolutionary, incredible, and mind-blowing for others, but I feel I would be lying and disingenuous if I were to say that I felt that too.

Because I could see how creative and unique this was, and can truly say that I did enjoy a few of the short stories, as well as how it interwove in the in-between stories, and additionally how masterful the writing itself is, it would be a disservice if I were to rate below four. I think in my heart from enjoyment, I'd have given it a three though. Take that as you will, but I DNF'ed at 85%, in which one might think at that point, why wouldn't I just finish? and the fact that I would normally push myself to when I'm so close to the end but didn't, should say something in itself.

Craft is an interesting collection of stories woven through the lens of Brazilian immigrant who occasionally interacts with the Devil. Speaking of the Devil, I think my favorite part of the narrative was anytime he showed up. I found their interactions so charming and the portrayal of him an interesting take. The stories begin with the writer as the center, reflecting on trips to Brazil, interactions with family, trying to work in the US, etc. and all of those stories I really enjoyed and loved the writing. However, as the book goes along the stories get more abstract and surreal, and the farther they got from reality the less I liked them. I found them a little hard to follow, and even flirted with DNF’ing. But I finished, and overall the writing was really good although the book itself didn’t fully gel with me. I thought there would be more of a horror/supernatural lean to these stories, but a lot of the narrative is rooted in the real modern day horror of Trump and the threats against immigration, but even that feels abandoned halfway in. A solid book that steadily lost me as it went along.

My review will be posted on my instagram @boozehoundbookclub

A collection of surreal short stories interconnected by the story of an author/narrator whose muse, confidant and challenger is the Devil, who appears throughout her life. Not all of the stories were ones that I connected with but overall this collection did stick with me and some of the stories were the perfect blend of uncanny, bizarre and impactful.

Thanks so very much to Netgalley and the publisher for kindly providing me this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. I do reviews on my main social media platforms and will be providing my full review there as I get through my TBR blacklist. Thanks again!

The role of Devil in the writer’s life

Craft by Ananda Lima gives us a glimpse into the life of a writer and how the process of writing mirrors that of living. It is light in horror, kinda meta, and heavy with magical realism. It didn't hit me quite as hard as I had hoped while I was reading, but, like with an impressionist painting, now that I’ve stepped back and taken it all in, the clearer picture is much more beautiful and powerful than I first thought, and I recommend it, if you're into books like that.

Many of the stories are like abstract fragments. While I was reading, it all felt very disjointed, and sometimes I was really into it, but other times I struggled, like it was asking me to think harder than I wanted at that moment. But, I do typically enjoy books that make me think and look for a deeper meaning, so I kept going, and I'm so glad I did.

It was enlightening seeing our political climate from a Brazilian-American perspective and how it affects daily life, particularly at work and in relationships. There was a lot of interesting imagery involving eyes, reflections, concrete, and statues. Putting it all together was like connecting the pieces of a puzzle. I loved the references to the movies, The Fly and Gremlins 2. But my favorite piece of the puzzle was the chapter that made me feel like I could be one of the characters. It really made me question the roles of readers and reviewers and authors’ intent when crafting stories. I'm still thinking about it and wondering just who the devil was the Devil.

Thank you Tor for the copy to read and review.

This had such a unique voice that I was intrigued to keep reading even though the weirdness kept me at arms length a bit. The darkness in the stories came through in various ways whether disturbing or sad, but the immigrant experience and perspective was what stood out and still sticks with me.

Considering the title—-there’s very little devil involved. Although I do think the exploration of stereotypes being turned on their head in regards to the devil was clever and the writing is strong—-I just wasn’t entirely sure what this book wanted to do. Or I just had too much of an anticipation on what I thought this book would be vs what it actually was.

Now having a stronger grip on what to expect with Craft, I’d like to eventually go back and reread it.

The story titled Antropófaga though….wow. Wow wow wow. It was incredible. I will think about it forever.

This one isn't something that's really in my wheelhouse, so when I say that it didn't work for me, it's not a serious judgement on the actual quality of the work. The author was visiting a local bookstore this summer, and I'd planned on attending, so I wanted to be up-to-date on the work. I can tell that it's gonna be very popular with patrons, and I'd be very willing to point potential fans toward it.