Stay Positive: The Beautiful Wishes of Ugly Men by Adam Prince

When I read the title of this short story collection, I was intrigued. 

Because I'm a man (and over "forty" as Mike Gundy is famous for saying) and I'm a sucker for good short story collections (the book is highly rated on Amazon), I thought I'd see what all the hubbub was about. 

On the back of the book, one person proclaims, "These stories scared the hell out of me."

Another opines, "Woman [sic] can learn more from these stories than from thousands of issue of Cosmopolitan." Well, that task shouldn't be too hard though I'm always curious about Cosmo because most of the articles in the rag mag seem to be about getting more and different kinds of nooky. What up with that? 

But I digress. 

It's a strong collection of stories. Some of my favorites are "Big Wheels for Adults," "Tranquility," "Keener," and "Bruises and Baby Teeth." Those are stories I might read again. 

Here are some snapshots:

From "Big Wheels for Adults": "And as he spoke, be began to think about the difficulty of accounting for the distance between who a person was and who that person would like to be, between ourselves and the performances we put on for those we hope will love us."

From "Tranquility": "Reaching for the coriander, Clare noticed that Miss Kim wasn't wearing any panties and that her private region was completely shaven. So instead of asking Miss Kim what country she was from, Clare decided to wash down one hundred and fifty milligrams of Sobritol with as much vodka as she could swallow." 

From "Keener": "'Because if you do. If you want me to--I will unloose the primal me.' 
'Oh, god,' said Amanda, 'Don't do that.'"

From "Bruises and Baby Teeth": "Walt had an answer. He did. It was intricate and lovely, a kind of confession."

And here's a review of the book at PANK.