An amazing short story collection from the creator of Bojack Horseman that easily makes its way into one of my favorite books I've ever read. Like for real. Like I will be thinking about some of these stories and some of their messages for a very long time.
The easiest way to sell someone on this book is to ask if they love the strange mixture of wacky surrealism punctuated by real, sincere, human moments of Bojack Horseman? If the answer is yes, you'll love this because the collection has that distilled into all of its heartfelt short stories. On the other end though, if you thought Bojack was perhaps too punny, too stylistically full of itself, then I can see how this book would easily turn you off. Especially in its first few stories, this collection feels like it's trying too hard to impress you with its linguistic wit. Luckily it really evens after the beginning stretch, though all of his stories have a stylistic, spoken word aspect to them. The characters feel like they are speaking the story to you, at least in the longer stories.
The structure of the book is one or two very short stories (between 1 and 5 pages) breaking up the meatier, more proper short stories of this collection. The very short stories are a lot more experimental, taking on stark stylistic motifs as opposed to traditional story structure; the one that comes to mind is a game show where you spin a wheel to find out the type of meeting you're going to have with your ex. They often carry the same emotional gut punches as the longer stories, but they also verge on the weirder surrealisms.
This is a collection with a theme, and that theme is Love, whether it be lost love, finding new love, or appreciating the love you have. While I love pretty much everything this book has to say on the matter, outside of the theme the stories aren't very complicated outside of this subject matter. That is except for the last story, "More of You That You Already Are" which has some political stuff added on to the usual musings on love. In my opinion, that is the best story of the collection, meaning it ends on one hell of a strong note. (Technically it ends on what feels like a love letter to his wife, but its one of those shorter stories at about a page.).
Oh also the book is super funny. Like I was cackling alone in my room funny. Like I had to put my book down and hold my face funny.
Overall, one of my favorite collections I stumbled across and one I recommend any fan of complicated love and surrealism to check out.
Side note, of the collection my favorite three stories are...
1. More of you that you already are - I laughed the hardest at this and cried the hardest at its ending.
2. Rules for Taboo - One of the shorter, more surreal pieces but god I love the set up behind it and I love how much information you get through the gimmick. It also has the titular moment and its such a great fucking line and as a result, a great title.
3. Rufus - Its set from a dogs perspective and it really hits that part of me that's like "Doggo pls don't be sadz" In a way, a bit cheap, but it works.
