This collection of (sometimes extremely) short stories were different in a refreshing way. They were stories of men you meet daily, often tired of the world and trying to come up on top.

The author's humour was just right - satirical, yet benevolent - and it hit the right notes at the right times.

As always, this collection was a mixed bag, from some memorable stories to some forgettable ones. But overall, it was a good collection. I went in without any expectations and was pleasantly surprised, though.

3 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and Cameron Publicity & Marketing Ltd for the ARC.

"Sorry Men" by Daniel Bird is a sharp and thought-provoking novel that delves into the complexities of modern masculinity with wit and nuance. Bird’s writing is both incisive and engaging, offering a candid exploration of what it means to be a man in today’s society. The characters are richly drawn, each navigating their own personal struggles and societal expectations in ways that are both relatable and deeply compelling. The novel tackles themes of identity, vulnerability, and the often-unspoken pressures men face, all while maintaining a balance of humor and poignancy. "Sorry Men" is a timely and insightful read that challenges stereotypes and invites readers to reflect on the evolving nature of gender roles and relationships. It's a must-read for those interested in contemporary fiction that addresses real-life issues with both depth and a touch of irony.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

Daniel Bird’s collection of short tales, “Sorry Men,” delves into the peculiar inner lives of men. With wit, humor, and occasional poignancy, Bird presents a series of vignettes that challenge stereotypes and reveal the complexities of masculinity.

First, an overview of the stories...

Tattooed Memories:

A father tattoos his body with his daughter’s crayon drawings, ensuring he never loses sight of her creativity. This whimsical yet touching story captures the lengths parents go to preserve precious memories.

Russian Ruse:

A commuter pretends to be Russian to avoid being robbed. Bird’s clever narrative explores the absurdity of our coping mechanisms and the lengths we’ll go to protect ourselves.

Lovesick Coolness:

After a first date, a lovesick man plays it cooler than anyone ever has. Bird’s portrayal of vulnerability and emotional restraint resonates with anyone who’s tried to hide their feelings.

Optimistic Numbers:

The ex-husband of a lottery winner finds hope in the numbers she chose. This tale balances optimism and resignation, highlighting the unpredictable nature of life.

Cosmic Longing:

Two astronauts search the solar system for a new home while pining for their exes. Bird blends existential yearning with cosmic exploration, creating a unique blend of humor and melancholy.

My review

Bird’s writing is concise, sharp, and often surprising. His stories invite readers to question societal norms, laugh at absurdity, and empathize with flawed characters. While “Sorry Men” won’t necessarily restore faith in men, it does celebrate their quirks and vulnerabilities.

Whether you’re a fan of flash fiction or simply enjoy thought-provoking narratives, “Sorry Men” offers a delightful and unexpected journey.

Read from May 14th, 2024 to May 16th, 2024. Written on May 16h, 2024.

~4.5~

After a while, I was finally able to pick up this ARC and I am so excited to share my thoughts!

Daniel Bird brings to paper a series of short stories that will make you laugh, smile and possibly tear up with all the different worlds, perspectives, characters and lives he created. I am truly in awe at some of the stuff I read in here. From a future couple struggling to survive on a cold night, to a school teacher who made a "tiny" mistake, this book will take you on a trip that is so easy to follow and even easier to enjoy.

With simple yet captivating writing, the author creates a journey through the multiples lives in his stories, making each character feel alive and real in their own way. Each one takes us through their experience, navigating some event of their life in a way that sometimes felt all too real.

I am incredibly impressed, kudos to the author and make sure to read this book; it may not restore your faith in men, but it will surely warm your heart.

Signing off,
B.

(Free ARC from NetGalley and Cameron Publicity & Marketing Ltd that I chose to review after reading)

Sorry Men is a refreshing and fun collection of stories about the everyday life of men.

Despite having a theme, it included enough range to keep my interest with emotional topics, fun happenings and everything in between. I found myself chuckling every now and then at the outrageous situations the characters put themselves through, and thinking "Yep. The men in my life would totally do that."

It's really easy to read too! The short stories were indeed short, often a couple of pages each. That helped keep my momentum going and I found myself finishing the book without even realizing it. Some stories end in unpredictable places, leaving you to guess some of the details, while others stand on their own. It's a great mix, and it's a perfect book for busy people or short reading bursts.

If you're a fan of short story collections, slice-of-life, and want to learn what's going through the mind of men, this one's for you!

✨ Disclaimer ✨ I received a free copy of this book and this is my honest review.

Ever since I got this book I've been so excited to read it! The cover drew me in initially and once I read the blurb I was obsessed with the idea and it really lived up to my expectations. Each story, all very short, some spanning a whole lifetime and some a single moment, was entertaining to read. Most of them were funny, some absolutely hilarious, but there was also a couple of wholesome ones and even one that made me almost cry. I loved the twists at the end, where most of the stories took a bizarre unexpected turn when you thought you knew what was going on, some of them were completely insane and I loved it. I could definitely read a lot more of these! I've already recommended it to my husband because I know it's the exact kind of thing he'll love, but I'd recommend it to you too!

What a fantastic little book!

The stories are funny and very thought provoking, I really enjoyed it and devoured it in a day.

Big thanks to Cameron publishing and NetGalley for the copy

Sorry Men! I DNF’d reading this book at the 4 or 5 chapter. None of the stories made any sense to me and nor were they humorous in any way.
Anyways, thanks for this copy.

Thank you Cameron Publicity and Netgalley for the ARC

The book as a meal: I am eating cereal for breakfast and reading redditposts in r/thatsnothowgirlswork
The book left me: Wondering if I also have stories of men that I could contribute to this collection

Why did this call out to me?
The title and the cover combined seemed interesting to me, and then the synopsis simply said "It absolutely will not restore your faith in men" and I found that very funny. So I had to read it

Pick-up-able? Put-down-able?
Pick-up-able. The stories are just about short enough to crave more and keep on going even if you should have gone to bed 20 minutes ago

Progression?
No proper progression as a whole, but the stories start normal, and then everything becomes delusional by the last 5 lines

Issues:
Usage of shock-humor might come off a little tasteless
In some stories I didn't quite catch what actually happened and had to reread to understand

Good things:
Suprisingly funny
Did not restrore my faith in men, as advertised
Diverse collection

How did it feel to read?
I am on reddit readin r/amIthe***hole? And absolutely they are, but they want to defend themselves and see nothing wrong with their actions

What mood would I read this in?
Someone in my life has just been an idiot and I need reassurance that there are bigger idiots in the world

Where does this fall in my tier list ranking?
Strong B. I would not say it was enjoyable, but it was fun and I was thoroughy entertained.

Favorite stories:
Tattoos
Flat
Impressions
Chapter
Lists

Admittedly I don't feel I'm the target audience for this book. It's a short book made of a collection of very short stories about men who are 'sorry' in some way or another. Was drawn in by the cover art.

I received a copy of this in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

Where to start, haha. The title is what caught my eye. While I'm not a huge fan of the coverart itself, I can see how it relates to the book itself.
Sorry Men is a collection of short stories about your everyday life of "normal" men. Sounds a little boring when I put it like that, huh?

What I loved about this book:
-Each chapter "featured" a different man
-The stories were VERY short, so easier to hold interest. Especially when one story was boring or frustrating
-The author definitely has a sense of humor.

What I didn't enjoy:
-Men [ haha, jk jk. ] - No, but seriously, the author does warn that this book will NOT restore your faith in men. Spoiler: He was right.
-Some of the stories were eh... or a tad infuriating.

Would I read other books by this author? Absolutely.

DNF'ED at 17%.
I read 4/35 short stories but what's the point of spending more or less two hours on this while I can be reading a full length novel?
Like what's the point of these two page long stories it's not like they are going to affect me or stuck with me. Why am I wasting my time?
There's nothing inherently wrong with the stories but I am a student and since I started university I'm getting less time to read so shouldn't I be sending it on books with more chances of me rooting for characters and caring about plot?
You can read it if like short story collection but since I don't get enough time to read I have to be thoughtful of what I read and I know the collection is just not working for me.

The author was right, this book did not restore my faith in men. I had to put the book down and walk away after one story because I was ANGRY. Regardless this was a quick read and I don’t know about “enjoyable” but I guess I had fun.

Sorry Men by Daniel Bird

An interesting book with short stories about sorry of the men. The author Daniel has a great sense of humor. His writing style for these short chapters are in the similar pattern, which keeps me entertained to guess the twisting part.

Different chapter different man, sorry men…!

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for my copy.

Pub date: March 11, 2024

The author of this slim book proclaims it will not restore your faith in men, and he’s right. In fact, he does his best to demolish it, one tiny story after another. From misguidedness to awkward snafus, the protagonists of his tales are indeed a very sorry bunch of men.
The stories themselves are fairly amusing and decently written. I’ve never heard of the author or this press before, and somehow the book has managed to gather a really bizarre lineup of praise, a lot of it from random actors and comedians. What’s even more bizarre is that someone compared it to Black Mirror. Um, no, this book is nowhere near Black Mirror. And it isn’t as funny as some of the praise might lead you to believe either. Amusing and funny are different things.
These stories are more along slice of life situations with a bit of a twist in the end. For how brief of a read it is (maybe 105 minutes), it may entertain sufficiently with expectations properly adjusted. Thanks Netgalley.

This book is a collection of stories about men who are sorry, exploring every dimension of meaning in that word.

I wonder about what this author's connection to the <a href="https://www.oakhousedeli.com/s/order"Oak House Deli</a> is. Happenstance or ad sales from the publisher?

Like any collection, the stories vary in quality. I did like the opener and closer, "Jar" and "Man", which share a sort of reference, but both are good stories that also function well in the position they are to introduce the concepts and sort of to wrap them up. And like any comedy book, how funny you find it will vary, but they are particularly funny when it is a sorry man, when it is their own foibles that they do not see creating problems in their lives they are ill-equipped to deal with.

The questionable part of this book is that all the stories have the same structure. It's always beat-beat-twist. This is a classic joke-telling format, and some of the stories really are jokes you would tell at a party with more stage dressing (and that is not necessarily bad - "Flat," one of the more laugh out loud ones here, is that), but I think if you look at other similar books, they tend to mix it up more with the styles of the presentation. Here it is always the same. Also there are points where the tail wags the dog, a situation with a twist and forced ending twist that ends up nonsensical, or at least where I do not see the joke. But it is the uniformity in presentation that provides the drag to keep it from a better rating.

Maybe the backhanded compliment her is that a lot of these would work better as a short film or a comedy sketch, because there is something funny but the written word does not convey it well, or more often that the routine needs more plot structure to it. I think that "Pants" or "Lists" are ones that stand out in that way because they do not work as written, but could work if rewritten visually.

My thanks to Daniel Bird, the author, for writing the book and to Signal 8 Press, the publisher, for making the ARC available to me.

This book was a quick, silly read. It's a compilation of a bunch of silly short stories if you can call them that. Several of the stories I could see branching out into a true story with potential. It's hard to say if I'd recommend this book or not. While it was silly and quick, it's not really a book. Perhaps short novellas of sort. It's an easy read with enough silliness to be worth the read if you are looking for something light and wonky.
Thanks Cameron Publicity and Marketing Ltd and Netgalley for the ARC.