Concepts that sound great in theory don't always reach their full potential in practice. Such is the case with Janelle Bassett's short story collection Thanks for This Riot, in which characters grapple with various "riots"--coming of age on your own terms; the discrepancies between social media and reality; the desire to belong somewhere, anywhere. Given the book's description, I anticipated loving it; unfortunately, each story missed the mark for me, and I can't say I truly enjoyed any of them.

One word of praise (because I'll always do my best to muster up at least one): Bassett sure has an active imagination, and has no qualms against embracing the weird and wacky. Case in point: The story about a sloth-adjacent humanoid creature who's owned by a candy company because she apparently manifests chocolate out of thin air, and is also an Instagram celebrity. I'm more than happy to suspend my disbelief on such a premise, and I appreciate a writer willing to take creative risks.

Even in her quieter stories, Bassett has solid concepts with dynamic characters--I just wanted more from them. Many stories ended so abruptly that it seemed as if Bassett discarded them the moment she no longer felt like writing, and by the third time this happened, I disengaged. An ambiguous ending is one thing; an ending with no sense of conclusion whatsoever is another. For example, "No Space is Too Small When Your Head is Detachable" features an isolated protagonist who claims not to be lonely, despite spending inordinate time watching her neighbors and tallying their habits. This character is fascinating, but the story ended just as I thought we were about to go deeper.

Finally, I was somewhat put off by Bassett's habit of overexplaining her story to readers. This was most obvious in the opening story, "More Restrictive Than Supportive," in which a teenage girl wears a strapless bra for the first time while away from her overbearing religious mother. Near the end of the story, the protagonist states how she now realizes her mother uses fear as a means of controlling her daughter's body--while this is certainly true, any good reader would have already understood this without needing to be told. Overexplaining reads as patronizing, as if readers aren't smart enough to understand the story, and it put a bad taste in my mouth very early in the collection.

I'm happy for the readers who found this collection entertaining; sadly, it just didn't gel with me.

I'm not the biggest fan of short stories, but the ones in this book are so captivating, I wanted more. The way Janelle Bassett curated and layered these stories was beautiful and I can't wait to read more of her work.

A surprising, unusual collection of short stories. I enjoyed almost all of them, but unfortunately the ARC was missing some formatting, including titles for most of the stories (in some cases there wasn't even a space between stories), so I can't easily tell you which were my favorites. I'd have to do a combination of re-reading while mapping the stories with the titles and I'm not particularly motivated to do that. Some of the stories are more or less normal, while others are quite unusual. It's a reading adventure in a good way.

Bassett is a St. Louis writer, which I didn't realize until I stumbled across a story set in Missouri - a very nice surprise.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This collection of short stories was lovely. Divided into sections like "internal riots," "external riots," and "laugh riots," each story was poignant, timely, and a joy to read.

This short story collection left me wanting more. Even though I think this author has talent, the stories were too short and felt underwhelming. Also, the text was muddled and difficult to navigate. You can't just click on the story you want; you have to read this book in chronological order which was frustrating. Decent collection, but I've read stronger short story collections this year.

GO GET THIS ARC, it's hilarious and so so so good and weird and I love it!
Janelle Bassett is genius. My 90's baby heart is just so happy after reading these stories. More than once, my husband came outside to check on me because he heard me laughing so hard he didn't think it could have possibly been from a book. How is such a feisty, tell it like it is, badass collection of stories able leave you so lighthearted?

As someone who usually gets too wrapped up in humor to notice nuances in characters' emotions, I appreciate the balance these stories bring. Emotion doesn't take away from the humor, and vice versa. I truly cannot recommend this enough. The stories are so strange I'm having a hard time talking about them without giving too much away... Just read this, please. Seriously. It's friggin good.

{Thank you bunches to NetGalley, Janelle Bassett and publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!}

Very clever and each story hit close to home. Highly relatable and the prose was just divine! Cant wait to discuss with friends.

These stories ended up blowing me away. After a slow start, each story became more curious and inventive than the last and at least two felt like they could be the premise for a full blown Hollywood blockbuster. Expected, sometimes brilliant, often strange but well worth reading. The only part that I struggled with a bit was the haphazard feeling structure (or lack there of) because the early stories were fairly normal and I was expecting a consistent narrator but they shifted quite a bit. The digital ARC also lacked some formatting to make story beginning/end clear. That aside, these are well worth reading and I'd love to read more from Janelle.

This is a well-written and enjoyable collection of fifteen short stories. In terms of themes, I would say they cover issues of feminism to great effect, exploring how women handle society's expectations and try to get or hold onto various forms of power even in unbalanced situations. The characters ring true to life, and the prose is sophisticated. I will look forward to more from this author.

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

A varied collection of fifteen short stories. While not every essay resonated with me, I appreciated the writing style and especially enjoyed “Bulk Trash Is For Lovers” and “More Restrictive Than Supportive”. I would recommend this to readers looking for stories of women grappling with or ruminating on societal expectations and whether to heed them.

Thank you to University of Nebraska Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

Clever and cunning? I enjoyed the format of these catchy short stories. I fell into them and devoured them quickly. I’m

This was a powerful, witty, and enjoyable collection. Bassett has a unique voice and I enjoyed getting to see each character and how they all tie into the themes of feminism, power, and society. It was a good read and I really enjoyed Bassett's writing style