Brawler

No wonder the writer, Lauren Groff, is a New York Times bestselling author and the winner of the Joyce Carol Oates’ prize: her stories in this volume are amazing. Each story is so impactful, that the reader may have to follow my lead and put the book down in order to recover. The title story is in a section of stories between the shadow and the soul. It is about a pugnacious acting-out high schooler who is overwhelmed by her reliance on only herself. Many of Groff’s stories have a moral which causes this reader to think deeply about others and empathize with the situations of their lives. That is not to say that these stories are in any way preachy, but the main characters act with courage in the face of overwhelming odds. The first story of the book stunned me with the peril and resolution facing the characters. I shall read more of this author’s great writing and story telling.