The Collector of Hearts: New Tales of the Grotesque by Joyce Carol Oates: normally I love anthologies and enjoy reading them greatly, but this one was an exception.
I've mentioned before that while I don't mind "vague" stories - stories where you don't really know what's going on, who the people are, or why they're there - full books of them always are tedious for me to make my way through. Unfortunately, most of the stories is The Collector of Hearts were of the vague kind, so I didn't really enjoy the book and couldn't wait for it to be over.
There were some good stories in it - notably "The Sky Blue Ball," "Death Mother," "Schroeder's Stepfather," "The Sepulchre," "The Sons of Angus Macelster," "The Affliction," "Unprintable," "Valentine," and "The Crossing." Mostly these stories had less of a vagueness to them and I felt it easier to connect to the characters.
All in all, not a bad book, but not really recommended unless you're a fan of the short story or of her.
(Finished on June 27, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)
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