This is a weird one, but that's about all it has going for it. This book is extremely dark and pessimistic. Do not read it to feel good. Regardless of which short you read, you will come out feeling worse.

It's hard to tell what problems lie with the writing versus with the translation. There are extremely specific themes repeated in some of the shorts seemingly for no reason at all (billboards and fish tongues, to be exact) and some elements reincorporated into almost every story despite the fact that they add nothing. Seriously, this author is obsessed with: garbage, vomit, the smell of piss, and sweating. Almost every story has a reference to all of these - some more than once. If those are things you like reading about, knock yourself out! And engaging aspects become tedious quickly as they're recycled; the unreliable narrator, the unnamed characters (simply referred to as "the man" or "the woman", which starts to become confusing after a while), etc. At first I liked that the author refused to give an answer about how the stories ended, but at some point I began wondering if ending a story is simply her weak point, because none of them ended on a powerful, strong note.

Two stars for sheer inventiveness. I have to give her that. But the rest of it was a totally unpleasant experience, like if there was a version of A Series of Unfortunate Events that wasn't funny.

And major, serious trigger warning that I'm amazed is not addressed anywhere to give the reader a heads up: in the second short, "The Nightmare", repeated and violent sexual assault. Avoid, seriously, if this will be triggering for you.