Willful Creatures: Stories

What an odd assortment of stories this is. The cover blurb from the Los Angeles Times begins with saying that "[Bender] is Hemingway on an acid trip," and I have to say that feels pretty accurate, with the caveat that that blurb led me to think there'd be a lot more...well, *fun* involved in these stories. Instead, the overall mood is rather bleak if not outright depressing, though Bender's minimalist writing style allows the stories to read without too much heaviness overlaying the collection. For the most part, I felt myself to be more amused and curious as the collection unfolded, as opposed to fully engaged--I just wanted...more? There's plenty of curiosity here, and endless strangeness, but the stories themselves build on one show more another in putting forth Bender's style and universe, so that few of them felt like stories I could fully appreciate on their own, without having the full spectrum of strangeness in play. I think I would say that some of the stories in the third part of the book--especially "Job's Jobs," "The Case of the Salt and Pepper Shakers," and "The Leading Man"--felt like they had the best chance of standing on their own and also remaining with me long-term.

All told, however, I doubt I'll be seeking out more of Bender's work. This is an interesting collection, but feels more on the abstract art side of the spectrum of prose than what I normally go for, if that makes sense, and I simply wanted more. show less

Wonderful. Delightful. Insanely satisfying. These stories are dark, poignant, absurd, outrageous, whimsical, parodic...they come so close to being excessive and ridiculous but never cross that line. I loved each of the stories. Read them if you want to know what it feels like to be electrocuted by someone else's imagination.

Hearing that this book made the 2005 James Tiptree, Jr. Award short list, I was curious. Bender's writing fascinates and horrifies me; I have a love/hate thing for her novel An Invisible Sign of My Own. I've heard that short stories are her forte, so I was uber-curious about this collection. Needless to say, I was not disappointed.

What is gripping about these stories is the simple, quiet horror that steals across the pages. What can I say that everyone hasn't said before? Each story left me with a sick sinking in my stomach; you know what is coming and you can't avert your eyes. And if you don't know, if you can't imagine, you are trapped reading to the end until you find out exactly how awful it will be. After finishing this volume, I show more had to stop reading for a few days. I didn't want to keep the feeling but I didn't want to let it go, not exactly. I had to sit with it, remember the stories a few more times, then walk away, uneasy. show less

Aimee Bender, I love you and your wacky short stories. My favorite was about the motherfucker who was, quite literally, a mother fucker. I'd read "Fruit and Words" before -- I can't remember where -- and it was just as delightfully spooky the second time around.

I don’t think I’m keeping this one in the library –I only read a rfew of the stories and they left such a sour taste that I think it’s going to be culled.
The voice has potential – first person omniscient narrator and deceptively simple language with a folk-tale feel – but the storylines are mean and unwelcoming and the characters thoroughly unlikable. By the time I got to the fourth randomly selected story, I stopped.
“Death watch” tells the reactions of ten men given life sentences by ten doctors – and ends with a clever, despairing twist. “End of the line” tells of a big man who purchases a little man at a pet store and learns to enjoy torturing him.
“The Meeting” kept me reading, because it perfectly maps show more the unexpectedness of love: “When he met her he couldn’t stand her because she did not fit the shape in his brain of the woman he had planned so vigorously and extensively to meet. And the non-fit was uncomfortable and made his brain hurt…
“He moved his fingers down her whole spine one by one, and during the time it took to do that, his brain remained absolutely quiet.
“It is those empty spaces you have to watch out for, as they flood up with feeling before you know what has happened; before you find yourself, at the base of her spine, different.”
The language is simple and poetic, and male narrator – despite his unbending brain – doesn’t deny the woman a voice. I’m adding this one to my Yr 9 romance unit (yes there’s lovemaking but it’s all metaphoric) because it will lead to all kinds of discussion about the nature of romance as a construct that frames our relationships.
“Off” describes a truly obnoxious woman playing manipulative games at a party. Being in her mind was so distasteful that I didn’t’ bother finishing the story till I started writing this review (no – she doesn’t improve). “Jinx” tells of two banal teenaged girls, each resenting their newly-grown butts. This may be a slice of life, but there’s nothing new of interesting in it’s assemblage. And while “Job’s jobs” seems to be intended as a parable about the triumph of human creativity as God commands a writer to stop writing, an artist to stop painting, a cook to stop cooking etc etc at the point of death, it left me so bleak and despairing of Job’s passivity that I decided not to read further.
I bought this collection as models for our extension writers, having read glowing reviews and (given the very middle school-looking Australian cover and the blurb which mentioned a boy-hero with keys for hands and pumpkin and potato-headed characters) assuming that it was surrealistic writing aimed at a young audience. It’s not.
I’ve given it one star for “The Meeting” but don’t recommend it at all. show less

This is another delightful collection of short, surreal tales by Aimee Bender, who is fast becoming one of my favorite authors. It's not quite as strong of a collection as "The Girl in the Flammable Skirt", but it's still absolutely absorbing and bizarre. The same blend of tragedy, human fallacy, oddness, and magical realism prevails in this book. My favorite stories are "End of the Line" a quietly horrifying tale about a man who buys a little man from the pet store; "I Will Pick Out Your Ribs (from My Teeth)" the story of a man in love with a girl who won't stop overdosing on pills; and "Leading Man," the story of a boy born with fingers the shape of keys and his discovery of what they unlock. Highly recommended. Five stars.

Sasha leant me this book with a cursory order to read it when I had the time. It took me quite a while to get to it, but I did, and I'm quite glad of that, too. I've not read a collection of short stories in a while, and when it comes to short stories, I can be rather particular. I grew up on a fair bit of [a:Ray Bradbury|1630|Ray Bradbury|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1361491094p2/1630.jpg] and [a:Shirley Jackson|13388|Shirley Jackson|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1196262589p2/13388.jpg] with some [a:Edgar Allan Poe|4624490|Edgar Allan Poe|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1315307900p2/4624490.jpg], [a:H.P. Lovecraft|9494|H.P. Lovecraft|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1299165714p2/9494.jpg], and [a:Stephen King|3389|Stephen show more King|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1362814142p2/3389.jpg] mixed in.

Well. [a:Aimee Bender|5285|Aimee Bender|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1291155858p2/5285.jpg] did not disappoint.

This isn't to say that her writing is automatically of a similar tier to the others, as it isn't. Her endings can be a bit sloppy, or her dialogue a bit too fantastic to deal with. That having been said, she still packs a mean punch that is maybe just one step below [a:Kelly Link|24902|Kelly Link|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1422586197p2/24902.jpg]. I thought a lot about Link reading this, actually. While nothing in this book reaches the level of the short story "Magic for Beginners" there are still a number of stories in here that I think will stick with me. "Fruit and Words" for instance, I found incredibly compelling. The story of the potato children was likewise fantastic, as was the story of the miniature man. While some ended too quickly, others dragged on a bit long. "The Case of the Salt and Pepper Shakers" could have used a bit better editing, but was still a solid piece.

All in all I think the book could have been edited better, but even without the additional editing it was good enough that I devoured it, loved it, and heartily recommend it. I'd read more of her books quite eagerly, and am quite curious to see where she ends up. show less