I was THIS close to giving this five stars, and I'm not even really withholding that fifth star -- I'm just keeping one in reserve. Overall, this book is brilliant, an absolute tour de force of tiny fiction, an onslaught of stories so tight, so dense, that they bruise you when they hit you.

Well, most of them. There are, I have to say, a handful (just a handful, out of thirty) that feel a bit, well, not quite unfinished but perhaps undeveloped. I hate to sound like a graduate workshop here, but they read more like scenes rather than complete stories, and I've never been much of a fan for isolated scenes (even when I resort to writing them myself).

But those are the stories that read most like a prose poem, and I love those and have argued frequently that, when you really get right down to it, there isn't much difference between prose poetry and flash fiction. And I'm perfectly willing to concede to these stories I feel dissatisfied with might not be the problem -- the problem might be me, and maybe I just need to reread them.

And here's what makes this collection so damned amazing: I really, really WANT to reread these stories. All of them. Even the ones I didn't quite get. And I fully suspect those few stories might wind up making me a lot happier on a second or third reading.

So here's that fifth star, over here on the bookshelf right next to Rohan's book, both of them waiting for me to read this book again and again. ( )

Another goodreads author I discovered thanks to goodreads' first reads program. I was so excited about this giveaway and I'm happy to say it lived up to all my expectations. The book may be short but these stories can cut deep. Stories of loneliness, addiction, grief, fear, regret, acceptance, love, anger, delusion, and loss are rendered beautifully here.

My favorites (in order of appearance)?

Make Over
On the Loose
Under the Scalpel
Found and Lost
Fish*
Next to the Gutter
Cut Through the Bone

*I find it hard to remember the last time I cried while reading a story or book. Maybe back when I read all those books as a kid that ended with the death of a beloved pet? It's occurred few and far between since then. And then I read "Fish." Mind you, this story is only about 2 pages long. Ethel Rohan's sparse prose tore at me deeply. I sat curled up on my bed, reading and unable to tear my eyes away from the page. Helpless to stop the tears from spilling out. What [expletive] talent. ( )

This is a great collection of short stories! Stories about life and how we exist as human beings. Rohan has given us glimpses into the lives of her characters, at the very core of their existence, and how they cope. She has exposed us to the broken souls, those who have experienced a sense of loneliness, loss and regret. How many men and women - unlike her characters, will experience one or more of these emotions in the course of their lifetime. Life is often difficult for the living and rarely does one get throught it without sometimes feeling trapped, questioning our circumstances and the decisions we've made. ( )

Each of the stories in this collection is bright and sharp, honed and polished like a diamond. They are filled with telling details and unexpected shards of pain. I have my favorites ("Babies on the Shore") and those I really would not have minded missing ("On the Loose" and "Under the Scalpel"); but those emotional reactions are based not on an objective assessment but rather on which set of images appealed to me in the moment. I'm sure the ones I disliked are the favorites of other readers, and my favorites likely totally missed for others, because the quality is amazingly even (and high) across the entire collection of thirty stories. The only flaw, really, is that each of the stories hits a very similar note: desperate, broken people doing their best to fit themselves into a world that is not shaped for them. It made reading more than a couple stories at a time dreary, and the one day that I tried reading quite a few back to back that dreariness devolved into tedium. The collection needed a few more stories that ended on a hopeful note to leaven the pain. But as long as I remained disciplined and rationed the stories out day by day, they were both heartbreaking and impressive. ( )