Refund: Stories

I usually don't like litfic that's built around lots of feels and empty marriages and basically what feels like a lot of white middle-class MFA tropes. Bender actually had me into the stories, starting with the one with the executive producer of Anything for Money. That story was brutal and amazing, probably my favorite of the collection.

Overall, a set of exquisite little miniatures that challenged my usual boredom with this set of themes.

This book was a national book award finalist and she has just come out with a new book so I thought I would read this. The subject matter for the most part of these short stories revolved around money and all the attending issues. It mainly deals with women narrators who are struggling with family issues that revolve around their kids, money, work, bad marriages etc. Overall it is not a happy book but it was very creative and the writing was excellent. Because 2-3 of the stories did not work for me, I did not rate it higher. However if all of the stories had the quality of the best ones then I would have rated this a 5 star. Short stories are not for everyone because they tend to have no real conclusions in many cases. Because you can show more pick and choose the stories here, this is definitely a worthwhile read. I will check out her new book. show less

Excellent writing, but I found the stories a bit empty and inconsistent. Open ended endings are really not my thing. Once and awhile they're OK, but the vast majority of the endings simply leave the reader hanging. The hype on the book jacket made it sound like this was one of the best books of short stories ever put to paper. Although good, and I do recommend it, the hyperbole overshadowed the actual content.

"Refund: Stories" compiles thirteen unique short stories centered around narrators who are struggling in some way, most often with financial difficulties and trying to make ends meet. Almost all the narrators, save one, are women who are unhappy with how their lives have turned out. Overall, I liked this book. I initially only read it to review for a blog, but it was an interesting read. Bender has a refreshingly honest perspective on how people really are in their daily lives and how they react to different challenges. I could see some people viewing this book as a bit pessimistic at times, but I find that the stories more often than not showed a real beauty in the human condition. My only real complaint is that I would've liked to see show more a bit more diversity among the narrators, as mentioned, they were mostly women, which is fine, but over half the stories were about white women who were married and had 1 or 2 kids. show less

A wide variety of thought provoking short stories by a master of the genre. These are virtually twenty five page novels such is the depth of the characterizations and plot. The book's title story deals with a couple who are trying to sublet their New York dwelling space un fortunately during the period of 9-11. Others involve a game show where people were willing to do "Anything for the Money" and another is about a pair of sisters one of which has an impaired hand she must compensate for. I can certainly see why this book garnered all the acclaim that it did.

The only word to describe this particular set of short stories is dour. They were all so similar in theme that is was difficult to infer anything new from one to the other, and generally unmemorable as a whole. I was left with a very bitter taste in my mouth and was happy to have arrived at the end.

This really good collection of short stories by Karen Bender presents, more than anything else I've read recently, a haunting picture of how Americans are having to cope with the "financial crisis" that the world has been suffering from since 2008. Fiction, yes, but the stories are frighteningly realistic.