Short stories are often a hard sell for me. This was recommended to me by a patron, and I started it, and liked it very much. But short stories are all too easy for me to put down, and when I returned to it, fresh off the heels of Olive Kitteridge, it just paled in comparison. I can't quite tell if I liked it or not... I will say it had lovely writing, and, for the most part, completely unlikeable characters. ( )

I really didn't care for any of these stories.

The stories in this collection have a modern day setting, and they are edgy and raw. Don't get me wrong, they are beautifully written, but they are emotionally intense in a way that made the stories unenjoyable for me.

The characters were incredibly flawed, so much so that I was hard pressed to find even one that I felt any sympathy for. They are liars, cheaters, drug users or law breakers. In short, they were people I couldn't relate to on a personal level.

I kept wondering if maybe I was missing some deeper meaning in the stories; some of these were award winners after all. But no matter how hard I tried I couldn't force myself to like these stories.

Obviously there is an audience for these short stories; because they and the author have won many awards. If you like raw and edgy fiction, then you may like these short stories. ( )

What I found within the pages of this collection were characters that had given up on the ideal. They had thrown out the idea of being perfect a long time ago. They were now working on just living and being themselves. Some of them needed a hard thump on the back of the head. Some just needed the right kind of nurturing. Some got it. Some didn't.

The title fits well. The stories, and the people, are painful to watch. They are painful to experience. But they are authentic. Life is full of the ways we sting each other while we try to live our own way. We all step on each other's toes. We all make life more complicated than it has to be. But we go through it all because there is a need in all of us to be with each other. In real life there is often nothing right about the way we interact with each other. But occasionally something good comes out of it.

The stories in this collection deal with all the messy situations in life, like teen rebellion and pregnancy, selfishness, contempt, displacement, adultery. My favorite stories were the title story, Nothing Right, Shauntrelle, and We and They. Two of them (Nothing Right and We and They) end with the characters transcending their experiences. (See, even I like a happy ending.)

If you like characters, if you like to observe them in whatever situation they are in, then you will find something in this collection. But if you are reading to escape the stresses of life then you'd better move along. These stories are full of real life. ( )