I'm glad I read this, and I like these. The structure is one I like in short story collections: connected stories broken up by one-offs. I was invested in the connected stories, though having read Real Life last year, I found the structure and function largely similar to that book: a character stands in for the great unspeakable horror the protagonist is outrunning. They're both worth reading, but I wonder if the one you read first is more likely to be the 5-star read. In this one, the mirroring scene was particularly evocative:

Spoiler

You realize that Charles has acted as Lionel's impetus to stay or go the whole book, sometimes leading, sometimes chasing. Lionel makes decisions based on whether Charles is staying or leaving. And finally, sitting on his apartment floor, it's made explicit: everywhere that Lionel is, Charles is instantly, neither leading nor chasing but in sync.

It works, it's done well. I like reading this sort of strong execution from Brandon Taylor and it'll keep me coming back to his work.

I was interested in the feeling of, I guess, the author's process of learning that I took away from the prose. I recognize some of the opening techniques and expository elements from my own writing that amounts to "trying things on to make the piece work." If anything it made the writing interesting, being able to identify less polished areas in the execution, but it was also one reason it didn't quite land a 5-star feeling for me. The hook was too often made to stand alone at the start of a piece, and I could see that decision being made. I liked seeing it! It was interesting and instructive, and perhaps a unique problem a short story collection may have over a novel. I've enjoyed reading more short stories this year and it's partly to identify the craft that goes into the shorter form.

Like Real Life, this book got in my head and made it a bad place to be. It's evocative for sure. I'm not in the habit of warning in my pithy little reviews, but in this case I do feel moved to slap a warning on this book for substantial suicide-related content.