Rufi Thorpe

This book kept my attention, but I kept wanting to tell Margo, "No, don't do that."

This author can write, Margo, the main character will crack you up. I felt uncomfortable her with her new job. She had an affair with a college professor, he initiated it and he should not have. He was married and had children. She had a baby, and he wanted an abortion, but she wanted to keep it. It is good for the book that she kept it because she clearly loved her son Bodhi and took great care of him.

But she lost her waitress job and how would be able to support him?

For me, this is five-star comedy, Rufi Thorpe knows how to make you laugh but I wanted her to find a better job. Reading about her job made me feel uncomfortable. I would glad read more from this author, but want I feel uncomfortable with how she made her living. Her drug addicted Dad was adorable and a great father when he wasn't using. Her mother was just plain unsympathetic.… (mer)

Beautifully Gutpunching & Utterly Heartrending

It's hard to not feel extremely self conscious about reviewing a story that has a protagonist who lambasts reviews, but I think I understand the point being made extremely effectively and how little it actually has to do with reviews themselves. I'm still going to try my best.

I completely adored this short story. I was just talking to my partner about how I have come to discover just how much I enjoy these viscerally human stories of people, most often women, in such raw and emotional situations that are simply their lives. This extrapolation of how life happens and we find ourselves floating out to sea with no idea how we got there, or rather knowing, but having been made to feel we need to keep quiet and not even see it. There's just something so powerful about short stories like this that drag me into the lives of these people and rain their emotional blows, trials, and tribulations upon me that gives me some kind of connection and empathy that helps with my own difficulties. The short story format works so perfectly for these rich slivers of another's experience, and this is an exemplary example of that.

The performance is really something and makes the writing sing.

I wish I had more brainpower and better words to describe just how wonderful I found this story. I heartily recommend it, though your mileage may vary, and I will absolutely be reading more from this author.… (mer)