This is a solid collection of stories exploring so many aspects of womanhood. There were some stories that stood out to me more than others. I found it to be very honest and plainly spoken. I think personally, I’ve preferred similar collections with a bit more shock factor but I would still certainly recommend this one.

Thank you NetGalley and Softskull Press for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest opinions.

I recommend this collection for fans of literary fiction. Escoria is adept at conveying how confusing and meaningless life can be; there is a definite sense of angst that shines through these pages. Young women are misunderstood and taken advantage of. They are not simply victims, however. In this author's sure hands, anger and violence are explored as part of life but also shocking at times.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance e-galley; all opinions in this review are 100% my own.

I read JULIET THE MANIAC when it first came out, and remember feeling dazed for days, couldn't shake that reading experience off. I had a similar experience reading these stories. A good chunk center adolescents/young adults, often getting into trouble, always misunderstood. Violence, or the threat of violence, looms around the corner. As well as the lure of drugs. But these are potent stories. Similarly unshakeable. Juliet Escoria is such an exciting talent.

Thanks to the publisher for the e-galley.

YOU ARE THE SNAKE is a collection of stories about how uncomfortable, dirty, and meaningless life can be, specifically for young women and girls. The stories, mostly in the first person, are written in a casual, plainspoken style—Moshfeghian content presented with decidedly affectless realism.

If the book had a thesis statement, it would be that women can be as unthinkingly gross and cruel as men, and can be similarly messed up by drugs and alcohol. I'm not a huge fan of writing that relies on violence to make a story compelling or meaningful—after a while, the shock wears off, it reads more as edgy than realistic, and the stories hit their dose of cruelty and deflate to an abrupt ending. I had the feeling that I'd read similar stories before. Some stories did surprise me—I really liked "Nicole Took Her Shirt Off First."

Not for me, but reminded me a lot of Ruth Madievsky's 'All-Night Pharmacy,' Forsyth Harmon's 'Justine,' Dizz Tate's 'Brutes.'