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A review by charm_city_sinner
Beautiful Days by Zach Williams
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
Beautiful Days, a collection of short stories by Zach Williams, was a total impulse buy that @books_nooks_spooks and I made back in September.
The description on the inside cover made some pretty big promises. Talk of under-achieving anti-heroes dealing with anxieties and disillusionment brought on by the lost illusions and dark aspirations of modern America seemed to be right up my alley. Unfortunately for me, the book delivered on none of these promises.
A lot of these stories were rambling, overly long, and flat out boring for me. What could have been interesting commentary about the American psyche ended up sounding like the immature musings of a privileged graduate student wanting to tap into something they've never experienced. TLDR: these stories lacked authenticity and believability.
If I used a star system here, there were a few stories that topped off at 3, but they were the exception to the rule. I think if you're going to include 30+ page stories into a collection (which Williams did here), there needs to be some justification either with the characters or the plot, but my goodness...this author took a very long time to say very little.
When I think about comparisons at this end of my overall experience with a book, Beautiful Days is still better than anything I've read by Stephen Graham Jones, but that's a painfully low bar 😂.
If you've read this one and think I'm off the mark, please let me know what I missed!
The description on the inside cover made some pretty big promises. Talk of under-achieving anti-heroes dealing with anxieties and disillusionment brought on by the lost illusions and dark aspirations of modern America seemed to be right up my alley. Unfortunately for me, the book delivered on none of these promises.
A lot of these stories were rambling, overly long, and flat out boring for me. What could have been interesting commentary about the American psyche ended up sounding like the immature musings of a privileged graduate student wanting to tap into something they've never experienced. TLDR: these stories lacked authenticity and believability.
If I used a star system here, there were a few stories that topped off at 3, but they were the exception to the rule. I think if you're going to include 30+ page stories into a collection (which Williams did here), there needs to be some justification either with the characters or the plot, but my goodness...this author took a very long time to say very little.
When I think about comparisons at this end of my overall experience with a book, Beautiful Days is still better than anything I've read by Stephen Graham Jones, but that's a painfully low bar 😂.
If you've read this one and think I'm off the mark, please let me know what I missed!