Witty, humorous, unfailingly insightful, Some Possible Solutions by Helen Phillips is an intelligent and thoughtful collection of stories that explore the strange and odd in the everyday lives of their characters. This was one of the most unique collection of stories I've ever read--very well written and engaging--and I'd recommend it to any fan of speculative fiction, particularly fans of Margaret Atwood. ( )

A unique short story collection of speculative fiction. While I didn't love each individual story, Phillips managed to create bizarre, yet thought-provoking, worlds in which to set each. The stories were overall interesting and very original. Would recommend to fans of unusual fiction, but maybe not necessarily for everyone. ( )

This was an interesting collection of stories . The author seemed to explore a few different genres , Sci-fi , humor and spiritual among them . Some were really good , a few just okay . But overall I enjoyed reading it . ( )

Some Possible Solutions is really intriguing. I think it's perfect if you're a fan of Vonnegut's Welcome to the Monkey House. Very much in tune with that sci-fi, alternate reality feel that a lot of his works have. What really made it work for me was being able to read each story and then leave the book for a while to read other things while digesting and reconsidering the ideas of that story. You will be compelled to do that, which, in my opinion, shows what new ideas are in this book. The writing is sometimes a little bumpy, but you can quickly forgive it for the freshness of the ideas and the cleverness of it all. Overall very enjoyable. ( )

I've been meaning to post this review for a week or two, so I was afraid that the details would have faded too much for me to do a good job, but one of the best thighs I can say about this collection is how many of the stories have stuck with me. The stories generally each have a different, usually vaguely science-fictiony premise. I am probably a pretty good audience for this since Kurt Vonnegut and George Saunders are to authors in my top ten and shine is in that same literary/sci-fi/satire zone, I wouldn't put this collection up with those two, but there are some really strong stories her. Though some of them threaten to become gimmicks, most of them focus less on the specifics of the set up and more on the human reactions of the characters involved. Even he ones with less personal intimacy get lots of thought from their topics. Examples of the setups include a sketch of a woman at a party when time stops for everyone else, a story of an extra-terrestrial encounter where people have the opportunity to meet their perfect match, completing the perfect, four legged, four armed creatures described in Plato's Symposium, and a dystopian future where a plants are a magical luxury. There are some stories that don't quite hit their mark, especially the more abstract and structurally experimental ones. I had never heard of Helen Phillips before reading this, but I would definitely check something else by her out given the opportunity. ( )