Loved it. A couple of times I actually gasped as I realized where the short stories were going, and I laughed frequently, even though these are not “humor” stories. The best part was that while the surface stories were excellent, the author always took them one step further. For instance, there’s one story about a guy who makes it a goal to write in a personal diary every day and reveals his struggles with credit card debt, feelings of inadequacy providing for his family and the crazy b.s. of middle-class life. I laughed at and with this guy as he spends money he doesn’t have landscaping his yard to make his daughter happy and impress her friend’s parents. This was enough for a strong story — but then slowly details emerge about one of the signature features of the landscaping, which is a fad across America. It involves immigrants who are strung by a “microline” through their heads to hang in gardens as ornaments. They volunteer for this because the situation of being lawn ornaments for Americans is so much better than in the countries they come from and they can send money back to their families. One of the guy’s daughter’s is horrified by what she sees as the immorality of it, so they drive through the neighborhood and count how many of the other homes have them, too, to try to show her it’s OK because everybody is doing it — and the “SGs,” as they’re called, volunteer for it. Can’t wait to read the whole book again. Bechdel test: I think it fails. This is a collection of short stories that investigates the worth of a soul. What is our obligation to other people? What would we do/ give up for another person? What would we do if someone was going to die? What about just being raped? Why do we view some people's lives as having more value than another's? Is it money, race, intelligence, moral goodness that makes someone better? How much worth do we view our own life? Overall the stories were uplifting, though a few were disturbing (in a good thought provoking way). There is some language and sex, especially in the first two stories, but the last story, the title story, is a definite must read.
