These eerie stories explore loss and loneliness primarily through interactions with others. There were stories that pleasantly reminded me of Cult Classic and One's Company. In each of the short stories, the prose is well-crafted.

Yet, the stories themselves all felt they had something missing. Many of the stories felt incomplete, or closer to a writing prompt. For example, the (very funny) lines, "He was a retired electrician with no history of whimsy. What was he doing with a unicorn?" are a great premise for a short story, but the resulting plot and character arc fell flat for me.

My favorites were "Edna in Rain," "The Night Gardener," and "Can Only Houses be Haunted?" This collection is ideal for short-story readers who enjoy strange situations.

Bertino tackles heavy themes like grief, estrangement, divorce, and disconnection with the winning charm and dry wit that made her 2024 novel Beautyland such a standout. Her writing is both funny and emotionally resonant – brimming with life, verve, humor and heart.

The stories run the gamut of topics and it was amusing to see simple setups veer so wildly off course. In “Can Only Houses Be Haunted?,” a bickering couple finds that the peaches they bought from a roadside farm stand are haunted by a malign spirit. In “Exit Zero,” my favorite of the bunch, a daughter inherits a house from her estranged father – along with an unenthused, flatulent unicorn living in the backyard. Some stories, like “Edna in the Rain,” in which a woman’s ex-boyfriends literally rain from the sky, end abruptly or feel undercooked. But the majority are satisfying – both absurd and poignant in different ways.

Not for me! I liked Bertino's novel, Beautyland, but the aspects that weren't my favorite in the novel were amplified in this collection. The aspects in question: "quirky" literary fabulism and unearned sentimentality. It felt very Mad Libs, as if each story chose one life or relationship problem and one magical element at random out of a hat, all with a tone that clobbers you with sincerity and likes to make cute new verbs out of nouns. That said, just because I wasn't charmed doesn't mean other people won't be. It's a good collection if you're looking for a sunnier Kelly Link, Aimee Bender, or Karen Russell.

Exit Zero is a short story collection I found to be good overall, though some stories stood out to me more than others. What really shone throughout the collection was the writing. The author’s style is captivating, and it’s made me eager to pick up her full length novel, Beautyland!

Among my favourites was Mary the Sea, a story about the interconnectedness of everything and everyone. The way the narrative unfolded, paired with the beautiful prose, drew me in completely. I found myself underlining paragraph after paragraph—which is always a good sign!

I also liked Edna in the Rain, a quirky and offbeat story where Edna’s ex-boyfriends literally rain from the sky. It felt a bit rushed, but was still a memorable read. Other stories I enjoyed were Flowers and Their Meanings and The Night Gardener, which both had their own distinct charm! I don't want to give too much away on those, I think they're best going in blind.

While not every story resonated with me, I really enjoyed the author's writing overall and I’m curious to see how this translates in her longer work!

Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for a copy in exchange for an honest review!

Marie-Helene Bertino has done it again. "Exit Zero" is an absolute delight to read, and in true Bertino fashion each story is weirder than the next.
She is a master of the fabulist genre and this collection is not exception. It's definitely a must read.

Thanks so much for the review copy! I really enjoyed each story but did wish each story was a little longer. Personal preference really so don't let that deter you from reading. Overall a great read and some of the stories really stand out over the others.

3.5/5
Thanks to FSG for the digital ARC. Not as strong as Beautyland but there were still some wonderful short stories that I wish were a bit longer. Viola in Midwinter i would have gladly read a full length novel about because it was a wonderful and weird vampire story. Think it's more of a personal preference where I am enjoying longer books as opposed to short stories these days. Definitely worth a try if you liked Beautyland or other of her previous works.

Beautyland was one of my favorite reads of the year and I was so excited to see this collection of short stories was available to request - I’ll happily read anything the author writes. I adored the writing, world building, and strangeness.

I especially loved Marry the Sea, Edna in Rain, Exit Zero, and Flowers and Their Meanings, and Viola in Midwinter.

Thank you very much to FSG and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

Another hilarious entry from Marie-Helene Bertino!

These stories are small miracles. Bertino is entirely at home in the short story form--all the wildness of her novels compressed into a story, over and over again. I loved living in all these worlds. I need another collection ASAP.

Thanks to the publisher for the e-galley.

I really enjoyed this short story collection. I wasn't aware of this author, but now I will seek out her work. I would definitely recommend this book to my fellow readers.

(a very weak 3.5/5⭐, rounded up)
Enjoyable, but not as strong as I hoped. It could just be a "me" thing, but some of these felt like too much had been crammed into too short of a story.

My favorites from this collection are:
Edna In The Rain (kinda reminded me of The Husband's by Holly Gramazio)
The Ecstacy of Sam Malone
Flowers & Their Meanings (flower "names" melted my heart and made me think of my late gma)
Viola In Midwinter

There are other short story collections I'd recommend before this one, like Out there by Kate Folk or Thanks For This Riot by Janelle Bassett.

{Thank you bunches to NetGalley, Marie-Helene Bertino and FSG for the DRC in exchange for my honest review!}

Marry the Sea 1/5
…what

Edna in Rain 2/5
I guess

Exit Zero 3/5
Ok I understood this one. As much as one can understand a story with a unicorn in it. It was alright

Can Only Houses be Haunted? 2.5/5
This was ok.

I was not enjoying this collection so I decided not to force myself to get through it. I’m good with weird but this is the kind of weird that doesn’t seem to have a point. Sometimes the writing moves sporadically which makes the story hard to follow.

Hopefully you enjoy it more than I did.

All in all I found myself with stronger connections to some of these shorts and less so to others.

Marry the sea explores strong feelings of connectivity. The fast paced writing combined with non stop jumps in narration kept me gripped.

Edna in rain felt incomplete to me, I did however enjoy the narrators lack of care that their previous partner were “falling from the sky”. It made me think how ex’s were once such an important part of you and as life moves on they become less connected to you

The night gardener is a real stand out from this collection. Its protagonist, a lonely woman who has entered into a gardening contest begins to receive balloons with notes directed at her in her garden. The story captures the dread of looking for a purpose or reason for life. I found the strange omnipotent notes to be a compelling choice to represent this.