This collection reminded me of how good a traditional short story can be. The stories aren't themselves old-fashioned at all, but the structure and rigor of them feels a little old school, in the best possible way. These are stories that remind me of why I love short stories.
I found this book when it was a finalist for The Story Prize, which is a great resource for finding excellent collections. (http://thestoryprize.org)

These stories are varied and never felt repetitive. A father worries about his daughter as he watches her instagram feed. A burglar cases a house that he's sure will be empty when he breaks in. A writer spends much of her time at a writers's retreat walking and becomes fixated on one specific house. A trio of girls find the balances in their friendship changing with adolescence. Each story is so well crafted and I could have read an entire novel about any one of them, but each was complete in itself. This is an excellent collection. ( )

A book of quirky - maybe ambiguous would be a better description - short stories. A quick read that I enjoyed. ( )

These are lovely, well plotted and well told human-scale stories, all of them with little kernels of hard truths at their centers to be discovered. Pacing varies, but not a true dud in the bunch. ( )

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Sarah Shun-lien Bynum's Likes got my attention through other book-news sites and the cover. This was my first time reading anything by Bynum and Likes is a great introduction to this talented writer. Likes is varied collection with great range. The stories are entertaining and at times challenging, in a good way, The stories are of course short but the brevity Bynum shows herself to be masterful at getting great deal of complexity and character into these shorts. The writing leaves you wanting for more and the variety has this reader convinced that Bynum has much more to give. I am looking forward to her future books. Likes covers varied ground: parenting, fairy tale, recovery, nothingness, fantasy and reality.

A great quick summer read that you will be returning to. I highly recommend Likes and look forward to what the audiobook has to offer as well . The tales are gut-punching at times and at others, at least to this reader - funny, Bynum has much to offer here and every story is a stand-out none of them are fillers.

I just reviewed Likes by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum. #Likes #NetGalley ( )