It's so rare for me to enjoy a short story collection as a whole. There's always one or two that aren't as good as the others or one that I don't like at all...but not with this collection. I'd read it all over again. Fantastic.

I didn't finish this one. I just could not get into the stories. It's a shame since I'm usually a huge Emma Straub fan!

I'm not really sure what to say about this book... Some stories were great, really sharp writing and excellent job setting the tone. Others fell really short. Pick it up if you're looking for a light airy read, or better yet read her book The Vacationers instead, which I preferred.

It has been a while since I have read a short story collection. And I'm not sure if I've read a collection of stories by the same author since high school. Most of these stories were pretty solid, but very few of them included anything too dramatic. The majority have their strength in the observational humor that runs below the surface of the story arcs. I also liked the three-dimensional characters that Straub puts into her stories.

The most successful stories are ones that focus primarily on two characters with differing attitudes to whether they are growing together or growing apart. Straub has a knack for presenting complicated emotions that run up against each other as the characters interact.

Still, I prefer anthologies with a range of voices or an author who tries a range of styles and genres within a collection ...

DNF

Reading this made me think of the words of Annie Proux: "Nothing ended, nothing begun, nothing resolved." The best short stories give you a glimpse into a larger narrative, and with this collection I felt even more short of breath than usual. A brief insight into a human being, not always the moment of change but the moment before the moment of change. Or perhaps the moment you know that nothing will ever really change. But that's a revelation too.

I live near Books Are Magic. It's my new (wonderful) local book store so I figured I ought to read some Emma Straub and I'm so glad I did! I'll pick up one or two of her novels next.

These stories were incredible. Each one was extremely well crafted and full of tension. I felt that almost every word mattered, which I don't usually find when reading short stories. Highly recommended.

68: Other People We Married by Emma Straub.

This was not my favorite of Straub's books I have read thus far, and I wonder whether that's because it is a collection of short stories rather than a full-length novel or because she wrote this so much earlier in her career and has continually upped her writing game since. Either way, I am still not disappointed to have read this.

I met a number of characters who were interesting, but none left an impression that lasted through the next two books I read... at least not at the moment. But as a rule I enjoy that some of these people, like many of Straub's other more recent characters, develop the means to figure out who they are and then just LIVE those lives they make for themselves.