The Female Complaint: Tales of Unruly Women

This is an anthology of stories by woman authors, all featuring female characters who are strong in their own ways It is an excellent mix of stories dealing with the breadth and depth of the female experience from the dark to the lighthearted, from the mother who turns into a leopard to the librarian who struggles with the loss of her husband, from high school crushes to domestic violence I love the concept of a collection of stories by women about women because too often the stories of women ar [...]

A killer collection of mostly speculative tales written by and about an inclusive group of women.Short story anthologies can be a mixed bag, but Kearns has assembled a strong set of tales here, without a clinker in the bunch Given that these are tales of outsiders and troublemakers, I m not surprised that so many of them contained elements of magic magical realism fantasy how else can a woman gain control over her world unless she shapes a new world Even those tales set firmly in our own univers [...]

This story collection artfully blends the light and the dark, the bitter and the sweet, with a delightful infusion of the strange and surreal One story I was especially taken with was Silted Castle Walls, by Megan Rahija Bush, which complicates conventional notions of the summer romance and of any love limited by time or circumstance But there are many additional stories in this anthology that I would highly recommend.

It took me awhile to get all the way through this because I would read a few essays, set it aside, and then read a few the next week I just finished the final entry, and I have to say, I m really sad I guess I ll have to find a new collection of essays to pass my ten minute breaks at work, but I doubt the next will be this poignant This is unusual fare for me I typically live for the thousand page novel that everyone else thinks is too long Unusual and, I have to say, refreshing My favorite ess [...]

No, it did not take me 11 months to read this excellent collection of short stories by women Well, yes, it did, but that wasn t the book s fault Most novels or book length works of nonfiction are best read over a period of days, lest one forget the beginning before one reaches the end Not so an anthology of stories by almost three dozen writers It s best to give each story time to stop reverberating in one s head before going on to the next And that, I m here to tell you, leads to gaps of days, [...]

My detailed review of this book and a shout out to Ramona Quimby and Beverly Cleary appears on The Fiction Writers Review, fictionwritersreview.

I was expecting to like this book than I did I like the concept of unruly women and hoped for an overall good collection of stories Unfortunately, about two thirds of these stories failed to meet my expectation I DID like about a third of the stories, namely Grave to Cradle, Stony Limits, Noelia and Amparo, Revenge on a Plate, A Big Girl has a Good Time with Small Men, Discretion, Runaway Truck Ramp, Star of the North, And the Wisdom to Know the Difference, Game Set Match, Yatri, How to Save a [...]

This was an interesting compilation of stories Each one very different from the other, and each featuring a somewhat unhinged female A completely different sort of read.

What a great collection of short stories of women that are strong women in many, many different ways Some are funny, some are contemplative, all are important to the genre.

A story of mine is in this one, but besides that, objectively speaking, it s a wonderful collection Each story evokes imagination and emotion They are each so unique in voice and scope and intention These are great stories, worthy of rereading An ambitious and wonderful collection of stories.