While Crane's writing intrigues and touches me in places, for the most part it disappoints. Her voice is vivid and original, but where it might work in a single story, it wears thin over the course of a collection, particularly when so many of the stories are pretty similar. Overwhelmingly they're about relationships, frequently bad ones. Her take on them is ironic, often viewing them as if from a distance. And in fact, the stories which touched me on some visceral level were the ones about family rather than romance, stories about loss and the process of grieving for the loved one.

Over all, I'd say that Crane is badly served by this collection because the sameness of both voice and subject becomes numbing. ( )

I LOVE these stories. I wish more people read Elizabeth Crane because if they did, they would be much happier. ( )

Elizabeth Crane is a genius. The stories in this collection are refreshing for their offbeat characters and her unique writing style. Crane proves the adage that only before one has mastered the rules of writing can one break them. ( )

What a great collection of short stories, some amusing, others unnerving and one or two that made me weep.