The stories in Sara Hosey's stunning collection, Dirty Suburbia, trace the lives of girls and women struggling to live with dignity in a world that often hates them.
Dirty suburbia's are working-class neighbourhoods in which girls who are left to fend for themselves sometimes become predators, as well as affluent communities in which women discover that money is no protection against sexism, both their own and others'.
One young woman sets up her abusive, cheating boyfriend, hoping he'll get arrested so that she can rescue him and win him back. A teenager arranges to meet up with an older man she's met online playing video games; she brings a knife with her, just in case. A middle-aged divorcee attempts to rekindle a romantic relationship with her high school English teacher, who happens to be a former nun. A struggling academic falls in love with a Henry David Thoreau impersonator, and a well-adjusted grad student goes home for Christmas only to be repulsed by her family's casual cruelty.
Despite the ugliness and injustice, they face, as well as the failures of their families and communities, these characters often find relief in friendship and connection, and sometimes, even discover meaning and cause for hope.
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Gina and Stacey, twelve and almost-thirteen, ignore the little kids.- CHRISTINE
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(@VineLeavesPress, 16 January 2024, e-galley, 290 pages, #ARC from @PoeticBookTours, #BlogTour 8 January)
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I want to read more short story collections so jumped at the chance to read Dirty Suburbia. I enjoyed this collection a lot. The stories are all about young women from different walks of life and the often dark and sinister turns their life takes. Some of the stories are quite light and entertaining but they all have a dark core running through them. I enjoyed all of the stories. They were all different even if they explored similar themes and no two stories were alike so there was something fresh and original every time I turned the page. I especially liked Christine, Dirty Suburbia and Blessed Virgin.