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Short and not very sweet, Ashlee Nelson

ShameJoy
Julie Hill
Giant Sparrow, $25.00,
ISBN 9780473284060

Mean
Michael Botur
Create Space, US$6.66,
ISBN 9781491226650

Julie Hill’s ShameJoy is very much a mixed bag in terms of quality, with some stories incoherent messes and others poignant and perceptive. The less pleasant aspects are found most pronouncedly in the earliest stories. These want to be funny, but also to seem as though they don’t care if you think them funny or not. They’re like the kid in class making annoying and disgusting jokes because occasionally they get a rise out of someone or hit the right note and get the laugh.

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review, Short stories
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