Middle-Aged Boys & Girls

I would have liked it better had it not hopped around so much. It was a quick read. I just think the characters needed to be flushed out a bit more.

Thank you to Guernica Editions for providing me with an advanced copy of Diane Bracuk's Middle-Aged Boys & Girls, in exchange for an honest review.

PLOT- Diane Bracuk's short story collection, Middle-Aged Boys & Girls, revolves around the theme of middle-aged adults stuck in some type of childish mentality or behavior. Her stories examine what it means to be a "grown-up" and why it's so easy to revert to childish behavior in middle-age.

LIKE- Bracuk has a gift for creating memorable characters and for writing the unexpected. With each story, I had no clue where she was going to take me. The unexpected is what grabbed and held my attention.

One of my favorite stories was Lord of the Manor, where a couple finds out that the beautiful home that they have been renting is on the market. In efforts to thwart potential buyers, they concoct a plan to kill a groundhog and place the carcass in the air-conditioning vent. Alternating between guilt: from killing an innocent animal and lying to their young son, and pride: that their plan is working, they end up having to live with the stink.

Another memorable story was Salvation, about a single, childless woman named Donna. Donna has spent her youth and middle-age building her career and is devastated when she loses her job. Unable to find employment, she decides to volunteer at a homework center for troubled kids. Donna is cut to the quick, by Christina, a teenager with an attitude problem. Donna soon finds herself reverting to high school behavior, alternating between trying to impress and show-up Christina.

A similar theme arises in Dissolution, the story of a yoga teacher who takes on teaching a short-term class at a shelter for homeless teens. Janet becomes obsessed with one of the girls in the class and later regrets that this obsession took away time with her husband, who has cancer.

DISLIKE- Nothing. This is a fantastic collection and frankly, it was difficult to pick my favorite or most memorable stories. I like the theme of the collection. It's relatable. At thirty-eight, I can understand some of the impulses of these characters and can admit to some childish behavior myself. I think there are some things that we never truly out-grow.

RECOMMEND- Yes! Bracuk is a wonderful writer and her stories take readers on unexpected journeys. They resonate and are affecting. Many of the stories in Middle-Aged Boys & Girls are also award winners!

This is an easy collection of stories to dip in and out of and none of them take too long to read. Each story is a microcosm of everyday life with an aspect maybe twisted or blown out of proportion to make the story. I did find I was just getting into the story when I flicked the page to find the end of the story - just when it was beginning to capture me.
I was attracted to this book by the cover and being of an age that I thought I would relate to the stories. However, I think it would suit any age and as I was reading the link to being middle-aged never really came into play for me.

This is one of the best short story collections I read and, by far, my best book from Netgalley.

To put it simply, the writing is delicious. It has spirit and critique. Sometimes it gets judgy, and sometimes it gets heartbreakingly empathetic. From the first paragraph, I knew I found a hidden jewel: after I read this, I found myself closer to my human peers, more privy to their inner insecurities (and how those relate to mine) than judgmental of their shortcomings. This is what "high literature" should be all about.

"...the reason he was interviewing her, and not he other way around, the requisite Master's degree in social work prominently displayed on the wall. Never once spending a day at the poverty line, but rich in the political acumen that people like her lacked to market themselves to the powers that bestowed big money."

"His head was lowered. Preoccupied, I wondered? Or with the affectionate, mockexasperation of the duty-bound father?"

"The kind of guy [who was] was small town loser-boy who couldn't make it in the big city, stubbornly clinging to hard rock bands that no one listened to anymore, his hard luck stories and his victim's sense of entitlement."

This kind of book is why I became a reader in the first place.

An excellent collection of short stories about how grown-ups often act like children. Bracuk has an easy style to her writing that makes it a joy to read, creating instantly recognisable characters who appear almost mundane yet who behave in extraordinary ways.
From grown women trying to impress girls, to a family trying to stop their rental from being sold from underneath them by putting a dead animal in the air vent, these are the actions of impetuous children made by their older and supposedly better selves.
There is a lot to love in this collection - from the great cover, reminiscent of books from my childhood, to the characters unveiled in the writing. An unexpected delight.

Let me preface this by saying that I usually don't enjoy short stories. Writing them is a special sort of talent; the ability to create characters and situations that must immediately grab the reader's attention and make her care about them. Bracuk has this talent in spades. Every one of the stories held my interest and usually left me wanting more. Was the house ever sold? How did the sexual harassment trial turn out? Some of the best writing I've read in a long time. I highly recommend this book.

I wanted to like this more than I did, which is not to say Bracuk's story collection is poor; it's quite good. These are genuinely literary short stories suggesting Bracuk could write a profoundly good novel. But then again, why not continue giving us these wonderfully nuanced, honest, and biting tales?