Roxane Gay's Difficult Women is a collection of twenty one short stories, many of which have previously been published in newspapers or magazines. Generally I'm not a huge fan of short stories preferring something meatier that I can loose myself in but the stories in this collection really hit the spot.
The women in these stories aren't difficult, they may find themselves in difficult, extreme or truly horrific circumstances and their behaviour may not be what is regarded as 'normal' but this is because these flawed characters have been pushed in that direction by their often dreadful circumstances.
As the selection of stories have been curated from different sources they aren't cohesive but they mostly center on women characters with the male characters given a supporting background role. Aside from this they are all very different. While most are gritty and set in the modern day there are also tales that have a futuristic fantasy feel to them and even one that reads as if it were a magical ancient myth.
Roxanne Grey is a versatile and talented writer - even the most harrowing of these tales is told with a certain elegance and grace. Difficult Women isn't always an easy read due to harrowing nature of some of the situations recounted, but it contains stories that will stay with you for a time, and some will make you think again and question your view of others.
Altogether it is a rewarding volume.
Recommended.
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